cause of the diuersity is this word Arba whych in his vsuall and proper signification signifeth the number whych the Latines cal Quatuor It is not certain that Adam and his wyfe were buryed in Hebron the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is foure Now some suppose the number of foure to be referred to the foure couple of men wyth theyr wiues which they say wer buried in that city Yet the holy scriptures make mēcion but of three for in the booke of Genesis .23 chap. we reade that Abraham and Sara wer buried there also in the .35 .49 chap. of the same booke we rede of Isaac and Rebeckaes burial there And lastly in the .50 chap. we fynde that Iacob was caried thither he him selfe before that had there buried his wife Lea. But concerning Adam Eue his wife whō they haue added vnto these we can finde nothing thereof in the holye scriptures For that which they alledge out of the .14 chap. of Iosua maketh nothing to the purpose for that the word Adam in that place is not the name of the first man Wherfore they can gather nothyng out of that place but that Arba was a certaine great man among the Anakims These are the words there Ha Adam Hagadol be Anakim Hui that is he was a great man among the Enakims But our interpretour translateth it thus Adā was counted the great among the Enakims Wherby it appeareth that he thought that Adam was a proper name But he was two wayes deceaued first he dyd not marke that the article Ha is ioyned to the word Adam which is neuer ioyned with proper names Wherfore it must needes be a common name whych must be referred to that woord Arba for that name was put a litle before The other errour is bycause we reade no where that the first man was reckoned amongst the Enakims that is to say Giauntes The opinion of others is that Hebron was called the City Arba bycause it was inhabited of .4 Giauntes namely Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay vnto which three brethren they adde Annak their Parent But the opinion of these men is easely confuted bycause that in the .14 chap. of Iosua toward the end it is by manifest wordes declared that this word Arba is the proper name of a Giaunt Wherfore it is manifest enough that this woord must not be referred to the number of four And by that meanes not onely this latter sentence but the first also is confuted which would haue this name Arba to haue a respect to the foure couple of men with their wyues buried in the old tyme in that City And vndoubtedly for the same cause also the opinion of others is not to be allowed which do thinke that the City was so called bycause although it were but one City yet it consisted of foure Cities and that this woord Arba is all one wyth this greeke woorde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche is foure Cities Wherefore I iudge it best to thyncke that it was so named of the buylder thereof named Arba Arba had three chyldren who how he came by that surname it is vncertaine Onely this we maye gather out of the scriptures that what so euer he was he had three chyldren which are called in this place and also in the booke of Iosua Sehai Ahimman and Thalmay And it is very lykely that they were deade long tyme before Iosua And when they were now dead then was there mencion made of them bicause their families which seme to haue bene of a wonderful huge stature were destroyed by Caleb and Othoniel And this is the reason why I suppose that these three brethrē liued not in Caleb and Othoniels tyme bycause this Citye as it is written in the booke of Numbers was a most auncient city and was buylt .vii. yeares before zoham that is Thamin the kingly Citye of the Egiptians And in zoham dyd Moyses and Aaron woorke the wonders before Pharao And if so be it was the kingly and noble city then it must nedes be built long time before Wherefore if Hebron were built before it and had the name thereof of Arba how could his children be on lyue at this time It cannot be so Besides thys Abraham had a lodging in this City bought there a double caue And from that time to Iosua his time wer almost .400 yeres It is not therefore very likely that the sonnes of him which builded so auncient a city should lyue tyl Iosua his tyme vnles any man wyl fayne that the same city was built long time before called by an other name then in processe of tyme casting away the first name it should be named by this most strong and mighty Giaunt But whether it be thus or no neither skilleth it much neither semeth it curiously to be sought for But this might somwhat moue some bycause Arba wherof we now speake is called in the .15 chap. of Iosua the father of Enak For if he had .3 sōnes which were named as well here as in the same booke of Iosua it wil then he doubtfull who that same Enak was What Hanack signifieth In which thyng sauyng the iudgement of a better learned I would thinke might be answered that it was not a proper name but a cōmon wherby at that time men of huge stature but such as were noble excellently adourned wer called For this word Enak in hebrewe is to gird or to compasse and is chiefly referred to chaines which are worne about the necke for comelynes sake And thereof is this name Enak deriued in the plural number hath both the masculine feminine forme it signifieth a chaine and is transferred to noble worthy men whom thou mayst cal chained Wherfore Sesay Ahimman Thalmay may be called the sōnes of Arba who was not called the father of them onely but also the father of Enak bycause euery one of his sōnes was noble Why giauntes were called Enakim wore a chaine or was a Giaunt for Giauntes also were called Enakim either bicause they wore chaines or els bycause they were of a notable stature of body for it may be that that word was applyed to all kynde of ornaments Of them is mencion also made in the booke of Numbers .13 chapter By how many names giaūtes are called in the holy scriptures Seing we are now by chaunce in hande with giauntes and that there is often mention made of them in the holy Scriptures it shall not be vnprofitable somewhat to speake of them Fyrste we muste knowe that they are called by diuerse names in the holy Scriptures as Enakim Eimim Zemasmim Nefalim Rephaim Why they were called Enakim manifestly appeareth by those things which we haue spoken before And they were called Eimim of the terror which they draue into others by their loke They were called Zemasmim of mischiefe bicause they trusting to their owne power and might were dispisers of lawes iustice and
of Isaschar That tribe was the lowest and obscurest tribe but god hath no respect to persons The state of this pub weal was most excellent namely Aristocratia wherin god chosed Iudges indiffereÌ„tly out of all the people And there was none which could iustly complayne that his famely could not be exalted to the highest dignity of rule which thing happeneth not in a kingdom For all the kinges came of the famely of Dauid The sonne of Pua Ben Dodo That word is ambiguous darke for it may be both a nowne proper and a nowne appellatyue If it be a proper nowne as the Chaldey Paraphrast supposeth we must say that Thola had to father Pua that Pua was the sonne of a certaine man named Dodo But other thinke that it is a nown appellatiue and that signifieth an vncle and hath a pronowne affixed vnto it of the third person And some vnderstand that by that pronown is referred or signifyed Abimelech as though it were noted that Pua was the vncle of Abimelech which sentence som of the Hebrewes allow Yea and the lattin interpreter to expresse that sentence and that there might be no darkenes therin addeth the name of Abimelech But how Pua shoulde be vncle vnto Abimelech and so the brother of Gideon beinge of an other tribe it seemeth meruellous bicause tribes were not mingled one with an other Some aunsweare that it mighte be that they were brethern on the mother side but yet not on the fathers side For such womeÌ„ which had no inheritaÌ„ce maried ofteÌ„times in other tribes but so did not they which had inheritance that the lands and inheritance should not be confouÌ„ded wherfore it might easly come to pas that ether her husband beyng dead or she by him repudiated maried agayne in an other tribe And by this meanes Gidion Pua may be bretherne although they came of suÌ„dry tribes But that those daughters whych were inheritors might not mary in an other tribe it is by many examples confirmed Saule otherwise a Beniamite gaue his daughter to wyfe vnto Dauid who was of the tribe of Iudah Iehoida a prieste of the tribe of Leui maryed the daughter of king Ioram whych was of the tribe of Iuda as it is written in the latter booke of Paralip the .22 chap. Aaron a Leuite maryed Elisaba the daughter of Aminadab of the tribe of Iuda Wherfore there ar two opinioÌ„s one is of them which thynke that Dodo is a proper name Now a maÌ„ mai be the sonne of his vncle and the other of those which say it is a name appellatiue The third opinion is that that annexed pronown namely of him is to be turned his so that this Thola had one and the self name to his father to his vncle which bi the ordinary meanes was not lawful yet was it detested when a man dyed without children for then the brother maried his wife namely him of whom he was begotten and the other which was dead whose name he bare and was made his heyre This sentence lyketh mee well for it very aptly declareth how a man might be the sonne of his vncle c. 3 After hym rose vp Iair a Gileadite and hee iudged Israel .xxii. yeares 4 And he had .xxx. sonnes that rode vpon .xxx. Coltes and they had .xxx. Cities whych are called Hauoth-Iair euen to thys day are in the land of Gilead 5 And Iair dyed and was buryed in Camon Of what tribe this Iair was appeareth by this woord Gilead which is repeated for Manasses had Machir to his sonne who begat Gilead And his name was coÌ„mune with the mount wherein Iacob and Laban made a league and named the place Gilead bicause there they raised vp a heape of stones for a wytnes Eusebius Câ—sâ—riensis Eusebius saith that the backe of this mount tendeth to Arabia and Phenicia and is ioyned with the hyls of Libanus And this mount hath a City of the same name Machir conquered that City and gaue vnto it a name which was coÌ„mon both to his sonne and to the mount Wherefore Iair was of the Tribe of Manasses a man hauing plenty of children for he had .xxx. And no maruaile when as then they vsed to haue many wyues His children was no Rascals or coÌ„mon people yea they were horsmen which is thus described which rode vpon .30 Asse colts This Hebrue woord Air signifieth either a Colt or an Asse Dauid Kimhi according to which sence