comes now to set out their portion which they should have as a reward of their Service And first He tells Aaron that for the sake of his Office to which he was anointed and because He and his Sons were separated from worldly Imployments to attend upon holy things therefore they should have a part in every Meat-Offering Sin-Offering Trespass-Offering and in the Court * See Levit. 6.16.26 Lev. 7.6 Ezek. 42 13 14. of the Tabernacle or Tents round about it called here the most holy place comparatively in respect to the Camp of Israel and the great Court for the people which was without the Priests Court they might eat of them 2ly They should have the Heave-Offerings and Wave-Offerings that is the right Shoulder and wave-breast of the Peace-Offerings with all other Gifts that were heaved and waved no part thereof being burnt upon the Altar And of these the Priests Daughters might eat whilst they remained in their Fathers house but being married to strangers they might not eat of the holy things see Levit. 22.12 13. Neither might any unclean person eat thereof 3ly They should have the first-fruits Some of the first-fruits of the Land were brought to the Lord at their three great Feasts as a sheaf of their Barley at the Feast of the Passover Levit. 23.10 And two loaves of their new-Wheat at the Feast of Pentecost vers 17. And the first of their Wine and Oil at the Feast of Tabernacles But these were brought in the name of all the Inhabitants of the Land in general Besides these particular men were of their own Corn and Fruits to bring the first-fruits unto the Lord as is enjoyned Exod. 22.29 23.19 concerning which there is no other direction given but that they should be of the first and of the best the quantity being left to the liberty and discretion of the Owner to bring according as he had found the blessing of God upon his Grounds 4ly They should have all things devoted that is all votive and freewill-Offerings see Levit. 27.28 except such things as were devoted as a Sacrifice unto God 5ly The first-born of men and beasts The first-born * The first-born of men before they were redeemed were to be presented before the Lord in the Temple Exod. 13.12 Levit. 2.22 And that could not be done before the Mother was purified which required forty days time Levit. 12.4 The first-born of the Tribe of Levi were free from this Redemption of men they were to permit to be redeem'd at a month old (d) V. 16. Secundum aestimationem seu ordinationem tuam Refero ad illud post mensem q. d. Constitues diem quando velles eum redimi Hic dies Communi usu erat 40 a partu ut eadem opera mater purificaretur filius redimeretur Bonfrerius for five Shekels see Levit. 27.6 and the firstlings of unclean Beasts they were to permit to be redeemed after eight days at a lower price but the firstlings of Cows Sheep and Goats were not to be redeemed they must be sacrific'd and their blood sprinkled and their fat burnt on the Altar that they may be a sweet savour to the Lord but their flesh should go to the Priests God tells them He had allotted them these things for their Maintenance (e) The Hebrew Doctors write of 24 Gifts which God bestowed on the Priests with the order and use of them See Ainsworth pag. 113. for ever that is whilst this Dispensation lasted by a perpetual and unchangeable Covenant called a Covenant of Salt because firm and incorruptible Salt having a vertue to preserve any thing from corruption God further tells Aaron That when the Land shall be divided by Lot there shall be no lot for the Levites They should have no Inheritance in it He himself would be their part and portion Indeed they had Cities (f) Concerning the 35 Cities and Suburbs of the Levites and 13 Cities and Suburbs of the Priests See Richardson pag. 32. and Suburbs but they were given them by the other Tribes The Lord further tells Aaron That He had given the Levites all the Tenths or Tythes of the Children of Israel (g) V. 24. Which they offered as an Heave-offering that is an Oblation to the Lord and a sign of their homage and subjection and thankfulness to him for his blessings as a reward of their Service Levit. 27.30 And straitly charges that no Israelite that is not of that Tribe presume to come nigh to the Tabernacle to do any part of the Service belonging to the Levites lest they die for it And He tells him That the Levites should bear the punishment of their own Iniquity if they should transgress yea and of the peoples too if by their not watching over the holy things they suffered the people to transgress about them He further injoyns that the Levites shall offer as an Oblation to the Lord and pay a tenth of all the Tythes they receive unto the Priests and this the Lord would accept at their hands no less than if having Lands as others had they should pay Tythe of the increase of them as the rest of the people did to them and hereby they should testifie their homage and thankfulness to God And they were to offer and separate out of the Tythes paid to them for the hallowed part to be paid to the Priests that which was of all the best And the Priests might eat of these Tythes indifferently in any place And He further declares That if the Levites do heave or separate a tenth part of the best of their Tythes for the Priests use they shall not expose themselves to punishment which they would else do if they neglected it In conclusion here is added a general warning that both Priests and Levites should take heed of polluting or profaning the holy things or suffering them to be profaned by others which might be done many ways that so they might prevent wrath from falling on themselves and others Ch. 18. whole Chapter SECT LXVI THe Lord having appointed the Priests and Levites to do the Service of the Tabernacle and to watch over the people that they might not trangress about any of the holy things He here appoints a water of separation to be made that so if any of the people had contracted any legal uncleanness by the sprinkling of this water upon them they might be cleansed and so might come freely again to the Service of God in the Tabernacle without fear of those Plagues which otherwise their pollutions might bring upon them For the making of this water a red Heifer was to be provided and that by the common charge of all the Children of Israel because it was to be for the common good of them all and for the cleansing of any one among them that was by any accident legally unclean It must be an Heifer without spot and upon which never came yoke For they used in those times to
Tribe some according as their number was greater or lesser and chose such Cities as they in their Wisdom thought most convenient for the Levites and the people And then dividing the Cities they had chosen into four parts one for the Priests a second for the Levites of the Family of Cohath a third for the Gershonites a fourth for the Merarites it was decided by lot in which of these the Priests should be placed and in which the three Families of the Levites The Priests who were of the Family of Cohah by the special Providence of God were seated partly in the Tribe of Judah and partly in the two neighbouring Tribes of Simeon and Benjamin that so they might be near the Temple Thirteen Cities fell to their lot and herein respect was had to future times when the Posterity of Aaron should be encreased for all present there were but a few Priests not enough to inhabit the half part of one City The Levites that were of the Family of Cohath had by lot their Cities in the Tribe of Ephraim and Dan and the half-Tribe of Manasseh viz. ten Cities * Others no doubt besides the Levites did inhabit these Cities and dwell with them The Gershonites had by lot their Cities in the Tribe of Issachar Asher and Naphtali and out of the half-Tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan viz. thirteen Cities The Merarites had by lot their Cities in the Tribe of Reuben Gad and Zebulun viz. twelve Cities These Cities with their Suburbs the Children of Israel gave unto the Sons of Levi as God had commanded In all 48 Cities The particular Cities that fell to each division are set down Josh Ch. 21. from vers 9. to 43. Of these six were appointed for Cities of Refuge and Sanctuaries for such as had killed a man unwittingly and not of malice prepense The Cities of Refuge on this side Jordan were Kadesh in Galilee in Mount Naphtali Sechem in Mount Ephraim and Hebron in Mount Judah On the other side Jordan Bezer in the Tribe of Reuben Ramoth-Gilead in the Tribe of Gad and Golan in Bashan in the Tribe of Manasseh see Numb 35. Deut. 19.2 c. Joshua Ch. 20. whole Chapter Joshua 21. from 1. to 43. SECT CXVIII THus God gave unto the Children of Israel all the Land which he had promised to their Fathers to give them For though there remained some part of the Land out of which the Canaanites were not yet expelled yet he had given it them all and by lot had divided it among them which was a kind of actual instating them in it 2. He had put them into the possession of the greatest part of it neither had he promised them otherwise that they should possess it than by degrees see Exod. 23.29 He had actually given them the whole Land and they possessed it and dwelt therein that is in as much of it as they had subdued and was needful for their present use and by degrees they came to possess the rest and they might have enjoyed it sooner than they did had it not been for their sins And the Lord now gave them rest round about and there stood not a man of all their Enemies before them that is they were Victorious in all their Wars and none of their Enemies whom they encountred whilst Joshua was their General were able to stand before them Not any good thing that God had promised them and which he knew to be good for them failed of coming to pass Josh 21. from 43. to the end SECT CXIX THe Land being thus conquered and the Children of Israel setled in a peaceful possession of it Joshua now calls the Companies of the Reubenites Gadites and half-Tribe of Manasseh who came over Jordan to help their Brethren in this Atchievement and had left their Wives and Children so long and had stuck to their Brethren till they had seen them peaceably setled in their Inheritances and commended them for their great faithfulness and obeying of the Lord therein He therefore now permits them to return to their own possessions but first gravely and religiously exhorts them to love the Lord their God and to walk in his Ways and Commandments and to cleave to Him and to serve Him with all their Hearts and Souls and that they be very careful and watchful over themselves that they be not drawn away from doing what he had enjoyned them Then He tells them They had got very much Spoil in the War and would return to their Tents laden with Riches with Silver and Gold and Brass with Iron and very much Rayment and with much Cattel Therefore when they came home they should divide the Spoil they had gotten with their Brethren that is that they that had been engaged in the War should have one half and the rest of their Brethren that stayed behind should have the other as Moses had before ordered it in that War when they went out against the Midianites Numb 31.27 and 't is probable Joshua followed the example of Moses in this direction Then earnestly praying to the Lord to bless them he kindly dismist them They having taken their leave of Joshua and their Brethren began their March home-ward and when they came to the Fords of Jordan they thought fit before they passed the River to build a great Altar there after the pattern of that in the Tabernacle not with any intent to offer Sacrifices thereon but only that it might be in future times a Memorial that those Tribes that dwelt without Jordan were of the stock of Israel as well as those that dwelt within and had a right to come to the Tabernacle and to offer their Sacrifices on Gods Altar there as well as they and that in succeeding Generations it might be known that that Altar was built by the Tribes without Jordan when they returned that way home from helping their Brethren against the Canaanites at the first conquering of the Land The Children of Israel within Jordan hearing of this Altar which their Brethren had built on the banks of Jordan and supposing they had done it with a purpose to offer Sacrifices thereon which would have been a manifest Rebellion against Gods Law whereby all the Tribes of Israel were enjoyned to bring all their Sacrifices to that one Altar that was in the Tabernacle Deut. 12.5 6. And considering that God had enjoyned them that in case any of their Brethren of any City in Israel should fall off from the true Worship of God to the Worship of false gods and consequently to any Idolatrous Worship whatsoever they should then gather themselves together and utterly destroy the Inhabitants of that City Deut. 13.13 c. In pursuance of this Command the Israelites within Jordan unanimously gather themselves together at Shiloh with an intent if they found the matter as they supposed to make War immediately against those Tribes that had built this Altar But they thought it requisite first to send Messengers to enquire concerning what
Caleb's request to Joshua Hebron given to him Othniel's marriage Sect. 111. Seven Tribes desire a stop may be put to the division of the land Sect. 112. The first Sabbatical year Sect. 113. A solemn Feast of Tabernacles kept Sect. 114. The Camp and Tabernacle remove to Shiloh Sect. 115. The seven Tribes reproved Their lots Sect. 116. Joshua's Inheritance Sect. 117. Cities set apart for the Levites Sect. 118. Israel's possession of Canaan Sect. 119. The Reubenites and Gadites commended and blest Their Altar Ed. Sect. 120. The Elders of Israel called together by Joshua His speech to them Sect. 121. The Tabernacle removed to Sechem Joshua's Exhortation to the Israelites Joseph's bones solemnly inter'd Joshua's and Eleazar's death Sect. 122. The Book of Judges Sect. 123. Bezek taken Adonibezek's usage Sect. 124. The settlement of the Kenites Sect. 125. Hormah and other Cities taken Sect. 126. Bethel taken Luz built The Canaanites remain Sect. 127. An Angel appears to them in an humane shape and reproves them The people weep Sect. 128. Micah's Idolatry His Priest Sect. 129. The Danites carry away Micah's Idol Laish taken Sect. 130. The wickedness of Gibeah The Levites Concubine Sect. 131. A Convention at Mizpeh The War against Benjamin Sect. 132. Six hundred Benjamites in Rimmon The Virgins surprized at Shiloh Sect. 133. Israel for their sins given up into the hands of Cushan King of Mesopotamia Othniel delivers them His conquest of Cushan and death Sect. 134. Ehud kills Eglon. Shamgar delivers the people from the Philistines Sect. 135. The History of Ruth Sect. 136. Jabin oppresseth Israel Deborah and Barak Sisera slain Sect. 137. Deborahs Song Sect. 138. The Midianites oppress Israel Gideon's vision He throws down Baals Altar The Fleece dry and wet Sect. 139. Gigeon's army diminished The dream of the Barley Cake He destroys the Midianites slays their Kings Ephramites expostulate with him Sect. 140. The people offer Gideon to make him King His Ephod and death Sect. 141. Baal-berith Abimelech's Tyranny His death at Thebez Sect. 142. Tola's Government and death Sect. 143. Jair the Gileadite Sect. 144. Ammon invades Israel Jeptha's victory and vow Sect. 145. Jeptha subdues the Ephraimites His death Sect. 146. Ibzan judges Israel Manoah's vision Samson born Sect. 147. Elon and Abdon Sect. 148. Samson marries a Philistine Honey in the Lions Carcass Samson's Riddle He burns the Philistines Corn. Slays many of them Sect. 149. Breaks the bonds with which he was bound En Hakkore Sect. 150. Samson taken with Dalilah His locks cut and eyes put out He pulls down Dagons house and dies Sect. 151. Eli judges Israel Hannahs prayer Samuel born Sect. 152. Hannahs Song Samuel left with Eli. Sect. 153. The wickedness of Eli's Sons A Prophet comes to Eli. Sect. 154. Samuel call'd He denounces judgment against Eli. Sect. 155. The Philistines invade Israel The Ark of God taken Hophni and Phinehas slain Eli's death Sect. 156. The Ark carried in triumph Dagon broke The Philistines plagued The Beshemites smitten Sect. 157. The Ark at Kirjath-jearim The meeting at Mizpeh The Philistines overcome Sect. 158. Samuel made Judg. His Circuit He builds an Altar Sect. 159. Samuel's Sons very wicked The people desire a King Sect. 160. Kish sends his Son Saul to seek his Asses Samuel meets him Saul Prophesies Sect. 161. Saul taken by lot The manner of the Kingdom Sect. 162. Nahash besieges Jabesh-Gilead He requires to put out their right eyes The place relieved by Saul and the Kingdom renewed Sect. 163. Samuel shews the people their sin in asking a King Extraordinary Thunder Sect. 164. Saul raiseth forces to go against the Philistines He sacrificeth Samuel declares his rejection of God Sect. 165. The passage at Michmash Saul and his Armour-bearer take a fort of the Philistines The confusion of the Philistines Army thereupon Jonathan eats honey Saul's Sons Sect. 166. Saul sent to destroy Amalek He spareth Agag and the best Cattel Agag slain by Samuel Sect. 167. Samuel sent to Jesse the Bethlemite Jesse's Sons pass before him David taken and anointed Sect. 168. Saul's Phrensie David plays on his Harp to him Sect. 169. David leaves the Court. The Philistines invading Israel bring a Giant with them David visits his Brethren He slays Goliah Jonathan entirely loves him and makes a Covenant of friendship with him David is highly applauded Sect. 170. Saul's hatred of and designs against him David escapes to Ramah Sect. 171. David flies to Jonathan who intercedes with his father for him Jonathan and David renew their Covenant Sect. 172. David flies to Nob. He eats of the shew-bread given him by Ahimelech And takes Goliah's Sword His several removals Doegs malice Eighty five Priests slain by him David's Enterview with Saul Samuel's death Nabal's churlishness Michal being given to Phalti David marries Abigal He flies to Hachilah thence to Achish Achish going against Israel dismisseth him Saul and the Witch of Endor David defeats the Amalekites Saul and his sons slain Sect. 173. Mephibosheth's fall Sect. 174. David hath news of Saul's death He mourns The Amalekite slain Sect. 175. David's Funeral Elegy for Saul and Jonathan Sect. 176. David goes to Hebron Is there anointed Sect. 177. Abner makes Ishbosheth King Sect. 178. David marries the King of Geshur's daughter Sect. 179. War between David and Ishbosheth Abner's Challenge to Joab that twelve of a side might fight Asahel slain Sect. 180. The War continues David's six Sons Sect. 181. Abner strongly upholds Ishbosheth's side and Joab David's Michal returned to David Abner treacherously slain by Joab Sect. 182. Baanah and Rechab murder Ishbosheth Sect. 183. David made King of Israel A list of the Tribes Sect. 184. David takes Zion Hiram's Embassie to him Sect. 185. The Philistines encamp at Rephaim Their defeat Sect. 186. The Ark removed Vzzah slain Obed-Edom blest David removes the Ark to Zion and dances before it Michal scoffs Sect. 187. Levites appointed to attend the Ark. A Psalm appointed by David to be sung Sect. 188. David designs to build a Temple Nathan's message from the Lord to him about it Sect. 189. David's several wars with the bordering enemies His great Officers Sect. 190. David's kindness to Mephibosheth His orders to Ziba Sect. 191. David's Embassie to Nahash King of Ammon The base usage of his Embassadors The Ammonites and Syrians vanquished Sect. 192. Rabbah besieged David's Adultery Vriah slain Sect. 193. Rabbah taken David assumes the Crown His severe usage of the conquered Sect. 194. David's repentance His Child dies Solomon born Sect. 195. Ammon ravisheth Tamar Absalom murders him Sect. 196. The woman of Tekoa Absalom's return Sect. 197. Absalom's Conspiracy Sect. 198. David flies Several Remarkables during his absence from Jerusalem Sect. 199. A famine Saul's sons are hang'd Sect. 200. War with the Philistines Four Giants Sect. 201. David's Triumphant Song Sect. 202. David's Prophesie Sect. 203. David's Worthies Sect. 204. David's Militia Sect. 205. The people number'd Of three judgments propounded David chooses the Plague
and Ahaziah's brethren Baal's Priests slain Jehu's Idolatry and death 11. Jehoahaz reigns p. 590. The Syrians oppress him He dies 12. Joash p. 591. He visits Elisha Elisha dies Joash takes Amaziah after his conquering the Syrians Joash dies 13. Jeroboam the second p. 593. Jonah Hosea and Amos Prophesie Jeroboam's death The Anarchy or Interregnum 14. Zachariah his short reign p. 598. 15. Shallum is slain by Menahem p. 599. 16. Menahem p. 599. His cruelty The Assyrian invades him He dies 17. Pekaliah p. 600. 18. Pekah reigns p. 600. His victory over Ahaz The Assyrian carries five Tribes into Captivity Pekah slain 19. Hoshea p. 602. He continues Jeroboam's Idolatry Salman after makes him Tributary Upon his revolt Samaria is taken and himself confined The Kingdom of Israel ends New Colonies planted Others sent after them An Anti-Temple built Afterwards destroyed by John Hircanus Chap. VI. The sixth Age from the Captivity of Judah to their return ZEdekiah taken sees his Children slain and then hath his own eyes put out and in chains is carried to Babylon pag. 627. The City of Jerusalem and the Temple burnt Gedaliah set over those poor people that were left in the land to dress the Vineyards and till the ground pag. 630 Seraiah the chief Priest with other principal men carried to Nebuchadnezzar to Riblah and there put to death Ibid. Jeremy had his choice whither he would go into Babylon and there be honourably treated or stay in Judea He chooses the latter Ibid. Ismael conspires against Gedaliah Johanan discovers it But Gedaliah would not believe it and so was treacherously murdered by Ismael pag. 631. Johanan took from Ismael his prisoners but he himself escap'd with eight more to the Ammonites Johanan and his Captains and many of the people go into Egypt and carry Jeremy and Baruck along with them Ezekiel Prophesies of the destruction of the last remainder of the Israelites He threatens murmurers and hypocrites and unfaithful shepherds and the Edomites pag. 632 Obadiah Prophesies against Edom. Ezekiel comforts the captive Israelites promising that God would avenge them on their enemies He prophesies their return out of Babylon though their condition there seem'd as hopeless as of dead men in their graves who are become dry bones pag. 633 He prophesies of their victory over Gog and Magog He prophesies against Egypt He prophesies against the Israelites that were gone into Egypt and against Pharaoh himself The Lamentations of Jeremy pag. 633. Tyre besieged by Nebuchadnezzar Nabuzaradan carried away the remainder of the Jews to the number of seven hundred forty five Ibid. Ezekiel hath that glorious vision of the new Jerusalem and new Temple pag. 634. Tyre taken Nebuchadnezzar invades Egypt makes great havock there Ibid. He returns now into Babylon He hath there the dream of the great Tree whose destiny was to be cut down Ibid. He new builds Babylon He falls distracted and so continues for seven years pag. 635 He returns to his wits Praises God and dies Evilmerodach succeeds him Jechoniah advanc'd Zedekiah dies The King of Babylon engages in a war against the Medes and Persians Of whose Armies Cyrus was made General He obtains a great victory over the Babylonians Ibid. Belshazzar succeeds In Belshazzar's first year Daniel hath the vision of the four Beasts Ibid. In his third year he hath the vision of the Ram and He-goat pag. 636. Cyrus conquers the Babylonians besieges Babylon with a vast Army Belshazzar Carousing with his Nobles sees the hand-writing on the wall Daniel interprets it is thereupon advanc'd pag. 636 Belshazzar slain His Kingdom brought to an end Darius takes on him the Kingdom Cyrus marries Darius's only daughter and so is intitled to the Kingdom of Media Darius sets over the Provinces an hundred and twenty Governours over whom he makes three principal overseers and Daniel the chief of all The Nobles being stirred with a spirit of envy against him move the King to make a decree that for thirty days space no petition should be made to any God or man but to himself Daniel hereupon cast into the Lions den Ibid. The seventy years of the Jews Captivity drawing to an end Daniel prays for the promised deliverance The Angel Gabriel gives him the Prophesie of the Seventy weeks pag. 637. Cyrus upon Darius's death is made absolute Monarch of the East The Jews shew him the Prophesie of Isaiah foretelling that he should be their deliverer He thereupon makes an Edict for their return and that they should go and build their Temple Chap. VII The seventh Age from their return out of Captivity to the death of Christ CYRVS made Zerubbabel chief Captain of those Jews that returned and consigned into his hands the vessels of the Temple The number of them that returned They offer towards the building of the Temple On the first day of the seventh month of the first year of their return they built the Altar and thereon offered sacrifices On the 15th day kept the Feast of Tabernacles In the second month of the second year of their return they lay the foundation of the Temple the old men weeping the young men rejoycing pag. 642 The Cuthaeans or Samaritans offer to joyn with them but being refus'd by their interest in Cambyses's Court give a stop to the work Ibid. Daniel's vision of the Kings of Persia and of Alexander and his successors Ibid. Cyrus dies Cambyses succeeds The Samaritans now frame an open accusation against the Jews pag. 643. Cambyses dies Darius Histaspis succeeds call'd Ahashuerus He marries Alosta or Vashti the daughter of Cyrus In his second year Haggai Prophesies and reproves the Jews for their negligence in not going on with the building of the Temple whereupon Zerubbabel and Joshua took the work in hand afresh pag. 644. In the eighth Month of the same year Zachary began to Prophesie to the same purpose that Haggai did Ibid. In the ninth month of that second year of Darius the Temple began to be rear'd by Zerubbabel and Joshua Upon the same day the two last Prophesies of Haggai were revealed to him The Samaritans viz. Tatnai and Sether-hoznai strive again to hinder them pag. 645 The Prophet Zachary hath a vision of Horsemen and several other visions Ibid. Cyrus's decree being found the King commands the Samaritans not only not to hinder the Jews in building their Temple but that they should furnish them with money out of the Kings Treasure for it pag. 646 Darius in the third year of his reign makes a royal feast for his Princes Vashti refuses to come to him when he sent for her she is thereupon divorced pag. 647. God answers the Jews inquiring concerning their Fasts of the fifth and seventh months In the eighth Chapter of Zachary he tells them he will change their Fasts into days of rejoicing Ibid. In the sixth year of Darius the second Temple was finished and dedicated pag. 650. Upon the 14th day of the first month they celebrated the first Passover in
Nimrod See the Kings thereof pag. 15. of Chap. II. The dispersion of the children of Noah The Original of several Nations 1819 Serug born 1846 Nahor born 1878 Terah born 2008 Abraham born The King of Elam and his Allyes conquer the King of Sodom and his Confederates 2078 The Promise made to Abraham in Vr of the Chaldees The Third Age from the Promise made to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees unto the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt 2094 ABraham's removal to Charran and from thence to Canaan Two Altars there built by him A Promise of that Land made unto his Posterity He goes into Egypt by reason of the Famine in Canaan His Danger there on the account of Sarah his Wife He returns into Canaan vanquishes Chedorlaomer rescues Lot is met by Melchizedec and blessed He takes Hagar Ismael Born 2107 Circumcision Instituted Abraham entertains Three Angels intercedes for Sodom Sodom and Gomorrha Consumed with Fire from Heaven Lots Incest 2108 Isaac Born Hagar and Ismael cast out Abraham's sacrificing Isaac Isaac marries Rebeccah 2168 Esau and Jacob Born Jacob's marriage with Leah and Rachel His hard Servâ—ce under 〈◊〉 2259 Joseph Born Joseph's Dream His Brethren sell him He is sold after to Potiphar His Mistriss 's false Accusation His Imprisonment Pharaoh's Dream Joseph's Interpretation thereof and Advancement The Famine begins Jacob sends his Sons into Egypt to buy Corn. Joseph makes himself known to his Brethren Jacob goes into Egypt He blesses his Sons and dies Joseph dies The History of Job Aaron Born 2418 Moses Born His Education by Pharaoh's Daughter He flies into Midian He is sent by the Lord to deliver Israel He works Miracles before Pharaoh The Ten Plagues 2508 The Israelites departure out of Egypt The Fourth Age from the Departure of the Israelites out of Egypt to the laying the Foundation of Solomon's Temple 2548 THe Paschal Lamb. The Fiery Pillar The Israelites pass through the Red Sea Manna Joshua fights with Amaleck The giving of the Law on Mount Sinai Moses 40 days in the Mount Directions concerning framing the Tabernacle The Golden Calf The History of the Israelites during their 40 years continuance in the Wilderness Moses having governed 40 years dies Joshua succeeds Conquers and divides the Land and governs in all 17 years The Judges 2565 Othniel 40 years 2605 Ehud 80 years The History of Ruth 2685 Deborah 40 y. 2725 Gideon 40 y. 2765 Abimelech 3 y. 2768 Tholah 23 y. 2791 Jair 22 y. 2813 Jephtha 6 y. 2819 Ibzan 7 y. 2826 Elon 10 y. 2836 Abdon 8. y. 2844 Samson 20 y. 2864 Eli 40. y. 2904 Samuel and King Saul 40 y. 2944 King David 40 y. 2985 King Solomon 4 y. 2988 The Foundation of the Temple laid in the 4th year of Solomon's Reign The Fifth Age from the laying the Foundation of Solomon 's Temple to the Destruction of it and the Captivity of Judah Solomon reigned over all Israel from the laying the Foundation of the Temple 36 years The Kingdom divided Kings of Judah 302â— REhoboam reigned 17 years 304â— Abijam 3 y. 3044 Asa 41 y. 3085 Jehoshaphat 25 y. 3106 Jehoram 8. y. 3113 Ahaziah 1 y. 3114 Athaliah 7 y. 3120 Jehoash 40 y. 31â—9 Amaziah 29 y. 31â—9 Vzziah 52 y. 32â—0 Jotham 16 y. 32â—6 Ahaz 16 y. 3271 Hezekiah 29 y. 3300 Manasseh 55 y. 3355 Amon 2 y. 335â— Josiah 31 y. 3387 Jehohaaz 3 mon. 3388 Jehoiakim 11 y. 3398 Jehoiakin or Jechoniah 3 mon. 3â—99 Zedekiah 11 y. Kings of Israel 302â— JEroboam reigned 22 years Nadab 2. y. 304â— Baasha 24 y. Elah 2 y. Zimri 7 days 3044 Omri 12 y. Ahab 22 y. 3085 Ahaziah 2 y. Jehoram 12 y. 3106 Jehu 28 y. 3113 Jehoahaz 17 y. Joah 16 y. 3114 Jeroboam 2d 41 y. 3120 An Interregnum of about Eleven years and an half Zachariah 6 months Shallum 1 month 31â—9 Menahem 10 y. 31â—9 Pekahiah 2 y. 32â—0 Pekah 20 y. 32â—6 Hoshea 9 y. 3271 The Israelites carried into Captivity by the Assyrians in the sixth year of Hezekiah The Jews carried into Captivity by the Babylonians in the 11th year of Zedekiah The Sixth Age from the Captivity of Judah to their Return out of Babylon 3408 JErusalem taken Zedekiah brought to Nebuchadnezzar sees his Children slain then hath his Eyes put out and in Chains is carried to Babylon The City and Temple burnt Seraiah the Chief Priest and other Principal men put to death at Riblah Gedaliah set over the Poor people left in the Land Jeremy upon his own choice stays with them Ismael Conspires against Gedaliah Johanan discovers it to him He believes it not and so is treacherously murder'd Johanan recovers from Ismael his Prisoners but himself escapes Johanan and his Captains and many of the people go into Egypt and carry Jeremy and Baruc with them 3409 Ezekiel utters several Prophesies in Babylon Jeremy about this time writes his Lamentations Tyre besieged by Nebuchadnezzar 3413 Nebuzaradan carries away the last Remainder of the Jews to the number of 745. Nebuchadnezzar invades Egypt and makes great Havock there Having finished his Conquests he returns unto Babylon and there has the Dream of the great Tree whose Destiny was to be cut down He new builds Babylon 3427 He falls distracted and so continues for 7 years He is recovered to his Understanding blesseth God and dies 3435 Evil Merodach succeeds him Jechoniah advanced Zedekiah dies and is honourably Buried Cyrus being made General of the Armies of the Medes and Persians obtains a great Victory over the Babylonians Belshazzar succeeds Evil Merodach In the first year of his Reign Daniel hath the Vision of the four Beasts 3465 Cyrus gives the Babylonians another great Defeat and with a vast Army besieges Babylon Belshazzar carousing with his Nobles sees the Hand-writing on the Wall Daniel interprets it to him and is thereupon advanc'd Belshazzar slain Darius takes on him the Kingdom Cyrus Marries his only Daughter Darius sets over the Provinces an 120 Governors and makes Daniel chief of them all The Princes out of Envy to him move the King to make an Edict That for 30 days no Petition should be made to any God or Man but himself Daniel thereupon cast into the Lyons Den. The 70 years of the Captivity of the Jews draw to an end Daniel Prays for the promised Deliverance The Angel Gabriel is sent to inform him not only concerning that but also the 70 Weeks Darius dies Cyrus is made thereupon Emperor of the East The Jews shew him the Prophesy of Isaiah That He should be their Deliverer with which he is much pleas'd The Seventh Age from the Return out of Babylon to the Death of Christ Or from the end of the Seventy years Captivity unto the end of the Seventy Weeks in Daniel 3478 THE 70 Weeks in Daniel containing 490 years The Persian or Second Monarchy See the Kings thereof in the Appendix Cyrus makes an Edict for the Return of the Jews and that they should go and build their
cleansing of a Leper and the solemn Rites and Ceremonies that are to be used therein 1. The Priest was to take two live Sparrows and with a Scarlet-thread or lace see Heb. 9.19 to bind a sprinkler of Hyssop to a Cedar-stick and to kill one of the Birds over an Earthen-Vessel that had running-water in it and to dip the other living Bird and the sprinkler in it and so to sprinkle him that was to be cleansed seven times and so pronounce him clean and then to let the living Bird fly away and so the cleansed person was to wash himself and his Clothes and to shave off his hair and then to be admitted into the Camp Town or City but to continue apart by himself in some place or house appointed for the purpose seven days and on the seventh day he was to reiterate and repeat these Ceremonies again And on the eighth day if he were a rich man he was to offer two He-Lambs one for a Trespass-Offering vers 12. the other for a Burnt-Offering vers 19 20. and an Ewe-Lamb for a Sin-Offering and three Omers or Pottles of fine Flower as accessory Meat-Offerings to the three Sacrifices afore-mentioned mingled with a Log or half a pint of Oil. And the Priest was to put some of the blood of the Trespass-Offering upon the tip of his right Ear and Thumb of his right Hand and great toe of his right Foot and to do the same with the Oil upon the same parts where the blood was sprinkled and to pour the remainder of the Oil upon his Head after He had sprinkled some of it with his Finger seven times before the Tabernacle and so the Priest shall make atonement for him If he were poor his cleansing for the form and manner of it was to be the same only the matter of his offering was to be less and of less value Levit. 13. from 1. to 33. Lastly Laws are given concerning the Leprosie that might happen to be in an house (y) Aedes non habebant ante ingressum in Canaan Hanc Lepram vestium domorum non naturae sed Dei immissioni tribuunt voluntque eo fine incussam ut ab his veluti admoniti resipiscerent Muis and the signs and marks whereby it might be known to be in the walls thereof viz. hollow strakes greenish or reddish which in sight are lower than the wall and if it spread in the walls of the house then it is a fretting Leprosie For the cleansing of it the House was to be scraped within round about and that which was scraped off was to be carried out of the City into an unclean place and the stones were to be pulled out and new ones put in and the walls to be new plaistered And if the Plague came again and brake out in the House after this then the Priest was to pronounce it to be a fretting Leprosie and the House to be broken down and Stones and Timber and all carried out of the City into an unclean place The manner of cleansing of it if the Plague were healed and stopped was with Birds and running-water and a sprinkler of Hyssop tied with a Scarlet-thread to a Cedar-stick as before Levit. 14. from 33. to the end SECT XXXVI FIfthly Laws concerning the Ceremonial uncleanness in men by reason of their Issues either thorow weakness and disease or in their sleep and how they make other things and persons unclean and concerning the way of their cleansing by washing their Clothes and bathing their Flesh and on the eighth day offering two young Pigeons one for a Sin-Offering and the other for a Burnt-Offering Also concerning the uncleanness of women in their Flowers and how they make other things and persons (z) 'T is not like the Infants that lay in the arms and suckled on the Breasts of their Mothers when they were in this condition or those that performed a necessary and charitable ministration to them when they were in this condition were thereby rendred unclean unclean and the way of their cleansing by the like Sacrifices Levit. 15. whole Chapter SECT XXXVII ON the 14th day of this month at evening the Passover was celebrated according to Gods express Command (a) It seems they would not have kept this Passover without special warrant because by the first Institution they seem bound only to keep it in the Land of Canaan Exod. 12.25 and after this we find not that they kept any till they came into the Land Joshua Ch. 5. And now they kept it according to all the Rites of it excepting those special Rites which belonged only to the first Passover in Egypt as sprinkling of the door-posts and the eating of it standing c. On which day it seems some of the people complained to Moses and Aaron that they could not keep the Feast at that time with the rest of their Brethren because they were become unclean by touching a dead body and by a Law given Levit. 7.20 since the first institution of that Passover if they medled with holy things they were to be cut off Hereupon a Law (b) And by warrant it seems of this Law in Hezekiah's time there was a Passover kept on the 14th day of the second month when there were other occasions than those here mentioned that disabled them from keeping it at the usual time was made That all such persons that were so defiled or were in a journey or possibly under any other unavoidable hindrance should keep their Passover on the 14th day of the second month because they could not keep it on the day appointed Numb 9. from 1. to the 15. SECT XXXVIII AFter the death of Nadab and Abihu Moses seems to have received all those Laws from the Lord which we find recorded in the XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII and to the 10 vers of the XXIV Chapters of Leviticus 1. Laws concerning the High Priests coming into the most holy place once (c) Figuring the Sacrifice of Christ once made in the time of his life and no more Heb. 9.7 8 10 12. He was to enter into the most holy but once a year to minister and by way of Priestly ministration and expiation yet upon other occasions he and his Sons probably might enter at other times as at the taking down and setting up of the Tabernacle in their removals and journeys in the Wilderness and when they took thence the Ark upon several occasions as Josh 6.4 1 Sam. 4.3 a year to make an atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month See Exod. 30.10 Heb. 9.7 At which time Aaron was to be clothed not with the glorious Garments * Some Expositors conceive that those linnen Garments here spoken of vers 4. were those mentioned Exod. 28.39 which the High Priest wore under his other rich attire and that together with these here mentioned all His other rich Garments are to be understood also But others by comparing the 4th
plow and draw their Carts with Heifers and Cows as well as with Oxen see Judg. 14.18 This Heifer was to be given to Eleazar because by doing this Service that was now to be done he was to be unclean and 't was fit that he rather than Aaron should be defiled She must also be carried out of the Camp as an accursed thing figuring Christs being made a Curse and suffering without the City Heb. 13.12 And Eleazar was to sprinkle of her blood seven times turning his face towards the Tabernacle of the Congregation And her skin and her flesh her blood and her dung were all to be burnt in his sight And Eleazar was to take Cedar-wood and Hyssop and Scarlet and to cast them into the midst of the burning of the Heifer to signifie that these things should be used for a sprinkle in sprinkling the unclean with the water of separation see Levit. 14.4 And Eleazar was to wash his Clothes and bath his flesh and to be unclean unto the evening * The like is injoyned to him that burnt this Heifer v. 8. and to him that gathered up the ashes v. 10. and to him that sprinkled an unclean person with the water made of those ashes v. 21. This might intimate to them that it was not so much the water made with the ashes of this Heifer as the thing signified thereby that had vertue in it to purifie those that were spiritually unclean and consequently to shew the imperfection of the legal Priesthood because they that were imployed in preparing this water which was for the cleansing of others were themselves defiled 'T was further injoyned That the ashes of this Heifer should be gathered up by a man that was clean and laid up without the Camp in a clean place (h) As for the place where those ashes were kept when they came into the Land of Canaan it is not expressed Some hold that those ashes were dispers'd into all the Cities that those who were unclean might have wherewith to purifie and cleanse themselves because they were now conseerated to an holy use However the man that gathered them up was thereby made unclean because they were the remainders of an Heifer slain for the sins of the people And the Statute of making and reserving of these ashes for a water of separation was to bind both the Israelite and the Proselyte or Stranger that sojourned with them as long as this Dispensation lasted By this Law it was further injoyned That he that touched the dead body of a man was to be unclean seven days and he was to purifie himself with this water on the third day and on the seventh day vers 19. and then he was to be clean else not And whoever having contracted this kind of uncleanness and doth not make use of this way to purifie himself but cometh in that state into the Court of the Tabernacle he shall be cut off by the Sentence of the Judge if it be proved that he did it presumptuously because he despiseth not only the Ceremonial purifying but the thing signified thereby viz. the spiritual cleansing thorow the blood of the Messias Otherwise if he did it ignorantly he was to bring such a Sacrifice as is injoyn'd Levit. 5.3 6. Further if any man came into the Tent of a dead man it rendred him unclean yea and all that was in the Tent Every open Vessel that takes in the air of the Tent was ceremoniously unclean Or if a man touched a dead body or the bone of a dead man it rendred him unclean And thus hereby was figured the spreading and infectious nature of sin And one of the Priests that was clean was to put running water to the ashes of the burnt-Heifer and with a bunch of Hyssop tied to a Cedar-stick with a Scarlet-thread to sprinkle the person or Tent or Vessels that were unclean and then to be himself unclean until the evening because he had touched the water of separation And whatsoever any unclean person touched was to be held unclean to signifie the contagion of sin spreading from one to another Numb 19. whole Chapter SECT LXVII THe Camp now advanced to Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin which was near to the Land of Edom in the first month of the fortieth year after their coming out of Egypt and there Miriam died and was buried four months before her Brother Aaron and eleven months before her Brother Moses She was the eldest of the three she attained to the age of 130 see Exod. 2.4 7. she was a Prophetess and by her also God guided the Israelites in their Travels see Mich. 6.4 she in all likelihood was the Girl that was set to watch what would become of Moses when he was expos'd in an Ark of Bulrushes on the River Nile see Exod. 2.4 c. Numb 20. vers 1. SECT LXVIII AT this Kadesh (i) So that in their Travels from Kadesh-barnea where the Spies came back to Moses to this Kadesh in the Desart of Zin there were about 38 years spent and most of their Fathers that were numbred at their coming out of Egypt were in this time dead the people for want of water murmur again against Moses and Aaron With the same want God had tried their Fathers in the first year after their coming out of Egypt Exod. 17.4 and they murmured then as their Children do now and they had water given them out of a Rock But these their Children were worse than their Fathers because the supply their Fathers had from God in that extremity should have been an argument and encouragement to them to rely on his Providence now and not to have distrustfully murmured or wished so desperately as they did Would God say they we had died with our Brethren whom God suddenly destroyed in the Insurrection of Corah and at other times thereby as it were slighting that fearful Judgment of being cut off in Gods firery Indignation in comparison of being pinch'd with a present want of water They highly expostulate with Moses and Aaron for bringing them into that barren Wilderness which was no place to sow seed in or plant Figg-Trees Vines or Pomegranates but a Land of Desarts a Land of Drought and where there was no water a Land thorow which no man passed and where no man dwelt see Jer. 2.6 Moses and Aaron hereupon betake themselves unto the door of the Tabernacle to intercede with God as formerly for this rebellious people And the Lord immediately signified his approach and the actual manifestation of his glorious Presence by the descending of the Cloud to the door of the Tabernacle see Ch. 14.10 and Ch. 16.19 And here He Commands Moses to take the Rod viz. Aaron's Rod which budded out of the Tabernacle * See Numb 20. v. 9. Ch. 17.10 and with that Rod in his hand to speak to the Rock before the Children of Israel and it should give forth water Moses indeed with his miraculous Rod at
and so the Israelites possessed themselves of all their Cities utterly destroying all the Inhabitants thereof and his Country unto the borders of the Amorites which was strong and therefore Sihon had not encroached upon their Country as he had upon the Moabites at least not beyond the River Jabbock Among other Cities which they took Heshbon was one which Sihon took from the former King of the Moabites who was King before their present King Balak and so both Heshbon and the Country adjoyning was the possession of Sihon when the Israelites took it To prove this Moses alledgeth the proverbial or aenigmatical Song which it seems was first made and used by the Amorites by way of triumph over the vanquished Moabites Come into Heshbon let the City of Sihon be built and prepared implying that though Heshbon perished * Vers 30. being in Moabs hands yet now it should be more fairly built and fortified being in Sihons hands For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon a flame from the City of Sihon it hath consumed Ar of Moab and the Lords of the high places of Arnon that is the fury of War which was kindled and began in the subversion and laying waste of Heshbon brake out from thence and consumed the Country of the Moabites as far as Ar a chief City of theirs and the Lords of the high places of Arnon that is their great men and Priests that sacrificed in their high places Woe unto thee O Moab thou art undone O people of Chemosh In this clause of their Song the Amorites scoff at Chemosh the God of the Moabites (n) See Jer. 48.7 13. The Ammonites god was Milcom 1 Kings 11.5 1 Kings 11.7 because he was not able to help them but had permitted those of them that escaped the Sword to be taken Captives by Sihon They further triumphantly add We have shot at them that is all their Country between Heshbon and Dibon one of their high places in the Land of Moab we have taken from them And we have wasted their Country even unto Nophah which reacheth unto Medeba (o) See Isa 15.2 Jer. 48.18 22. another City in the Land of Moab Numb 21. from 18. to 31. SECT LXXVI AFter this Moses sent his Spies to Jaazer a City also that had been Moabs Jer. 48.31 32. but now was the Amorites which they took with the Towns thereunto belonging and cast out thence the Amorites from the River Arnon which is the bound of Moab to the Brook of Jabbock which parteth it from Arnon yet medled not with the Country lying upon the River Jabbock neither with any of the Lands belonging at that time to the Children of Ammon or Moab as God commanded them After this the Children of Israel marched to Bashan a rich Country famous for its huge Oaks Ezek. 27.6 and rich Pastures which nourished strong and great Cattel Deut. 32.14 Amos 4.1 Og King of this Country being a remnant of the Giants whose Bedsted was of Iron nine Cubits in length and four in breadth Deut. 3.11 came out against them and fought with them at Edrei and was there with all his people utterly vanquished and destroyed by Moses and the Israelites whom God encouraged to go out against him and they possessed themselves of all his Country to wit sixty Cities and all that Coast as far as Argob Deut. 3. from vers 1. to 18. Numb 21. from vers 31. to the end SECT LXXVII AFter these Victories the Israelites encamped in the plains (p) So called becase they had been sometimes Moabs though since the Amorites and now the Israelites by Conquest of Moab on this side of the Ford of Jordan right over against Jerico at Abel-Shittim which was their 42d Encamping Here they continued till after Moses's death and till under the Conduct of Joshua they passed over Jordan unto the Land of Canaan In which time many notable things fell out even all recorded from this place to the end of Deuteronomy Numb 22. vers 1. SECT LXXVIII THe Moabites had no reason to be afraid of the Israelites because God had commanded them not to meddle with them and accordingly they had peaceably passed by their Country Yet their minds were stricken with such a terrour from God that all this could not quiet them They saw the Israelites were a numerous and mighty people They had already vanquished two Kings they were still upon their borders Thus God made good his Promise to his people Exod. 15.15 As for the mighty men of Moab trembling shall take hold upon them all the Inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away and Deut. 2.25 This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the Nations that are under the whole Heaven who shall hear report of thee and shall tremble and be in anguish because of thee Balak King of Moab and his people being under these fears they send to the Elders of the Midianites to joyn with them against the Israelites telling them That this vast Company were like to lick up all about them as the Ox licketh up the grass of the field 'T is very plain that the Midianites had no manner of reason to joyn with them For first They were allied to the Israelites being the Posterity of Midian who was the Son of Abraham by his wife Keturah Gen. 25.12 Secondly The Israelites had not hitherto medled with them Thirdly The Israelites Conquest of the Amorites was an advantage to them because they were by this means freed from Sihons Tyrannical Yoke under whom as it appears they were before in bondage However after Consultation it seems they joyned together in this business and Balak and they sent for Balaam a Southsayer who was at that time famous for his Inchantments and Divinations and dwelt at Pethor a City in Mesopotamia his native Country (q) In Mesopotamia or Aram Abraham first dwelt Acts 7.2 Gen. 24.4 10. and there he served strange Gods Josh 24.2 In this Country all the Patriarchs the Sons of Jacob except Benjamin were born and brought up Gen. 35.26 till Jacob their Father fled the Land Gen. 31.21 Jacob's Posterity hereupon professed their Father to be an Aramite Deut. 26.5 And from Aram is now Balaam sent for to curse them The Eastern-Country was infamous for Divination and such like Arts Isa 2.6 scituate upon the River Euphrates to come and curse the Israelites purposing afterwards to make War upon them The Messengers carrying with them large Presents to satisfie him for his Divinations call'd by the Apostle the wages of unrighteousness 2 Pet. 2.15 come to Him and tell him That there was a mighty great people come out of Egypt which covered the face of the Earth and they were now encamped over against Moab They tell Him they came to him from Balak King of Moab and from the Midianites to desire him to come over and curse this people For they were confident he was able by his Curses and
Tribes and half the Tribe of Manasseh the Tribe of Reuben Gad and the other half Tribe of Manasseh having their lot on the other side Jordan The persons that were to make the division were Eleazar the High Priest Joshua and one Prince of every Tribe who are particularly named The Tribes are here named in their particular Order in which they should inherit the Land their Inheritance abutting one upon another as their Names are here joyned together to make it the more evident to them that they were alloted their Portions by the Wisdom and Providence of God Numb Ch. 34. whole Chapter SECT XC THe Lord further Commands the Israelites to give 48 Cities to the Levites for their Possession He appoints the Suburbs of them to reach a thousand Cubits from the wall of the City on each side so that measuring the length from one end of the lines to the other end opposite against it as from East to West or from North to South there were two thousand Cubits that made the perfect square God also appoints six of these Cities for Cities of Refuge Three in the Land of Canaan and three (b) There was no inequality in this because the portion of the two Tribes and an half without Jordan reached as far in length as theirs in the Land of Canaan though it were nothing so broad Besides if the Lord inlarged their Coasts and gave them all the Land they were to add three Cities more Deut. 19.8 9. on the other side Jordan And those Cities were as we may see afterwards Deut. 4. and Joshua 20. 1. Bezer a City of the Reubenites 2. Ramoth of Gilead of the Gadites 3. Golan in Bashan of the Manassites These three Moses separated Deut. 4.41 43. 4. Kadesh in Galilee in Mount Napthali 5. Shechem in Mount Ephraim 6. Kirjath-arba which is Hebron in the Mount of Judah and these Joshua separated Joshua 20.7 Before these Cities of Refuge were appointed it seems the Altar only was a kind of Sanctuary to those that fled to it see Exod. 21.14 But afterwards these Cities were the chief Sanctuaries to the Children of Israel and the Sojourners and Strangers among them and yet they were such only to those who had killed a man unwittingly And therefore they were not to receive any man till he had professed his Innocency as to this particular see Josh 20.4 And such Cities were purposely appointed as lay at an equal distance in the several parts of the Land that no man driven to make use of them might have too far to go and so might be overtaken by the Avenger of blood who was the next Kinsman to the man slain and might lawfully slay him who had slain his Kinsman if he took him out of the City of Refuge and before he could recover the Sanctuary And the way to these Cities was always to be prepared and made even and plain that the Man-slayer might flee thither without hinderance see Deut. 19.3 When the Man-slayer came thither he was at the entrance of the Gate to shew his Cause to the Elders of the City who were to take him in till he was sent for and fetched to the City where he had done the Fact and there he was to stand before the Congregation Joshua 24.4 6. who if they found him worthy of death were to deliver him to the Avenger to kill him if not they were to return him to the City of Refuge again where he was to live in a kind of exile and imprisonment until the death of the High Priest and might not come out before * If He went out before He forfeited his Priviledge and Protection and the Avenger might lawfully slay him and then He was to have liberty to return to his own house and former dwelling place the High Priest being a Type of the Messias our High Priest and Saviour Jesus Christ who by his death hath blotted out the hand-writing of our Sins and reconcileth us to God But these Cities of Refuge were not intended to be any Protection or Asyle to willful Murderers and such as of malice-prepence slew a man and struck him with an Instrument of Iron or with a Stone or Hand-weapon wherewith in probability a man that is smitten must needs be kill'd Moreover no man was to be put to death on the single testimony of one man alone And no Redemption-money no Bribe or Present was to be taken to spare a murderers life For blood defileth the Land and the Land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it And lastly no Redemption-money was to be taken for granting him that was fled to a City of Refuge a Dispensation or Liberty to return to the place of his former abode or habitation before the death of the High Priest Numb 35. whole Chapter and Deut. 4. vers 41 42 43. SECT XCI THe Lord having formerly ordered that Zelophehad's Daughter should have that portion of Land in the Tribe of Manasseh which their Father should have had for his share had he lived the Children of Gilead who were of that Tribe considering that if these Daughters married into any other Tribe this portion of their Land would be quite alienated from their Tribe therefore they made it their suit that some order might be taken to prevent this mischief For by like accidents the portion of every Tribe might in time be changed and so at length all may come to confusion and the very end of Gods appointing every Tribe to have their portion apart by themselves might be quite made void And further whereas by the Law of God it was appointed that at the year of Jubilee which was every fiftieth year what ever Land was alienated from any Tribe should return to that Tribe again by such marriages as these Inheritances would pass over from one Tribe to another without possibility of restitution at the year of Jubilee and so this Law would become void which seem'd purposely intended to prevent the confusion of the Inheritances of the Tribes Moses having ask'd Counsel of the Lord answered them as God had commanded viz. That the Daughters of Zelophehad should marry only in the Tribe of their Father which they accordingly afterwards did and further orders That every Daughter that possesseth an Inheritance in any Tribe should marry only unto one of that Tribe But if she was not an Inheritrix she might marry into any other Tribe And thus Inheritances would not be removed from one Tribe to another Numb Ch. 36. whole Chapter SECT XCII WE are now come to the Book of Deuteronomy which contains Moses's dying Speech and pathetical Exhortation to the Children of Israel He had brought them to the Plains of Moab and to the very borders of Canaan He knew by divine Revelation he must not go over thither but must die on this side Jordan Having therefore now but a little time to live viz. about five weeks like a man in
deserto intermissum Non jubetur idem homo iterum circumcidi sed idem populus those that were born in their Travels thorow the Wilderness who had not been hitherto circumcised And the Reasons why it was now injoyned as we may suppose were these 1. That this might signifie to them that it was by vertue of that Covenant which God had made with their Fathers whereof Circumcision was an outward Seal that they were now put into the possession of the Land of Canaan 2ly That they might more couragiously Encounter the Canaanites having upon them this Badge of their Adoption 3ly Because on the fourteenth day of this month at even they were to eat the Passover of which none might eat that were not circumcised Exod. 12.48 4ly When they came into the Land of Canaan they were to observe all the Precepts of the Ceremonial Law Deut. 12.8 9 10. and therefore this of Circumcision among the rest 5ly Circumcision was now injoyn'd them that hereby God might make trial of their Faith and Obedience And indeed a very hard trial it was if we consider that those that were the very flower and strength of their Armies were now to be circumcised viz. all that were under forty years of age and when they lay sore how easie had it been for their Enemies to have overcome them as may appear from the slaughter Simeon and Levi made upon the Sechemites when they lay in the same condition Gen. 34.25 26. So that nothing could be more dangerous in the eye of reason than that which God now injoyn'd them But thus God was pleased to try their Faith viz. whither in confidence of his Protection they would do what he injoyn'd them though it seem'd in it self so exceeding perillous Joshua therefore in Obedience to Gods Command and for these Reasons before-mentioned renewed now this Sacrament of Circumcision and 't is probable that all that were before circumcised were imployed in this Service that it might be the sooner dispatched and so the place where this was done was upon this occasion call'd the Hill of Fore-skins because there they did cast away or bury the Fore-skins of those that were that day circumcised The Israelites thus circumcised abode in their places in the Camp till they were whole no Enemy attempting any thing against them or once offering to molest them no not so much as to scare them or put them in any fright This being done the Lord said to Joshua This day have I rolled away from you the Reproach of Egypt as if he should have said Had these Israelites continued in their Vncircumcision they would rather have seemed to be uncircumcised Egyptians than the Israel of God but now being circumcised this Reproach of Egypt is rolled away from them see 1 Sam. 17.26 Gen. 34.14 Josh Ch. 5. from 1. to 10. SECT XCVII UPon the fourteenth day of this first month in the evening the Israelites celebrated their first Passover * Which was likewise intermitted in the Wilderness saving only the second year see Numb 9.1 2. in the Land of Canaan and on the morrow after did eat both unleavened Cakes of the old Corn and parched Corn of the new even the very same day whereon the Sheaf of the first-fruits of their Harvest was offered to the Lord after the offering whereof they might lawfully eat of the new Corn and not till then And Manna ceased the very day after they began to eat of the Fruits of the Land so that after that they saw it no more By which it was evident to them that Manna came not all that time they had injoyed it from any natural Cause in the Clouds but was provided for them in an extraordinary way by the Almighty Power of God Josh Ch. 5. vers 10 11 12. SECT XCVIII JOshua now approaching nearer to Jericho possibly to observe the Country about it and to contrive how he might best assail it and perhaps retiring a little alone to pray unto the Lord for direction in this matter on a sudden he beheld a man standing over against him with his Sword drawn in his hand Joshua went to him and said Art thou for us or for our Adversaries The man said Nay but as a Captain of the Host of the Lord am I come unto thee Then Joshua fell on his face to the Earth and worshipping him said What saith my Lord to his Servant And he said Loose thy shooe from off thy foot for the place whereon thou standest his holy and Joshua did so This Captain of the Lords Host was not Gabriel or any other created Angel but Michael the Arch-Angel Jude v. 9. the great Prince of Gods people Dan. 10.21 12.1 the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 Christ the eternal Son of God who appeared here and sundry other times in the shape of a man as a foregoing Presage and pre-signification of his future Incarnation and this appeareth by Joshua's adoring him as the Lord Jehovah Ch. 6.2 and his acceptance of it which a created Angel would have refused Rev. 19.10 and by his commanding Joshua to put off his shoes because the place was holy like to that Exod. 3.5 not that the place was capable of any inherent holiness in it self but hallowed by Gods holy presence in it and in relation to that only to be so esteemed and which ceased to be so when his appearance was withdrawn from it This Captain instructs Joshua about the manner of besieging and conquering Jericho He commands him for six * Thus God loves to try the saith and patience of his people to see whither they will wait for the accomplishment of his Promises when they are not presently fulfilled days together to march his Army round about the City that the Priests should carry the Ark about it and seven Priests with Trumpets of Rams-horns should blow before it and on the seventh day to do it seven several times At the last of which when the Priests blew with a long blast all the people should give a great shout at which the Walls of Jericho should fall down and so the Israelites should enter into it and destroy it Joshua having received these Directions from the Lord acquaints the people with them who believed the Lord would work this Miracle for them as he had newly divided the waters of Jordan and therefore the Apostle says Heb. 11.30 By Faith the walls of Jericho fell down Joshua tells them That the Lord would give the City into their hands but it should be accursed or devoted †See Levit. 27.28 even it and all that was therein to the Lord except Rahab and her Family who hid the Spies that is shall be offered to divine Justice as a kind of First-fruits thereby intimating that the whole Land was his but that he was pleased to give it them He tells them All the Silver and Gold and Vessels of Brass and Iron were to be consecrated to the Lord and brought into his Treasury
Therefore says he keep your selves all of you from the accursed thing Take none of the accursed banned things to your own use lest you bring a Curse upon your selves and upon the Camp of Israel thereby Joshua having given the people these Instructions he gave order to the Army to march round about the City seven days in the manner that was prescribed the Sabbath-day being one of them and that by Command of him who is Lord of the Sabbath The armed-men marched before the Ark and the remainder of the people that were in the Rear not armed followed after and thus they did six days on the seventh day they rose early and compassed the City after the same manner seven times and at the seventh time when the Priests that blew with the Trumpets made a long blast Joshua bad them shout for the Lord had given them the City The people hereupon gave a great shout and the wall of the City fell down flat viz. all that part of it over against which the Israelites in a long train marched and so all the armed men went up every man right from the place where they were and entred in at the breach into the City And they utterly destroyed all that was in the City Men Women young and old and the Oxen and Asses and Sheep and what ever they met with excepting Rahab and her Family whom Joshua sent the two Spies unto whom she had preserved to bring them forth and to leave them without the Camp till they were cleansed from their former pollutions according to the Law Numb 31.19 and were instructed in the Israelites Religion and admitted into the Congregation and so they and their Posterity continued among the Israelites and Rahab was afterwards married to Salmon a Prince of the Tribe of Judah one of Christs Progenitors Matth. 1.5 Luke 3.32 Then they burnt the City with fire and all that was therein excepting only the Silver and Gold and Iron and Brass which were reserved to be put into the Treasury of the House of the Lord none of them offering to meddle with one jot of the Spoil save only Achan of whom more presently In the judgment of reason one would have thought it must needs be grievous to the Israelites to destroy so brave a City and so goodly Houses wherein they might so conveniently have setled themselves and the Prey and Spoil of so fair and rich a City whereby they might have so greatly inriched themselves The more remarkable therefore and commendable was their ready Obedience herein to Gods Commands And Joshua by a special Inspiration of the Holy Ghost adjured them not to go about to build that City again and pronounced a Curse upon that man that by rebuilding it should as it were endeavour to blot out the memorial of this miraculous Work of God in giving this Idolatrous City after so strange a manner into their hands Whosoever shall go about to do it says He he shall lay the Foundation thereof in his First-born and in his youngest Son shall he set up the Gates thereof that is it shall cost him the loss of his Children of the first when he begins it of the other as he goeth forward with the work and of the youngest when he finisheth it and hangeth up the Gates thereof This Curse afterwards fell upon Hiel the Bethelite who in Ahab's Reign built this City again 1 Kings 16.34 This man was very ignorant if he knew not of this Curse but if he did know of it he was very audacious and impudently profane in not regarding it But though he was in his own particular severely punish'd for thus transgressing Gods Command and neglecting this Curse yet the City being rebuilt it was afterward allowed for a fit Habitation even for good men to lodge in as Elijah and Elisha 2 Kings 2.4 18. yea our Saviour himself did honour this City with his presence and Miracles Luke 19.1 5. Josh Ch. 5. from 13. to the end Josh Ch. 6. whole Chapter SECT XCIX JOshua now sent Spies to Ai not to go into it as those sent to Jericho did but to bring him Intelligence in what posture the City and Country thereabout was The Spies return and make a Report as if the place were of no great strength and might easily be taken by a few of the Israelites and therefore there was no need to carry up the whole Host of Israel against it Let only about two or three thousand say they go up and finite it Joshua accordingly sent up about three thousand against it But the men of Ai couragiously sallying out upon them the Israelites fled presently before them which plainly shewed that God being offended with them for something amiss among them did in an extraordinary manner strike them with fear and astonishment The men of Ai chased them from their City Gates to Shebarim and killed 36 of them in the going down of the Hill so that it seems the Israelies fled at the first On-set and were slain only in flying The whole people of Israel were extreamly terrified and dismaid at this For God seemed to have withdrawn his supporting Hand from them and in such a case the most stout and valiant will soon shrink and be afraid Joshua and the Elders of Israel hereupon rent their Clothes * A Ceremony used in great Mournings see 2 Sam. 1.11 Job 2.12 Ezek. 27.30 put dust upon their Heads and fell to the earth on their faces before the Ark. Neither was it their loss so much as the apprehension of Gods displeasure that so much afflicted them God had promised that no man should stand before them Ch. 1.5 and that they should drive out the Inhabitants out of the Land Their flying therefore now before the Enemy especially in such an inglorious manner was a plain Demonstration that God was offended with them and had withdrawn his gracious presence from them And the smallest Affliction if it be looked upon as an effect of Gods anger is very dreadful Joshua lying thus prostrate before the Lord said Alas O Lord God wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us I wish we had been content to have staid and dwelt on the other side Jordan * Joshua seems here a little too much transported thorow humane frailty O Lord what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their Enemies For the Canaanites the Inhabitants of this Land will hear of it and will inviron us round and cut off our Name and Memorial from off the Earth and what wilt thou then do to thy great Name How wilt thou preserve thy Glory when the Canaanites shall say Thou hadst not power to subdue them nor defend us against them and thou wast not able to give us this Land which thou hadst promised us See Deut. 33.27 Then the Lord spake to Joshua saying Get thee up why liest thou prostrate on thy face