are signified .xxx. Mules or the colt of a Mare as R. D. Kimhi expoundeth it Neither were they onely horsmen but also riche for they possessed .30 Cities bicause euery one of them was ruler of a City wherfore their father must nedes be very noble They were called Hauoth-Iair Bicause they wer not enuironed with a wall And were so called euen to this day namely euen vnto Samuels tyme who they say was authour of this booke In the booke of Numbers the .xxxii. chap. it is written Iair tooke many Cities from the Chananites and they were called Hauoth-Iair Wherefore it is demaunded whither he were the same man of whom we now speake or whether he were an other I doo not thinke that he was the same forasmuch as betwene them both there were .300 yeares passed He was a certaine other man distinct from this Iair of whom we nowe speake but yet hee was of the same famely and paraduenture this was his Neuew for they which are of the same famely doo for the most part retayne the names of their kynred Vnto this Iair came those Cities whych that other Iair tooke from the Chananites Wherfore the places agree but that it is not the same man This Iudge therefore is noble when as the twoo former were but of a base famely Neither doth Nobility anything hinder to gouerne a publike wealth if self trust and insolence be taken away yea rather they haue examples of their Elders excellent stirringes vp to vertue and very many helpes to gouerne thinges well And it is not vnlikely but that the people vnder these two Iudges rightly worshipped God in long and quiet peace otherwise God would not haue geueÌ„ them so long a time of rest But after them the Hebrues turned againe vnto Idolatry 6 And the chyldren of Israel wroughte wickedlye agayne in the sight of the Lord and serued Baalim and Astharoth and the gods of Aram and the gods of Zidon and the gods of Moab the gods of the children of Ammon and also the gods of Pelisthim and forsooke the Lord and serued not hym 7 Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was kyndled against Israel and he delyuered them into the handes of Pelisthim and into the handes of the chyldren of Ammon 8 Who from that yeare vexed and oppressed the children of Israel xviii yeares euen all the children of Israel whyche were beyonde Iordan in the land of the Amorrhites whych is in Gilead 9 Moreouer the chyldren of Ammon went ouer Iordan to fyght also against Iuda and
light vnto other and cause them to lift vp the eyes of theyr mindes vnto God the chiefe fountayne head and beginning of al good things and to honour him with prayses and most vpright religion Wherfore I gather and that truly as I am most fully perswaded that I my self and the rest of the Ministers of the doctrine of the sonne of God ought aboue al other to liue most iustly But when I considered that the office of this vertue Iustice whiche shyneth among mortall men like the bright starre Lucifer consisteth wholy in this to render to euery man that which is his I desired verely to performe the same not maymed nor diminished nor shortened but consisting of all his partes so much as humane weakenes would suffer me And among other excellent parts or kindes therof a thankfull minde and mindfull of a benefite receaued is not to be numbred among the least whose property is not onely to acknowledge benefites receaued but also earnestlye to bee desirous to geue thankes for them This thing when I weigh with my selfe for I thinke on it oftentimes I wyll not say continually there cōmeth into my remembrāce very many great benefites which your publike welth churche schoole haue heretofore bestowed vpō me And assuredly when I recken them more depely weigh them they appere vnto me so many so great that I am excedingly afrayd least I should happen to depart out of this life vngrateful which thing vndoutedly should be more bitter vnto me thē death it self Ye when I came out of Italy for religiō sake with most incredible humanity receaued me ye gaue me the fredome of your most ample city ye placed me in that Schoole which ye not long before with great praise of wyse godly men had erected ther ye appoynted me a Professor of holy scriptures wheras I liued a fellow with most learned and excellent men more then fiue yeares All which time ye mayntained me with a very liberal stipend Ye when I was called into England decreed that I should go thither where certayne yeares I was teaching the Gospel in the Vniuersity of Oxford namelye vntil such time as Edward the sixt of that name that most woorthye King and which can neuer be praysed inough was taken away by vntimely death which brought vnto all the godly griefe mourning and sundrye and hard vexacions Ye exceding louingly receued me when I returned thence to Argentine placed me in the same roume wherin I was with you before Also when the most noble Senate of Tigure called me into the place of Pellicanus which was ther a Professor of Diuinity ye although both to your great griefe and also to mine did yet most louinglye let me go The cause of my departure I wyll not nowe speake of bicause it is to all men knowen wel inough Thus much onely wil I say that I do both vehemently desyre and also hope that this stop or let may be taken away out of the field of the Lord. These your benefits which are of them selues ample and noble I do nothing encrease nor amplify But this one thing I testify that they neuer slipped out of minde neither is it possible but that they being layd vp in the bottom of my hart shal there abide for euer Howbeit bicause the remembrance and thinking on the benefites which I haue receaued of you doth not satisfy me I haue alwayes desired to make open vnto al men my good will and gratefull hart towardes you which haue bene so wonderfull beneficial towardes me wherefore I haue very often times determined with my selfe one tyme at the length to declare by some signification or monument my singular affection and ardent loue towardes your publike wealth Church and Schoole But for as muche as touchynge ryches of thys worlde I haue nothing wherwithal to performe the same least I should dye frustrate of my so honest and vehement a desire being about now to set forth a Comentary vpon the holy history of the Iudges As I haue taught it in your Schoole I haue determined to dedicate it to your name where as otherwise I would haue offred vnto you thinges much greater and better if strength ability had answered vnto my minde Neither was I hereunto perswaded onely by the reason now alledged namely by some maner of meanes to shew my good wyl towards you and not to geue any man occasion of suspicion that in chaunging my place I should haue shaken of my endeuour and study towardes you which thing vndoubtedly is not so For I haue not laid aside these things but they most firmly sticke in my mind daily more more But this also did driue me to do this for that this boke was writtē in your city And therfore I thought it meete that in the possession therof no man should be preferred before you Farther this did not a lytle moue me for that the argumēt of this history most aptly agreeth with you For euen as God at sundry times stirred vp Iudges vnto the Hebrewes to deliuer them when they were oppressed with the tiranny of their enemies So wer you not amonge the last stirred vp by his goodnes and grace to bring to lyght the Gospell of the sonne of God when it was held captiue in darknes by the dominion and violence of hipocrites and when the mindes of Christiās as touchyng godlynes were euery where in a maner baren and vnfruitfull Here assuredlye I could make mencion of very many your actes both godly and honorable but I ouerpasse them for that you haue manye eloquent and notable publishers abroade of your doinges which most aboundantly and elegantly haue set foorth your valiantnes of minde your constancy in embracing and spreading abroade of the Gospel of Christ and your liberality in maintaining your notable moste learned and famous Schoole Neyther vndoubtedly can the praises which they haue geuen you bee reproued of anye lye for as muche as you haue with great seruentnes of fayth receaued the doctrine of the sonne of God and ye are made vnto other a notable example of renuing of piety And afterward when by reason of iniquity of times thinges which wer wel ordered semed somwhat to slide and fall to decaye ye hauing firme confidence of the ayde of God verye godlys and wisely tooke courage vnto you and euen now in this time ye stoutly and luckely did driue out the remnantes of the Amorrihites and Chananites out of the inheritance of the Lord which pertayned to your lot Which your act hath wyth al the godly gotten you great grace prayse glory and fauour Wherefore I as which vehemently desyre honor fame and dignity vnto the City of Argentine do excedingly reioyce for your most excellent and holy act And I do desyre god the father of mercy that ye being inflamed and kindled with his spirit may alwaies go forward to better thinges For so long as we wander here on earth as straungers from our country which is
such dishonor and thincking with thē selues by that meanes to stay the flight they thrust them selues into the thickest of their enemies setting before them the shewe of their vowe and religion So that by that meanes the harts of the soldiours in maner discouraged might be called agayne more fiersly to fight with their enemyes But we are taught by the holy Scriptures that when we either see or heare of any that are conquerours or els are slayne in battailes we must by and by ascribe vnto God al that whiche is or hath ben done who after the most accustomed phrase of the holy Scriptures is sayd to deliuer them whiche are ouercome into the handes of their enemies God without any iniury deliuereth some in to the hādes of their enemies The Chananites were defiled with moste detestable wicked dedes When it is sayd that any are deliuered of God into the handes of their enemyes we must thincke that that is done without any iniurye And as touchyng this place we know that those nations of the Chananites were full of most heynous wickednesse and for that cause god punished them most iustly Whiche cause is confirmed by that whiche we read in the booke of Genesis where God bringeth a reason why he held the posteritie of Abraham so lōg tyme in Egipt namely bycause the sinnes of the Chananites were not yet full God punisheth the vngodly with two kindes of punishmentes And this is not to be forgottē that God vseth according to his iustice to deliuer synners to be punished two manner of wayes or to two sortes of enemies For sometymes he doth this in geuing them ouer to be vexed with lustes and filthy affections as to certein furyes of hell Augustine God punisheth synnes with synnes And that is it which Augustine oftentimes sayth that sinnes are punished with sinnes So Pharao hys vnfaythfulnesse and cruelty was punished by hardning stubbornesse of harte And Idolaters as Paul teacheth to the Romaines were geuen ouer of god to their owne filthy lust so that they most vylie contamined thē selues with most horrible sinnes But bycause this kynde of punishement is not sene nor felte of mad men as it is mete god therfore deliuereth the vngodly into the handes of straunge enemies to be vexed and at the length vtterly to be destroyed And that this order was obserued with the Chananites the Scripture manifestly teacheth for they were not onely addicted to Idoles but as it is written in the xviii xx chap. of Leuit They miserably defiled them selues with incestes most filthy lustes They were first therfore deliuered of God into a reprobate sense and then were they deliuered to theyr enemies the Hebrues of whō they were spoyled both of their life and also of their most riche kingdome God deliuered them into their handes That is into their power This is not onely an Hebrew phrase but also a latine for we say This is my hande that is it lyeth in my power And they smote them in Bezek to the number of ten thousand men To smite is here to kill And seing that the hoste of the Chananites was great there were nowe slayne of it but onely ten thousand men we must thincke that the rest fled awaye in whiche flight as afterwarde shal be declared Adonibezek was taken But where as these two wordes Chananites and Pherezites are ioyned together in this place They are thus to be taken that if thou vnderstande the Chananites after the common signification wherin were cōprehended those 7. or 9. nations then this name Pherezites should be added bycause of interpretation that by it might be expounded that whiche before was not expressed in the word Chananites But if by this word Chananites we shall vnderstand any one especial or peculiar people of those nations then must we say that that host was gathered of both the peoples of the Chananites I say and the Pherezites 5 And they founde Adonibezek in Bezek they fought agaynste him and slewe the Chananites and Pherezites 6 And Adonibezek fled and they followed after him caught him and cut of the thombes of his handes and of his feete 7 And Adonibezek sayd 70 kynges hauing the thombes of theyr handes and feete cut of gathered their meat vnder my table As I haue done so God hath done to me agayne and they brought hym to Ierusalem and there he died c. After mencion made of the victorye it is here more expressed by partes for the place of the battaile is expressed namely Bezek Bezek but where this Bezek should lye it is not very certain For there was a certaine Bezek whiche was a city belonging to the tribe of Manasses whiche was situate 17. myle from Sichem as ye go to Bethsan Ierome And Ierome testifieth that in his tyme there were two Townes which were called by this name And it is not very likely that Iuda and Symeon would passe with their hoste to the tribe of Manasses whē their purpose was only to ridde the Chananites out of their owne lottes Vnlesse peraduenture that king whiche was called Adonibezek althoughe his kyngdome were in the tribe of Manasse claymed and vsurped by violent tyranny many places in the inheritaunce of Iudah and Simeon This kyng had prepared an hoste to go agaynst Iudah and Simeon and to let them from recouering of their own Which thing being knowen Iudah and Symeon made towarde him that he should not entre into their borders Wherfore it chaunced that they fought with him not farre frō his kingly citie Bezek or els it is to be thought that this Bezek was a certain citie either in the tribe of Iudah or els of Simeon wherof is no mencion made in any other place Malchisedech Adonisedech This kyng was called Adoni-bezek whiche is a compounde name wherin the leter Iod is placed betwene two wordes as Malchi-sedech Adoni-sedech euē as R. Selomo testifieth This king semeth to haue fled for that he sawe his hoste both slayne to the number of ten thousande men and to turne their backes and flye he would therfore saue him selfe by flight but he was brought backe agayn by the Israelites and suffred most grieuous punishement as he had iustely deserued Bohan Behonoth For they cut of the thombes both of his handes and of his feete This word Bohan signifieth in the Hebrew a thombe it is in the feminine gender wherfore it is said in the plurall nomber Behonoth Although R. Dauid Kimhi do interprete that worde into fyngers and the Chaldey paraphrast doth interprete it anckles And Adoni-bezek said 70 kings This tyranne acknowledgeth the iudgement of God but whether he spake this of true faith or pure repentaunce it can not be knowen by the wordes of our history But it is most lykely bycause he called not vpon God implored not his mercy neither shewed any tokens of true conuersion The law of rēdring lyke for lyke that rather anguish did extorte from him
this his true sayeng than the godly feling of the minde We gather hereby that the lawe of rendring like for like semeth euen to the wicked by the light of nature iust right which at the length wil they or nill they are compelled to acknowledge the iudgemēts of God For they haue certein principles of that which is right and honest written in their hartes although they expresse not the same in dedes But euen as Paul hath written to the Romaines they holde the truth of God after a certeine sorte captiue in vnrighteousnesse when they knew the righteousnesse of God neither was it hidden from them that they whiche do such thinges are worthy of death yet for all that they not onely do them but also they consent to them whiche do them As I haue done so God hath done to me agayne Bycause he spake of gods iudgementes therfore in naming of god he vsed not this worde Iehouah but Elohim The name Iehouah and the name Elohim By whiche worde the scripture vseth rather to set forth the myght and iustice of god than his mercy This most cruell tyranne confesseth that he had most cruelly cut of the feete of 70. kinges and brought them to that poynte the they were faine to gather their meate vnder his table It is not to be laughed or hissed at as a lye bycause in that prouince beyng not very large were 70. kinges Euery citie in the olde tyme had their king For it may be that at that tyme that custome was in vse that euery citie had his king Neither ought the gouernment of a king to be separated from other formes of gouernmentes by largenesse or bredth of borders but in what societie or multitude of men soeuer it be Definition of a kyng Iustine where as any one mā is lawfully made gouernour so that he depend not of any other superiour power the same man may by good right be called king yea and as Iustinus writeth euery king before Ninus tyme was content with the boundes and limites of his owne citie And such a custome if I should speake the trouth I can not but greatly commende It is not profitable to haue large kyngdomes For what shall it profit kinges most amplye to dilate the territory of their empyre when as afterward they are ouerwhelmed with ouer much weight therof neither are they able to gouerne it by reason and counsell But what should man do The Monarches in these dayes are so set on fire with such great ambition that they haue not a respect how many they are able to gouerne but onely haue a regarde to this how many they may reigne ouer Neither doth this disease whiche is the more to be lamented raigne onely in worldly princes The Bishops seke to haue large diocesses but it is also most filthyly spred abroade in the Churche where Byshoppes couet by all meanes to haue most large diocesses of whiche although they neuer looke to them they may receaue most plentifull fruites But nowe I returne to the matter and aske the cause why the Israelites did cut of the thombes of the handes and feete of Adonibezek Wherfore Adonibezeb was so maymed of the Hebrues R. Leui aunswereth to this interrogation and sayth that it was therfore done that the cruell Tirant might be made altogether vnapt to do any thing and especially to make warre For they whiche are so inaymed are neither able to drawe sworde neither to take or ouercome any man in battaille Moreouer by this so sharpe punishment other princes whiche were yet remayning might easely be made affeard to lifte any weapon agaynst the Israelites These thinges are somewhat lykely but the wordes of the same tyranne teache vs that we must consider some deeper cause namely that it was so done by the prouidēce of god that cruell and bloudy princes should not at the length escape the iudgemēt of God yea rather they should haue experience on them selues of that whiche they had committed agaynst others And in that thing bycause it is good sometymes to be taught by the example of wicked men God would now also admonishe vs by this Adonibezek He teacheth vs that we should not muche staye in inferiour causes whiche are nexte vnto vs We must not staye in the inferior causes but rather cōsider the highest causes but rather by these examples strayght wayes to lift vp the eyes of the mynde to consider the wonderful and most highe iustice of the decrees of God The selfe same most cruel tyranne doth not ascribe vnto the Israelites that they had feabled hym by cutting of his handes and feete but by and by sayeth As I haue done to other so God hath done to me agayne Which same thing also Christ hath taught vs for this also was his sentēce With what measure ye meate with the same shall other meate vnto you Of this lawe of rendring like for like let the cruel tyrannes of our tyme be affeard whiche neuer make an end of killing tearing and burning of holy and innocent mē as thoughe wisedome neuer admonished them By what soeuer a man sinneth by the same also is he punished Neither haue they at any tyme heard Habakuc the holy prophet cryeng thus Why tyrannes do so cruelly rage Bycause thou hast spoyled many nations others also shall spoyle thee Those be bloudy tyrannes when they do so extremely rage being altogether vnmindful of humane chaunces neuer thincking how the same thinges may happen vnto them selues wherwith they do so cruelly afflicte others For if they would remember this they would vse them selues more mekely not only toward innocent men but also euē to them which are giltie iustly condemned by them Let vs learne in all thinges whiche shal happen what soeuer they be to consider as well the iudgementes of god as also his goodnesse and therby we shall get good matter either of repentaunce or els of thankes geuing But there is a doubt why the Israelites killed not this king by and by Why Adonibezek was not by and by slayne of the Iewes and why they brought him to Ierusalem there to die miserably I aunswere to testifie vnto all men that he being woūded was not gloriously killed in the battaille for his horrible tyrāny deserued not so famous an end of this life Neither is it to be meruealed that when he came to Ierusalē he was not holpen by the diligence and remedies of Phisitians for the Iewes did it not of cruelty but bicause they were affeard to violate the commaundement of god who commaunded that all their enemies the Chananites should be slayne euery one amongest whom this Adonibezek deserued not one death but a thousand besides that it was done that his most shameful end might be an exāple to al mē He worthily therfore being maimed and despised departed this life in a most famous citie But it semeth to be demaunded for what cause when he had so vilye maymed