two Cities of this Name One fell to the lot of the Ephraimities and the other to the Benjamites So that it seems there were an upper and nether Beth-horon which were afterwards rebuilt beautified and fortified by Sherah a famous woman of the stock of Ephraim 1 Chron. 7.24 and smote them unto Azehah and Makkedah And as they fled some towards the upper and some towards the nether Beth-horon the Lord cast down great and prodigious Hail-stones upon them which destroyed more of them than the Israelites had killed with the Sword This storm of Hail was miraculous not only in regard of the exceeding greatness of the stones but in that they fell only on the Canaanites and not on the Israelites who pursued after them Joshua being now with his Army in the heat of pursuit and execution of their Enemies and fearing he should want day-light to finish his Work His spirit was excited humbly to beg of God that the Sun and Moon might stand still in the Heavens and give them light till they had done their work The Lord was pleased by some special instinct of his Spirit to assure him that his Request was granted whereupon in the presence of his Souldiers and for their future Encouragement looking up to Heaven He said Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the Valley of Ajalon †This was a Plain into which men descended from Beth-horon v. 11. and in respect of the small distance between it and Gibeon it is by the Prophet who alludeth to this story call'd the Valley of Gibeon Isa 28.21 And accordingly the Sun and Moon stood still and the whole frame of the Heavens by the space of almost an whole day till they had avenged themselves on their Enemies So that both these great Lights beginning and ending their standing still together the Astronomical Account was no way confounded by this stay even as in Musick the Harmony is not in any sort broken if all the Voices rest at the same time and then begin again every man in his own part going on until the end of the Lesson as Laurentius Codomannus observes This is written in the Book of Jasher * Fuit hic liber quasi Sanctorum Catalogus de Heroum Sanctorum gestis-scriptâ—s metrico versu Bonfrerius which seems to be some continued Chronicle of the memorable Acts of Gods Worthies in those times which Book is since lost though 't is mentioned again 2 Sam. 1.18 see also Numb 21.14 And there was no day like this either before it or after it wherein God at the prayer of a man made the Sun and Moon to stand still and made the day twice as long as it should have been Indeed in Hezekiah's time the day was miraculously lengthened by the Suns going backward 2 Kings 20.11 and Isaiah the Prophet cried unto the Lord and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward by which it had gone down in the Dial of Ahaz and yet it was not lengthened so much by far then as it was now to wit not above two hours and an half Neither was that done in such a manner as this was viz. upon Joshua's prayer to God first desiring it and then commanding in his Name that it should be done see Hab. 3.11 Joshua having the day thus miraculously lengthened out for him and following the Chase those five Kings fled to a Cave in the Country belonging to Makkedah and there hid themselves Joshua being informed thereof commanded that the entrance into the Cave should be rammed up with great stones and a Guard set upon it but that the rest of the Army should pursue after their Enemies and smite the hindmost of them and not suffer them to get into their fenced Cities lest they should put them to a new trouble For says he God fights for us and hath delivered these our Enemies into our hands therefore let us not by sloth and negligence lose this opportunity of destroying them which he now affordeth us Accordingly Joshua and his Souldiers made that day a great Slaughter of their Enemies so that only a few of them escaped which got into their fenced Cities For though he at present destroyed the Enemy in the Field yet it seems he did not take their fenced Cities till some time after though they are related in this Chapter as taken presently because the Writer of this Book did resolve to give as it were one short Draught of the War Now those whom Joshua had sent forth to pursue the Enemy returned to him in peace that is sound and safe to Makkedah where his Camp was at present And now the Canaanites were very quiet and durst not offer the Israelites the least Disturbance no not so much as a Dog barked against them to allude to that proverbial Speech Exod. 11.7 Then Joshua caused the five Kings to be brought out of the Cave to him and He called for his Captains and chief Commanders and bad them put their feet upon their Necks not in a proud insulting manner but to teach them that they were to shew no mercy to this people and to intimate to them that thus they should tread all their Enemies under their feet Then Joshua commanded that these five Kings should be slain and hanged * Quia Regum stagitia plurimis exemplo nocent ideo acerbiore supplicio merito debebant Expiari Masius on five Trees where they hung till evening and then they took them down and cast them into the Cave where they had been hid and laid great stones in the Caves mouth which remained when this History was written See Josh 8.29 and Psal 91.13 and Psal 149.8 110.1 Joshua 10. from 1. to 27. SECT CIV JOshua like a prudent General pursueth his Victory while the Canaanites were under so great a terrour and consternation upon the defeat of the five Kings and their Armies And therefore now He resolves to set upon their Cities And first He took Makkedah (c) A City in the uttermost Confines of the Tribe of Judah towards the West see Ch. 15.41 and destroyed all the people therein Men Women and Children reserving the Cattel to themselves for a Prey see Ch. 11.14 And he did unto the King thereof as he had done unto the King of Jericho that is He hanged †Hoc non indicat Scriptura ex caeterorum tamen Regum exemplo colligunt eum suspensum fuisse Bonfrerius him From Makkedah he marched the whole Army that was with him to Libnah (d) A City situate in the Tribe of Judah Ch. 15.42 and given to the Priests Ch. 21.13 and the Lord delivered that City also into his hands and he put all to the Sword he found therein and did unto their King as he did unto the King of Makkedah From Libnah he marched to Lachish (e) A strong City in the Confines of Judah restor'd Ch. 15.39 whose King was one of those that made War against Gibeon and besieged it
That if those woody Hills and Mountains were made fit to inhabit and were added to their portion yet there would not be Land enough for them And as for the Canaanites that dwelt in the Valleys and Champion-Countries they were not so easily to be conquered for they were a formidable people and used Iron-Chariots in their Wars which having Hooks and Sythes fastened to them did usually do great Execution in a Fight and mowed down all before them Joshua tells them He could give them no other Answer than he had done They were a great people and had great Power they excelled in number and strength and had no cause to complain that they had but only one lot or that their portion was too straight for them for if their own Sloth Cowardize and Diffidence of Gods Power and Providence did not hinder them they might inlarge it when they would If they were not wanting to themselves they would find the portion allotted to them was more than one lot for if they took the course he prescribed them the mountainous Country would be theirs they might plant it and possess it from one end to the other and all the adjacent Vallies and Champion-Country would be theirs also seeing if they did with Courage and Faith in God attempt to gain it God would surely enable them to drive out the Canaanites notwithstanding all their strength and the advantage they had by their Iron-Chariots Thus we see how uprightly Joshua carried himself in this matter being no ways partial to his own Tribe the Tribe of Ephraim nor to that of Manasseh so nearly allied to him Joshua 14.1 to 6. Ch. 15. from 1. to 13. and from 20. to 63. Ch. 16. from 1. to 10. Ch. 17. from 1. to 12. from vers 14. to the end SECT CX WE return now to the Tribe of Judah whose lot as we have shewn falling to them in the richest and best part of Canaan an eminent Person of this Tribe namely Caleb descended of Kenaz 1 Chron. 4.13 15. attended with the chief Men and Elders of Judah made his Address to Joshua and spake to him after this manner Thou maist remember the thing that the Lord spake to Moses the Man of God at Kadesh-Barnea concerning thee and me when we returned thither from searching the Land namely that we only of all those that were above twenty years old at that time should see this good Land Numb 14.30 I was forty years old when I was sent by Moses to spy out the Land (p) The Israelites after this wandring 38 years in the Wilderness this must needs be the seventh year since they came into Canaan and I brought him word again as it was in my heart I told him faithfully what I thought of the Land and did neither for fear nor favour of any man speak otherwise than I thought in my Conscience My Brethren that went up with me viz. ten of them made the hearts of the people melt and faint within them by telling them of the invincible strength of the Canaanites but I wholly followed the Lord my God as thou also didst and shewed my Obedience to him faithfully and perswaded the people without fear to enter into the Land resting upon the Promises and powerful Assistance of the Almighty And Moses sware to me on that day to wit by the motion and direction of God saying Surely the Land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine Inheritance and thy Childrens for ever namely some special part of it and particularly that wherein Hebron (q) And this place of the Land was given him rather than any other because when the other Spies had seen those Giants the Anakims Numb 13.23 near Hebron and had thereupon discouraged the people Caleb resolutely opposed these his faint-hearted Brethren and when they objected the invincible strength of the place and people He encouraged the Israelites and told them they might with God's help easily vanquish them And hereupon it seems there was some particular promise made to him concerning this Inheritance Josh 15.13 is situate because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God Thus Moses sware to me And now behold the Lord hath kept me alive these forty and five years since He spake this word unto Moses so that I am now fourscore and five years old and yet I am as strong this day as I was on the day Moses sent me As my strength was then so is it now both for War or any other business Thus the Lord hath wonderfully preserv'd my life and strength and reserv'd me as it were to enjoy that portion of Land which was then promised me Give me therefore I pray thee this mountainous Country where Hebron and Debir are situate and if the Lord will please to be with me as I trust He will I make no doubt but that I shall be able to drive out these Anakims and get this portion for an Inheritance to me and my Children as the Lord graciously promised me Joshua readily granted his Request and blessing him gave him Hebron for an Inheritance that is the Country and Territory in which Hebron and Debir were situate with the Towns belonging to them It is plain that Hebron and Debir were taken by Joshua and the Israelites in their Expedition against those five Kings that had joyned their Forces together to besiege Gibeon as we may see Ch. 10.36 37 38. He then took Hebron and cut off many of the Anakims from the Mountains about it but in process of time the Israelites as it seems not leaving Garrisons in those Towns the Inhabitants that got away and especially the remaining Anakims did again sieze upon Hebron and repossess it Wherefore Joshua would not permit Caleb alone without the assistance of some of his own Tribe to go up and assault it but he himself went with his Army and took it and he utterly destroyed the Anakims and their Fortresses and cleared the Country of them saving only that there remained some of them in Gaza Gath and Ashdod Cities of the Philistines There these Giants remained many years after For Goliah was of Gath 1 Sam. 17.14 and those four huge Giants mentioned 2 Sam. 21.16 c. were all of the Philistines Joshua having taken Hebron gave it to Caleb namely the Land and Villages thereunto adjoyning reserving the City it self and the Suburbs thereof for the Priests and to be a City of Refuge Josh 21.11 12. Hebron being thus retaken 't is probable Joshua sent a great Brigade of his Army under the Command of Caleb who had been very active with the assistance of those of his own Tribe as it seems before in slaying the three Sons of Anak Sheshai Ahiman and Talmai and driving their Adherents out of the Coasts of Hebron to take in Debir where He to excite the valour of his Souldiers promised to give his consent * See Judges 1.12 We cannot hence infer that he might lawfully force upon his Daughter what Husband he
was given to Phineas his Son with whom 't is probable his Father lived For though the Priests had their Cities by lot in other Tribes namely Judah Simeon and Benjamin see Ch. 21.4 yet that the High Priest might be near to Joshua the Governour who dwelt in Mount Ephraim and that he might enquire of the Lord for him upon any special occasion and that he might be near to the Tabernacle which at this time was in Shiloh 't is like Eleazar (y) Donarunt forsan hunc locum honorarium Eleazaro ut Joshuae contiguus habitaret qui tamen est a Filio cognominatus in posterum Anonym in loc here lived and was now here buried Josh Ch. 24. whole Chapter SECT CXXII WE are now come to the Book of Judges The Book of Iudges which comprehends an History of the Common-wealth of Israel from the death of Joshua to the days of Eli containing the space of 299 years during which time they lived under the Government of certain Judges whom God successively and extraordinarily raised up and endowed with a Spirit of Wisdom and Courage to Rule over them as His Deputies and Vicegerents There are twelve of these mentioned in this Book viz. 1. Othniel whose Government from the death of Joshua is reckoned to be 40 years 2. Ehud 80 3. Deborath 40 4. Gideon 40 5. Abimelech 3 6. Thola 23 7. Jair 22 8. Jephtha 6 9. Ibzan 7 10. Elon 10 11. Abdon 8 12. Sampson 20 299 Within which space of time we are to comprehend the Six Oppressions of the Israelites mentioned in this Book and not to reckon them apart but as included within the years of the Judges and the Rest of the Land viz. Under Cushan 8 years Eglon 18 Jabin 20 Midian 7 Ammonites 18 Philistines 20 To the twelve Judges before-mentioned Eli and Samuel succeeded whose Acts are not here set down but in the First Book of Samuel Now there being 480 to be reckoned from the coming of the Israelites out of Egypt to the building of Solomon's Temple 1 Kings 6.1 we may compute them thus 40 years spent in the Wilderness 17 in Joshua's Government 299 in the times of the twelve Judges 40 in Eli's time 40 in Samuel and Saul's 40 in David's 4 in Solomon's in the Fourth Year of whose Reign the Foundation of the Temple was laid 480 As to the Pen-man of this Book of Judges 't is very uncertain who it was But it seems to be gathered by some Prophet of God out of the Publick Records and Registers that were kept of their Affairs Some think Samuel was the Compiler of it SECT CXXIII JOshua being now dead and having a little before his death encouraged the people to expel the Canaanites that remained out of the Land though they had no man at present chosen of God and set over them to Command them in chief as Moses and Joshua did and finding that it was fit for them to go on with the War they assembled together as it seems at Shiloh to consult about this matter And because the success of their first Attempts would be of great consequence either to encourage or dishearten their Enemies they thought fit that Phineas the High Priest should enquire of the Lord for them by Vrim and Thummim which of their Tribes should first begin and set upon the Canaanites that still remained among them and the Lord appointed that the Tribe of Judah the Royal Tribe and the strongest and most populous of them all should begin the War and first clear his portion of the Enemy Caleb the Son of Jephunneh is chosen General for the Tribe and the Simeonites who had their lot within theirs being invited to joyn with them they readily agreed to it the Tribe of Judah promising to assist them afterwards in clearing their lot In this Expedition they took the City of Bezek * Bezek a City in the Tribe of Judah not far from Jerusalem and after they had taken it in the pursuit when the King thereof with many of his people fled to save his life they killed ten thousand men They also took their King Adonibezek and cut off his Thumbs and his great Toes having as it seems when they took the City found some of those poor Captive Kings that had been thus inhumanely used by him or else had heard of the Tyranny he had exercised upon them in that kind and therefore thought fit according to the Law of Retaliation Exod. 21.24 to serve him after the same manner Adonibezek could not but acknowledge the justice of God upon him herein For says He threescore and ten Kings (z) Reguli diversarum urbium Ante Ninum teste Justino quisque Rex terminis civitatis suae contentus erat Petty Kings of particular Cities not that he had so many at once under this base slavery but in the whole course of his life some after others 't is like he did it in a base sporting cruelty or else thereby to unfit them for War unde homines viles defides Italis Gallis Poltroni vocantur id est pollice trunci having their Thumbs and great Toes cut off gathered their meat under my Table as I have done to them so God hath requited me Then the men of Judah carried this great Tyrant and shewed him before Jerusalem to strike the greater terrour into the Jebusites and there they killed him and then sacked and burnt that City viz. that part of it which was in their Tribe For though the former King of it had been slain in the Field Josh 10. yet was not the City taken nor it nor any other City fired in Joshua's time but only Jericho Ai and Hazor and therefore the eighth verse should be read And the Children of Judah warred against Jerusalem and took it and smote it c. not as if it had been taken before Judges 1. from 1. to 9. * For these Verses from v. 9. to 16. see Sect. 108. because the Author of this History was here to relate the memorable Exploits that were done by the men of Judah therefore together with those noble Acts which they did after the death of Joshua He repeats also those which were done by them whilst Joshua lived under the command of Caleb both against Hebron and Debir that He might set forth the glory of this Tribe more fully SECT CXXIV JEthro's Family call'd Kenites that had come up with Joshua and Israel into the Land of Canaan and dwelt in their Tents which was ever their way of living about Jericho the City of Palm-Trees among the people of the Tribe of Judah and Judah having now cleared his portion in so good a measure that they began to spread into new Plantations These Kenites went along with them and setled themselves with them in the South upon the Coasts of the Amalekites and so in Saul's time were mingled among them see 1 Sam. 15.6 These Kenites were the root of the Rechabites of whom more is
give to a Stranger and a Traveller as Abraham Lot and Manoah in like Cases did The Angel bids him take the Flesh and unleavened Cakes and to lay them upon the Rock that was hard by and then to pour out the Broth upon them Which being done the Angel with the end of his Staff that was in his hand touched the Flesh and the unleavened Cakes and there arose up fire (y) Here fire comes out of a Rock as water formerly did Exod. 17.6 out of the Rock and immediately consumed them and then He presently vanished out of his sight Thus what Gideon intended for a Feast was miraculously turned by the Angel into a kind of Burnt-Offering or Sacrifice that thereby his Faith might be strengthened and that he might be assured that the Service God called him to should be accepted and that he should have good Success in it Gideon perceiving now that it was an Angel that had talked with him both by his miraculous consuming the Provisions he had brought as also by his sudden vanishing out of his sight he was sorely afraid Oh says he because I have seen an Angel of the Lord face to face in that visible form which he assumed I shall surely die In those days it seems it was a receiv'd Opinion among the Jews that if they had seen an Angel * Vetustissimus hic hominum metus ne morte aut male aliquo gravi afficerentur conspecto coelitus aliquo quod indignos se tali spectaculo crederent ut docet Callimachus Grot. it was very perillous to their lives see Judg. 13.22 and Deut. 5.24 26. The Lord seeing Gideon in so great a perplexity about this Vision the next Night comforts him and bids him not be afraid for he should not die Then he Commands him these three things First To take his Fathers young Bullock the second in order of those that were prepared and set apart to be sacrificed to Baal see vers 28. and of seven years old and to offer her in Sacrifice unto the Lord intimating possibly that the Midianites Tyranny that had lasted now seven years should have an end and together with it there should be a suppression of Baal's Worship in the Land 2ly He Commands him to throw down Baal's Altar which his Father had made for his Family and the Inhabitants of Ophrath and to cut down the Grove by it For before Gideon might go to fight against the Midianites the Enemies of God and his people he must first set on foot the Reformation of Religion and the Extirpation of Superstition and Idolatry which had provoked the Lord to Displeasure against them And he must begin at Home viz. with his own Family and Friends 3ly When he had done this He must build an Altar to the Lord in that very place upon the top of the Rock where the Lord had before ordered him to place the Provisions he had brought and given him a sign by causing fire to come out of the Rock and consume them And on this Altar he must offer the Bullock before-mentioned for a Burnt-Offering with the wood of the Grove which he should cut down Gideon having received these Commands took ten of his Servants who it seems were ready to joyn with him in this Enterprize and fearing lest those of his Fathers house or the Inhabitants of the City should hinder or interrupt him in what he had to do he took the advantage of the Night to do it in and setting so many hands at work the business was done before any of the City knew it to make Opposition or Resistance And having built an Altar to the Lord and sacrificed (z) Here Gods special Command was a sufficient warrant for what Gideon did though otherwise it was not lawful for any but a Priest to offer Sacrifice or to do it any where but in the Tabernacle the Bullock thereon as he was commanded he called it Jehovah-Shalom as if he should have said The Lord send peace which Name continued when this History was written The people of the City understanding next morning that Baal's Altar was thrown down and his Grove also cut down and the second Bullock offered upon a new Altar built on the Rock they inquired who had done these strange things It was told them That Gideon had done them They hereupon run violently to Joash requiring him to bring forth his Son that he may be put to death for casting down the Altar and Grove of Baal And this they require before they heard what he could say for himself so unreasonable are men when transported with an Idolatrous Rage Joash though it seems before he had been himself a Worshipper of Baal yet now his mind being extraordinarily changed possibly upon Gideon's acquainting him with the Vision he had seen He resolutely opposes them What says he will ye dare to plead for Baal will ye go about to save him For my part he that will plead for Baal let him be put to death and that presently without any further delay I wonder what aileth you If Baal be a god let him plead for himself and revenge the wrong that is done to him in throwing down his Altar but if he be not he is not worthy to be defended by you who is unable either to defend you or himself Having said these things in memory of that Heroick Fact done by Gideon and in honour of Him Joash that day call'd Him Jerubbaal saying Let Baal plead against him if he can Then the Midianites and the Amalekites and their Confederates came over Jordan into Canaan and pitched in the Valley of Jezreel in the Tribe of Manasseh not far from Ophrah where Gideon dwelt And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and acting him above himself he blew a Trumpet and Abiezer that is those of his own Family gathered themselves unto Him and he sent Messengers throughout the Tribe of Manasseh Asher Zebulun and Naphtali viz. to all the Neighbouring-Tribes excepting Ephraim which occasioned afterwards a great Quarrel between them as we shall see Chap. 8. and many of those Tribes came and joyned themselves with the Forces he had got together Gideon being now shortly to engage in battel against the Midianites He desires to be further assur'd of God's Mind as to the event of the Fight for the confirmation of his own Faith and for the Encouragement of his Followers For though the Apostle Heb. 11.32 commendeth him for his Faith yet he did not attain to the strength of it all at once but by degrees as he was more and more confirm'd by God In the mean time he needed all these helps to support him against his Doubts and Faintings Gideon therefore prays unto the Lord and beseeches him that if he intended to save Israel by his hand He would please to give him this sign thereof He would put a Fleece of Wool in the Floor and if in the morning there were dew on the Fleece only and
convinced that the keeping of the Ark among them was the true cause of their present calamities they resolved to send it back and thereupon called for their Priests and Diviners to advise them in what manner they should do it that they might appease the wrath of the God of Israel and that he might heal their land and remove their plagues The Priests advise them that if they did resolve to send it back they should not send it without some gift or present or trespass-offering because they had trespassed against the God of Israel by carrying away his Ark captive and had not given it that honour and respect that was due to it And then say they ye shall be healed if his hand has been upon you by reason of your detaining his Ark but if it were upon you for any other cause it will be upon you still after the Ark is sent home Thus the alwise-Providence of God causeth these Idolatrous Priests who were enemies to him and his true Worship to give such counsel as tended to his honour and the shame of their Idols and false worship The Philistines ask their Priests what Trespass-offering they should send They answer five golden Emerods and five golden Mice according to the number of the Princes of the Philistines and the five principal Cities with their villages that were under their command For one and the same plague was on them all see v. 17 18. even on all the land of the Philistines which extendeth unto the great stone of Abel that is mourning see v. 19. so called from the peoples great lamentation for the slaughter God made among them upon an occasion which we shall speak of afterwards By these presents they acknowledged that the God of Israel brought upon them those plagues of the Emerods and Mice for their detaining his Ark and so by them they gave glory to his great name see Josh 7.19 'T is possible Satan might instigate these Diviners to send such absurd and ridiculous gifts as these with the Ark in contempt of God but if it were so that which Satan intended as a dishonour the Lord by his over-ruling Providence so disposed of as tended to his glory seeing the Philistines themselves were made to send into the land of Israel such things which would there remain as perpetual Monuments and Memorials of those shameful punishments wherewith God had humbled them However this is the course these Priests advise them to take at this time and peradventure say they God will hereupon lighten his hand from off you and from off your Gods so that it seems not only Dagon but several other of their Idol-gods were thrown down and broken to pieces by a secret hand of God in all their Cities whither the Ark was brought as 't is probable the like was formerly done in Egypt see Exod. 12.12 and Numb 33.4 But though many of the Philistines were for sending back the Ark presently yet it seems some of them were of a contrary judgment and stiffly opposed it wherefore the Priests blamed them for thus hardning their hearts against the means which God had afforded them to convince them of their sin why will you say they retain the Ark after you have suffered such great and grievous punishments by it herein resembling Pharaoh and the Egyptians who held the people of Israel in cruel bondage notwithstanding Gods hand was so heavy upon them till at last going on in their sin their whole Army was drown'd in the Sea If you would avoid the like heavy Judgments do not imitate them in their sin Now therefore take our advice make a new Cart which hath never yet been put to any common use and take two young heifers on which there hath come no yoke and fastning the Cart to them shut up their Calves at home from them and take the Ark and put it into the Cart and put those Jewels of Gold viz. those Golden Images of Emerods and Mice which ye return for a Trespass-offering in a little Coffer by the side thereof and send it away that it may go and by this experiment ye shall discern whither the God of Israel hath inflicted these punishments upon us or no. If these young heifers untamed and untrained quietly bear the yoke and carry the Ark directly in the way that leadeth to Bethshemesh a City belonging to the Priests †Josh 21.16 of Judah and if the kine do carry the Ark thitherward not offering to go out of the way or to return to their sucking Calves shut up at home it will then be evident that their natural love and affection to their young ones is restrained by a Supernatural power and that the kine would never have done it if Gods hand had not been in the business and so we may conclude that it was he that smote us whilst we kept the Ark. But if things happen otherwise then we may conclude that it was not his hand that smote us but it was only a chance that happened to us The Philistines agree to do as their Priests directed them and all things being prepar'd the Kine went directly to Bethshemesh as if they had been sent thither by God to deliver the Ark into their hands to whom it belonged to take care of it But yet by a natural instinct they sometimes lowed after their Calves left behind them but notwithstanding went on directly in the way towards Bethshemesh not turning to the right hand or left into any cross or by-ways being moved to go on with the Cart and to carry the Ark thither by the all-powerful Providence of God And the Lords of the Philistines went after them unto the borders of Bethshemesh to observe the issue of this experiment and then returned home v. 16. The men of Bethshemesh were at this time reaping their Wheat-harvest * Wheat-harvest in that Country used to be in our May at the Feast of Pentecost Lev. 23.16 whence we may gather that the Ark was taken about November before seeing it was seven months in the custody of the Philistines but lift up their eyes to their great astonishment and joy they saw the Ark coming towards them and the Cart came into the Field of Joshua a Bethshemite and stood there where there was a great stone and the Priests who were of the Tribe of Levi came and took down the Ark of the Lord and the Coffer that was with it and set them on the great stone and they clave the wood of the Cart and offered the Kine as a Burnt-offering to the Lord. 'T is true the Law did command that only males should be offered in Burnt-offerings Levit. 1.3 but this seems to be an extraordinary act of devotion whereunto the Priests were led by reasons grounded upon this strange and extraordinary work which God had wrought and perhaps by a special instinct of his Spirit and is not therefore to be judged of according to the rules of ordinary Burnt-offerings They considered
possibly that these Kine had been given up by the Philistines to the service of the Lord to bring home the Ark and having been imployed in so sacred a service it was not fit they should be imployed to any other use and therefore they resolved by this way of an extraordinary Burnt-offering to give them up to the Lord. And besides this Burnt-offering of the Kine the men of Bethshemesh brought their own Oblations to the Priests who offered Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings to the Lord that day for them as an expression of their thankfulness to God for the return of the Ark. But it seems some of the men of Bethshemesh were so presumptuous as to open the Ark and to look into it whereas it was not lawful for any but the Priests no not for the Levites themselves who carried it to look upon it bare and uncovered see Numb 4.20 yet it seems these bold Bethshemites not only took liberty without any fear or reverence to gaze and stare upon it but proceeded further even to look into it possibly to see whether the Philistines had taken any thing out of it or put any thing into it which they should not have done but only the Priests Hereupon God smote seventy (a) v. 19. Textus sic se habet percussit de populo 70 viros 50 millia virorum i. e. percussit de populo in quo erant viri 50 mille viros 70. Syr. Ar. legunt 5 millia 70 viros Sic pro chamishim legunt duntaxat chamish q. d. percussit de populo Bethshemitico in quo erant 5 mille viros 70. ut sensus sit Deum pro indulgentia sua noluisse in omnes reos animadvertere sed in partem tantum eorum Ergo supplenda est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ante 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reddenda si sequamur Syr. Ar. quinque mille Quis enim credaâ— ex oppido non admodum copioso 50 millia mortuos esse plurimos relictos qui eorum funera lugerent Secundum aliquoâ— sensus loci est illos 70 viros tales fuisse ut a quipararentur 50 millibus de plebeiis vide 2 Sam. 18.3 of them who it seems were most presumptuous though there were many thousands of them that had adventured to look upon it uncovered He smote of the people the Text says that were fifty thousand or as the Syriack and Arabick read it five thousand †These were not all probably the inhabitants of Bethshemesh but many of them such as â—â—ooked from the neighbouring Countries to see the Ark when returned seventy persons And the Bethshemites bewailed this sad slaughter God had made among them in a complaining manner they said Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God who manifesteth himself from between the Cherubims and to whom shall the Ark which is the sign and pledg of his Presence go up from us Intimating that people would be afraid to entertain it seeing such direful things following of it So they went to the Inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim a City in the Tribe of Judah not far from them to desire them to fetch the Ark thither pretending possibly it was a place of much more safety for it to be in than their City was The men of Kirjath-jearim were so far from opposing the bringing of the Ark to their City notwithstanding the sad calamity that had befallen so many of the Bethshemites that they themselves fetched it thither and undoubtedly with much joy the Priests of Bethshemesh carrying it as believing that it was not the presence of the Ark among the men of Bethshemesh but their irreverent carriage in gazing upon it or looking into it that was the cause of their misery When they had brought it to their City they placed it in the house of Abinadab a Levite and a man as 't is like of singular holiness whose house was on a hill and possibly fenced in and called Gibeah 2 Sam. 6.3 a place of strength and safety for the Ark to be kept in Having carried it into his house they sanctified Eleazar his Son to keep it that is they chose him to be set apart to this holy imployment to give continual attendance upon the Ark that he might keep others from coming near to pollute or defile it and they caused him to prepare himself for this Sacred charge by washing his garments and other such like Ceremonies of Legal purifying It may seem strange that they did not carry the Ark back to the Tabernacle in Shiloh but it seems the Lord would shew his indignation against the former wickedness of that place by not suffering the Ark to be carried thither again So he forsook the Tabernacle of Shiloh c. Psal 78.60 And the Ark being thus separated from the Tabernacle they continued divided for ever after for 't is said that David prepared a new Tent for it 1 Chron. 15.1 and it remained at Kirjath-jearim twenty years (d) This cannot be meant of the whole time of the Arks remainning at Kirjath-jearim for tween the death of Eli shortly after which the Ark was brought to this place and the beginning of Davids reign when it was removed thence 2 Sam. 6.2 3. there must needs be forty years allowed for the Government of Saul and Samuel Act. 13.21 all which time the Ark continued in Kirjath-jearim unless when it was for a while carried forth into the Camp in the War against the Philistines Ch. 14.18 before the people could be won to that solemn repentance and conversion recited in the following verses But though the Ark was at Kirjath-jearim yet the Tabernacle and publick worship of God was at Shiloh 1 Sam. Ch. 5. wh Ch. Ch. 6. wh Ch. Ch. 7. ver 1 2. SECT CLVII FOR twenty years together after the Ark was removed to Kirjath-jearim the Isralites were grievously oppressed by the Philistines but at length by the exhortation of Samuel and the troubles they had felt they were brought to repentance and lamented after the Lord that is humbling themselves cried and called unto him for help and deliverance The Elders therefore of Israel resorting to Samuel he exhorted them to put away their strange Gods and Goddesses see Judg. 2.13 14. and to prepare and compose their hearts to serve the Lord intirely in a setled course of new obedience and then he doubted not but he would deliver them out of the hands of the Philistines Accordingly they did abandon and cast away their Idols and served the Lord only as his Law required Samuel hereupon summons the whole body of the people to Mizpeh * Situate in the confines of Judah and Benjamin and therefore reckoned among the Cities of both Tribes see Josh 15.38 18.26 that there they might together renew their Covenant with God which they had so shamefully broken and joining together in serious and solemn humiliation they might by fasting and prayer implore mercy and forgiveness from God with a return of his
the plea of an Elder Brother and has Abiathar and Joab on his side if he can strengthen himself by this marriage he will not then fear to shew himself and endeavour to get the Kingdom for himself and then Abiathar and Joab will King it under him Then falling into a passion he said God do so to me and more also and bring upon me greater misery than I dare now mention see Ruth 1.17 if I do not make it appear to all the world that Adonijah hath spoken this word against his own life For as the Lord liveth who hath set me on the Throne of my Father and made me a family and Court according to the dignity of a King as he promised 2 Sam. 7.12 13. Adonijah shall surely this day be put to death So he immediately gave order to Benaiah Captain of his Guard to fall upon him and kill him which accordingly he did * Thus what Nathan threatned against David 2 Sam. 12.10 viz. that the sword should not depart from his house was fully verified Then sending for Abiathar he told him He was worthy to be put to death also for thus joining with Adonijah in this conspiracy but says he I will not at this time put thee to death because thou didst bear the Ark of God before my Father David and hast been a great sharer with him in all his afflictions and sufferings therefore get thee to Anathoth a City in the Tribe of Benjamin which with the fields about it belongs to the Priests and there live a private life and meddle no more with the Priesthood or Civil affairs And thus Solomon by thrusting out Abiathar from his office and placing Zadok in his room fulfilled the word of the Lord which he spake concerning Eli 1 Sam. 2.31 when the Tabernacle was at Shiloh and concerning Phineas Numb 25.13 These things being thus transacted tidings came presently to Joab that Adonijah was slain and Abiathar confin'd to Anathoth whereupon being conscious of his own guilt in joining with Adonijah in his aspiring to the Crown though he would not join with Absalom in the like case he fled to the Tabernacle at Gibeon and there laid hold on the horns of the Altar thinking possibly by that means the rather to escape because Adonijah had there not long before found favour 1 King 1.52 Solomon hearing where he was presently sends Benaiah and commands him to kill him there Benaiah coming to the Tabernacle would have perswaded Joab to come forth thence but he utterly refused it saying if he must die he would die there which possibly he spake hoping that by hanging on the horns of the Altar he should save his life and not imagining that they would put him to death there And thus it seems he forgot what God himself had said Exod. 21.14 That he that hath slain a man wilfully shall be taken from the Altar Benaiah being loth of his own head to shed blood at the Altar went back to the King and told him what Joab said The King replied Do unto him as he hath said that is seeing he resolves to die there let him die there and there fall upon him and kill him and then bury him decently for the honour of his place and his former services and so thou wilt take away from me and my fathers house the guilt of that innocent blood which he so barbarously shed and so the Lord will return blood upon his head who fell upon two men more righteous and better than himself for in that cause for which he killed them they were innocent He slew Abner for fear lest David should prefer him above himself And he slew Amasa because my Father had preferred him to the place of General in his room So that they were both innocent and not worthy of death upon that account he shall die therefore that their innocent blood may return upon his head and that the blot and stain of it may remain upon his posterity and accordingly they shall feel the sad effects of it for many generations And I doubt not but that upon the house of David and upon his Throne and upon his family there will be peace and prosperity for a long time from the Lord. For by executing judgment on murderers guilt is taken away from the Magistrate and from the Land Numb 35.33 So Benaiah went up to the Altar at Gibeon and as 't is like dragging Joab from thence he slew him and buried him in his own house in the wilderness and the King made Benaiah General of the Army in his room Then the King called for Shimei and said to him Build thee an house in Jerusalem and dwell there and go not forth thence any whither for it shall be that the day thou goest out and passest over the Brook Kidron (a) Solomon would not permit him to go over Kidron which was the way to Bakurim his own city lest he should raise some sedition there where was his own inheritance 2 Sam. 16.5 Kidron was about a mile from Jerusalem so that Shimei had room enough thou shalt surely die and thy blood shall be upon thine own head thou thy self wilt be the only cause thereof Shimei said unto the King The saying is good thy command is just and equal As my Lord the King hath said so will I do and I do bind my self by a solemn Oath which I now make unto thee in the presence of the Lord That I will not go out of the limits thou hast set me v. 42. But how he performed his Oath and promise we shall see afterwards Sect. 221. 1 King Ch. 2. from v. 12 to 39. SECT CCXV HAdad the Edomite who in the days of David had fled into Egypt and had been there for a great while kindly entertained when he heard that both David and Joab were dead he returned into his own Country and proved afterwards a great enemy to Solomon as we shall see hereafter 1 King Ch. 11. v. 21 22. SECT CCXVI SOlomon now contracts affinity with Pharaoh King of Egypt by marrying his Daughter and he brought her into Sion into the Palace of David intending afterwards to build a stately house for her when he had finished the Temple the wall of Jerusalem and his own Palace And he preferred her before the rest of his wives they being of Nations that were his subjects but she the daughter of a potent King And by this match and affinity with such a great neighbour Prince he designed to secure himself the better against foreign enemies 'T is not said whether she had embraced the Religion of the Israelites when he took her to wife yet considering that he is no where blamed for this marriage 't is most like she forsook her Idolatry and that either before or after her marriage she became a Proselyte and worshipped the true God because Solomon in this marriage is made a type of Christ wooing the Gentiles to make them his Spouse and calling them
is like they had brought the Tabernacle with all the things appertaining to it from Gibeon The Priests * 2 Chron. 5.4 'T is said the Levites took up the Ark because the Priests were also Levites that is of the Tribe of Levi. took up the Ark on their shoulders the Levites according to their several appointed ranks carried the Tabernacle with the boards and curtains and the holy vessels belonging thereunto The King and the Elders walked after in a solemn procession to Mount Moriah (a) The Temple to speak properly was not built on Mount Sion but on Mount Moriah but because the whole City of Jerusalem is usually called Sion and Mount Sion from that Mount that was a chief part of it thence it is that the Temple Gods dwelling place is usually said to have been in Sion where the Temple was built whither being come the Priests carried the Ark into the Oracle or most holy place and set it under the wings of the Golden Cherubims But they drew out the staves of the Ark something from under the wings of the Cherubims that they might be seen in the holy place which was before the Oracle but they were not seen as taken out of the Ark 2 Chron. 5.9 And possibly these staves were the rather thus disposed to remember the people that if they brake Gods Covenant the staves yet remained within the rings of the Ark ready to bear away the Symbol of Gods gracious presence from them The Levites also disposed those things which they carried belonging to the (b) The Tabernacle was carried about in the Wilderness forty years it remained in Gilgal about fourteen years it remain'd in Shiloh till Samuels time 1 Sam. 4.4 it then remain'd in Nob till Saul destroyed that place 1 Sam. 22.19 it was in Gibeon all Davids time from thence it was brought into Zion and from thence into the Treasuries of the Temple Tabernacle into the Treasuries of the Temple there to remain as Sacred things not again to be removed When the Priests had set the Ark in its place and were come out immediately an hundred and twenty of them with silver Trumpers and the Levite-singers viz. Asaph Heman and Jeduthun with their Sons and Brethren being arrayed in white linnen and having Cymbals Psalteries and Harps in their hands stood at the East-end of the Altar and the Trumpets sounding and they playing on their Instruments and lifting up their voices with one consent and making one melodious harmony sang as it seems the 136 Psalm the burden of which is For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Whilst they were thus employed suddenly the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud which was an extraordinary manifestation of the presence of God 2 Chron. 5.14 't is said the glory of God filled the house which intimated that the brightness of his glory was such that if it were not clouded over no mortal eyes could behold it It seems the cloud was such and so amazing that the Priests could not continue to minister in the Sanctuary where the cloud was and by this visible sign of his presence the Lord did sanctifie to himself this place see Exod. 40.34 and shewed his approbation of all that was done Solomon standing upon a Brazen Scaffold made for him in the outward Court right before the door of the Priests Court through which he might look and apprehending this cloud to be a manifestation of Gods gracious presence and acceptance of the house he had built for his service in a rapture of joy he brake out into these words The Lord said he is pleased to dwell in thick darkness Levit. 16.2 and by a cloud he hath usually testified his presence among his people as when he led the Israelites by a cloud Exod. 13.21 In a cloud he appeared at the giving of the Law Exod. 19.16 In a cloud he appeared that covered and filled the Tabernacle as soon as it was reared up by Moses Exod. 40.34 and therefore doubtless in this cloud the Lord doth now appear unto us and testifies his favourable acceptance of our service in building this house for his name Then directing his speech to God he said O Lord I have built a Temple for thee to manifest thy gracious presence in an house not to be removed as the Tabernacle was but a setled place for thee to abide in (c) Officium Templi non est prastare Deo habitationem sed hominibus directionem ad soliâ—m divinum sempiteruâ—â— quod in câ—lo est Cajet to be there ready on all occasions to resolve us in such cases as we shall humbly propound unto thee and to hear such prayers as we shall make unto thee and to grant such blessings as we shall humbly crave of thee and to accept such sacrifices and services as we shall there offer up and present unto thee And O Lord I pray thee accept this house for thine and ever manifest thy gracious presence therein as long as this dispensation we are now under shall last and till the truth of this type shall be exhibited Then the King turned his face to the people standing about him and blessed them and said Blessed and praised be the Lord God of Israel who spake to David my Father that I should build a Temple for his great name and hath by his good hand upon me enabled me to do it The Lord also said since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt I chose no City out of all their Tribes in which I appointed an house to be built that my name might be there in a peculiar manner worshipped But having chosen David to be King over my people it was in his heart to build an house for my name And thereupon I said to him whereas it was in thine heart to build an house to my name I like it well that it was in thine heart to do it Nevertheless thou shalt not build this house for me but thy Son that shall come out of thy loins he shall build it And the Lord hath now graciously performed the word that he spake and I am risen up in my fathers room to sit on the Throne of Israel and have built an house for the Lord as he promised I should do and an abiding place for the Ark wherein are the two Tables of the Law which the Lord gave as a Covenant to his people requiring obedience on their part and promising many blessings on his part to the obedient Then Solomon turned his face towards the Altar of Burnt-offering and towards the most holy place and having stood a while he then kneeled down and spreading forth his hands towards heaven poured forth this Divine Prayer saying O Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee in heaven above or in earth beneath who keepest Covenant and shewest mercy to thy servants that walk before thee in the integrity of their hearts Thou hast kept thy
Son of Nebat for their King But the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin stuck fast to Rehoboam In memorial of this sad rent the Jews afterwards kept a solemn Fast yearly upon the three and twentieth day of the third month called Sivan Rehoboam being come to Jerusalem forthwith raises an Army of an hundred and fourscore thousand valiant men out of Judah and Benjamin to reduce the Ten Tribes back to his subjection but is forbidden to proceed on in that enterprize by the Prophet Shemaiah who told him that the thing was of God who had so ordered it for the punishment of his Fathers defection from him and so the people returned to their own homes But though for the present that design was laid aside yet there followed continual bickerings between the two Kings all their days and the borderers on both sides did continually make inrodes one upon another see Ch. 14.30 Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem and built and fortified fifteen Cities for the defence of Judah and made great warlike provisions and put Garrisons into the Cities and placed Captains and Commanders over them some whereof it seems were his own Sons for 2 Chron. 11.23 't is said He dealt wisely and dispersed all his children thoroughout all the Countries of Judah and Benjamin into every fenced City And in that it must be acknowledged he dealt prudently for in his own Sons he might most securely confide And he stored those Garrisons with plenty of victuals and with wine and oyl and in every Garrison he put Shields and Spears and other Warlike ammunition and made them exceeding strong And many Priests and Levites that were cast off by Jeroboam and his Sons * They probably were placed as Captains in the Cities of Israel as Rehoboam's Sons were in the Cities of Judah who would not suffer them to execute the Priests office in their Cities and many people out of all the Ten Tribes who set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel resorted unto him whereby his Kingdom was much strengthned For three years he and his people walked in the ways of David and in the ways of Solomon viz. his first ways before his fall but afterwards they forsook the Law of the Lord though some particular persons among them undoubtedly remained faithful to God and made themselves High-places Images †So that none of the twelve Tribes at this time continued faithful to God the Ten revolted with Jeroboam and these two with Rehoboam and Groves doing according to all the abominations of the Heathen And they did evil in the sight of the Lord and provoked him to jealousie with their sins insomuch that in none of their Fathers days there was such a general apostasie And it seems there were among them some that practised that abominable sin of Sodomy so that they did after all the abominations of the Heathen whom God cast out before their Fathers As for the Domestick affairs of Rehoboam we find that he took eighteen Wives and sixty Concubines and begat twenty eight Sons and sixty Daughters and dispersed his Sons through all the Countries of Judah and Benjamin into the several fenced Cities and there gave them liberal and Princely allowances and sought out many Wives for them out of Noble Families to strengthen their interest by their alliances Of all his Wives he loved Maachah best the daughter of Absalom who was a great Idolatress see 1 King 15.13 and he made Abijah her Son to be chief ruler over his brethren intending he should succeed him in the Throne In the fifth year of his reign because he had so heinously transgressed against the Lord Shishak King of Egypt invited possibly thereunto by Jeroboam who had lived there and been kindly entertained by him before he was made King came up against him with twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand horsemen and people without number Some of them were Lybians a people in Africa bordering upon Egypt some Suckites otherwise call'd Troglodites a people dwelling in Caves of Rocks and some of them Ethiopians With this great Army invading Judea he took the fenced Cities that were in his way to Jerusalem and then came before that City also The people of Judah being now in great distress Shemaiah the Prophet came to Rehoboam and the Princes * Ver. 6. Princes of Israel that is the Princes of Judah who were Israelites that were gathered together in Jerusalem and spake to them after this manner Thus saith the Lord ye have forsaken me and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak Rehoboam and the Princes upon this humbled themselves and confest their sins and said the Lord is righteous in all the judgments he hath brought upon us Hereupon the Lord spake to Shemaiah again saying They have humbled themselves therefore I will not utterly destroy them but grant them some deliverance and my wrath shall not be poured forth upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak nevertheless they shall be his servants and shall yield to such terms as he shall put upon them that they may know my service and the service of the Kingdoms of the Countries That is that they may know by the hard conditions Shishak will put upon them how much better it had been for them to have served me than by their sins to have brought themselves into bondage to other Nations See Isa 26.13 So Shishak being come before Jerusalem to save the Temple and City from plunder and to regain the Cities he had taken as he came up to them they were forc'd to give him the Treasures †This was the first spoiling of the Temple of the Temple not the holy vessels but such gold and silver and other precious things as were laid up for repairing the Temple and other holy uses as also the Treasures of the Kings house as also the Golden Shields that Solomon had made 1 King 10.16 Instead of these Rehoboam made Shields of Brass and committed them to the hands of the chief of the Guard that kept the door of the Kings house And when the King entred into the house of the Lord the Guard came and fetched them and carried them before him and when he was come back returned them again into his Guard-chamber Thus Rehoboam humbling himself the wrath of God turned from him so as he would not destroy him altogether And after this things began to go well again in Judah for they enjoyed their liberty of serving the true God the benefit of their own Laws and had for the most part peace and prosperity So Rehoboam recovered strength again and repaired and fortified the Cities of his Kingdom yet he did not sincerely set and fix his heart to seek the Lord that is did not endeavour to know him aright to worship him purely to call upon him fervently and to obey him faithfully and in all these to persevere constantly Now the Acts of Rehoboam first and last namely such as were done in his
Lord is with you while ye be with him and that while you walk in his ways he will not fail to bless you If ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you You may see a clear instance of this in the Kingdom of Israel who for above thirty years last past namely since their revolt under Jeroboam have lived without the publick pure worship of God not having his Priests to instruct them nor regarding his Law to direct them but if they would repent and return to God undoubtedly he would be ready to receive them into his favour again For in former times viz. the times of the Judges when the Israelites were in great trouble and under sore oppressions so that there was no peace to him that went out or came in but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of those Countries and Nation was destroyed of Nation and City of City God vexing them with sore adversity yet even then when they did seek to the Lord and turn'd unto him he had mercy upon them and did afford them help and deliverance And so if the ten Tribes that have thus forsaken the Lord would turn to him he would surely have mercy upon them But whatever they do let me advise thee O King and thy subjects to go on courageously with the work of reformation begun by you and assure your selves that God will still be with you to bless you whilst you are for him When Asa heard these words together with the Prophesie of Oded the Father of this Azariah which it seems he declared unto him at this time and added it to his own exhortation Asa took courage and made a more diligent search throughout all his Kingdom and put away the remaining Idols that were found among them and that not only out of the land of Judah and Benjamin but out of the Cities which either his Father Abijam or he himself had taken about Mount Ephraim See 2 Chron. 13.19 17.2 And he renewed and repaired the Altar of the Lord that Solomon had built in the Priests Court which now by continual use was something decayed and he summoned all Judah and Benjamin and such of the ten Tribes as were within his Dominions for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that the Lord so eminently blessed him and on the third month in the fifteenth year of his reign which was the 35th * For Rehoboam reigned 17 years Abijah 3 Asa 15 at this present since the Kingdom of Judah and Israel were divided 2 Chron. 15.19 he and his people offered unto the Lord of the spoils they had gotten seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep and entred into a Covenant to seek the Lord God of their Fathers with all their heart and all their soul and that whosoever should worship any false Gods either publickly or privately should be put to death according to the Law Deut. 17.2 c. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with Trumpets and Cornets sounding And all Judah rejoiced at the Oath for they had sworn with all their heart and sought the Lord with their whole soul and he was found of them and heard their prayers and granted their desires accepted what they did and prospered their endeavours and he gave them rest round about There had been no war betwixt Israel and Judah in Asa's time till the 15th year of his reign * 2 Chron. 15.19 for There was no more war read there had been no war viz. betwixt Israel and Judah till the 15th year of Asa Bellum enim non fuerat usque ad annum trigessimum quintum regni Asae Tremel But now about the sixteenth year of Asa and 36th since the division of the Kingdoms Baasha King of Israel perceiving how potent Asa began to be and how fast the Israelites revolted to him and how they had all entred into a Covenant to serve the Lord he began to arm against them in the fourteenth year of his reign and from this time there was war between Baasha and Asa all their days 1 King 15.16 And Baasha having gotten Ramah which was one of the Cities of Benjamin from the King of Judah fearing the greatness of Asa and the revolt of the Israelites to him he resolved to fortifie it and put a Garrison into it that he might keep his own people from flying to him Asa to divert him from building and fortifying of Ramah takes out the silver and gold that were in the Treasures of the Temple and the Kings house and sent them to Benhadad King of Syria to hire him to break his League with Baasha King of Israel He represents to him that there was a League between Benhadad and him as there had been between their Fathers he desir'd him therefore to break the League he had with the King of Israel and to invade his Country that he might depart from him for he was come down to his very borders Doubtless for Asa to be so much afraid of the Israelites and to rob the Temple and therewith to hire an Infidel to break his Covenant with them and to make war upon them and that soon after God had given him so great a victory over that vast host of the Ethiopians Lubims Arabians and Philistines and had manifested so great a readiness to help him was a great sin Benhadad accordingly having received this present not regarding his faith or league made with the Israelites forthwith invaded and took many of their Cities Baasha upon this left off fortifying Ramah and went against Benhadad to defend his own Country †And afterwards when he had secured his own land he went and dwelt at Tirzah In the mean time Asa by Proclamation gathered together all that were able in Judah to go up to Ramah to demolish it and the men of Judah and Benjamin went up thither and fetched away the timber and stones that Baasha had provided to build and fortifie it with and Asa built therewith Geba and Mizpah * See Jer. 41.9 where we read of a pit that Asa had in Mizpah that continued unto the Captivity two Cities in the Tribe of Benjamin Hanani the Seer father of the Prophet Jehu 1 King 16. came hereupon to Asa and said to him Thou hast done ill to distrust the Lord and to relye on the King of Syria to deliver thee from Baasha For hadst thou suffered Benhadad to continue firm to his league with Baasha they both would have invaded thy land and thou shouldst have overcome them both as thou didst the great Army of the Ethiopians whereas now by making an agreement with Benhadad thou hast cut off that advantage from thy self and so his host is escaped out of thy hands Thou maist remember how God gave thee victory over that vast Army of the Ethiopians because thou didst relye on him For the eyes of the Lord
Idolatrous Ahab and curs'd Jezabel But O how often and how easily does interest of State and worldly policy make Religion truckle under it And the Kingdom felt the sad effects of this match not long after About the 17th year of his reign and the 22th of Ahab making his Son Jehoram Viceroy in his absence with a great train and as it seems accompanied with some troops of Souldiers he went down to Samaria to visit Ahab None of his Predecessors had ever done so before and for Jehoshaphat a worshipper of the true God to go down to such an Idolater as Ahab was may seem very strange But being come to Samaria Ahab entertained him and his followers very magnificently and killed sheep and oxen in abundance to feast them But had not the Lord been more merciful to Jehoshaphat than he was wise for himself he had paid dear for his entertainment for when he was there Ahab perswaded him to go up with him to fight against the Syrians and to take in Ramoth-Gilead where Jehoshaphat was in great danger and Ahab was killed as we may see more particularly in the life of Ahab When Jehoshaphat returned home the Prophet Jehu the Son of Hanani who reproved Asa 1 Chron. 16.7 met him and said to him Shouldst thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord was it for thee to join thy self in such a strict league of friendship with such an Idolatrous wretch such an enemy to God and all goodness as Ahab was Therefore is wrath * Jehoshaphat soon felt the effects of this denunciation in that invasion of the Moabites and Ammonites which followed after 1 Chro. 20.1 and in the dissention that began at present among his own sons which was the seed of that horrible slaughter which his Eldest Son afterwards made of them 1 Chron. 21.4 coming upon thee from the Lord that is God is highly displeased with thee and hath determined to pour out his displeasure upon thee Nevertheless there are good things found in thee in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land and hast prepared thine heart to seek the Lord therefore the Lord will deal gently with thee and even in judgment remember mercy Jehoshaphat being awakened with this reproof of the Prophet he went out and visited his Kingdom from Beersheba the South border to Mount Ephraim the North border thereof and reduced those who he understood had revolted from the Lord unto Idolatry false worship or wickedness of life and reformed what he found out of order among them He also set up Judges in all the fenced Cities of Judah and said to them Take heed what you do ye judg not for man that is meerly in the name and by the authority of man but for the Lord to whom ye must give account and who is with you in the judgment seeing all ye do and is ready to protect you if you judg uprightly and to punish you if you deal unjustly Wherefore let the fear of the Lord be upon you be afraid to do any thing that may offend him Take heed to your office and execute it justly and as you ought to do For there is no iniquity with the Lord our God neither will he favour it therefore let there be none in you God is no respecter of persons nor will be swayed with outward considerations nor will be bribed to do any thing that is unjust and therefore see that you imitate him therein Jehoshaphat had also an especial care over his great City Jerusalem to keep it in good order And therefore when he and those that attended him returned thither he there set up the high Court or Council call'd the Sanhedrin consisting of Levites Priests and the Elders of the people to which all appeals were to be made from inferiour Courts and to which all causes of difficulty were to be referred So that they were for the judgment of the Lord that is to judge in matters Ecclesiastical concerning which God had determined in his word what should be done and for controversies that is to judge in matters meerly civil And he charged them saying Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord faithfully and with an upright heart whatever cause shall come before you of your brethren between blood and blood that is between blood shed willingly and unwillingly and casually or between Law and commandment statute and judgment that is when each party shall pretend they have the Law on their side and so one shall alledge one Law and another another ye shall rightly interpret the Law to them and warn them that they trespass not against the Lord by wresting the Law to what it never intended If you do otherwise wrath from the Lord will come upon you and your brethren But if you rightly warn and direct the people ye shall not trespass therein either against God or your brethren And behold Amariah the chief Priest is over you in all matters of the Lord that is in all matters Ecclesiastical that concern Religion and the worship of God and Zebadiah the Son of Ishmael a chief ruler of the house of Judah is over you for all the Kings matters that is for all matters of State or controversies or pleas that concern the Crown and the Levites shall be Officers for you and ready to attend you and to carry your orders and directions unto others and to see them executed Lastly let me exhort you to do courageously and assure your selves the Lord shall be with the good and such as are careful and conscientious in the doing of their duties to assist and protect them and to bless their persons and endeavours About the 18th year of his reign there being no King in Edom 1 King 22.47 but only a Deputy set over them by the King of Judah Jehoshaphat took that advantage to build for himself a Fleet at Ezion-Geber which was in Edoms Territories to go to Tarshish and Ophir to fetch Gold Ahaziah the wicked Son of Ahab desired to go sharer with him in that Fleet and that his servants might go along with Jehoshaphats servants 1 King 22.49 At first Jehoshaphat refused it but afterwards as it seems upon Ahaziahs importunity consented to it See 2 Chron. 20.35 36. Thereupon the Prophet Eleazar came to him and reproved him for it and foretold him that his ships should be broken which accordingly so came to pass in the very Port of Ezion-Geber 2 Chron. 20. from v. 25 to the end Sometime after the Moabites and with them probably some of the Syrians and especially of the Edomites that dwelt on mount Seir. See v. 10. gathered together to invade Judea Possibly Jehoshaphat's late aiding Ahab in his wars against Syria gave occasion to this invasion Immediately Jehoshaphat was inform'd that a very formidable and great multitude was coming against him from the other side of the Dead Sea out of Syria * Syria must be here taken in a general and large
the house of Ahab and compelled the people of Judah thereunto by force persecuting such as refused A Letter whilst he was going on in these abominable ways comes to him from Elijah who before his translation saw by the spirit of Prophesie what great wickedness this Jehoram would commit and what punishments the Lord would inflict upon him for it This Letter was written by Elijah * Probabile est Eliam hoc Scriptum commisisse Elisaeo quia certo aliud ei commisit post mortem peragendum nempe ut Hazaeli indicaret ipsum futurum Regem Syriae whilst he lived upon the earth neither need that seem strange seeing Isaiah wrote before hand concerning Cyrus Isa 45.1 and the Prophet that was sent to Jeroboam prophesied of Josiah many years before he was born 1 King 13.2 Elijah having written it committed it either to Elisha or some other of the Prophets and by them it was now sent to Jehoram whose insolent cruelty was such that he would hardly endure the reproof of a living Prophet In that Letter Elijah speaks thus to him Thus saith the Lord God of David thy Father because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat †To degenerate from the example of pious Ancestors is a great provocation thy Father nor the ways of Asa thy Grandfather but hast walked in the ways of the Kings of Israel and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring and commit spiritual fornication like the house of Ahab and hast also slain thy brethren of thy Fathers house which were better than thy self behold with a great plague will the Lord smite thee and will punish thee in thy people and thy children and thy wives and all thy goods and thou shalt have great sickness by a disease of thy bowels who hast had no bowels towards thy own brethren and thou shalt day by day without intermission be tormented with it till thy bowels fall out This was the threatning of Elijah the Prophet against him and we shall now see how it was fulfilled 1. The Edomites who from Davids time had ever been in subjection to the Kingdom of Judah see 2 Sam. 8.14 and had been Tributaries thereunto and had been governed by a Viceroy set over them by them 1 King 22.47 now fell off and revolted from him and made a King over themselves Jehoram to reduce them went over to Zair a City in Idumea and took with him all the Chariots and Horsemen and Souldiers he could provide and he arose by night that he might come upon them suddenly and unexpectedly but the Edomites were so numerous and so well prepared that they compassed his army round about However his Souldiers so manfully stood to it that they put the Edomites to flight and slew many of them and thereupon the Captains of the Edomites Chariots and many of their Souldiers fled to their own houses But though Joram overthrew them at this time yet they retiring into places of advantage persisted resolutely in their revolt and so he was forced to return again into his own land without conquering of them And thus according to the Prophesie of Isaac Gen. 27.40 By thy sword thou shalt live and serve thy Brother and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck They for ever after shook off his yoke 2. Whilst he was endeavouring to reduce the Edomites Libnah a great City within Judah one of the Royal Cities of Canaan Josh 10.29 30. and given to the Priests Josh 21.13 now rebelled against him possibly because he had made such innovations in Religion and forced the people to Idolatry and had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers The revolt of this City was a matter of great moment it being a Frontier City and one of those which the King of Assyria set upon when he came with his huge host to have taken Jerusalem 2 Chron. 32.9 It is much indeed that one City alone should venture upon such an attempt but perhaps the Kings absence whilst he was in Edom and the discontent of the people yea perhaps some correspondence they might have with the Philistines who soon after invaded the land gave them hope of some abettors and how they sped in the conclusion the Scripture no where expresses 3ly God stirred up against him the spirit of the Philistines and Arabians who bordered upon the Ethiopians and had been Tributaries to the Kings of Judah and they ran through the land so far as to come up to Jerusalem and plundered and carried away all the substance they found in the Kings house and carried away all his sons * Here we ought to take notice of the righteous judgment of God against him He slew all his Brethren and all his Sons were slain by the Philistines and Arabians excepting his youngest Ahaziah and he was slain afterwards by Jehu 2 Chron. 22.9 And all the Sons of Ahaziah were slain by their Grandmother Athaliah excepting Joash who was hid from her and afterwards Crowned King And Joash himself was at last slain by his own servants but the youngest call'd Ahaziah †And herein appeared the Divine Providence for the accomplishment of the promise to David whom it seems they could not find and all his wives they could lay their hands on but it seems they unhappily mist Athaliah who remained to usurp the Crown and to be a scourge to the Nation afterwards 4ly After all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease his malady was very tormenting and after two years continuance a long time for a man to lye under such a sharp disease his torment was so great that at last it forced out his very guts and bowels from him and so he died under the heavy hand of God The great sins he had committed against God the great wrongs he had done to his subjects and the great judgments he had brought upon the land turned the hearts of his people from him so that they shewed him little respect when he was dead making no burning for him like the burning made for his Father See 2 Chron. 16.14 And so he departed without being desired or lamented Howbeit they buried him in the City of David but obscurely not in the Sepulchers of his Ancestors the Kings of Judah and without the lamentations and solemnities that had been used at the Funerals of other Kings He reigned eight years four in his Fathers life time and four after which though a short reign in its self yet seem'd undoubtedly long to the poor people that were so ill treated by him All the time of this Kings reign another King of the same name reigned in Israel to wit Joram the Son of Ahab his wives brother 2 King 8. v. from 16 to 25. 2 Chron. 21. wh Ch. The sixth that reign'd in Judah was AHAZIAH AHAZIAH call'd Jehoahaz 2 Chron. 21.17 and Azariah 2 Chron.