fayth in Christ Whicâ— when it is done they are chaunged froÌ„ promises of the law into promises of 〈◊〉 Gospell And although they be frely graunted In euangelical promises although they be frely geuen yet must we work as though they were legal yet in atteining vnto theÌ„ we 〈◊〉 our endeuor studye no lesse than if they were promises of the law But yet 〈◊〉 touching those good thinges whiche endure but for a time and passe not maâ— strength labour and the rewardes of them are temporall it is not to be deny but that our workes are much auayleable For it is sayd that they are oftentimâ— gotteÌ„ by them Although also in obtayning them the fauor of god is nedeful thâ—â— unto which is aboundauntly bestowed on theÌ„ which worke by the word of God by faith Which thing is manifestly sene of the readers of this history for it decireth that god graunted the victory to a fewe Iewes being straungers and youâ— souldiers agaynst strong warlike men many more in number than they of monstrous stature and inhabiting most strong fenced cities and castles 8 And the children of Iudah fought against Ierusalem and tooke it smote it with the edge of the sword and set the citie on fyre 9 Afterward the children of Iudah descended to fight against the Chananites that dwelte in the mountaine and in the south and in the lowe countrey 10 And Iudah went agaynst the Chananites that dwelt in HebroÌ„ and the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba and they smote Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay 11 And from thence they went to the inhabiters of Debir and the name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher The things which are now red vnto the xvii A briefe rehearsal of things in the booke of Iosua verse are most part transferred hither out of the booke of Iosua the .xv. chap and are now declared by a certain briefe rehearsall of things and it is done to this end that we might vnderstand that the tribe of Iudah had obtayned Ierusalem when Iosua was yet liuing so that it was the easier for him to lead away Adonibezek captiue thither And these be the things which are repeated in thys place out of the booke of Iosua The conquering of Ierusalem Hebron and Debir the matrimony also betwene Achsa Othoniel and the departure of the Kenites from the citie of Palmes That al these things I say are now declared by a certaine repetition it is therby manifest bicause it is written in the booke of Iosua that the king of Ierusalem was taken we read in the end of the xv chap. that the same citie of Ierusalem came into the handes of the people of God and that the children of Iudah dwelt in it with the Iebusites Besides that these things which are now rehearsed of Hebron are contayned in the x.xi and about the end of the xiiii chap. in the booke of Iosua And the historye of Achse and Othoniell is red in the xv chap. of the same boke How farre this parenthesis extendeth This repetition therfore or parentheses extendeth to these wordes And Iudah wet with hys brother Simeon c. In which place the author returneth to make mention of the actes which the tribes of Iudah and Simeon ioyned together dyd at this time performe Which thiÌ„g also by this appeareth the more manifest bycause strayghtway is declared how Gasa was taken which citie is sayd in the xi and xiii chap. of Iosua to haue yet remained in the hands of the enemies The perâ—erfect tence is expouÌ„ded by the preterplusperfecte tence is numbred among those cities which were not conquered vnder Iosua Wherfore the wordes of the preterperfect tense which are red in this repetition are to be interpreted in that time past which we call the preterplus perfecte tense that the order of the historye might be made more playne and manifeste They smote them with the mouth of the sword This is a Metaphor in this maner of speche very often tymes vsed in the holy scriptures wherin by the mouth of the sword we ought to vnderstaÌ„d the edge therof bycause it semeth to deuour and consume those thinges whych are smytten in maner lyke a mouth And wher it is said that They set the city of fyre we must vnderstand it by this figure Hypallege when the thing is cleane contrary for fire is throwne into the city and not the city into the fyre Neither ought this to be vnderstand thus as though they had then burned the whole citye For it is wrytten in the booke of Iosua and afterward it shal be expounded in this booke that that city was after that inhabited by the tribe of Iudah and Beniamin and also the Iebusites yea and the castle therof which was very wel fensed was not deliuered vp to the Israelites The city of Ierusalem was taken when Iosua was yet a lyue tyl in Dauid his time as it is declared in the latter booke of Samuel Neyther ought that to moue you bycause it appeareth not in the booke of Iosua that the city of Ierusalem was taken For although this be not plainly and manifestly spoken yet may it be vnderstand by those thinges which are there intreated of namely that the king of Ierusalem was taken and that Iudah dwelled in that city neither could he yet cast out the Iebusites from them Al these thinges I say are signes that the city was taken at that tyme although it was not yet possessed fully and in al partes It seemeth also somewhat obscure that it is wrytten that Iudah descended when he should go fight against the Chananites who dwelled on the mountaines When as we accustome in going to mountaines to ascend and not to descende But we must vnderstand that those countries wer ful of mountaines Wherefore when the host remoued from one mountaine to an other it must nedes descend first into the valley from whence it might afterward ascend vpon an other mountaine Thou wylt peraduenture aske whether Iudah at that tyme coÌ„quered the plaine or the valley which was betwene No verely He assaulted them in dede but he could not ouercome them For we shall heare in thys chap. that those which were not ouercome of Iudah in the valley had yron Chariotes so that by that meanes they were not ouercome And Iudah went against the Chananites that dwelt in Hebron These thnges are now therfore repeated that we should vnderstande that it was not of necessity that the city Hebron should be taken of Iudah then when the Israelites were in this iourney on warfare which they tooke in hand after the death of Iosua namelye at that tyme wherein the publique wealth was gouerned by elders without any certaine Iudge Iosua being yet alyue Why Hebron was called the city Arba. And the name of Hebron before time was called Kiriath-Arba and they smote Sesay Ahimman and Thalmay The reason of the name of this city is not of euery man taken a like The
they say by anticipatiō For it is written in the .11 chap. And Iosua came at the tyme destroyed the Enakims from the mountaynes namely Hebron Debir and all the mountaynes of Iudah If these things should haue ben mencioned in the place as things whiche should come to passe sone after the death of Iosua then had it not ben well spoken to haue sayd And Iosua came at that tyme. And this I thincke the reader shall playnly see proued if he will not thincke it paynfull diligently to read ouer the 10 and 15. chap. of Iosua 12 And Caleb sayd He that smyteth Kiriath Sepher and taketh it to him will I geue Hacsah my daughter to wife 13 And Othoniel the sonne of Kenatz Chalebs yōger brother toke it and he gaue him Hacsah his daughter to wife Here is wont to be demaunded how these cities Hebron and Debir should be written in the booke of Iosua to haue ben taken of Iosua when as it is here put that Chaleb conquered them Chaleb desired to haue these regions assigned him for his inheritaunce whereunto I aunswere that all that warre was gouerned by the conduicte of Iosua who was the chief and principall gouernour of the whole hoste but the principall settyng forward agaynst Hebron and other places adioyning thereunto was committed vnto Chaleb the chief of the tribe of Iudah and that not without a cause For he as it is written in the xiiii chap. of Iosua desired to haue that parte assigned peculiarly vnto hym for hys inheritaunce whiche requestes he easely obtayned For he required the same trusting to God hys promises Chaleb was a faithfull espye for when he was sent with other spyes to view the lande of Chanaan he faithfully made relation of the things as they wer in dede not vnfaithfully as his fellowes did Neither was he an author of the peoples seditiō as the other were yea he rather encouraged the peoples myndes and diminished those thinges whiche his fellowes had amplified concerning the fence of the cities of the giaūtes also and of the strength of the Chananites For he regarded not mās strength but with a singular faith most constantly remembred the power the goodnesse promises of god Wherfore god being angry with the rest destroyed them in the wildernesse so that they came not to the promised lande But he promised Chaleb for his faithfulnesse this inheritaunce whiche when he afterward demaunded he put Iosua in remembraunce of the thyng before done and of the promises of God God promised Chaleb the lād whereon he should treade And the place where the promise is contayned is in the 14. chap. of Num. there God promised him that land wheron his foote should treade whiche wordes the Iewes thincke thus to be expoūded The rest of the spyes being amased for feare of the giauntes and putting small confidence in god durst not entre into the citie of Hebron whiche Chaleb him selfe searched with a valiaunt courage The promise therfore of this possession was made vnto him in the second yeare after the deliuery out of Egypt Chaleb surely declared a valiaunt noble hart when as he did not only require the possession of these places but he enterprised also to conquere thē for al that they were fenced inhabited with most strong giaūtes Wherfore we must beleue that he tooke in hand such so great an enterprise not by his owne power but by gods promises And here ariseth no small doubt howe Chaleb being of the tribe of Iudah Hebron was one of the Cities of refuge could obtayne the citie of Hebron which by lotte belonged to the Leuites For god had cōmaunded that certain cities as wel beyond Iordane as on this side should be had for refuge sake The cities of refuge belōged to the Leuites that thither might flye as many as had slayne any man by chaunce and not of pretensed purpose And the possession of those cities whiche were therfore appoynted belonged to the Leuites Wherfore it was not lawfull that Hebron should be geuen to Chaleb The Leuites had the citie of Hebron but Chaleb had the grounde and Lordship seing it was numbred amōg the cities of refuge These thinges are true but we must vnderstand in the meane tyme that the Leuites myght possesse but their cities only the suburbes adioyning to the walles of them But as for the grounde or dominion whiche they call at this day Lordship it was not graunted them to haue Chaleb therfore desired to possesse the grounde but as for the citie whiche he had in his handes he let to the Leuites as the lawe commaunded It is most certein that there is mention of the citie Hebron in the booke of Gen. when as it is there written that Abraham liued in the groue of okes of Mamere the same had if we may beleue Ierome a precious turpentine tree which grew there from the beginnyng of the world and continued till the time of Constantine the great It is said to be 12000. paces distaunte from Ierusalem Dauid reigned in it some while before he was anoynted king ouer all Israel Neither haue we any thyng to do to write nowe of the auncientnesse therof seing I haue somewhat spoken of it before And Chaleb sayd he that smiteth This whole history is declared in the 15. chap. of the booke of Iosua word for word wherby it appeareth that that is most certain whiche I before admonished you of The conqueryng of Debit was harde namely that all these thinges are now mencioned by a certain repeticiō The conquering of Debir semeth to haue ben paynefull and daungerous and meruelously much desired of Chaleb when as he offreth so ample noble a gift to the conquerour therof namely his owne daughter to wyfe being him selfe the prince of the most noble tribe of Iudah And Othoniel the sonne of Kenaz Chalebs younger brother tooke it It is certain that Othoniel obtayned the victory but whether be were Chalebs brother or his brothers sonne or some other kinne to him it cānot be gathered by these words But how they were kinne it wer good to know partly for the knowledge of the history partly to vnderstand whether the matrimony which followed betwene Othoniel and Achsah were lawfull In the first booke of Paralip Hefron was called also Iephuna and second chap. the father of Chaleb is called Hesron whiche man was the third frō Iudah for Iudah had Pharez by Thamra his sonnes wife and Phares begat Hefron which was called by an other name Iephuna for which cause Chaleb is very often written the sonne of Iephuna R. Salomoh Of whiche thing I can not tell what fonde inuētion R. Salo. writeth namely that he was so called bycause he disagreed from the mynde and counsell of the other spyes Panah signifieth in Hebrew to depart or to decline wherfore he thincketh that this surname was geuen to Chaleb for the cause now alledged Neither maketh that any
the mariage of his cousin Germaine or of his sisters daughter or of his brothers daughter or of his wiues daughter lastly of al whose mariage is forbidden and condemned But that law is not in these dayes found in the Digestes neither in the booke of the Code nor in the Authentikes Which neuerthelesse Clother the king followed as it is red in the lawes of the Almaines entituled of vnlawfull mariages yea and it is confirmed by the ecclesiasticall Canons and decrees in Gracian 35. Question the second and third also by the counsel of Agathen in the 61. Canon And Gregorye the fyrst in the same place is found to be of the same opinion in the chap. Quaedam ex Romana c. This answereth to the sixth interrogation of Augustine Bishop of Cantorbury and affyrmeth that those which be ioyned by the degree of cousin Germaines ought to abstaine from contracting of matrimony one with an other Yea and long before Gregorye his time Ambrose hath in his 66. Epistle ad Paternum condemned the mariage of brethrens children he testifieth that it was forbiddē by the law of Theodosius which I haue also brought And if I should vse coniecture I thinke Theodosius did it by the persuasion of Ambrose who had a singular respecte to publique honestie Neither was that law so seuere at that time but that sometimes it might be released as he declareth in that Epistle to Paternus In that Ambrose affyrmeth there that such mariages were prohibited by Gods lawe It can be made probable to none which shall attentiuely consider the wordes of the law of god and doings of the fathers How the Romanes haue behaued themselues toward their cousins as concernyng matrimonyes in the old time this I haue obserued Ligustine sayth in the 2. booke and 5. decade of Liuy that his father gaue him his Vncles daughter to wife Cicero also writeth in hys oration for Cluentius that Cluentia had lawfully maryed her cousin Germaine M. Aurius And M. Anthonius the Philosopher tooke to wife Faustina his cousin Germaine as Iulius Capitolinus testifieth And before Rome was builded the mariages of Turnus and Lauinia were in hand which came of two sisters Howbeit Plutarch writeth in the place aboue mentioned that at the fyrst when Rome was builte it was forbidden by a lawe that they whiche were nighe of kinne shoulde not marrye together But yet he writeth that the lawe for brethren and sisters children was vppon thys occasion released bycause a certayne man beyng both honeste and also well beloued of the people of Rome when he was greuouslye oppressed with pouertye toke to wife his sisters daughter which was ryche and welthye for the whiche cause he was accused of inceste But the matter being decided he was quyted by the iudgemente of the people of Rome for he was greatly fauoured in the citye Then after that it was decreed by the consent of the people of Rome that from thence forth it shoulde be lawfull for brethren and sisters children to marry together These thinges I thought good to declare of this kinde of matrimonye both out of Gods lawes and the old new lawes of the Romanes and also out of the fathers and ecclesiasticall Canons Whereunto I will adde that there be very many Cities professing the gospell whiche do not admitte the mariages of brethren and sisters children as Surike Berna Basile Schapusin Sangallum Biema c. In the kingdome also of England when I was there that degree was excluded from matrimony Wherfore in places where the magistrate forbyddeth these mariages the faithful ought for those causes whiche I haue before declared to abstayne from them But now I will go to the present matter If Othoniel as I haue before sayd were cousin vnto Achsa he might mary her by the lawe of God but if he were her vnckle it was not lawful by the cōmō lawe But he maried her Wherfore we must nedes saye one of these two thinges either that it was a faulte for the fathers as we haue before sayd were not alwayes free from sinne or elles that god would haue this done by a priuilege or certain prerogatiue whiche we may not for all that take example by Neither is this to be forgottē that after the accustomed manner of Scriptures Kinsfolkes in scriptures are called brethren they whiche were any way of kinne together were called brethren as Loth is called the brother of Abraham the kinsfolkes of Iesus Christ the sonne of God are called in the history of the gospel his brethrē So may it also be in this place that Othoniel may be called the brother of Chaleb when as he was but only some other waye of kinne vnto him And the interpretours do vse this expositiō oftē times which I would not disallow but that I se this particle in the texte The yonger whiche is not wont to be added but when sisters and brethren in dede are compared together But now wil I go to other thinges whiche are to be considered in this history Chaleb had promised him which should cōquere the citie of Debir Whether Chalebs promisse were a rashe promisse his daughter to wife What if any wicked persone had performed that should he by the vertue of the promise haue ben made the sonne in law of Chaleb surely it semeth not For what other thing had this ben than to betraye his daughter Therfore it may appeare that he promised rashly For a wise man ought to foresee those thinges whiche might happen How be it we must consider that there were not at that tyme such wicked and flagitious men among the Israelites for as long as those elders lyued whiche gouerned the publicque wealth together with Iosua as it shal be declared in this hystory the people feared god Wherfore it followeth that they vsed to put those to death by the lawe whiche were guiltie of very grieuous crimes Therfore there was no daunger lest any such mā should conquere the citie to whom for that act Hacsah should be geuen to wife of duetye But if there remayned certaine smal and common faultes in him which had conquered it the same might be recompenced by his other vertues For there is is none so absolute and perfect but that some times he may fal Moreouer there were some hope of amendement of life And the conquerour might be so nighe of kynne as peraduēture this Othoniel was that he could not mary the daughter of Chaleb Wherfore it seemeth that at the least in that part it was a rashe promise But I do not thincke it can be accused of rashenesse A constant rule of all humane promises for as much as all promises ought among the godly so farre forth to be of force as they do agree with the word of god which thing if Iepthe had diligently considered he would neuer haue suffred hym selfe to haue committed so vnworthy thinges agaynst his daughter This cōdition surely in all couenaunts and promises ought to be counted