way that horses came into the Kings Palace Thus as she was like her mother in sin so she was not much unlike her in her death See 2 King 9.33 Jehojada then appointed Officers for the watch of the Lords house to prevent any danger that might happen upon this sudden change and the rites of Coronation being finished and the aforesaid Covenants made and Athaliah slain Jehoiada and the Rulers and Officers brought the King down to his Royal Palace and set him upon his Throne and no disturbance followed thereupon but the City was quiet and the people rejoiced Joash was seven years old when he was Crowned and reigned forty years Jehoiada now bestirs himself to rectifie things that had been disordered in Athaliah's reign and first he restores the true worship of God and takes care to have the services of the Temple duly performed Then the people went into the house of Baal and brake it down with its Altars and Images which by the encouragement of Athaliah had been set up and they slew Mattan the Priest of Baal even before the Altars to manifest their greater detestation of that Idolatry and possibly in imitation of Jehu who had with so much zeal suppressed that Idolatry in Israel Joash when he was grown up took two wives whom Jehoiada chose for him and he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada who ceased not to instruct him in the ways of the Lord. But the high places wherein they worshipped the true God were not taken away For the people having been so long used to offer Sacrifices and burn incense on them it seems Jehoiada durst not advise the King to proceed to a reformation of this evil The Temple at this time was fallen into great decay either by the negligence of former Kings or through the wickness of Athaliah whose Sons had broken up the house of God and had bestowed the dedicate things thereof upon Baalim 2 Chron. 14.7 Joash therefore now takes order for the repair of it And indeed it was fit he should be very careful to uphold the Temple that had been the nursery of his infancy and the best means under God of securing his life and upholding his just title to the Crown In order therefore hereunto he enjoined the Priests carefully to gather all the mony of the dedicated things that is all the money dedicated to the service and repair of the Temple Particularly 1. The money of every one that passeth the account that is the half shekel that they were to pay when they were numbred from twenty years old and upwards Exod. 30.12 13. which is therefore called the collection of Moses the servant of the Lord and of the Congregation of Israel for the Tabernacle of witness * So call'd in regard of the Ark and the Tables of stone in it which contain'd the Covenant between God and his people and was a witness between them laid upon the people when the Tabernacle was building So in a like case 't was thought reasonable that a like course should be taken for the Temple 2ly The money that every one is set at that is the money which any man shall by the Priest be appointed to pay for his redemption when he hath vowed himself to God according to the Law Levit. 27.2 3ly All the money that cometh into any mans heart to bring into the house of the Lord that is which any man shall voluntarily give for the repair of the Temple This threefold collection Joash appointed the Priests to gather from year to year in the several Cities where they dwelt and were well known among the people and with this money he orders them to repair the breaches of the Temple as there was need and to expedite it with all convenient speed But it seems the Priests were negligent herein when therefore in the twenty third year of his reign he saw that nothing considerable was done he supposed that either the Priests had been exceeding remiss in gathering this money or had not faithfully paid in what they had received or at least that the people suspecting they did convert it to their own private use did not pay it so willingly as otherwise they would have done He thereupon took the work out of their hands commanding them to pay in what they had received and appointed another way for the gathering of it And that was this the King by the advice of Jehoiada made a great Chest and bored a hole in the lid of it and set it in the great Court at the entrance of the Priests Court and into this Chest for preventing of all fraud in this business he orders that all the money that was brought in for the repair of the house of the Lord should be put The Priests readily consented to this course being willing to be excused from the care and trouble of collecting this money Whereupon a Proclamation was issued out through the whole Kingdom that every man should bring in to this Chest his appointed contribution or voluntary offering which accordingly was done with much alacrity and willingness and they continued their contributions till all that needed repairing was finished And thus money came in in abundance And when they perceived there was much money in the Chest the Kings Secretary and the High-Priest came and took it out and told the money and put it up in bags and gave it into the hands of the Master-workmen that therewith they might provide materials and pay the inferiour workmen And they had such experience of the honesty and fidelity of these Master-workmen into whose hands they committed the money that they expected no particular account of them how it was laid out And till the Temple was fully repair'd they would not employ any of the money so collected to other uses but when it was fully done and the house of God set into as good state as it was before then these overseers of the work brought in the remaining money and with it they made vessels for the Temple such as were made by Solomon viz. Incense-cups Spoons Censers and other utensils of gold and silver But though these contributions of the people before mentioned were brought into this Chest yet the trespass-mony * That is the money which by the Law those men were to pay by way of satisfaction according to the estimation of the Priests that had any way wronged the Lord in his holy things Levit. 5.15 whether it were done ignorantly or wittingly In both cases satisfaction was to be made and the one of these is call'd trespass-money and the other sin-money and sin-money was not brought into it it being properly the Priests Thus when they had made the Temple fit for the service of God they daily performed such worship therein as was required by the Law and this they did continually all the days of Jehoiada Jehoiada being now very old and full of days having lived an hundred
the Lord therefore was his sin highly aggravated and this brand and black mark set on him This is that King Ahaz viz. that trespassed so heinously against the Lord. When Ahaz had thus made himself a vassal and tributary to the King of Assyria which vassalage his Son soon shook off See 2 King 18.7 he quickly found that he had received more hurt than help from him as the Prophet had before intimated to him Isa 7.20 In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired namely by them beyond the River by the King of Assyria the head and the hair of the feet and it shall also consume the beard For though the King of Assyria to serve his own turn vanquished Damascus yet he impoverish'd Ahaz and did not restore to him any of those Cities which his enemies had taken from him nor did him any other good in recompence of those great treasures which he had given him and perhaps he did otherways distress him As Tiglath-pileser went up against Damascus and took it and slew Rezin as hath been said before so he shortly after as it seems invaded the land of Israel and made that great havock of which we read 2 King 15.29 In the days of Pekah King of Israel came Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria and took Ijon and Abel-beth-Maacah and Junoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee all the land of Naphtali and carried them captive to Assyria See more hereof in the life of Pekah Ahaz towards the latter end of his reign set up a stately Dial which afterwards afforded a miraculous sign to his Son Hezekiah though he himself refus'd to ask a sign In the last year of his reign he set up his Son Hezekiah with him in the Kingdom Ahaz now dying was buried in Jerusalem but not among the Kings he having been so great an Idolater The Prophet Isaiah this year forewarns the Moabites of a great calamity that would befall them within three years after See Isaiah 15.1 Ch. 16.14 2 King 16. wh Ch. 2 Chron. 28. whole Chapter Isai 7. from v. 1 to 17. The 13th that reigned in Judah HEZEKIAH HEZEKIAH being taken by his Father into the Government in the last year of his reign from that time being the latter end of the third year of Hoshea * Though Hoshea was confirmed King in the twelfth year of Ahaz and so is said then to begin to reign in Samaria yet because he reigned then only as Viceroy under the King of Assyria the nine years of his absolute reign are not reckoned till he cast off the Assyrian Yoke and took upon him to reign as absolute King which was it seems two years after viz. in the 14th year of Ahaz and so the third of Hoshea was indeed the first of Hezekiah's reign King of Israel he reigned twenty nine years in Jerusalem His Mother's name was Abi or Abijah the daughter of Zachariah If she was as 't is supposed the daughter of that Zachariah by whom so long as he lived Vzziah was kept in the way of truth 2 Chron. 26.5 we may well think that her piety manifested in this religious education of her Son was a chief means under God that he proved so zealous for the cause of true Religion though his Father was so extreamly wicked He was twenty five years old when he began to reign and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that David his Father had done and removed the high places which neither Jehoshaphat nor any of the good Kings of Judah had done before 2 K. 18. fr. 1 to 4. 2 Chr. 29.1 2. In the first year of his reign in the first month Abib he opened the doors of the Lords house which his Father had caused to be shut up 2 Chron. 28.24 and repaired and adorned them by overlaying them with Gold Then assembling the Priests and Levites together in the East-street * The Street before the entrance to the great gate of the House of the Lord. whom his Father had forced to abide in their Cities and suburbs shutting them out of the house of the Lord he like a pious and prudent Prince spake to them after this manner Hear now ye Priests and Levites and attend unto the words which I shall speak unto you I require you in the first place to sanctifie your selves and to sanctifie the house of the Lord God of your Fathers and to carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place that is to cleanse it of all Idols and all those things which Idolaters used in their worship For our Fathers both mine and yours have trespassed and done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and have forsaken him and have turn'd away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs upon it that is have openly basely and opprobriously forsaken the worship appointed by him in his Temple see Jer. 2.27 and have shut up the doors of the Porch and not suffered the lamps to be lighted in the Temple nor the incense to be burnt neither have they offered the burnt-offerings unto the Lord in the holy place as they should have done therefore the wrath of God was upon Judah and Jerusalem and he hath delivered them up to great trouble even to the astonishment and hissing of strangers as you have seen with your eyes For lo our Fathers have fallen by the sword and our wives sons and daughters have been led into captivity for their great transgressions Now seeing Reformation is a special means to divert the wrath of God it is in my heart to make a Covenant with the Lord God of Israel and thereby to engage my self and my people to a real reformation that so his fierce wrath may turn away from us Wherefore my Sons stir up your selves be not ye negligent for the Lord hath chosen you to stand before him and to burn incense unto him therefore be not wanting to your duties and to perform the ordinances of his house as he requires The King having ended his speech several of the Priests and Levites taking courage thereat sanctified themselves and according to the Kings command which they saw was agreeable to the word of God they came to cleanse the Temple and upon the eighth day of the first month entring in at the Porch they began to cleanse the house of the Lord and spent eight days in cleansing the Holy of Holies and the holy place and the Porch and then spent eight days more in cleansing the Courts appertaining to the house and having brought out all the uncleanness and filthiness and Idolatrous trash they found in the Temple the Levites carried it out and threw it into the brook Kidron Then they came to the King and told him what they had done viz. that they had cleansed the whole house of the Lord and the Altar of Burnt-offering with all the vessels thereto appertaining
and the shew-bread-table with the utensils belonging to it Moreover say they all the holy vessels which Ahaz in his transgression did cut in pieces and cast away we have repaired and renewed and fitted and sanctified for the holy use to which they were appointed Behold they are before the Altar of the Lord and ready to be set in their proper places 2 Chron. 29. from v. 12 to 20. The next morning King Hezekiah called together all the Rulers of the City and went up with them to the house of the Lord where he together with the people by the Ministry of the Priests and Levites offered seven Bullocks seven Rams seven Lambs and seven He-goats as a sin-offering upon the Altar of the Lord to make atonement 1. For the King his counsellors and officers and family 2. For the sins and abominations that were committed in the Temple by Idolatry and false worship 3. For the sins of Judah that is of the whole people And the Priests killed the Bullocks and Rams and sprinkled the blood on the Altar and they brought forth the he-goats before the King and all the congregation and they laid their hands on them thereby acknowledging their sins and that this sacrifice was offer'd up in their stead and the Priests killed them and made reconciliation for the people with their blood For the King commanded that the burnt-offering and the sin-offering should be offered for the whole people that atonement might be made for all that the plaister might be as large as the sore And he took care also to have the praises of the Lord solemnly sung by the Levite-singers and that they should be ready with their Cymbals Psalteries and Harps to do it as David Gad and Nathan being all inspired by God had directed The Levites therefore standing ready with their instruments and the Priests with their Trumpets when the burnt-offering began to be offered then the Song of the Lord began to be sung viz. the 136 Psalm the Trumpets sounding and the Levites singing and playing on their instruments the more to excite their spirits and all this continued till the burnt-offering was offered and then the King and all the people bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord. And the King and his Nobles commanded the Levites that they should sing praise unto the Lord with the words of David and Asaph the Seer which accordingly they did with great gladness of heart bowing also their heads and worshipping Then the King spake to the Priests saying Ye have now consecrated your selves as it were a new to the Lord therefore approach his Altar and bring in the sacrifices and thank-offerings which the people shall be willing to offer The whole congregation being much wrought upon by the Kings words presented their sacrifices and thank-offerings very freely and those that were of a more free and forward spirit offered whole burnt-offerings wherein there was more respect manifested to God than in other sacrifices for in these the offerers themselves had a part but in the other all was consumed on the Altar and yet the number of these burnt-offerings that were now offered was very great viz. seventy bullocks and an hundred rams and two hundred lambs But the other sacrifices of several sorts that were offered viz. peace-offerings and free-will offerings were very numerous viz. six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep But the Priests were too few to slay all the burnt-offerings therefore the Levites did help them * This they did in this particular case it was not their ordinary work till the work was ended and till other Priests had sanctified themselves For the Levites were more forward to sanctifie themselves than the Priests and so there were more of them at this present sanctified than of the Priests Besides the burnt-offerings were very many and the fat of the peace-offerings was to be pulled off and burnt upon the Altar and drink-offerings to be added to every burnt-offering all which required much work which those few Priests were not able to perform at this time Thus the service of the house of the Lord was set in order by good Hezekiah And the King rejoiced and all that were truly pious with him that the Lord had put such a good inclination and zeal into the hearts of the people whereby they were so willing and so readily inclined to this work of reformation And it was evident that the thing was of God because it was done sooner and with more speed than could reasonably have been expected considering how much before under Ahaz they had been corrupted with Idolatry And to have their hearts so soon and so wonderfully changed was an extraordinary work of the Spirit of God 2 Chron. 29. wh Ch. Hezekiah now resolves to have the Passover solemnly celebrated but it could not be kept at the time appointed viz. on the 14th day of the first Month because the purgation of the Temple was not finished until the 16th day of that month neither had the Priests sanctified themselves sufficiently neither were all the males gathered together to Jerusalem according to the Law as they ought to be at that great Festival therefore the King Priests and representative body of the people appointed to keep the Passover on the 14 day of the second month and in order hereunto the King sent to Judah and Benjamin and to all the Israelites that had join'd themselves to them and sent Letters also to the remainder of the ten Tribes that were not carried away by Tiglath-pilesar King of Assyria as many of their brethren were See 2 King 15.29 even to all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba inviting them to come to the house of the Lord to keep the Passover For they had not done it of a long while in such sort as was prescribed So the Posts went out with Letters from the King and his Princes inviting the Israelites to come and keep this solemn Festival at Jerusalem His Letters ran thus Ye children of Israel I exhort you to turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and he will return in grace and mercy to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of Pul and Tiglath-pilesar Kings of Assyria 2 King 15.29 1 Chron. 5.26 And be not like your Fathers and your brethren which trespassed against the Lord who therefore gave them up to desolation as you see at this day Neither be ye stiff-necked as your Fathers were but yield your selves unto the Lord and willingly give up your selves in obedience unto him and enter into his Sanctuary and Temple which he hath consecrated to himself for a place of workship even as long as it shall stand and there appear before him viz. in the Court of the people and serve the Lord your God that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you For if you turn again unto the Lord your brethren and your children that are led away captive shall find compassion from
be taken out of the offerings which were laid up in the Treasuries of the Temple and those being much exhausted by Ahaz and the people being much impoverished by inrodes of enemies Hezekiah for the ease of the people appointed a portion for and towards these sacrifices out of his own revenue He commanded also the people that dwelt at Jerusalem to give to the Priests and Levites the portion and maintenance that by the Law belonged to them that so being freed from distracting worldly cares they might the better attend to their work and might search into and study and meditate on the Law of God and faithfully expound it to the people teaching them to perform the duties therein commanded And the children of Israel in and about Jerusalem when this command was first given brought in abundance of the first-fruits of corn wine and oyl and honey and of the things that grew out of the earth and the tythe of all things that were by the Law injoined And those that dwelt in the Cities of Judah brought in the tythe of oxen and sheep and all other things which were ordained to be set apart from the rest of their goods as being consecrated unto God and given to the Priests and Levites And they brought in so abundantly that they laid them by heaps and they began to make those heaps and to bring in their tythes to the house of the Lord in the third month which was the beginning of their harvest and finished them in the seventh month when they gathered all other fruits of the land and which was counted the last of their harvest And therefore the Feast of Tabernacles which was in that month was called the feast of ingathering in the end of the year Exod. 23.16 When Hezekiah and the Princes came and saw those heaps which were many and great ones they blessed the Lord for stirring up the people to bring in their tythes so chearfully and so plentifully and blessed the people for their forwardness therein Then the King asked the Priests and Levites how it came to pass seeing there were many of them that they had spent no more of the provisions brought in for them Azariah the chief Priest of the house of Zadock made this answer Be Be pleas'd to understand O King that since the people began to bring in their first-fruits and tythes into the house of the Lord we have had enough to eat and have left a great deal besides For God hath so abundantly blessed his people that their offerings have not only yeilded us sufficient provision but this overplus which thou seest here is also left Then the King commanded that they should prepare Chambers and storehouses wherein to lay up what remained for the future and ordered that the tythes and offerings and dedicate things should be laid up in them and appointed Cononiah the Levite and Shimei his brother to be Treasurers and to keep an account of what was brought in and what was delivered out according to the order established 1 Chron. 26.20 Then there are ten set down by name who were overseers under them by the command of the King and the high Priest who had the chief rule over those that belonged to the house of the Lord. And Core who was Porter at the East-gate and six under him had charge to distribute the oblations and tythes to the Priests and Levites and that to all sorts of them as they were set in their several courses both great and small viz. to every one what was sufficient for him And they were to distribute them also to the young ones who were in their Genealogies of males from three years old and upward and to those that were registred in the Genealogies of Priests and Levites from twenty years old and upward who came in their particular courses to do service in the house of the Lord. Nay further they were to distribute them to all their little ones that were registred though under three years and to their wives sons and daughters throughout the whole multitude or congregation of Priests and Levites for they having sanctified themselves in their distinct offices for the holy service of the Temple they had not time or leisure to provide temporal things for themselves their wives and children as others had And besides those persons before mentioned that were to distribute the holy things to those that dwelt at Jerusalem or came up thither in their several courses to perform their service at the Temple there were others also of the Priests chosen that dwelt in the other Cities of the Kingdom that were to give portions to the Priests and Levites whose names were registred according to their Families who were then abiding in those places and not attending at the Temple This care did Hezekiah take throughout all Judah and he did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord and he did it in truth and sincerity And in every work that he began relating to the service of the house of the Lord and to the observance of the Moral Law and the ordinances about Divine worship by all which he took care that God might be duly sought unto and honoured and obeyed he did it uprightly and with a fervent zeal and the Lord prospered him therein 2 Chron. 31. from v. 2 to the end About this time as 't is supposed that Copy of Solomon's Proverbs mentioned Prov. 25.1 was found and transcribed by some of Hezekiah's servants out of the old Manuscript which was as 't is like much spotted and soiled with time and neglect Further we are to observe what an excellent character is given of Hezekiah 2 King 18.5 6. viz. that he trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him there was none like him among all the Kings of Judah since the rent of the Kingdoms nor before him He excelled those that went before him in removing the high places which neither Jehoshaphat nor any of the good Kings of Judah had hitherto done But as for those that were after him some may object that which is said of Josiah 2 King 23.25 viz. that there was no King before him like unto him But to this we may answer that though Josiah excelled Hezekiah in some things yet in other things Hezekiah excelled him For Hezekiah was the first that removed the high places but when Josiah removed them he had Hezekiah's example to encourage him therein and Hezekiah was more successful in war than Josiah They were indeed both excellent Princes though in some things the one might excell the other 'T is further said of Hezekiah that he clave to the Lord and departed not from following him but kept his commandments And the Lord was with him and he prospered him in all his enterprizes As in particular in his wars against the Philistines against whom he mightily prevailed and took all those Cities from them which they had taken from his father Ahaz see 2 Chron. 28.18 But we
seemeth to have been missing ever since the beginning of Manasseh's reign who possibly at first endeavoured to burn all the Books of the Law and so this Book was hid in some secret place of the Temple by some faithful Priest that it might be preserved for future times Hilkiah having found it he sent it by Shaphan the Scribe unto the King who having heard it read all over to him was exceedingly affected therewith and rent his clothes and more especially as 't is likely at those dreadful threatnings against Idolatry which are written in Levit. 26. Deut. 28. Hereupon he immediately sent to (b) Miriam and Deborah and Anna were all Prophetesses Thus the Lord is pleas'd to endue some women with the spirit of Prophesie to shew that he is not tyed to any sex Huldah a famous Prophetess who dwelt in Ierusalem in the suburbs or second part and desired her to ask counsel of the Lord for him Ieremy possibly being not then at Ierusalem but at Anathoth For Iosiah hearing those curses in the Law denounced against Idolatry and knowing how much some of his Predecessors had been guilty thereof he much seared lest the judgments threatned in that Book might fall upon him and his people and desired to know whither there might be any means to pacifie Gods wrath and prevent those judgments Huldah returned this answer Thus saith the Lord Behold I will bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof even all the curses written in the Book which the King of Judah hath read because they have forsaken me and burnt incense to other gods and have provoked me to anger with the works of their hands viz. their idols and altars therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place and shall not be quenched intimating the utter extirpation of the Jews out of that good land but to the King of Judah who sent you say to him Thus saith the Lord as touching the words and threatnings which thou hast heard read out of the Book because thy heart was tender and soon moved at the hearing of my threatnings and thou hast humbled thy self before me when thou heardest what I spake against this place and the inhabitants thereof that they should become a desolation and a curse that is have the curses written in this Book executed upon it and hast rent thy clothes and wept before me Behold I will gather thee unto thy pious ancestors in heaven before these dreadful calamities shall fall upon this place and people and thou shalt be gathered unto thy grave in peace This answer of Huldahs being brought to the King his heart was so affected with it that to prevent if it were possible this judgment threatned he called together the Elders of Judah and Jerusalem together with the Priests and Prophets viz. Jeremy Baruck Zephany and Vriah and the people both small and great and caused one of the Levites to read in their ears all the words of the Book of the Covenant * The Law is called a Cove an t because obedâ—ence was therein requir'd on the peoples part and a blessing thereupon promised on Gods part so called because it contained the Covenant that God made with the people of Israel See 1 King 8.9 And the King stood by the Pillar on the Brasen Scaffold or on some Throne erected by a pillar in the Temple for him to stand upon at that time and there solemnly made a Covenant before the Lord in his own name and the name of the people to walk after the Lord that is to observe what he prescrib'd unto them and to keep his commandments testimonies and statutes with all their heart and with all their soul and to perform the words of the Covenant written in that Book and he caused all that were present to give their consent to it and the inhabitants of Jerusalem were the most forward to engage themselves to walk according to the Covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers and did accordingly so walk Then the King commanded Hilkiah the High Priest and the Priests that were next unto him and the Levites to bring forth out of the Temple * Josiah did begin to purge Judah and Jerusalem of Idols in the twelfth year of his reign six years before the Book of the Law was found but upon hearing those dreadful threatnings in the Law against Idolatry he now proceeded further and perfected that reformation which was then begun Therefore the Penman of the Sacred History of the Chronicles relating the Reformation that Josiah wrought in the twelfth year of his reign adds also what was done afterwards when the Book of the Law was found and speaking how he suppressed Idolatry upon the hearing of the Law read to him he joins many things of the same nature that were done in the twelfth year of his reign that all his zealous acts in rooting out Idolatry might he related together all the vessels that were made for Baal and used in his worship or in the Idolatrous worship of the Groves or of the Host of Heaven and he burnt them in the field by which the river Kidron did run and carried the ashes of them to Bethel therewith to defile the prime seat of Jeroboams Idolatry These things had been us'd by Manasseh and Amon but were set aside as it seems in some by-place of the Temple in Josiah's time and seeing still they remained there this good King's zeal would not permit them to be there any longer And he put down the Idolatrous Priests or Chemarim whom the Kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in high places in the Cities of Judah and in places round about Jerusalem He put down those also who burnt incense to Baal or to the Sun Moon and the Planets and host of heaven and he brought out the Image whereon a grove was engraven which it seems was hung up in the Temple and stampt it to powder and cast the dust thereof upon the graves of those that had worshipped Idols and sacrificed unto them 2 Chron. 34.4 And he brake down the Tents of the Sodomites that were in the grove by the house of the Lord and where the women wove hangings for those filthy tents so that in that grove they not only worshipped Idols but as it seems defiled themselves also with all manner of abominable uncleanness And he brought all the Priests that were the Sons of Aaron and had served the true God in high places out of the Cities where they had exercised that false worship and would not suffer them to live there and he defiled the high places even from Geba the North border of the Kingdom of Judah to Beersheba the South-border and beat down their Altars and burned dead mens bones on them v. 14. to make them unclean and brake down the high places that were erected at the entring of the Gates by Joshua the Governour of the City whither it seems many of the people used to
resort so that in his reformation he spared neither the high places of great or small And the Priests of these high places he permitted not to offer sacrifice at the Altar in the Temple yet he permitted them to eat of the unleavened bread that is of the shew-bread and such provisions * Species hic Synecdochice ponitur pro genere q.d. participes erant omnium illorum quibus alii sacerdotes vesci poterant Tirinus as were allotted for the maintenance of the Priests Also he defiled Tophet an high place in the valley of the Son of Hinnon near Jerusalem Josh 15.8 by casting dead mens bones into it that none might hereafter sacrifice his Son to Molech in that place as they had us'd to do Moreover he took away the horses that had been nourished and kept to carry men with speed from the Gate of the house of the Lord †Equitabant ab ingressa Templi ad cameram Nathan-Melech vel ad suburbia Munster to the chamber or house of Nathan-Melech the Chamberlain which was in the suburbs of the City of David where they might see the Sun rise and so might worship it at its first appearing which was an Idolatrous practice of the Persians and it seems the Israelites had learned it from them And he burnt the Chariots wherein the worshippers of the Sun were carried by the help of those horses to see the Sun rise or perhaps the Idolatrous Israelites might set a glorious image of the Sun in one of those Chariots which at sometimes was drawn up and down by those horses for all sorts of people to see and adore And therefore he is said to have burnt the Chariots but to have taken away the horses Furthermore the Altars that were on the flat roof of an upper Chamber of Ahaz which possibly he made to sacrifice thereon to the Sun Moon and Stars see Jer. 19.13 Zeph. 1.4 5. And the Altars which Manasseh had made in the two Courts of the Lords house did he break to pieces For though Manasseh after his repentance did cast out of the City all the Idolatrous Altars that he had made see 2 Chron. 33.15 yet possibly Amon his Son might restore them to their places again and so they might have continued until now but Josiah now tumbleth them down breaks them to pieces and beats them to powder and casts the dust of them into the brook Kidron And the high places which were near Jerusalem on the right hand of the mount of corruption viz. Mount Olivet so called because it was so full of Idols in the days of Solomon * See 1 King 11.7 wherewith the people corrupted themselves Deut. 32.5 he defiled as he had done other high places before 'T is like those high places were defac'd by Asa or Jehoshaphat or Hezekiah but Amon might put them to those Idolatrous uses for which they were before erected and thereupon Josiah took occasion utterly to demolish them that they might never again be used for any such purpose Thus we see how zealously this good King endeavoured a thorough reformation by breaking in pieces Idolatrous Images and cutting down Idolatrous Groves and defiling those those places with dead mens bones that they might never be used for those purposes again 2 King 22. from 3 to the end Chap. 23. from 1 to the 15. 2 Chron. 34. from 8 to the end Josiah now proceeds further in his reformation even to the Cities of the Ten Tribes which he had any power over and first he went to Bethel where coming to the high-place which Jeroboam the first had there made and seeing many sepulchres in the mount of the Idolatrous Priests that had been there buried He undoubtedly by a special instinct from God caused their bones to be taken up and burnt them on that Altar and thereby polluted it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God spake 1 King 13.2 Who cried against that Altar in the word of the Lord and said O Altar Altar thus saith the Lord Behold a child shall be born unto the house of David Josiah by name and upon thee shall he offer the Priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee and mens bones shall be burnt upon thee Then looking about he saw an inscription upon a monument and inquiring what it signified the men of the City told him it was the sepulchre of the man of God who came from Judah and foretold that Josiah should do these things And the old Prophet that seduced him buried him in that sepulchre and gave order that he himself should be there buried also and that there should be an inscription made declaring that there the man of God was buried that when the time came that the things which he had prophesied should be fulfilled his sepulchre might hereby be known from the rest and so neither the bones of the man of God nor his own bones might be disturbed Josiah being satisfied by the inscription whose sepulchre it was he gave order that the bones of those two Prophets should not be disturbed and so the old Prophets desire was fulfilled see 1 King 13.31 32. Then he brake down the high place and the Altar and stampt it small to powder and burnt the Grove where the high place was Then he proceeded to the Cities of Manasseh Ephraim and Simeon even unto Naphtali and caused the Altars and graven Images to be broken down with mattocks and did unto them as he had done at Bethel And such Idolatrous Priests as he met with who sacrificed to false gods and opposed him in this reformation he slew upon their Altars and therein fulfilled what was long since prophesied 1 King 13.1 2. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of the Countries that belonged to the children of Israel over which he had power and caused all of them as much as he could to serve the Lord their God and all his days they departed not from following the Lord God of their Fathers 2 Chron. 34.33 Whereby it appears that though the Ten Tribes were carried away captive into Assyria yet there were some both of the Priests and people that either were left behind or return'd * Abeuntibus Assyriis multi profugi exules qui antea fuga alio alio dilapsi sunt ad suas sedes redierunt cum suis sacerdotibus ibi que ut ante idola sua coluerunt again into the land of Samaria It appears also that the greatest part of the Kingdom of Samaria was at this time under the power of Josiah which possibly the King of Babylon who set Manasseh at liberty might give him with his liberty on condition that he should defend his Territories against the Egyptians who began in those times with great power and success to oppose the Babylonians 2 King 23. from 15 to 21. 2 Chron. 34. from 4 to 8. In the same 18th year of his reign on the 14th day of the
Son Shallum having his name changed into Iehoahaz perhaps because of the ill fate of Shallum the Son of Iabesh King of Israel who reigned but one month and was murdered by Menahem 2 King 15.13 was anointed King by the people though he was the youngest of Iosiah's Sons either because he was best affected to the King of Babylon or most warlike and valiant and so most likely to defend them against Necho King of Egypt He was twenty three years old when he began to reign and reigned only three months He quickly fell to do that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and presently set up the Idolatry that his Father Iosiah had suppressed It seems he also grievously oppressed the people and therefore he is compared to a young lion which devoureth men Ezek. 19.2 3 4. The Prophet Ieremy is sent by the Lord to the new Kings Palace earnestly to exhort him and his Courtiers and all the people to repentance and amendment of their lives foretelling them that Shallum or Iehoahaz should be carried away captive into Egypt and bidding the people not to weep for him that is departed meaning Iosiah but for him that is to depart meaning Iehoahaz because he shall return no more to see his native soil Ier. 22. from 1 to 13. Pharoah Necho returning with victory from Charchemish where he vanquished the Babylonians was desirous to revenge the opposition he had received from Iosiah who sought to stop him in his passage through his Country and therefore making use of the dissention that was between Iehoahaz and Eliakim his Elder Brother and getting Iehoahaz or Shallum into his power he presently deposed him as if the Kingdom of Iudea had been at his diposal and set up his Eldest Brother Eliakim changing his name into Iehoiakim and then imposing upon the land a Tribute of an hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold he put Shallum or Iehoahaz into fetters at Riblah and carried him away with him prisoner into Egypt where he ended his life 2 King 23. from 30 to 36. 2 Chron. 36. from 1 to 5. The 18th that reigned in Judah JEHOIAKIM JEHOIAKIM was twenty five years old when he began to reign and reigned eleven years in Ierusalem He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord being an Idolater and a cruel oppresser of the people and possibly the more out of revenge because they had preferred his younger brother before him his oppressions are notably set forth Ier. 22. from 13 to 20. and Ezek. 19. from 5 to 10. But herein he manifested the greatness of his impiety that when the Prophets denounced the judgments of God against him and his people for their evil ways he would not endure it but persecuted them for it as we shall shew afterwards He pays the King of Egypt the hundred talents of silver and one talent of gold which he had imposed upon him but he taxed the land for it and exacted it of the people 2 King 23.35 36 37. 2 Chron. 36. v. 5. In the beginning of his reign Ieremy was commanded by God to stand in the Court of the Temple and there to exhort the people assembled together out of all the Cities of Iudah to repentance it being then the Feast of Tabernacles Thus saith the Lord stand in the Court of the Lords house and speak unto all the Cities of Iudah which come to worship in the Lords house all the words that I command thee to speak unto them diminish not a word If so be they will hearken and turn every man from his evil way that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings and thou shalt say unto them Thus saith the Lord if ye will not hearken to me to walk in my Law which I have set before you to hearken to the words of my servants the Prophets whom I sent unto you rising up early and sending them * That is continually and carefully sending them a Metaphor taken from careful housholders who with the soonest seek to redress mischiefs causing their servants for that end to rise betimes then will I make this house like Shiloh and will make this City a curse to all the Nations of the earth So the Priests and the Prophets and all the people heard Ieremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And it came to pass when Ieremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto the people the Priests and the Prophets and the people took him saying thou shalt surely die Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord saying This house shall be like Shiloh and this City shall be desolate without an inhabitant And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. When the Princes of Judah heard these things they came up from the Kings house unto the house of the Lord and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lords house to understand what the matter was Then spake the Priests and the Prophets unto the Princes and to all the people saying This man is worthy to die for he hath prophesied against this City and ye have heard it with your ears Then spake Jeremiah unto the Princes and to all the people saying The Lord sent me to prophesie against this house and against this City all the words that ye have heard Therefore now amend your ways and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God and the Lord will repent him of the evil he hath pronounced against you As for me behold I am in your hands do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you But know ye for certain that if ye put me to death ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon your selves and upon this City and upon the inhabitants thereof for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears Then said the Princes and the people unto the Priests and Prophets This man is not worthy to die for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God Then rose up certain of the Elders of the land and spake to all the assembly of the people saying Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah King of Judah and spake to all the people of Judah saying Thus saith the Lord of hosts Zion shall be plowed like a field and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forrest Did Hezekiah King of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death did he not fear the Lord and besought the Lord and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them Therefore if we should proceed with that rigour you would have us against Jeremy we might procure great evil against our own souls Vriah also about the same time Prophesied against
some of the Rulers of the people some pious and prudent men be appointed to sit daily here in Jerusalem for the hearing of this business and to take cognizance who they are that have married strange wives viz. such as have not imbraced the faith of Israel or that since their marriage have relapsed to Idolatry and let those that are found guilty herein in every City be brought hither in their turns to appear before these Elders and let the chief men in every City testifie against them if they have found them guilty and so let the business be dispatched first with one City and then with another until at length all the strange wives be put away that so the fierce wrath of our God may be turned from us Hereupon four men being chosen viz. two Priests and two Levites to set forward this business the children of the captivity agreed that the forementioned course should be taken And Ezra with certain chief of the Fathers were chosen and set apart to that great work and began it on the first day of the tenth month and made an end of it on the first day of the first month and so were three whole months about it And upon examination even among the Sons of the Priests who should have known and practised better things there were found some who had taken strange wives yea some of the Sons of Joshua the good high Priest who assisted Zerubbabel were guilty in this matter and divers of their brethren in that function also They being found guilty offered a ram of the flock for their transgression and gave their hands that they would put away their Idolatrous wives And 't is like many others whose names are there recorded did the same though it be not here expressed And some of the Levites who ministred to the Priests and some of the Singers and Porters were also guilty herein and put away their Idolatrous wives yea though they had children by them Ezra Ch. 10. from 6 to the end We are now come to the Book of Nehemiah As in the Book of Ezra we had a relation of the building of the Temple by Zerubbabel and of reforming Religion by Ezra so in this we have a relation of the building of the City and the walls thereof and setling the Commonwealth and redressing many disorders by Nehemiah who came to Jerusalem thirteen years after Ezra's first coming thither In the 20th year of Artaxerxes in the ninth month answering to part of our November and part of our December Hanani and some other Jews came to Nehemiah who was one of the Kings Cup-bearers being then at Shushan the Winter-mansion of the Persian Monarchs and acquainted him that those that were left of the Captivity in the Province of Judah were under great affliction and reproach and that their neighbours round about them did exceedingly despise and wrong them and that which encouraged them the more in those insolences was because the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and the gates thereof burnt with fire by Nebuchadnezzar and so they continued still So that the Jews were disabled to defend themselves against their enemies Nehemiah was so affected herewith that he sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed prostrating himself before the God of heaven with his face towards the Temple the place of Gods presence see 1 King 8.44 and he said O Lord God of Heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth Covenant and mercy for them that love thee and keep thy Commandments let thine ears be attentive to the prayer of thy servant which I make before thee day and night for the children of Israel and wherein I confess and humbly bewail our sins which we have committed against thee Both I and my Fathers have sin'd against thee and dealt very corruptly and have not kept either the moral ceremonial or judicial laws which thou gavest us Yet remember I pray thee the word thou spakest by thy servant Moses Deut. 4.25 saying if you transgress I will scatter you abroad among the Nations but if ye turn unto me and keep my Commandments and do them though you were scattered to the remotest parts of the earth yet thence will I gather you and bring you to the place that I have chosen to put my name there Now O Lord we are thy people whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand Therefore I beseech thee let thine ear be attentive to the prayer of me thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants that desire to fear thy name and prosper me and grant me favour and mercy in the sight of the King to whom I intend to address my self that he may grant the request that I shall make to him Nehem. Chap. 1. About four months after when the time came that Nehemiah in his course was to attend upon the King and to minister to him as his Cup-bearer both King and Queen took notice of his sorrowful and dejected looks The King asked him the reason of it Nehemiah replied Let the King live for ever * That is very long an usual salutation given to Kings See 1 King 1.1.31 Dan. 6.21 There is reason my countenance should be sad when the City the place of my fathers sepulchres where my ancestors lived and died lyeth waste and the gates thereof being formerly consumed with fire are not repaired The King asked him what he desired of him Nehemiah lifting up his heart to God in a fervent Ejaculation (b) The Ejaculation of the heart may be as fervent and as prevalent as a solemn prayer uttered with the mouth witness that of Moses Exod. 14.15 to which God made this answer Why criest thou unto me yet no words of prayer were then uttered by Moses This frequently and heartily used argueth an heavenly mind and 't is one way whereby we may pray always or con inually that is at all times and in all places and on all occasions that he would please to direct him rightly to order his petition to the King and incline the Kings heart to grant it said If it please the King and thy servant hath found favour in thy sight I pray thee that thou wouldst send me to Jerusalem the City of my Fathers sepulchers that I may build it The King said how long wilt thou be absent and when wilt thou return Nehemiah set him a time which it's like was not long and at that time did accordingly return but from this time forward it seems he continued Governour of Judea under the King for the space of twelve years or more during which time 't is probable he often went into Persia to wait upon the King The King graciously granting his request he then humbly besought him that he might have letters to the Governours beyond the river to conduct him (c) This Ezra would not desire when he went to Jerusalem because he had occasionally spoken to the King of
the Providence of their God over them that served him Therefore if he had desired a guard 't is supposed they would have derided his former confidence in Gods protection But Nehemiah's case was different having no cause to suspect any such things besides he was a person of great quality about the King and it was for the honour of the King to have his immediate attendants safe guarded and respected safe till he came to Judea As also letters to Asaph the keeper of the Kings Forest viz. Lebanon requiring him to furnish him with timber to make beams for the Gates of the Temple which looked towards the Palace and for the Gates of the walls of the City and for the house that he should enter into and there make his abode And by the good Providence of God the King granted him all his desires and over and above sent a guard with him to conduct him safe to the river Euphrates which was more than he desired of him from whence he was by the Governours beyond the river to whom he delivered the Kings letters conveyed safe to Jerusalem Sanballat the Horonite (d) Of Horonaim a City of Moab See Isa 15.5 who it seems was the Kings Lieutenant or Deputy-Governour over the Moabites and had insinuated himself so into the Jews that there was an alliance between him and the high Priest see Neh. 13.28 and Tobiah (e) This Tobiah his wife being a Jew had often intelligence of their affairs and so wrought them great mischief who was the Kings servant or Deputy-Governour over the Ammonites to whom the high Priest was also allied see Neh. 13.4 being both of them secret and inveterate enemies to the Jews when they knew that Nehemiah was come to Jerusalem they were greatly vext at it especially that there was a man come from the King to seek and endeavour the welfare of the children of Israel Nehemiah being come to Jerusalem rested himself there three days after his long journey Then he arose in the night with some few only with him and taking the advantage of a Moon-shine night and to avoid noise no horse but that himself rode on he went to view the ruins of the walls round about and the circuit of the City that so he might consider whither they were able in likelihood to go through with such a work as the repairing of them and what provision was requisite in order thereunto and what places were most necessary to be first and with most speed repaired All which he desired to be privately informed of before any body knew of his purpose and that he might be the better able to answer any objection that should be made against it and that there might be no talk of it till they were ready to set about it lest their enemies should thereupon seek to hinder them and on these accounts 't is like it was that he carried the business so privately and did not acquaint the Rulers nor the Priests nor so much as the workmen that were afterwards imployed in the work with his intentions and purposes Having thus seen the ruins and acquainted himself with all things he thought requisite he calls the Nobles and Rulers and Priests together and spake to them after this manner You see my Brethren the distress that we are in how Jerusalem lyeth wast the walls ruin'd and the Gates thereof are burnt with fire Come let us build up the walls again that we be no more a reproach and scorn to our adversaries Then he told them all the providences of God about his coming thither how he heard of their affliction and how he petitioned the King and how graciously the King answered him and what encouragement he had given him When the Jews heard these things they were mightily animated and said one to another come let us rise up and build the walls of our City So they took courage and resolution and prepared themselves for the work But when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Kings Deputy among the Arabians heard of their intention they scoffed at them for undertaking such a business which they were never like to effect and despising them said What do these people intend to do Do they intend to rebell against the King If they do we shall quickly take a course with them Nehemiah understanding this couragiously sent them this answer The God of heaven we trust will prosper us therefore we his servants will arise and build But as for you you have no portion nor right nor memorial in Jerusalem that is you are appointed Governours in other Countries look to your own charges you have no interest or concern in Jerusalem neither is their any memorial of you or your Progenitors to be found among us why therefore do you meddle with that which belongs not unto you Nehem. Ch. 2. whole Chapter Nehemiah and the Jews notwithstanding the opposition of their enemies resolve now to set upon the building the walls of Jerusalem Eliashib the Grandchild of Joshua the high Priest with his brethren the Priests undertook the building of the sheep-gate which was near the sheep-market and having at their own charges built it and set up the doors of it they by prayer dedicated it to the Lord. The inhabitants of Tekoa a City in Benjamin were well affected to the work and some of them built the wall in one place and some of them repaired another part of the wall v. 27. but to the disgrace of the Nobles among them 't is said that they put not their necks to the work of the Lord that is they refused to help therein and out of their greatness pretended they would not be taxed to the work nor have any such burden imposed upon them v. 8. The men of Gibeon and Mispeh repaired to the Throne of the Governour on this side the river that is to the place where the Governour appointed by the Persian King on that side of the river did use to sit v 7. Shallum was another eminent repairer who was Ruler of half Jerusalem * Jerusalem being part in Judah part in Benjamin might have two Rulers and his pious daughters out of their zeal were willing to let some part of their portions go to the work v. 12. 'T is recorded also to Baruck's great commendation that he earnestly repaired his part that is with more than ordinary zeal and heartiness Some of the Priests built the wall over against their own houses and Meshullam who it seems was but a lodger over against his own Chamber And thus by several persons the walls and gates of Jerusalem were built Nehem. Ch. 3. whole Chapter Sanballat hearing what progress the Jews had made in building their walls was very angry and scornfully scoffed at it and before his own Countrymen and the army that quartered in the City of Smaria and when ever he had occasion he would say What do these feeble Jews intend to do Do they intend to fortifie themselves Do
thou maist set thy self up as their King according to the report that goes of thee And thou hast appointed Prophets to preach thee up at Jerusalem and to tell the people that there is now a King in Judah of their own Nation so that they shall not be in bondage any longer to forreign Princes And this will accordingly be reported to the King of Persia and so is like to bring great mischief on all us on this side the river therefore let us meet and take counsel together how we may prevent this great evil Nehemiah returned Sanballat this answer That there was nothing true of what he reported 't was all a fiction of his own head Thus the enemie sought to make them afraid by such reports as these but Nehemiah prayed to the Lord to disappoint their plots and to strengthen his own and his Countryment hands in the work The enemies of the Jews seeing their former plots did not take now betake themselves to a new stratagem viz. to hire false Prophets to terrifie Nehemiah with apprehensions of eminent danger to his own person Accordingly they hired Shemaiah and other false Prophets to assist them in their design Shemaiah was a Priest of the course of Delaiah 1 Chron. 24.18 and pretended to be a Prophet though he was a false one It seems he shut up himself thereby to signifie to Nehemiah that there was such danger approaching as there would be no safety in being abroad Accordingly he sends to Nehemiah to come to him who being come he perswades him to hide himself with him within the Temple and to shut up the doors for he tells him his enemies will seek to slay him yea that very night they would come to slay him Nehemiah replies Should such a man as I flee who am called of God to do what I do and being at present the chief Magistrate and Governour of this City am to take care for the defence of the people and to give them all possible encourageragement both by word and deed What good man is there that being in the place that I am would flee into the Temple to save his life Assure thy self I will not do it But for all his pretended Prophesies Nehemiah perceived the Lord had not sent him both by the nature of the advice he gave him which tended to terrifie him from the work God had called him unto as also from the event for the enemy did not come that night to seize him as Shemaiah prophesied he saw therefore that the enemy hired this false Prophet to make him afraid and to desist from his work and so sin against God in omitting his duty and that they might have matter for an evil report against him and so might reproach him Whereupon he humbly desires the Lord to think upon Tobiah and Sanballat and to deal with them answerably to these their evil works and so likewise with the Prophetess Noadiah who also was hired as it seems to prophesie to Nehemiah after the same manner and with the rest of the false Prophets who had conspired with Shemaiah to put him in fear But all that the enemies could do could not hinder the work for the whole work was finished on the 25th day of the month Elul agreeing with part of our August which shews that they began the work in the height of Summer when the days were at the longest and the season every way most fit for building and so all was dispatched in 52 days which was not full two months and this great dispatch need not seem incredible if we consider that the walls and towers of Jerusalem were not wholly demolished but only in many places broken down 2ly That there was a vast multitude of people that round about the City in several places at one time were employed in the work and did with all earnestness follow it 3ly And above all Gods more than ordinary blessing accompanying them and helping of them in the work I say if we consider all these things we need not wonder that it was finished to the astonishment of the enemy before they dreamed it could have been done see v. 16. so that they were forced to confess that there was more than an ordinary hand of God in it When Nehemiah had overcome all these difficulties he met with one more and that was this At that time some of the Nobles of Judah who possibly had married strange wives and so were something infected with the customs of the Heathen held correspondence with Tobiah and had bound themselves by oath to prosecute his designs he having married the daughter of Sheconiah some great man among the Jews and Johanan his Son having married the daughter of Meshullam * See the mischiefs of forbidden marriages and the hypocrisie of some who made a fair shew before men who had helped to build the wall Chap. 3.4 These men told Nehemiah fair stories of Tobiah and sent back what he said to Tobiah whereupon Tobiah sent threatning letters to him but he was not terrified by any thing that he wrote nor discouraged in his work Nehem. Ch. 6. whole Chapter See Deut. 20.5 Psal 30. the Title The wall being now finished Nehemiah and the Jews resolved to make a solemn dedication of it to the Lord praying unto him that he would please to make it a means of safety to his holy Temple and to the City and the inhabitants thereof Now because the Priests and Levites were to have a chief hand therein he first sets down their Genealogies that it might the better appear that they were true Priests and Levites And here are two pedigrees set down one of such as came up with Zerubbabel to Jerusalem and the other of such as were in the days of Joakim * The prime Priests that were then heads of Families are now set down in number only twenty from v. 12. to 21. yet the number of the courses of the Priests appointed by David was to be 24. See 1 Chron. 24. from 7 to 18. that the number of Priests was now but few that place Ezra â— 15 doth import the Son of Joshua The Priests and Levites being by their distinct orders set down in the former part of the Chapter the dedication it self is now related which was after this manner First they assembled all the Levites together from their several habitations to celebrate this dedication with gladness and thanksgivings and singing with Cymbals Psalteries and Harps and the Priests and Levites being called to this holy service first purified themselves by washing their clothes Exod. 19.10 and their flesh Numb 19.7 and by sprinkling themselves with that purifying water mentioned Numb 19.9 and by all other means both of moral and legal purifying Then they purified the people by such rites as they purified themselves by and purified the gates and the wall recommending them to Gods custody and protection with solemn prayer Then the wall being thick and broad so that many
found some treading wine-presses on the Sabbath-day and bringing in sheaves and wine and grapes and figs and all manner of burdens into Jerusalem on that day and he testified his dispeasure against them as also against those that sold victuals on the Sabbath-days He understood also that some of Tyre brought fish and other wares to sell on the Sabbath-days and that in Jerusalem it self he chides the Nobles and Rulers of Judah for permitting these things and suffering the Sabbath to be so prophaned Did not your fathers says he do thus and did not God for these sins * See Jer. 17.27 among others bring the captivity upon us And for you to return to the same sins for which such judgments have been executed is the way to incense God the more against you and to pull down the heaviest judgments upon you Therefore to redress this great evil on the evening before the Sabbath when it began to be dark at which time the Sabbath began †Levit. 23.32 he commanded the gates to be shut and that they should not be opened that is set wide open that all might have egress and regress as on other days till the Sabbath was ended and set some of his servants at the Gate that there should be no burden brought in on the Sabbath-day So the Merchants and sellers of all kind of wares lodged once or twice without Jerusalem and he testified against them and asked them why they lodged about the wall so that the Jews that dwelt about the wall might be tempted to buy of them on the Sabbath-day He tells them that if they did so again he would lay hands on them and cast them into prison Hereupon from thence forward they came no more on the Sabbath-day Further he commanded the Levites that they should sanctifie themselves and keep the gates of the house of God that no unclean persons might enter into them in that great concourse of people that resorted to them on the Sabbath-days He desires the Lord also to remember him concerning this and to spare him according to the greatness of his mercy He saw also some that had married wives of Ashdod of Ammon and of Moab and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod and could not speak in the Jews language but according to the language of those people so that they had a mixture of the manners as well as of the language of their heathen mothers And he contended and highly expostulated with them and reviled them and caused some of them that were most obstinate to be beaten according to the Law Deuteron 25.2 and commanded those that were to beat them to pluck off their hair and made them sware * So they had sworn before Ch. 10.29 30. by God that they should not for the future make interchangeable marriages with them He asks them whither Solomon did not sin by these things yet among many Nations there was no King like him who was beloved of his God and God made him King over all Israel nevertheless even him did outlandish women seduce and cause to sin Is it fit therefore says he that we should yield to you in this matter and suffer you to do the like even to marry strange wives you being more liable to be seduced than wise Solomon was He found also that one of the Grand-children of Joiada whose name was Manasses as Josephus reports and brother to Jaddua the high Priest had married the daughter of Sanballat and was not willing to put her away whereupon he caused him to be excommunicated and banished from among them * But that he might not turn away his wife which either he must do or be turned out of his Priesthood his Father-in-law Sanballat undertook to build a Temple on Mount Gerizzim hard by the City Sichem wherein Manasses should be the chief Priest which he accordingly did and many other Priests and Israelites that had married strange wives resorted to him and hereupon there grew a deadly feud between the Samaritans and Jews which lasted to our Saviours times See Job 4 20. Hereupon he desires the Lord to remember those men and to punish them who had defiled the Priesthood by such unlawful marriages and that more special and strict Covenant that God had made with Aaron and his seed together with the Levites concerning their holy function see Levit. 21.6 7. and Numb 25.12 13. Thus Nehemiah cleansed all Priests and Levites from all strangers that is forced them to put away their strange wives and such children as they had by them or else forced them to leave the Temple and the land Further he appointed such courses of the Priests and Levites as David had formerly appointed 1 Chron. 23.24 c. and ordered that every one should do the work of his own place and function and took care about the wood-offering and the first-fruits of which before Chap. 10.34 35. He closes the whole Book with this Prayer Remember me O my God for good Nehem. Ch. 13. whole Chapter The Prophet MALACHI the last of all the Prophets seems to have been Contemporary with Nehemiah The Prophesie of MALACHI For he no where exhorts the people to the building of the Temple as Haggai and Zachary had done He reproves those disorders that Nehemiah in the last Chapter of his Book saith he found in his absence to be crept in among the Jews as particularly marriage with strange women Chap. 2. 11. with-holding Tythes Chap. 3. 8. and corruptions in the worship of God Chap. 1. 13. and Chap. 2. 8. His Prophesie is call'd The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by the hand of Malachi Who ever he was his Prophesie is authentick and the authority thereof notably confirm'd by being so often alledged in the New Testament as in Mat. 11.10 Mark 1.2 Luk. 1.16 17. The occasion and scope of it was this The Jews being newly return'd from Captivity did for a while heartily serve God they built the Altar laid the foundation of the Temple but then for a good while the work ceased partly through the opposition of the Samaritans and partly through their own sluggishness till Haggai and Zachary stirring them up and Darius encouraging them they finished it and set up the worship of God therein aright but after relapsed to corruption and hypocrisie in Gods worship and to loosness in their lives by mixt marriages adultery divorces polygamies and other enormities Hereupon God raised up this Prophet who by his Ministry endeavours to reclaim them and to reform those corruptions In this his Prophetick Sermon he proceeds much in the way of Dialogue In it we may observe two parts 1. A Reproof 2. The effect of it In his Reproof we may take notice of these particulars 1. He aggravates the ungrateful wickedness of the Jews from Gods singular love in electing them in Jacob to be his people and making a Covenant with them when he rejected the Edomites in