Iosua the .xiii. chap. those Cities were reckoned which were least vnconquered after Iosuas death these cities Haza Ascalon and Accaron are expressed by name But there is a doubt after what sorte these Cities were sayde to haue pertained to the Philistians in the tyme of Samuel when Saul dyd then raigne Yea and the same is written in the third chap. of this booke There are some whiche affirme that these Cities were not nowe altogether taken but so possessed that the Israelites obtained some part of the lande which belonged vnto them which semeth not very lykely vnto me seing that the historye sayth that not onely euery one of these Cities wer taken but that also the endes and borders of them came into the power of Iudah Wherfore I would rather iudge that their opinion is best which affirme that Iudah dyd now in deede possesse these Cities as it is written but afterwarde when the Israelites synned they wer agayne dryuen out of them by the Philistians who wonne them agayne to their own vse and so did wynne them that they counted them as most principal dominions for they dyd set ouer eche of them certaine noble gouernours Neyther ought that much to moue vs bycause the history doth onelye name Iudah now speaketh nothing of Symeon For that might be bicause the lot of both these tribes was ioyned together and they had made a couenant to fyght together therfore when we heare the name of the one we must therwith also vnder stand the name of the other And the name of Symeon is rather vnspoken of bicause God hymself in his oracle gaue Iudah the principality in this expedition 19 And the Lord was with Iudah he possessed the mountayne for he could not dryue out the inhabitauntes of the valley bycause they had yron Chariotes He possessed the mountayne The figure zeugma It is written in Hebrewe Veioresch Hahar which if it wer properly translated is he draue away the mountain which without doubt is a figuratiue phrase for the figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added by whych figure one and the selfe woord serueth for two members bycause that woorde Ioschebe which is inhabitours ought to be repeated that euen as it is said that Iudah could not dryue out the inhabitours of the valley so also must be vnderstand that the inhabitours of the mountaine were expelled by him so that thys woord Hahar is the genitiue case as is this woord Haamak that is of the valley The conquering of both these was paynfull bycause Cityes founded vpon mountaines are by nature of the place wel fenced and they whych dwelled in the 〈◊〉 valleys wer very experte in a kynde of fence I meane yron chariotes But least peraduenture we should thinke that the inhabitors of the mountains wer driuen out of their place of Iudah by the strength of men ther is set before And the Lord was with Iudah As though it had ben said bicause they fought by the fauour of God therfore the hilly places wer conquered Wherefore if God had ayded them of Iudah with the like fauour in their battayl in the valley they should also haue ouercome those which inhabited the valley There semeth also a cause to be geuen bycause they had yron chariotes He that shal reade the Iliades of Homer shal easely perceaue that the men in the old time vsed chariotes in battails also the same may be gathered both out of the most auncient histories also out of the latter writers Quintus Curtius amongest other Quintus Curtius writing the life of Alexander doth playnlye make mencion of such chariots in the battail fought against Darius But I thinke no writer writeth more plainly of them than doth Liuie Titus Liuius For he in that battail wherin Antiochus was ouercome of the Romanes which is in the .4 decade seuenth boke thus describeth the chariotes whych he calleth hooked He sayth that they were fenced chiefely after thys maner The description of hooked chariotes The poyntes aboute the draught tree standing out from the yoke had as it were hornes wherwith whatsoeuer they met they mighte thruste it throughe and twoo hookes hoong oute at eche ende of the cart the one euen with the carte the other fastened downewarde to the earth the former serued to cut asunder what so euer came on the syde of it the other was made to crushe them which fel downe or went vnder There were also two sundry hookes fastened after the same sorte to the exetrees of both the wheles c. The vse therfore of these chariotes endured til the tyme that Antiochus was ouercome Howbeit wee neuer reade that the Romanes vsed them And that they wer horrible to behold and hard to be conquered may manifestly be gathered by the booke of Iosua For ther in the .vii. chap. when the tribe of Ioseph complained bicause it was so many in number and had obtained so narrow a lot Iosua commaunded them that if they had not roume inoughe they shoulde go and dwel or els conquere the places of their enemies adioyning vnto them They excused them selues that they coulde not doo that bicause their neighbours had yron chariotes But to repeate more auncienter thinges Pharao as it is written in the booke of Exodus when hee persecuted the Israelites which fled is said to haue had chariotes and with the same he tooke vpon hym to enter into the sea But they beyng ouerthrowen by the power of God hee was punished for breaking his fidelity Yron chariotes cānot resist god But this is diligently to be considered of vs whether either yron chariotes or hooked cartes can withstand the power and promise of God which if we shal deny as in very dede we must deny why ar they then put here as the cause that the victory was not obtained Marke the distinction Whereunto I aunswer that in this place is set foorth vnto vs the nighest cause namely that which was sene And certainly it was a cause if we should looke onely vpon mans strength For the Chananites being so armed and appointed could not be ouercome of the Israelites whych wer weaker than they Why god graūted not the hole victorye vnto Iudah and not so wel armed and fenced But if the power and might of God be considered the same could not be letted either by chariots and weapons or els by power of souldiours Why did not God therfore whych had geuen part of the victory graunt the whole also Kimhi aunswereth that God dyd it to proue the Israelites thereby For if they should haue bene constrayned as in deed they were to dwel for a while with these nations then experience should haue tryed how much they woulde set by theyr God namelye whether they woulde perseuer in the lawfull woorshypping of hym or whether they would enclyne to their owne madde customes and woorshipping of Idoles Thys in deede is a true cause and is set foorth also in the thyrd chapter of
must alwayes loke for this when they are afflicted by the goodnesse of god that it would please him to mitigate the temptations and geue thē strength to beare them for as much as he hath promysed by his Apostle so to do For it is written to the Corinthians God is faythfull whiche wil not suffer you to be tempted aboue your power but will with the temptation make a way out But whether god doth stirre vp men to sinnes by temptation shal be afterward declared But now to the history 20 And they gaue Hebron vnto Chaleb as Moyses sayd and he expelled thence the three sonnes of Enak 21 And the children of Beniamin dyd not caste oute the Iebusites that inhabited Ierusalem Wherefore the Iebusites dwelled with the children of Beniamin in Ierusalem vnto thys day Thys sentence is therefore repeated bicause now the warres of the tribe of Iudah are declared of which warres Chaleb without doubt was the captayne Wherefore here is declared what he obteyned Namely those thynges whiche God would haue done as he had spoken by Moyses as it is written in the fyrste chap. of Deut. and .xiii. chap. of Num. and xiiii and xxv chap. of Iosuah But that which is written after it how that the children of Beniamin dyd not caste out the Iebusites that inhabited Ierusalem but dwelled together with them perteyneth to those things which the other tribes had to do with the Chananites and it beginneth with Beniamin for thys cause bycause that tribe was next to Iudah yea and that which is now written of Beniamin The citie of Ierusalem was cōmon to Beniamin Iudah is declared of the tribe of Iudah in the booke of Iosuah toward the ende of the xv chap. And I thynke that that was therfore done bicause the citye of Ierusalem was in the limite of both the tribes and was inhabited together both of them of Iudah and also of the Beniamites Yea and some affyrme that the part of the citye where the temple stoode belonged to the tribe of Beniamin and to that purpose do they wrest that which Iacob the Patriarch sayd on his death bed when he blessed hys sonne Beniamin Beniamin is a rauenyng wolfe early taking hys pray in the morning and deuiding the spoyles at euen thynkyng thys oracle to belong to the morning and euenyng sacrifices of the Temple But howe truly they so doe I will not nowe reason But yet they are not so farre oute of the waye as Augustine whiche drewe the saying of the Patriarche to Paule the Apostle bycause he was of the tribe of Beniamin A fayned tale of the Hebrues I am not ignoraunt how the Hebrues write that the Iebusites were not cast out for thys cause bycause that Iudas and Beniamin would kepe the couenaunt which as it is written in the xxi chapter of Gen. was made betwene Abraham and Abimilech King of the Gerarites where the moste holy Patriarche sware that he woulde not molest neyther the same Abimilech neyther hys children nor yet hys childrens children wherefore seing he and hys posteritye inhabited Ierusalem and hys childrens children liued euen to thys tyme they saye it was not lawfull for the Hebrues for bycause of theyr othe geuen to caste them oute But afterwarde vnder Dauid the tyme of the couenaunte was oute bycause then were the childrens children of Abimilech worne out And for that cause Dauid dyd caste out the Iebusites oute of the citye of Ierusalem as it is written in the latter booke of Samuel the v. chapter But these are but fables yea if we looke in the foresayde booke of Samuell we shall fynde that the strong fenced Castle of that citye was the cause that the Iebusites were not caste oute before For Dauid to the end be would obtayne the castle promised a noble reward to him that coulde conquere it namely that he woulde make hym Captayne of the whole hoste of Israel Two causes why the Iebusites were not expelled oute of Ierusalem whiche office Ioab obtayned bycause he fyrste of all Conquered the Castle There were two causes why they of Iudah and the Beniamites dyd not caste oute the Iebusites out of the citye One was bycause they obeyed not the worde of God as they should haue done wherfore they are muche to bee blamed The other cause was bycause by the prouidence of God and hys moste wyse dispensation the whole victorye of these nations was reserued for Dauid and Salomon For so God abuseth the synnes of men that they hynder not but set forwarde hys Counselles specially for the aduauncyng of hys electe But to retourne to the Hebrues howe shoulde they knowe that the posteritye of Abimilech dwelled in Ierusalem The Scripture testifyeth no suche thyng Neyther can they tel whether Abimilech his stocke belonged to the Iebusites Wherfore let vs leaue their fayned opinion vnto thēselues Ierusalem was in the olde time called Iebus let vs follow this sentence nowe alledged as the truer But this is not to bee ouerskipped that Ierusalem was sometymes called Iebus For as muche as the .xix. chapter of this boke testifyeth the same also the fyrst booke of Paralipomenon in the xi chap. The summe is the Iebusites possessed the castle whiche being well fensed for as much as God had iustly with drawen his helpe for the Hebrewes they could not be dryuen out of it but Beniamin and the tribe of Iudah obtayned the Citie in the meane time Why Saul Dauid triumphed in Ierusalem Vnto whiche citie Saul and Dauid went after they had gotten the victory against the Philistians and Dauid himselfe brought thether the hed of Goliah whom he had slayne Peraduenture that citie semed mete for that triumphe bicause it was cōmon to the tribe of Iudah and Beniamin vnto which tribes Dauid and Saul belonged For as Dauid was of the tribe of Iudah so was Saul a Beniamite And the Iebusites dwelled in Ierusalem vnto this day That is euen to the time of Samuel who is thought to haue written this booke For afterwarde came Dauid when he ruled ouer all Israel and expelled the Iebusites from thence as it is sayd 22 In like maner they that were of the house of Ioseph went vp to Bethel and the Lord was with them 23 And the house of Ioseph caused Bethel to be searched whiche before tyme was called Luz 24 And the spyes saw a man come out of the citie and they said vnto hym shewe vs we pray thee the way into the citie and we wil shew thee mercy 25 And when he had shewed thē the waye into the citie they smote it with the edge of the sworde But let the man and all his houshold go free 26 And the man went into the lande of the Hethites and built a citie and called the name thereof Luz whiche is the name thereof vnto this day After the tribes of Iudah and Beniamin is also declared in a certaine ordre what the other tribes did The house
I answere that all these are so farre forth to be obserued as long as the othes and promises be not agaynst the worde of god and good lawes Which thing if it be afterward knoweÌ„ theÌ„ are they of no force yea they are theÌ„ vtterly voyde To these I adde that it manifestly appeareth by the cautions now alledged that we must neither for sweare nor lye wherby a laudable good proditioÌ„ should succede Wherfore they which sweare vnto their magistrates The prodition of the Counsel holden at Constantia promise to defeÌ„d the citie caÌ„ not be excused when their minde is to betraye to deceaue This haue the Antichrists done in the counsel holden at Constantia For that they might theÌ„ eassier allure thither Iohn Husse Ierome of Praga they promised him safety by publique fayth And therefore they can not defend their prodition admitte it were nothyng els as iust and honest But they were without doubt treacherers and wicked betrayers in swearyng promysing that by their letters whiche they would not performe But now we must returne to the history Howe the Luzite might be suffered of the Israelits to go in safety It is not certain as it is sayd whether this Luzite had faith or whether he wer an infidel If he had faith his prodition is to be commended otherwise it is to be discommended But if he beleued not neither cleaued vnto the true God why did the Israelites let hym go Forsooth bicause he of his own wil went into banishment Neither seemed this to be against the counsel of God For God woulde therefore haue those people cut of least they dwelling together with the Hebrues should haue geuen them an occasion of falling and offence Wherefore when they departed and chose wylful banishment that came to passe which God would haue to be done But thou wilt say By this meanes might al those nations haue bene sent away Why the Chanaâ—it s departed not giue place to the Israelites neither ought they to haue ben slain as god had coÌ„mauÌ„ded What might haue ben done I nede not to answer for as much as that is demaunded which coulde not be done For so manye and so great were the sinnes of those nations that they vtterly deserued death Wherfore god taking away his spirite from them dyd so harden their hartes that they endeuoured not them selues to depart but rather to resist the Israelites as much as in them lay They made many battailes therfore in which as god had ordained and as they had deserued they came to vtter destruction although a very few of them were saued in departing or els in embracing the true religion And they smote the cyty wyth the edge of the swoorde This is not to be ascribed to cruelty but rather to obedience and religion towarde the true god for so was it his wil to be done and so had he commaunded But they let the man and his houshold go free Howe they coulde discerne this mans family from the rest it is not writteÌ„ But it is most lykely that either he entred with the Israelites into the city or els he shewed vnto them his house by some token wherby they might leaue it safe and vntouched according to their purpose Rahab certainly in Iericho hong a purple corde in the window of her house to auoid the misery and sacking of the souldiours And the man went into the land of the Hithites Kimhi wryteth that these Hithites were none of those seauen nations which were commaunded to be destroyed in the land of Chanaan But he declareth not what these Hithites wer And these are the names of those nations which should haue bene destroyed of the Israelites The Chananites the Iebusites Hemorrhites Gergesites Pheresites Hithites and Hiuites These are the nations which god commaunded to be weeded out of the land promised vnto the Israelites But this is to bee noted by the way that there is a difference betwene these woordes Kethim and Chethim for that which is written by Kaph signifieth as they interprete the Italians or such as dwel in Ilandes or the Macedonians and that woorde is found in Esay Ieremy and in the booke of Num where the prophecies of Balaam are mentioned But that woord which is written with this letter Cheth signifieth either one of the seauen nations of the country of the Chananites or els those to whom it is sayd that this Luzite went And he built a City and called the name of it Luz The maner of banished meÌ„ in buildyng or adourning of citiâ—s So men that wer driuen out of their countrey wer wont to do that being moued with the loue of their country to cal the places which they did build either by the name of their country which they left or els to builde them as neare as they coulde in forme like the other So it is said that Aeneas dyd in Italy buyld Troy the city of the Pisites was in the same country built by the Graecians Like wise the Israelites leauing the land of Palestine decked vp a city graunted vnto them in Egipt like vnto Ierusalem building a temple there ordaining also Priestes and sacrifices as they had before in Ierusalem In which doing they synned most haynously although neuerthelesse they were moued thereunto by the loue of theyr countrye whych they had forsaken Vnto thys day The tyme of Samuel is by those woordes noted who is thought to be the writer of this history And by this sentence the Hebrues do gather that that City and the name therof endured to the time of Samuel 27 But Manasses did not expel Beth-Sean with her townes and Thaanach with her townes the Inhabiters of Dor wyth her townes the inhabiters of Iibleam with her townes nether the inhabiters of Megiddo with her townes And the Chananites began to dwell in the land 28 And it came to passe that as sone as Israel was waxed mighto they put the Chananites to tributes and expelled them not 29 In lyke maner Ephraim expelled not the Chananites that dwelt in Gazer and therefore the Chananites dwelt styll in Gazer among them 30 Neither dyd Zebulon expel the inhabiters of Kitron neyther the inhabiters of Nahalol wherfore the Chananites dwelt among them and became tributaries vnto them 31 Aser also dyd not cast oute the inhabiters of Acho and the inhabiters of Zidon of Achlab Achzib Helbab Aphik and Rehob 32 And the Aserites dwelt among the Chananites the inhabiters of the land for they did not driue them out 33 Neither did Nephtalim driue out the inhabiters of Beth-Semes nor the inhabiters of Bethanath but dwelt amoÌ„gest the Chananites the inhabiters of the land and the inhabiters of Beth-Semes and Beth-Anath became tributaries vnto them The synnes of the Israelites In this place the holy history setteth foorth the synne of the Israelites in that they did not cast out and destroye those peoples as God had commaunded them but made them tributaries vnto them
Before the other tribes Manasses is reckoned and the names of his Cities which are here mencioned ar rehearsed in the booke of Iosuah the 17. chap. where almost these selfe same woordes ar rehersed namely how Manasses although he did not conquer them did for all that make them tributaries vnto him But that is not so to be vnderstaÌ„d as though this sinne were then committed for as long as Iosuah lyued the people dyd not so openly fal yea rather the people did their duty diligently all Iosuas time and al the time of the Elders which had seene Moses and had liued together wyth Iosua as we shal heare straight way in this booke but these thinges are spoken in that place by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is by anticipation And the hebrewe phrase is to be noted namelye And Benethiah that is her daughters For it signifieth litle suburbes townes and villages whyche when they are compared with greater cities do seme to be daughters of those Cities The same kinde of speaking is vsed also in other languages Cities called Matrices and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scithopolis For we call often times the principal Cities Matrices that is chiefe Cities and the Grecians call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth-San was a City in the tribe of Manasses which was afterward called Scythopolis of which city both Ptholomey and also Ierome haue made mencion Thaanach is reckoned to be .x. myles distant froÌ„ Cesaria in the way to Ptolemais But the Chananites began to dwell in the land This hebrewe woorde Ioel which the latine interpretour translateth presumpsit