time the Kingdom of Syria was miserably shaken by intestine Wars raised by the children of these two last Kings that strove for the Kingdom so that it became a prey to Tigranes King of the Parthians 20. Tigranes King of Armenia major with the help of the Parthians gets the Kingdom of Syria He was conquered at last by Pompey and the Kingdom of Syria taken away from him but that of Armenia was restored to him And so the Kingdom of Syria was reduced under the Roman power and made a Province by Pompey 260 years after Alexanders Death KINGS of ASIA minor 1 ANtigonus Bastard to Philip King of Macedon He succeeded Alexander in the Kingdom of Asia and reigned Eleven years 2. Demetrius son of Antigonus he brought almost all Greece under his Power Afterwards by Seleucus Nicanor King of Syria his Son-in-Law he was overcome when he had reigned Thirteen years and being imprisoned Two years he there died And so the Kindgom of Asia came into the power of the Kings of Syria and was joyned to that Kingdom A. M. 3683. KINGS of Egypt or KINGS of the South 1. PTolemeus Lagi son of Lagus a Macedonian called Soter He conquered Palestine and took Jerusalem used the Jews cruelly at first but afterwards was more kind to them He carried a great many of them into Egypt and let them live there with the same freedom as his other Subjects And hereupon many others of the Jews went down into Egypt and lived there Daniel speaks of him Chap. 11. v. 5. 2. Ptolemeus Philadelphus so called because he married his sister Arsinoe He was son of Ptolemaeus Lagi by Bernice his 2d Wife Ptolemaeus Ceraunus eldest son of Ptolemaeus Lagi by Euridice his first Wife being put by He was a very learned King and a great lover of Learned men He married his Daughter Bernice to Antiochus Theos 3d. King of Assyria Dan. 11.6 He founded the famous Library at Alexandria He procured the Translation of the Septuagint He was after this a great Friend to the Jews He redeemed a vast number of them that were Servants from their Masters with his own Money and made them Free and was otherwise very munificent to them 3. Ptolemeus Euergetes son of Philadelphus and his Sister-wife Arsinoe This King carried himself commendably but all the Egyptian Kings after him were debauched persons He led a great Army into Syria against Seleucus Callinicus and overcame him of which Daniel speaks Ch. 11. v. 7. He was poisoned by Ptolemaeus Philopator his son 4. Ptol. Philopater son of Ptol. Euergetes called Philopator per antiphrasin He kill'd his Mother also and his Brother married his Sister He waged War against Antiochus Magnus 6th King of Syria and overcame him After the Victory he would needs offer Sacrifices to God at Jerusalem but he was forbidden by the High Priest to enter into the Temple Hereupon being enraged against the Jews he carries multitudes of them into Egypt to be destroyed of Elephants of him Daniel speaks Chap. 11.11 5. Ptol. Epiphanes son of Ptol. Philopator He was but 5 years old when he began to reign Antioch Mag. hearing of his Fathers death and taking advantage of his Childhood and procuring Philip of Macedon to joyn with him comes against Egypt with a great Army He is met by a great Army of the Egyptians under Scopas their General in the North part of Palestine where the Egyptians are beaten He takes the Tower of Sion and so became Lord of Judea He afterwards marries his Daughter Cleopatra to Ptol. Epiphanes and gives her for Dowry Coelosyria and Judea Of these things Daniel speaks Ch. 11.13 14 15. 6. Ptol. Philometor son of Ptol. Epiphanes he married his own mother Cleopatra and had a Daughter called Cleopatra by her Antiochus Epiphanes 8th King of Syria his Vncle brings a great Army into Egypt against him and takes many of his Cities He marries his Daughter Cleopatra to Alexander Bala the 11th King of Syria The Nuptials were celebrated at Ptolemais to which Jonathan the High Priest was invited by Alexander and gave great Presents to both Kings Ptol. Philometor afterwards finding his Son-in-law treacherous he took his Daughter from him and gave her to Demetrius Nicanor who overcoming Bala by the help of Philometor got the Kingdom of Syria 7. Ptol. Physcon 2d son of Ptol. Epiphanes He married Cleopatra his Neice who whas first married to Alexander Bala then to Demetrius Nicanor 8. Ptol. Lathurus eldest son of Physcon he married first Cleopatra his Sister and then by the perswasion of his mother putting her away he married his younger Sister Salone Afterwards he was driven out of the Kingdom by his mother and fled to Cyprus when Alexander Jannaeus King of the Jews besieged Ptolemais the besieged called Ptol. Lathurus out of Cyprus to their aid He fights with Alexander and overcomes him and slays 30000 of the Jews and used his victory cruelly 9. Ptol. Alexander 2d son of Physcon was set up by his mother whilst his brother Lathurus remained in Cyprus He killed his mother and then was driven out of the Kingdom by the Egyptians and flying to the Island Coos there lived privately to his death 10. Ptol. Lathurus is now called back out of Cyprus and enjoys the Kingdom of Egypt again 11 Ptol. Auletes son of Ptol. Lathurus by Salonice his Sister-Wife he used to contend for mastery with Fidlers thence called Auletes He buys the Friendship of the people of Rome with great gifts which he exacts from his Subjects and so is hated by them and ejected out of his Kingdom He flies to Rome for help but not obtaining it after a long waiting he goes to Ephesus where he carried Letters from Pompey to Gabinus Praefect of Syria that he should use his endeavour to restore him which Gabinus effected yet this Auletes's Son afterwards destroyed Pompey 12. Ptol. Dionysius junior son of Ptol. Auletes his Sister was Cleopatra last Queen of Egypt whom he marries and joyns with himself in the Government by the command of Julius Caesar who had conquered Alexandria and all Egypt He kill'd Pompey flying to him from the Pharsalian Battel Julius Caesar coming with his Army into Egypt this Ptol. Dionysius strives to fly away by Sea and is there drowned 13. Cleopatra daughter of Auletes and Sister and Wife to Ptol. Dionysius After his death Antonius was so enamoured of her that putting away his former Wife Octavia Augustus's Sister he married her whereupon he was engaged in a War with Augustus and being conquered by him in a Naval Fight at Actium he flies into Egypt with Cleopatra where he kills himself and Cleopatra lest she should be carried in Triumph kills her self with Asps and so Egypt was reduced into the Form of a Province by Augustus 3ly We are to shew who were High Priests among the Jews from their return out of the Captivity to Christs time The Catalogue of them follows 1. Joshua the Son of Jozedeck who returned out of Captivity
that oath so long as Darius lived Alexander being very angry hereat swore that as soon as he had taken Tyre he would march against that City Accordingly as soon as he had taken Tyre he marched forthwith into Judea going in person against those places that would not of themselves submit But when he was upon his march to Jerusalem Jaddus the High Priest terrified with his former threats and now more especially fearing his rage betakes himself to God by prayer and was by him warned in a dream that he should make Holy-day in the City and set wide open the Gates and that he and the rest of the Priests every one in his Priestly Vâ—stments and the people all cloth'd in white should go forth to meet him Alexander seeing this company coming meets them and lighting from his horse prostrates himself before the High Priest and adores that God whose name he saw engraven on the golden plate of his Miter At which all his followers being amazed Parmenio askt him the reason thereof to whom he answered That he worshipped not the Priest but the God whom he served for that whilst he was in Greece and consulted about his Expedition into Asia such a man as this and so attired appeaâ—â—d to him and advis'd him to it and promis'd him success Then going up to the City he ascended to the Temple and sacrificed to God as the Priests directed him There they shewed him the Prophesie of Daniel wherein was foretold that a Grecian should obtain the Empire of the Persians he accounting himself the man exceedingly rejoyced thereat and the next day offered the Jews whatsover they would ask of him They requested that they might live after their own laws and customs and that on every seventh year in which they sowed not they might pay no tribute All which he readily granted them He offered them also if they would follow him the free exercise of their Religion whereupon many presently listed themselves to serve him Then leading his forces to the neighbouring Cities he was friendly received by them Having now got all the Towns of Palestine into his hands except Gaza which held out against him he came with his forces and sat down before it after two months he took it himself having received two wounds during the siege The men were slain to the number of 10000 the women and children made slaves furnishing the City with a new Colony gathered out of the places adjacent he made it a Garrison and Magazine for himself Curtius Lib. 4. C. 10. After this he marches for Egypt subdues it builds Alexandria goeth to the Temple of Jupiter Hammon and at his return the war yet depending with Darius he removed to Tyre from thence he passes Euphrates to meet with Darius and beats him again at the Battel at Arbela or Gaugamela and so was declared King of Asia Darius thus vanquished was forced to fly and wandring up and down at last was betrayed by his own servants among whom Bessus was chief and being ignominiously bound with fetters and mortally wounded by them he died after he had reigned seven years And thus the Persian Empire was dissolved when it had lasted about 203 years A. M. 3675. ante C. N. 328. Alexander reigned six years and ten months after the death of Darius as Emperour of the East and then falling into a Fever at Babylon drawn upon himself by intemperate drinking He died A. M. 3681 ante C.N. 322 * About this time and something after flourished many Schools of Greek Philosophers viz. the Academicks Peripateticks Stoicks Epicureans Cynicks Scepticks of whom it is not our business now to speak After Alexander's death his Empire was shared among his great Commanders and was divided for the main into four Kingdoms viz. 1. the Kingdom of Macedonia 2. of Asia Minor 3. of Syria 4. of Egypt These two last the one lying North of the other South of Judea did often grievously afflict that poor people lying between them After Jaddus his Son Onias succeeded him in the Priesthood at Jerusalem Ptolemaeus Lagi the first King of Egypt after Alexander's death subdued Palestine and got Jerusalem by a slight * Viz. He entreth Jerusalem on a Sabbath-day under pretense to sacrifice and then surprizes the City and carried thence a vast number of Jews into Egypt out of which he selected many and took them into his army upon greater pay than ordinary And finding that the Jews were most strict observers of any Oaths they had taken he committed many of his Garrisons and Castles to their custody And he placed many of them in Alexandria suffering them to enjoy the same priviledges with the Macedonians He sent many of them also to inhabit Cyrene from whom 't is probable Simon the Cyrenian who bare the Cross of Christ descended Mat. 27.32 And other Cyrenian Jews of whom mention is made Act. 2.10 and Ch. 6.9 Others of the Jews whom he brought out of Judea with him into Egypt he gave away for slaves among his Soldiers not so much of his own inclination as upon their importunity who desired to have them rather than any other for their necessary uses and attendance in things belonging to the war Simon or Simeon the Just succeeded Onias in the Priesthood he was so called because of his great zeal and servency in the worship of God and the exceeding love he ever exprest to his Country-men the Jews About this time as 't is probable arose those three famous Sects of Pharisees Sadduces and Essenes †Among the Jews there were some who thought they ought only to live by the prescript of the Law neither above nor below it Others thought they were not to act according to the bare letter of the Law but according to such consequences as might be deduced from it and accordingly performed over and above what the Law required in the service of God Those that stood to the letter of the Law were called Kerraim Those that besides the letter of the Law did works of Supererogation were named Hasidim or Sancti and afterwards they grew into a body call'd Hasidaeans As long as this voluntary and supererogatory service was free and spontaneous there was no schism but when this Doctrine of the Hasidaeans came to be digested into precepts and Canons many doubts and disputes daily arose whence two Sects had their original One which allowed only the Law it self and another which embraced the glosses and interpretations of it From the latter being that of the Hasidaeans sprang up some who called themselves Peruschim or Separate as those who by reason of their holiness were not only distinct and separated from the vulgar but from others also who would not come up to their strict rules and injunctions These Peruschim came by Greek writers to be called Pharisaei Now as out of the Hasidaeans arose the Pharisees so from among the Karraim the Sadduces so named from Sadoc Antigonus the Master of this Sadoc and Scholar
he sent with them ten Bedsteads with silver feet and rich furniture thereunto belonging a cup of thirty talents ten vests of scarlet and a Crown richly wrought and about one hundred pieces of very fine linnen and by his letters desired him that if any of those Interpreters had at any time a desire to come and visit him he would not hinder them for he much desired to converse with such kind of men and had rather spend his money upon them than any other way Antiochus Theos third King of Syria gave the Jews living in Ionia equal rights and priviledges with the Gentiles and suffered them to enjoy their own Religion He made sundry times war upon Ptol. Philadelphus and fought with him with all the forces he could raise out of the Oriental parts Wherefore Ptolemy desirous to put an end to this bloody war gave him his daughter Berenice to wife while his former wife Laodice was yet living by whom he had Seleucus Callinicus and Antiochus Hierax with an huge portion which gives light to Dan. 11. v. 5 6. But afterwards he put her away and took Laodice again and she was at last slain by the procurement of Seleucus Callinicus who succeeded his father in the Kingdom which was the Original of many wars between the Kings of Syria and Egypt Manasses Eleazar's Uncle Brother to Onias the first and S on of Jaddus succeeded in the Priesthood at Jerusalem Ptol. Euergetes Son to Ptol. Philadelphus marches into Syria to revenge his Sisters death and over-runs and conquers all before him and then came down to Jerusalem and there offered many sacrifices of thanksgiving unto God and dedicated to him many gifts in acknowledgment of so great a victory and then returned into Egypt carrying with him many rich spoils and Images of their gods which Cambyses heretofore had taken out of Egypt at his being there being called back by a sedition of his own people See Dan. 11.6 7 8 9. Ptol. Euergetes followed his father Philadelphus's steps in promoting learning and the magnificence of the Library begun by him at Alexandria He sent for Eratosthenes Cyrenaeus from Athens and made him keeper of it He took great care to get into his Library the works of ancient writers where ever they could be procured He borrowed from Athens the works of Sophocles Euripides and Aeschylus only to transcribe and left them fifteen Talents in pawn and then caused them to be written out very fair in parchment and then retaining the Originals he sent the Transcripts back desiring them to keep his pawn of fifteen Talents and to suffer the Originals to remain with him Onias the second son of Simon the Just after that Eleazar had executed the office of High Priest because he was then but a child when his father died and after him also Manasses because when he came to age he proved but a half-witted man yet at last came to be High Priest among the Jews in which office he carried himself very unworthily and basely and by his covetousness drew the anger of Ptol. Euergetes upon him for he refused to pay the tribute of twenty Talents of silver which his Predecessors ever used to pay out of their own store for the ease of their people Hereupon Pt. Euergetes in a great rage sent to him that if he did not speedily send him his arrears of tribute he would forthwith give away all his land amongst his Souldiers and plant new Colonies of his own there Josephus the son of Tobias a young man of singular prudence and virtue being advertised by his mother who was the sister of this Onias and daughter of Simon the Just of the coming of these messengers he presently came to Jerusalem and undertook to go in an Embassie to Euergetes about this matter and being come thither he so far insinuated himself into the good liking and favour of the King and Cleopatra the Queen that he not only diverted this storm which threatned his Country but also obtained a company of 2000 Souldiers to levy the tributes and other dues belonging to the King out of Coelosyria Phoenicia Samaria and Judea In which office he continued by the space of twenty two years and in that time doubled the Kings Revenues and brought them from 8 to 16 thousand Talents by the year and brought into the Kings Exchequer all the goods of Felons and other Confiscations which formerly the Exchequer-men swallowed up and shared among themselves Joseph 16. Ch. 3.4 After the decease of Onias the second his son Simon the second succeeded in the Priesthood About the year of the world 3787 when the second Carthaginian war began between Annibal and the Romans the Roman name began to be famous in the world and their power look'd upon as formidable as any of the Kings either of Egypt Syria or Macedon Ptol. Philopator overthrew Antiochus Magnus King of Syria in a great fight near Raphia a City in Syria and so got Raphia and those places round about The Jews sending some of their Sanedrin to render him their service and to congratulate him after so great a victory he promised to go thither and to honour their City with his presence When he came he admired the beauty of their Temple and would fain have gone into the Sanctum Sanctorum whereinto it was not lawful for any to go save the High Priest only The Jews vehemently opposing him therein the King was more earnest and bent upon it whereupon all the Temple was filled with cryings and howlings and the City with tumult Then Simon the High Priest kneeling down between the Temple and the Altar humbly sought help from God in that time of trouble Whereupon the King fell into such an horrour of mind that he was unable to speak and so was carried half dead out of the Temple 2 Mac. Ch. 1. 2. Ptol. Philopator being returned into Egypt fell into all manner of loose living and debauchery and sought by all means to turn the Jews of Alexandria from the worship of the true God and some of those that would not turn he caused to be slain and some he marked with hot irons on their faces and some with the sign of an Ivy-leaf because that was the badg of Bacchus Hereupon many abandoned their Religion in compliance to the King's will Others bought their peace and saved their lives and escaped their marking with hot irons for their money But they who continued constant in the Religion of their forefathers continued also constant in their allegiance to the King but would not converse in any kind with those of their own Nation who had apostatized from their Religion whereupon their enemies presently made this construction of it that they opposed the King in his power and Government and sought to turn away his subjects from their obedience Upon this Philopator growing angry with the Jews not only in Alexandria but even throughout all Egypt sent out orders to have them all gathered together into one
5000 dead upon the place and had the chase of the rest a great way Among others who were thus vanquished were the Merchants who nothing doubting of the victory followed the Kings army in hope to get a good bargain of the captives and now became a prey themselves and the Jews seized on their money which they brought to buy them And when they had had a long pursuit of them but being prevented by time they sounded a retreat for the evening on which the Sabbath began drawing on after they had gathered up the Armes of the vanquished Host and taken the spoils from them they composed themselves for the celebration of the Sabbath magnifying the mercy of God for this so marvelous a victory 2 Mac. 8. Gorgias returning from his fruitless expedition and perceiving by the smoke of the Tents set on fire that that other division of their army was routed and seeing Judas on the plain standing in Battalia with his forces ready to receive them they all shifted for themselves The coast thus cleared Judas returned to the spoil where he found plenty of gold silk and purple which the Phoenician Merchants had left behind them and much wealth all which the Souldiers shared among themselves having first deducted a portion for the maimed Souldiers widows and orphans Then with joint supplication they desired the Lord to continue still to be gracious unto them After this Judas overthrew Timotheus and Bacchides both of the Kings party and killed above 20000 men and made themselves masters of many strong holds and divided among themselves much spoil always admitting the maimed orphans widows and aged persons into equal portions with themselves Lysias was exceedingly vext that things fell out so contrary to his expectation and therefore the next year invaded Judea with an Army of 60000 choice foot and 5000 horse Judas having first implored the Divine assistance meets him with an army of 10000 men Lysias received such a blow that with the loss of 5000 men he was glad to retreat to Antioch intending greater preparations for his next expedition Judas and his Brethren having now some respite from their enemies march with all their forces to Jerusalem and recover the Temple and all the City except Sion-fort The Altars and Chappels which the enemy had built in the open streets they demolished And by the assistance of the Priests they cleansed the Temple built a new Altar repaired the holy and Holy of Holies hallowed the Courts made new holy Vessels brought into the Temple the Candlestick the Altar of Incense and the Table of shew-bread and so they burnt Incense upon the Altar lighted the Lamps which were in the Candlestick and placed shew-bread upon the Table and spread the Vails and finished whatever they had taken in hand Then on the 15th of the ninth month called Casleu two years after he had succeeded his Father in the Government but three years compleat since the Gentiles first sacrificed in that place having furnished themselves with fire by striking stones one against another they offered sacrifice according to the Law upon their new Altar of Burnt-offerings so that on the very same day of the same month on which the Gentiles profaned the old Altar Judas consecrated this new one This Dedication was celebrated with Songs and Hymns and Instruments of Musick very joyfully and all the people fell prostrate on the ground and worshipped the God of Heaven who had so prospered them beseeching him that he would not suffer them to fall again into such calamities but that if they offended him he himself would punish them and not suffer them to fall into the hands of the barbarous Gentiles They kept this feast of Dedication eight days and ordained that it should be kept yearly for the same space of time and should begin the 25th of the same month Casleu In the Gospel Joh. 10.22 't is called the feast of Dedication Whilst these things were doing Antiochus Epiphanes prospers in his wars against Artaxias King of Armenia and in the upper Countries though in his attempt to plunder the Temple of Venus or Diana at Elemais in Persia he was repelled by the inhabitants and caused shamefully to retreat In his return homewards hearing first of the overthrow of Nicanor and Timotheus and then of the defeat of Lysias and the throwing down of the Idol of Jupiter Olympius and fortifying of the Sanctuary he fell into an extream rage and resolved to be revenged on the Jews proudly vaunting that he would make Jerusalem the common burying place of them when he should come thither Scarce had he made an end of threatning when he was stricken with an extream torment in his bowels but being brought thereby to no better a temper of mind he breathed out menaces against the Jews still and calling to his Chariot-driver to make hast it hapned that in this his so furious career he fell out of his Chariot and was much bruised by the fall and his limbs put out of joint and after that being carried to and fro in a horse-litter worms bred so fast in his body that his flesh rotted so that none could endure to carry him for the noisomeness of the stench being forced to stay at Taba a Town in Persia in this pitiful plight despairing of recovery he openly acknowledged all those miseries to have fallen upon him for the injuries he had done to the Jews When he could no longer endure his own smell he said It is meet to submit to God and for mortal man not to set himself in competition with God He vowed if God would restore him to grant to the Jews a free exercise of their Religion and of their own laws and customs and that he would beautifie the Temple with most rare gifts and restore all the holy vessels and that with advantage and defray the charges of the Sacrifices out of his own Exchequer and that he himself would turn Jew and go through the whole habitable world declaring the power of God But when he saw his end to draw nigh he caused most kind Letters to be written to the Jews desiring them to stand faithful to his Son Then constituting Philip the Guardian and Protector of his Son who was but nine years old till he should come to age he died and that a miserable death in a strange land after he had reigned twelve years Antiochus his Son Sirnamed Eupator succeeds him Lysias who had brought him up would not part with the Government of him whereupon Philip who was appointed his Guardian by his Father fled into Egypt Gorgias who had the command of those parts about Judea fomented a continual war with the Jews and with him joyned the Idumeans who entertained all the Jerusalem-runagadoes and infested the Jews and did what they could to keep the war on foot against those therefore Judas Maccabaeus marches takes divers places and puts 20000 of them to the sword After which setting upon the Ammonites he overthrew them
Tent slew 4000 men and giving an alarm to the whole Army at break of the day safely retreated whereupon the King marched towards him next day and they coming to an engagement Antiochus lost several hundreds more but the Jews seeing themselves overpowered retreated The King then returned to the siege and they not being well stored with provision this being the Sabbatical year at last yielded up the Town upon composition Antiochus having herein placed a Garrison marched up to Jerusalem and there made all provision possible for the gaining of it all manner of Engines being raised for the casting of fire and stones but the besieged defended themselves bravely though provisions were very short with them and the famine prevailed so much among them that they were in danger of falling into the Kings hands but before he could finish his work news came that Philip whom his father had appointed to be Guardian being returned out of Egypt was coming with the forces that Epiphanes had left in Persia and Media to recover his right usurped by Lysias Hereupon both he and his Captains were presently perswaded by Lysias because the place was strong and provisions began to fail in the Leaguer and the affairs of the Kingdom required it to make peace with the besieged and with the whole Nation of the Jews upon such terms as they required Then returning to Ptolemais the inhabitants thereof being great enemies to the Jews stickled hard to perswade him to break the League but Lysias so well argued the matter among them that he quieted their minds and confirmed the peace so that the Investiture of the commanding power in the Hasmoneans took its rise from the time of this peace agreed on betwixt Antiochus Eupator and Maccabeus The King hasting thence towards Antioch brought along with him as a prisoner Menelaus the High Priest whom Lysias accused as an Incendiary and the cause of the war whereupon by order from the King he was let down into a Tower filled with ashes and there miserably ended his life ten years after he had first usurped the Priesthood Menelaus being thus taken out of the way the King substituted in his room one Alcimus a man every whit as bad as he Indeed he was of Aaron's progeny but not of the High Priests blood and Lysias perswaded the King to transfer that dignity into another family Onias the Son of Onias the third seeing the High Priesthood conferred on Alcimus went into Egypt and after he had well insinuated himself into the affections of Ptol. Philometor and Cleopatra his wife obtained of them leave to build a Temple to God in the jurisdiction of Heliopolis answering to that at Jerusalem and that they would constitute him High Priest there See more of this in Vsher p. 467. Antiochus coming to Antioch found Philip Master thereof but setting upon it he took it by force and taking Philip therein put him to death and so quickly quieted those stirs being reserved with Lysias his Guardian though but a little time for others more dangerous Demetrius Soter Son of Seleucus Philopator the right heir to the Kingdom now escaping from Rome quickly got the Kingdom and put to death Eupator and Lysias his Guardian Alcimus who had procured from Eupator to be made High Priest being not now receivâ—d nor owned by the people for that in the days of Epiphanes he had wilfully defiled himself came to Demetrius with other Apostates to get the Priesthood confirmed to him He accused his Countrymen especially the Hasmoneans viz. Judas and his Brethren as guilty of cutting off the Kings friends and banishing them out of the Country Hereupon Demetrius sent Bacchides the Governour of Mesopotamia his trusty friend with great forces into Judea and confirmed the High Priesthood to Alcimus whom he sent back with him All their design was being arrived there by fair speeches to get Judas and his Brethren into their hands but they gave no credit to them Many of the Scribes went out to them to seek peace expecting they should have obtained it of Alcimus who was of the seed of Aaron and had now great power in the army but having gotten them into his hands he most wickedly contrary to agreement and his oath put sixty of them to death all in one day by which perfidiousness many being terrified fled from the City Then Bacchides going from Jerusalem caused many that had fled from him and several others of the Jews to be slain and cast into a great pit and so committing the care of the Country to Alcimus for the defence of which he left him some forces he returned unto the King After his departure Alcimus striving all he could to confirm himself in the Priesthood made great havock of the people Hereupon Judas went out through the whole Country taking vengeance on such as had revolted from him and so terrified those that adhered to Alcimus that they were forced to keep themselves within their Garrisons and durst not make any more incursions into the Country Alcimus apprehending danger to himself from these proceedings goes once more to Demetrius carrying along with him a Crown of Gold to present unto him For Judas and his party increasing in power would not suffer him to come near to the holy Altar at which being enraged he eagerly accused them to the King as authors of all the commotions and disturbances in Judea further complaining that he was deprived of the Priesthood the honour as he said of his Ancestors and further affirmed that as long as Maccabeus lived the Kings affairs could not be secure This being seconded by some ill-willers to the Jews and his friends Demetrius was so inflamed that sending for Nicanor one of his chiefest Princes and a bitter enemy to the Jews made him General against Judea giving him order to destroy Judas and disperse his associates the Assideans and to settle Alcimus in the High Priesthood The Jews upon the report of Nicanors approach and the Association of several Gentiles with him cast dust upon their heads and made their Supplication to God And it so happened that after a short skirmish betwixt Simon Judas's Brother and a party of Nicanors near the Village Dessaro Nicanor understanding the Courage and Resolution of Judas and his Party in defending their Country he was unwilling to run the hazard of a Battel but sent to parle with the Jews and to make peace with them upon mutual engagements of fidelity each to other And Articles being agreed upon between them the two Captains met and the Conference proved very successful and closed in a League without the Kings Privity Nicanor after this abode a while in Jerusalem and dismissed the Companies he had collected and was so taken with Judas that he continued with him some time and loved him in his heart and lived so friendly and familiarly with him that he perswaded him to marry a Wife But when that wretched fellow Alcimus observed this Correspondence between them he addressed
himself a third time to Demetrius and accused Nicanor as having some treacherous Design in agitation against the King who was so inraged by those Calumnies that he sent Nicanor word That he took very ill those his Intercourses with Judas commanding him forthwith to send him to him bound to Antioch Nicanor was very loath to do this because it was a violation of the Articles of Peace between them which Judas had not in the least manner broken yet because he knew not how to resist the Kings command he watched a convenient time to do it by a Stratagem Judas observing how Nicanor was grown more reserved to him than formerly and that his dealings were more rough than usually they had been began to suspect something and gathering together many of his Associates he withdrew himself Nicanor following him with a great party to Jerusalem under pretence of a Parle with him had prepared some to seize upon him which Judas having notice of got away and would see him no more When Nicanor saw his design was discovered he marched with his forces against Judas and fought with him near Caphersalama in which Encounter Nicanor lost near 5000 of his men and the rest fled to the City of David After this Nicanor came up to Mount Sion and some of the Priests with the Elders of the people went forth of the Sanctuary to salute him peaceably and shew him the Burnt-Offering that was offered for the King But he jearing and scoffing at it demanded Judas to be delivered unto him And they affirming with an Oath that they knew not where he was he stretched out his hand against the Temple and swore that except Judas and his Associates were delivered up unto him he would when he should return in peace set the Sanctuary on fire demolish the Altar and build there a stately Temple to Bacchus The Priests hearing this went in and standing before the Altar with Tears begged of God That he would frustrate this wicked mans intention and avenge his Blasphemies on him and his host Nicanor hearing that Judas was gone from Jerusalem into the parts of Samaria he went and pitched his Tents in Bethoron where he met new supplies out of Syria But Judas pitched in Hadasa with only 3000 men Nicanor did what he could to engage in battle on the Sabbath-day vvhich the Jews vvho vvere constrained to follovv him friendly dehorting him from out of reverence to the day and to God the Institutor thereof he with most horrid Blasphemy slighted what they said As for Maccabaeus he encouraged his Party recalling to their minds their former Encounters and declaring unto them a Dream of his wherein there was represented unto him Onias the 3d. praying for the people and the Prophet Jeremy reaching unto him a golden Sword whereby he much cheared their Spirits The Jews being now well armed with Prayers and a sure confidence in God on the 13th day of the last month Adar fell upon the Enemy Nicanor himself was one of the first that fell in the fight which when his Army saw they cast away their Arms and fled and the Israelites following the chase slew 30000 of them Then they fell upon the Spoil and finding Nicanors Body they cut off his head and hands and carried him to Jerusalem where they hung his head upon an high Tower with his right hand which he had stretched out so proudly against the House of God and his blasphemous Tongue Judas commanded should be chopp'd in pieces and given to the Birds of the Air. In commemoration of this Victory it was Enacted That the 13th day of the month Adar the day before the Feast of Mordecai should be yearly kept as a day of thanksgiving and publick rejoycing as the Author of the second Book of Maccabees tells us who with this story finished his Work being the Epitome of the Five Books of Jason a Jew of Cyrene After Nicanor's death Judea for a while had rest from Wars During which time Judas hearing of the great power of the Romans and their Humanity towards such as were in distress understanding also in what great fear Demetrius stood of them he sent Eupolemus the son of John and Jason son of Eleazer as Agents to the Senate of Rome in the name of himself his Brother and the Common-wealth of the Jews to negotiate an Alliance and Association with them hoping thereby to free their necks from that heavy yoak of Demetrius and the Empire of the Greeks After Demetrius heard that Nicanor and his Army were cut off in the late fight with Judas he dispatch'd Bacchides and Alcimus a second time into Judea and with them the right wing and better part of his Army who marching on the way that leads to Galgala took in their march Massadath which is in Arbela and put multitudes to the Sword From thence they removed to Jerusalem and from thence to Berea with Twenty thousand Foot and Two thousand Horse to seek out Maccabaeus Judas pitched in Eleasa having only 3000 men with him The Jews seeing the number of the enemy so great began to be afraid and many of them fled away in so much that all forsook Judas save only 800 with these he charged Bacchides's great Army and fought from morning to night and routed the right wing in which Bacchides himself was but they on the left wing perceiving this and pressing hard upon Judas and those that were with him slew him fighting valiantly and as soon as he fell the rest of his men fled and shifted for themselves Judas was slain in the 6th year after he had led the people from the death of his Father and A. M. 3844. After the death of Judas wicked men discovered themselves in all the Coasts of Israel who before play'd least in sight for fear of Him And by reason of the great Famine that hapned in those days almost the whole Country joyned with them and submitted themselves to Bacchides that they might the more commodiously be supplied with provision Bacchides advanced those wicked men to be Governours in the Country who when they lighted upon any of Judas's Friends brought them to him who reviled them and revenged himself upon them so that there had not been so great an Affliction since the days that the Prophets ceased from among them 1 Mac. 9.23 27. But such of the Jews as could do it assembled themselves together and chose Jonathan Judas's Brother Captain in his room which Bacchides hearing of sought to kill him but he understanding thereof fled into the desert of Tekoa and sent his Brother John with a bâ—â—d of Soldiers to desire the Nabathites that were Arabians that they might leave their Carriages with them But the Children of Iambri out of Medaba met with them upon the way and slew John and his Company and having seized upon the Spoil went their way But no great joy had they of their Booty for Jonathan and his Brother Simon hearing they were about to make
Cleopatra his Brothers wife all the Armies of the Syrians except a few revolted to him so that Tryphon seeing himself thus forsaken fled to Dora a Maritime City of Phoenicia whither he was straight pursued and blocked up both by sea and land Simon sent 2000 choice men to Sidetes at the siege of Dora but he to Simons great astonishment refused them all and brake whatever Covenants he had made with him And further sent Athenobius to him complaining of his holding Joppa Gazara and the Castle at Jerusalem and destroying the borders and holding the Government of divers places of his Kingdom requiring of him the tributes of those places beyond the bounds of Judea which were possessed by him or else in lieu thereof to pay 500 Talents and for the tribute of the other places held by him 500 Talents more menacing war against him except all things were performed that he demanded To these things Simon answered that he held no Towns belonging to any other Prince but had recovered by his sword some Towns of his own held back from him by his enemies as for Joppa and Gazara though they had done much harm to his people yet he was willing to pay an hundred Talents At this answer Sidetes was exceedingly enraged In the mean while Tryphon escaped away from Dora to Orthosias another Maritime City of Phoenicia Antiochus himself pursuing Tryphon left Cendebaeus to take care of the Sea-coasts and to build up Cedron and to deal with the Jews He being come as far as Jamnia began to make inroads into Judea and to take the people prisoners and to kill and slay such as he pleased John the Son of Simon then lying at Gazara and understanding how things went gave notice thereof to his Father who being now decrepid committed the managing of the war to him and his Brother Judas John therefore with 20000 Foot and some Horse marched against Cendebaeus who met them with a powerful Army and marshalling his body in such wife that the Horse and Foot might mutually protect each other and then sounding with their holy Trumpets they engaged the enemy and overthrew him and put his whole Army to the rout some betook themselves to the Fort newly built and others flying away he pursued as far as the Towers of Azotus and having slain about 2000 men in the pursuit he burnt those Towers and returned safe into Judea Tryphon at last fled to his own Country-men at Apamea and in the way as he went he scattered money on purpose to retard Antiochus's Souldiers in the pursuit of him and so escaped out of their hands but at last he was taken by Antiochus and put to death Simon traversing the Cities of Judea and providing for their orderly government came down with his Sons Mattathias and Judas to Jericho there Ptolemy the Son of Abubus his Son-in-law who was by him set over the Province of Jericho entertained them in Doc-castle which he had fortified but designing to get the Government of the Country to himself whilst he was treating them at a Banquet most treacherously and barbarously slew Simon with his two Sons and some of his servants after he had discharged the office of High Priest for the space of eight years and three months Ptolemy immediately acquaints Antiochus Sidetes with this villany desiring him to speed an Army for his assistance promising to deliver the Cities and Country of Judea into his hands So that it seems more than probable that this villany was not transacted without the privity of Sidetes and that the honour and reward which the Traytor so much aspired unto was before promised him by the King upon his performance of it This perfidious Ptolemy also sent other cut-throats to murder John Simon 's other Son but he escap'd them He dealt also with the Colonels of the Jewish Militia to draw them over to himself promising them great rewards And moreover sent some to seize upon Jerusalem and the mountain of the Temple John having received information of the murder of his Father and Brethren and that some were sent to do as much for him prevented his enemies by falling upon them first and so was made High Priest in the room of his Father 1 Mac. 16. And here the Author of the first Book of Maccabees concludes his work having therein delivered the History of forty years which Josephus continues on Antiochus Sidetes taking the opportunity of Simon 's death entred Judea with an Army and having wasted the Country forced John Sirnamed afterwards Hircanus to retire into the City of Jerusalem and then laid a close siege to it the siege was prolonged through the strength of the walls and valour of the defendants Antiochus built many turrets about it out of which he attempted the walls and begirt it so straightly with a double Trench that there was no getting out for the besieged any way Hircanus seeing a great and useless multitude in the City which consumed the victuals put out the more infirm out of the walls but Antiochus would not suffer them to pass so that they wandered about the walls almost famished till at last out of pity they were taken in again At this Feast Hircanus sent out to Antiochus to desire a truce for seven days for their Feasts sake which Antiochus not only granted but also brought in great pomp to the very gates of the City bulls with guilded horns and gold and silver cups filled with all manner of spices to be offered to the God of Israel and delivered sacrifices to the Priests of the Jews so easily can God change the hearts of Princes Hircanus was so taken with this great act of piety in Antiochus that from thence forward he gave him the title of Pius and sent to him to request terms of peace of him and that he would give them leave to live according to the Laws of their forefathers Many of those that were about the King pressed him not to make any peace with them but to demolish their City and destroy the whole Nation of the Jews as being a people severed from all other Nations by their peculiar laws and customs or if he would not do so at least to abrogate their Laws and force them to change their manner of living But God so over-ruled the Kings heart that he utterly rejected this counsel and approving the piety of the Jews offered them peace upon condition that they should pay him tribute for Joppa and other Towns without Judea and receive a Garrison They yielded to the former but not to the last in regard they would avoid all commerce with strangers in lieu of that they chose rather to give hostages for their fidelity amongst whom Hircanus's own Brother was one and to pay 500 Talents whereof 300 at present These terms being agreed unto by Antiochus the siege was immediately removed Hircanus opening the Sepulcher of David found there 3000 Talents wherewith he not only paid Antiochus his 300 but feasted him and his
so weak a condition both of Body and Mind that she could not take care of those matters And shortly after she died having reigned nine years and in 73 of her Age. In the meantime Aristobulus increased in power many flocking to him that hoped to get something by this Innovation in the State Hircanus the High Priest now succeeding in the Government his Brother Aristobulus presently made War upon him They come to a Battel near Jerico where many of Hircanus's Soldiers revolted to the other side Upon which he fled into the Castle where the Wife and Children of Aristobulus were then kept The rest of this party for fear of the Conqueror betook themselves to the Protection of the Temple and in a short space delivered up themselves At length it came to a Treaty between the two Brothers and it was agreed that Aristobulus should reign and that Hircanus should lead a private life and enjoy his Brothers Estate This Covenant they both entred into in the Temple having both sworn to it and solemnly confirmed it Then kindly embracing each other in the sight of the people they withdrew the one to his Court the other as a private person to Aristobulus's house But this agreement lasted not long For Antipater an Idumaean Father of Herod the Great having been made Governour of Idumaea by Alexander Jannaeus and being a Rich man and Factious and busie by nature he feared Aristobulus's power by reason of some Grudges that were between them and endeavoured his destruction by stirring up Hircanus and the most powerful of the Jews against him suggesting it would be very ill to let him possess a Command he had so unjustly gotten having put by his elder Brother and dispoiled him of the Prerogative of his Birth And with the like Suggestions he plyed Hircanus constantly adding with all that his very life was in danger except he prevented it by a timely flight At length tho' with some difficulty he prevailed with Hircanus to fly to Aretas King of the Arabians whom Antipater procured to assist him with his Arms for the recovering of his Kingdom Hircanus promising him that if by his means he obtained it he would restore to him a Country with twelve Cities which his Father Alexander Jannaeus had taken away from the Arabians Aretas being wrought upon by these promises invades Judea with fifty thousand men and overthrows Aristobulus so that he was forced with many Priests that were with him to fly into Jerusalem where he was closely besieged in the Temple by Hircanus and the Arabians The besiegers brought one Onias a man that had at that time a great repute for his Piety and the Prevalency of his Prayers to the siege and there would needs have him to curse the besieged He refused a great while till being at last compelled by the multitude he stood in the midst of them and prayed thus O God thou that art King of the whole world forasmuch as these that are with me are thy people and those that are besieged are thy Priests I beseech thee that thou wouldest neither hear these praying against them nor them against these This so inraged the rude multitude that they fell upon him and stoned him to death The Feast of the Passover hapning during the Siege the Priests that were besieged with Aristobulus in the Temple that the Sacrifices might not be omitted bargained with the Besiegers to sell them Beasts for that service But when they had let down their money from the Walls they were derided by the Besiegers and no Sacrifice returned This Wickedness and the Murther of Onias the Historian observeth to have been punished with great storms and tempests which procured extraordinary scarcity of Corn. In the mean while Pompey the Great being diverted by the War with Tigranes in Armenia sent Scaurus his Quaestor into Syria who coming strait to Damascus found it newly taken by Metellus and Laelius whereupon he advanceth presently into Judea As soon as he had entred the Country he meets Ambassadors both from Hircanus that had besieged the Temple at Jerusalem as also from his Brother that was besieged both of them intreating his assistance And tho' the one promised as much as the other for his help namely 400 Talents yet he closed with Aristobulus counting him more free and rich and whose Request was more easie to be fulfilled in driving away the Besiegers than that of the other to take the place which he held being so strong both of it self and by the valour of the Defendants Having therefore received Aristobulus's money he sent to the Besiegers threatning them in the Romans and Pompey's name if they did not immediately desist from that Siege Aretas being affrighted with this Message withdrew his siege and Scaurus returned to Damascus Aristobulus being thus freed from the siege gathereth together all the forces he could make and pursuing Aretas and Hircanus at a place called Papyron he there worsted them killing about 7000 of them and among others Cephalias the brother of Antipater Not long after Pompey came to Damascus whither were sent unto him Ambassadors from several parts Aristobulus sent him an excellent present being a Golden Vine a piece of so exquisite Workmanship that it was called the Delight It was placed in the Temple by Alexander Jannaeus and now by his Son Aristobulus presented to Pompey and by him afterwards among other things dedicated in the Capitol at Rome Pliny describes it thus A foursquare mountain of Gold with Harts and Lyons and all kind of Apples with a Vine of Gold encompassing it Plin. Lib. 37. Cap. 2. A while after there were sent some to him from both the Brothers namely Antipater from Hircanus and one Nicodemus from the other Pompey commanded both Parties viz. Hircanus and Aristobulus to appear before him at Damascus Thither was sent also an Embassage from the Jews themselves who declared they were unwilling to live any longer under Kings it being the custome of their Country to yield obedience to the High Priest of their God that though these two Brothers were indeed of the race of the Priests yet they had a design to alter the Government and to bring slavery upon the people Hircanus accused his Brother of Vsurpation and depriving him of his Birth-right Aristobulus excused himself by the necessity of the thing his Brother being so unfit for Government insomuch that there was danger if he had not taken it upon him that it would have been transferred to some other family There were a great number of the chief of the Jews whom Antipater had brought with him who confirmed what Hircanus had said But Aristobulus's followers whom he appealed unto were a Company of young Gallants ridiculous to all for their phantastick Bravery Pompey having heard them both rebuked Aristobulus's violence yet dismissed them both very kindly at present promising he would come himself to them as soon as he had inspected the Affairs of the Nabathaeans injoyning them both in the mean
was feasted by Anthony Thus Herod obtained the Soveraignty of Judea A. M. 3965. about 35 years before the Birth of Christ to the just Wonderment both of himself and others having always feared that the Romans would never confer that honour and dignity upon him which was not wont to be bestowed upon any but those of a Royal Stock But this added to the wonder that within seven days Anthony dismissed him out of Italy During Herods absence Antigonus laid close siege to the Castle of Massada where Herod had left his Relations abounding with all sorts of provisions only Water was wanting so that Joseph had thoughts of getting away with 200 men into Arabia the King whereof he now heard repented of his unkindness to his Brother But this was prevented by a shower that fell by night as if sent on purpose from Heaven for their relief whereupon they were so heartned as to sally out upon the Besiegers whereof they cut off many In the mean time Ventidius the Roman General being sent into Syria to expel the Parthians thence after their retreat came into Judea under pretence to help Joseph but indeed with intentions to extort a good Sum of money from Antigonus which accordingly he did and then drew off the greater part of his forces but left Silo with a party behind who was also to be pleased by Antigonus lest he should raise him some new Troubles But in the mean time Herod landed at Ptolemais and having got together a good Company of Soldiers hasted through Galilee against Antigonus being aided by Ventidius and Silo to whom Anthony had sent express order that they should place him in the Kingdom Ventidius was then busie in composing differences among the Cities which the Incursion of the Parthians had made Herods forces encreasing he marched towards Massada for the relief of his Friends which he accomplished having first taken Joppa in his way after which he marched up to Jerusalem in spight of Antigonus many of Silo's Soldiers joyning themselves to him and many of the Jews that were terrified by his power Having encamped on the west side of the City he commanded an Herauld to proclaim round about the Walls that he came for the publick good and for the Conservation of the City and that he would pardon all former injuries On the other side Antigonus remonstrated to Silo and the Romans that it was unjustly done to give the Kingdom unto Herod a private man and an Idumaean whereas it ought only to be given to one of the Priests Line Silo being bribed by Antigonus dealt privately with some of his Soldiers to begin a mutiny requiring to be led into a place more plenteous of Provisions Hereupon the Army being in disorder and ready to dislodge Herod intreated the Captains and Soldiers that they would not leave him now he being sent both by Cesar and Anthony and all the rest of the Senate and he would take care they should not want Provisions and accordingly brought Plenty out of the Country and so cut off all occasion of Silo's departure Then taking out a party consisting of Ten Companies half Jews half Romans he went to Jericho which City he found forsaken of its Inhabitants The Romans entring the Town plundred it finding it full of good booty Then returning he sent the rest of the Roman Army to winter quarters which he appointed in Idumaea Galilee and Samaria But Antigonus obtained of Silo that part of his Army might quarter in Lydda thereby endeavouring to curry favour with Antony Thus the Romans lay idle all this season in places abounding with all plenty However Herod was not idle but sending his Brother Joseph into Idumaea with 400 Horse and 1000 Foot went down into Galilee to reduce some places held by Antigonus and within a short while brought all the Country into obedience except those men that lurked in Caves and then giving to his Soldiers 150 Drachms a man and more to the Captains placed them also in Winter quarters Silo a little after came to him with his Captains who had Wintred with Antigonus but he refused to maintain them any longer and commanded the Inhabitants thereabout to spoil the Country of all necessaries and taking with them such Provisions as they could carry away to flee to the mountains that so the Romans might perish through want Ventidius being now engaged in Syria against the Parthians sent to Silo to come to him and bring Herod along with him with his Forces But Herod having sent Silo to him marched himself with his Soldiers against the Thieves that lurked in Caves many of whom he destroyed In the mean while Ventidius having in a Battel slain Pacorus and put the Parthians to flight by Antony's command sent Machaeras with two Legions and 1000 Horse to assist Herod against Antigonus but being come he would needs contrary to Herods mind go to Antigonus pretending thereby he should be able to discover and spie out his Designs But Antigonus suspecting him would not admit him then repenting he had not taken Herods advice he went and secured himself in Emmaus and out of madness at what had hapned to him slew all Jews that came in his way without any difference of Friend or Foe Herod being hereat enraged resolved to go and complain to Antony who was then in person besieging Samosata upon the River Euphrates but Machaeras intreated him to stay or if he would needs go however to leave his brother Joseph with him to carry on the War against Antigonus which latter he granted yet charging his Brother not to venture all upon a Battel nor contend with Machaeras Then hasted he to Antony taking with him Auxiliaries both of Horse and Foot At Antioch he met with many that desired to go to Antony's Camp but durst not venture by reason the Barbarians had beset the ways but Herod taking the Conduct of them and beating the Barbarians once or twice in the way with great honour and reputation for his valour arrived safe at Samosata Antony to do him honour sent out a little Army to meet him and with great Praises and Embraces received him and gave him great respect being a King of his own making Shortly after the Town being yielded up Antony delivering to Socius the Government of Syria with an Army and commending to him the affairs of Herod went himself back into Egypt In the mean while Joseph neglecting his Brothers Counsel was slain in Judea and Antigonus being Master of the Field and having the dead bodies at his dispose was so enraged that he whipped the dead body of Joseph although Pheroras his Brother offered 50 Talents to redeem it Great Innovations upon Josephs death ensued in that place and in Galilee Herod understanding these things being furnished by Socius with two Legions he marched into Galilee where meeting the enemy he fought with them and worsted them and took the Castle that some of them fled into Thence hasting to Jericho he there feasted many
told the King that he was solicited by Mariamne to deliver unto him a love-potion which whatsoever it was he had by him Hereupon Herod examined the most faithful servants of Mariamne by torture who confessed nothing but that she was offended at something that Sohemus had declared to her which when the King heard he cried out that Sohemus who had been ever faithful to him would never have revealed those things to her had there not been some more secret familiarity between them than was fit and thereupon commanded Sohemus immediately to be put to death Then calling a Council of his friends he there accused his wife for practising to poyson him they perceiving the Kings mind by general consent condemned her and so she was put to death the execution being hastened by Solome's instigation When she was dead Herod was almost mad for grief that the deed was done for he loved her extreamly neither could he by any delights or feastings divert his Melancholy but was forc'd to yield to his grief and his passion prevailing upon him he would often bid his servants call Mariamne as though she were alive So that casting off the care of his Kingdom he retired to Samaria called then Sebaste in honour of Augustus which was called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the splendor of his dignity and the honour they gave him something greater than humane As Herod was thus affected there came a Plague which swept away a great part both of the Nobility and people this being interpreted as a judgment from God for the unjust death of the Queen Herod's discontents increasing he at last fell into a great sickness so that his Physicians almost despaired of him During his sickness Alexandra now living at Jerusalem endeavoured to get the two Castles of the City into her own hands one of them joined to the Temple the other was within the City and dealt with the Governours of them to that purpose that they would deliver them to her for the children of Mariamne lest if the King should die they should be seized on by others But the Governours being faithful to Herod sent Messengers presently to him to acquaint him with Alexandra's design who thereupon ordered she should forthwith be put to death Then recovering from his sickness he returned to Jerusalem but was grown so cruel that he was ready for the least cause to put any one to death A difference arising between Costobarus an Idumean and his wife Solome the sister of Herod she contrary to the custom of the Jews sent him a bill of divorce and accused him to Herod that he with Lysimachus Antipater and Dositheus were practising some innovations upon which Herod sent and slew them with others that were conceived to be of their party endeavouring that none should remain of the kindred of Hircanus or indeed any other persons of worth and power that might resist him Herod now departed more and more from his Countries custom violating them with strange inventions for he instituted wrestlings every fifth year in honour of Caesar for the exhibiting of which he built a Theater in Jerusalem and an Amphitheater in the Plain both of them very sumptuous for the workmanship but clean contrary to the Jewish customs To these he invited all such as were skill'd in wrestling and that excelled in Musick and playing on instruments And hanging his Theater with Trophies much distasted the people as being principled by their Religion against Pictures Ten Citizens of Jerusalem about that time conspiring against him were discovered and put to death In the thirteenth year of his reign that he might be more secure from Conspiracies he began to fortifie Samaria called Sebaste Also he built another fort as a bridle to the Nation namely the Tower of Straton and in Galilee Galalus in Poraea Esthmonitis which Castles being so conveniently placed he by them kept the people in awe This year very grievous calamities befell the Country of the Jews 1. There was a continual drought upon which a famine followed and after that the plague Herod upon this to supply the publick necessities took and melted all the gold and silver that was in the Palace not sparing any thing though of never so costly workmanship nay not his own vessels that were for his daily use Having made money of all he sent it into Egypt where at that time under Caesar Petronius was Governour who though he had multitudes who at that time fled to him for the like necessity yet being Herod's friend he readily gave his men leave to export corn assisting them both in the buying and in the carriage of it When the corn was come into Judea Herod very carefully divided it first to such who were most in need and took care that the ancient and sickly should not want and by this means he recovered himself into the affections and good liking of the people again He also provided for his subjects against the sharpness of winter that none should want clothing for their cattel being dead their wool and other things failed He helped also the neighbour-Neighbour-cities of the Syrians with corn so that by his providence and bounty he began to be renowned both at home and abroad He now marries another Mariamne esteemed the most beautiful woman of that age the daughter of Simon a Priest whom he preferred to the High-Priesthood putting out Jesus the Son of Phabes After this he imployed his time and treasure in sumptuous and royal buildings as particularly that of Caesarea formerly called the Tower of Straton which he began in the sixteenth year of his reign and in twelve years finished it He built for himself also a Palace in Sion very stately and a Town about sixteen furlongs from Jerusalem which he called Herodion He now sends his Sons Alexander and Aristobulus whom he had by Mariamne the Asmonaean to Rome to Caesar to be there brought up for whom their lodging was prepar'd at Pollio's house the great friend of Herod Caesar entertained the young men very courteously and gave Herod power to make which of his Sons he pleased heir of his Kingdom Augustus gave the Tetrarchy of Zenodorus to Herod which was seated between Galilee and Trachona he made him also one of the Governours of Syria and commanded the Governours of that Province to do nothing without his advice Herod also begged a Tetrarchy of Caesar for his Brother Pheroras on whom he bestowed an hundred Talents out of the revenues of his own Kingdom At Panium near the Fountain-heads of Jordan he built a goodly Temple in honour of Caesar of white marble He remitted also to his subjects some part of their Tribute under colour that they should have some ease after the dearth but indeed to appease their minds which he saw were offended at such kind of buildings which seemed to tend to nothing but the destruction of Religion and good manners To prevent disturbances he forbad private meetings and too frequent feastings He
let on God's part but they might enter into their Inheritances and those persons whom he had appointed to divide their Inheritances to them by lot were ready to do their duty therein He therefore requires them to choose out from among them three men of every Tribe that the matter might be carried on impartially and he would send them to go through the Land and to take a Survey not only of the parts of the Country already subdued but of those that remained yet in the Enemies hands that they might describe the largeness of every Region and Province and set down how many Cities and Villages were in each of them That so having as it were a Map of the Land that remained to be divided before them they might justly divide it into seven parts and so give proportionable Shares and Inheritances to every Tribe according as they were in number fewer or more He tells them That the Tribe of Judah and the Sons of Joseph Ephraim and Manasseh should continue seated the one in the South the other in the North according as their lots fell to them at Gilgal but yet he seems to intimate that if their Shares were found to be too large then some other Tribes might have a share with them as it afterwards happened for the Tribe of Simeon had their portion assigned to them out of that which was at first the lot of Judah Ch. 19.9 When these Surveyors had gone through the Land and divided it into seven parts for the Levites were to have no part among them the Priesthood of the Lord being their Inheritance and the other Tribes had had their lots before then He orders that the Description of it should be brought to him and he would cast lots for them before the Lord at the door of the Tabernacle The men thus appointed went out accordingly being secure and confident of Gods Protection and dividing themselves as 't is probable and going under pretence possibly of Negotiation or Traffick they spent seven months in this Survey as Josephus tells us Antiq. lib. 5. and so made a Description of it in a Volume or Map with all the Cities and Towns belonging to each Province and divided it into seven parts and so presented it to Joshua and the Elders at Shiloh Then Joshua cast lots for them according to the divisions of their Tribes And the first lot came up for the Children of Benjamin whose lot fell between the Children of Judah and Joseph and the bounds of their lot with the Cities belonging thereunto are described Ch. 18. from vers 11. to the end Thus Benjamin had the honour to have the first lot among the seven Tribes and was by providence seated the very next to his Brethren Ephraim and Manasseh and had also part of the Royal City of Jerusalem within his Borders whereby was fulfilled what Moses prophesied of this Tribe Deut. 33.12 And of Benjamin he said the beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him and the Lord shall cover him all the day long and he shall dwell between his Shoulders The next lot came forth for Simeon and their Inheritance was within the lot of the Tribe of Judah It seems they that were sent to search the Land not yet divided that they might part it into seven lots for the seven Tribes remaining found that the portion which Joshua and Eleazar and the other Commissioners for dividing the Land had formerly assigned to Judah was too large considering what was left for the other Tribes and therefore they agreed unanimously that a whole portion for one of the Tribes which had not yet their Inheritance assigned to them should be taken out of that which was formerly given to Judah and some Cities also they took from Judah to be as part of another lot see Josh 19 40 41. And thus by the Providence of God there being one Tribe to be provided for within the portion of the Children of Judah the lot fell upon this Tribe of Simeon that was fewest in number of all the Tribes see Numb 26.14 And by this Tribes being intermingled with Judah and not having a portion by themselves apart that Prophesie of Jacob was fulfilled Gen. 49. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel The bounds of this Tribes portion are not described only the chief Cities and Towns are named that were in their lot and that because their Inheritance was within that of Judah The third lot came up for the Children of Zebulun Their Borders are described Ch. 19. from vers 10. to 17. The fourth lot came out to Issachar Their Borders are described from vers 17 to 24. The fifth lot for the Tribe of Asher Their Borders are described from vers 24. to 32. The sixth lot came out for the Children of Naphtali Their Borders are described from vers 32. to vers 40. The seventh lot came out for the Children of Dan. Hence it appears that this Book was not written by Joshua except we shall say that some particulars in it were afâ—erwards inserted by some other holy men Their Borders are described from vers 40. to 47. Their lot fell to them in the Southern parts close by Judah's portion and they being not able to drive out the Philistines out of their Land in after-times viz. after Joshua's death they were streightned and so went out and took Laish a City in the North parts * Judg. 20.1 in Naphtali's lot see Judg. 18. though then in the Zidonians possession and transplanted a Colony thither calling it Dan from Dan their Ancestor Son of Jacob. Ch. 18. from 2. to the end Ch. 19. from 1. to 49. SECT CXVI WHen they had made an end of dividing the Land among all the Tribes and the distribution thereof was fully finished then the Children of Israel gave Joshua an Inheritance in Timnah-serah in Mount Ephraim And herein was the modesty of this great General remarkable that he was content to stay till all the other Tribes had their portion ere he made any motion for that which by special Prerogative was to be conferred on him according to the Word of the Lord spoken to Moses not only concerning Caleb but also Joshua Ch. 14.9 2ly He was content to receive what the Lord had promised him as by way of Gift from the people 3ly Whereas he might have chosen the fairest and goodliest City in all their Tribes He chose his Seat in a mountainous Country and it seems a City that was ruinated so that he was fain to build it ere he could dwell in it Josh Ch. 19. from vers 49. to the end SECT CXVII THe Levites now come to Joshua and Eleazar and the rest of the Commissioners for dividing the Land to receive from them the Cities which God appointed to be set apart for their dwellings And they accordingly set apart forty eight Cities for them as God had commanded Numb 35.7 The Commissioners 't is like chose these Cities out of each