and we haue turned it caepit that is began signifieth also to wyll to be at rest and to sweare The sence seemeth to bee this that the Chananites seyng they were not rooted out would haue gladlye bene content to haue taryed in those places where before they dwelled and that peraduenture with a bond and an othe but in such sorte that they would haue giuen a certayne tribute vnto the Israelites which nowe had preuailed But they of Manasses bicause they could not cast these out were punished for their smal faith For if they had perfectly beleued euen as God was with them in the conquering of Luz and other Cities so would he also haue ayded them in casting them out but bicause their fayth was so diminished God withdrew his ayde from them but in the meane tyme hee referred this punishment as I haue before said to profitable endes meete for his prouidence And they although they could not vpon the sodayne expell their enemies yet ought they not to cease of from making warre against them neither was it lawful for them to make any couenaunt or league with them And it appeareth that they required tribute of these nations and bargained with them without anye lawfull cause for thus speaketh the scripture And it came to passe that as soone as Israel waxed mighty they put the Chananites to tribute Wherefore they preuayled against them and they wer stronger than those nations and therefore they can not be excused in that they most filthilye made couenauntes with them For they seemed to be entised thereunto by couetousnes of money and seruitude of those nations And in expellyng dyd not expell them What the doubling of a word signifieth wâ—â—h the Hebrewes Thys doublyng of woordes in the hebrew expresseth a perfect and absolute action and this signifieth as muche as if it should haue bene said And they brused them and some of them they expelled but they did not vtterlye destroye them as God had commaunded But what can we answer of Salomon Salomon also brought these nations vnder tribute which in the first booke of kings the .9 chap. and in the .8 chap. of Paralip is written to haue brought vnder tribute the rest of the Amorrites Hethites c. I beleue verely that the rest of those nations embraced the religion of the true God For Dauid who was otherwyse a most noble king and valiaunt Captaine and who possessed his kingdome perfectly suffered them not to worship ydols in his dominions And if Salomon dyd afterward lay a greater burthen on them than hee did on the Israelites hee can not lawfully be blamed for he did so also with the Gabaonites For it is meete that the Israelites should be handled more gentlye of their King than straungers Neither should Salomon be excused if he did that for to muche greedye desire of money or if he did bargaine with them for money that they keeping still theyr idolatrous and false worshipping might liue vnpunished in his kingdome Ephraim also expelled not the Chananites It is not declared that this tribe did put their enemies to tribute which I thinke neuertheles they dyd wheÌ„ as it was declared before that Manasses did so and we shall heare straight way that the tribe of Zebulon did the same For it is not verye lykelye that those Ephraites wer better than their felowes As touching the city Gazer Ierome saith that it was .4 myles distant from Nicopolis which is Emaus and is called by an other name Gazer Kitron also in the tribe of Zebulon and Nahalol were compelled to pay tribute that they might haue Chananites to be their citizens The city Acho was afterward called Ptolemais Ptolemais Dispa Achzib also was called afterwarde Dispa being .ix. miles distant from Acho in the way toward Tire Likewise the tribe of Nephtalim brought the Chananites vnder tribute ¶ Of Masse BIcause in these places there is often mencion made of this hebrew woorde Masse which signifieth tribute of which word is deriued Mishah Whence the woorde Masse is thought to be deriued whyche of some is taken for tribute which was wont to be payde of euerye person And some of the Popes hirelinges thyncke that their Masse had hys name from thence therefore peraduenture it shall not bee vnprofitable somewhat to write of it That woord is red in Deut. the .16 chap. wheÌ„ God commaunded that seauen weekes should be reckoned after Easter and then should be kept the feast of Pentecoste Thou shalt appeare saith he before the Lord and shalt geue Missah Nethobath Iedecha that is a free oblation of thine owne hand And that oblation was so called as an yearely tribute which neuertheles was willing and without constraint Howbeit other and peraduenture more truly do interpretate that woord to signify sufficient namely that ther should be geuen as much as should be inough and sufficient for in the .15 chap. of that booke where the Lord commaunded the Israelites to open their handes vnto the poore to lend him that which might be sufficient that hebrew woord Dai the Chaldey Paraphrast enterpreth Misshah In which place I take it that there is a regard to be had as wel of the pouertye of the poore as of the abilitye of the geuer For that was commaunded to be osberued in voluntary oblations namely that so much should
8 And Iosua the Sonne of Nun the seruaunt of the Lorde dyed when he was an hundred and ten yeares olde 9 And they buryed him in the border of hys inheritance in Thimnath-Heres in mount Ephraim on the North syde of the hyl Gaas 10 And euen so also all that generation were put vnto their fathers and ther arose an other generation after them which neither knew the Lord nor yet the woorke which he had done for Israel Iosua lyued not so long tyme as dyd Moyses Iosua lyued not so long as Moyses whom he by the commaundement of the Lord succeded for Moyses was an .120 yeares old whē he dyed But the same thinges which we reade in this place concerning the death and buriall of Iosua are by as many wordes expressed in his own booke the .24 chap. The place wher they buryed him namely in mount Ephraim was his owne possession For of that Tribe came Iosua The Elders had sepulchers in theyr owne possessions And the Elders prouided to haue Funeralles and Sepulchres in their owne possessions For which cause it is written in the booke of Iosua towarde the ende that the bones of Ioseph which the Israelites brought with them out of Egipt were buryed in Sichem in that fielde I saye which Iacob had assigned as proper vnto Ioseph And it followeth Eleazer also the sonne of Aaron dyed whom they buryed in a hyll that pertayned to Phinehes his sonne which hil was geuen him in mount Ephraim But as touchyng the name of the Citye in that it is here called Thimnath-Haeres R. Selomoh Why the figure of the sun was set vpon the sepulchre of Iosua Rabi Selomoh toward the end of the booke of Iosua wryteth that Thimnath is as much as Temunath which is an Image And for so much as Chaeres signifieth the Sunne it declareth that the Chyldren of Israel placed the Image of the Sunne vpon the Sepulchre of Iosua that it myghte remayne as a monument of the myracle by hym wrought For he commaunded the Sunne and the Moone to stande styll vntil he had finished the battaile That therfore so noble a worke might not be had in obliuion he supposeth that his tombe was adourned with those tokens That this woord Chaeres signifieth the Sunne Esay the .19 chap. and Iob the .9 doo testifye Howbeit this is to be considered in the booke of Iosua that the name of this place doth vary For in the booke of Iosua it is wrytten Timuna Serech D. Kimhi which yet R. D. Kimhi thinketh to be al one the letters beyng somwhat transposed which is a familiar and a thing much vsed in the hebrewe toung as they that are learned in the same wel know It is lawfull to set foorth the benefites of god by certain tokens and outwarde signes Neither was it absurdly or wickedly done of the Israelites so to adourne the tombe of Iosua For it is meete that the benefites of God be set forth by tokens and certain monumentes They had not at that tyme the aboundaunce and vse of bookes which we haue And therfore they vsed certain outwarde Symboles and tokens to helpe and to renewe their memorye Iacob erected a stone in the place where he had sene God Moyses dyd set vp twelue pyllers there where he made a league betwene God and the people The same was done also when the people were passed ouer Iordane for they gathered twelue stones out of the chanell of the riuer which should be a token to their posteritye that God had by a great miracle dried vp the waters of Iordan when they passed ouer it For by reason of our naturall ingratitude we do easely forgette the benifites of god wherfore yf the figure of the sunne were set vpon the tombe of Iosua to testifye the miracle wherin god at the prayers of Iosuah had cōmaunded it to stand that therby the hebrewes might by his conduicte and leading obtayne a perfect and noble victorie this I say semeth not to be done ether vngodly or absurdely for the Image of the Sunne was not therfore put ther to bee worshipped neither wer there any holly assemblyes in that place A godly magistrate wonderfully profiteth the safety of the people wherin yt was Hereby it appeareth how a good and godly magistrate may wonderfully profite the healthe of the people For the Israelites departed not frō the worshipping of god so long as Iosua and the wyse and godly senatours lyued Aptly therfore is it wrytten in the Prouerbes the .29 chap When the vngodly beare rule the people mourne And in the same booke .20 chap a wyse king destroyeth the wicked And in the 29. a iuste king setteth vp the land Reason also sheweth that it is so for the people do therfore endeuour them selues to please their princes to fynd the more fauour at their handes and therefore they frame them selues to their maners and fashions And also bicause the people is by lawes and decrees compelled to obey the will and sentence of the princes They which dye ar sayde to be adioyned vnto the fathers They wer put vnto their fathers It is a kind of speche much vsed in the scriptures that they which do dye ar sayed to be adioyned to their fathers For as touching the bodye they ar buried with them and as concerning the soule they ar adioyned vnto them For if they haue lyued godly they lyue with their holy elders but yf vngodly they ar tormēted with their wicked progenitours if thei haue had any suche Howe some are sayde not to knowe the lord And there arose an other generation after them which knew not the lorde Not vndoubtedlye that any of them wer so rude that altogether they knew not god For the constante administration of the world the vndisturbed order of thynges do testifie crye that ther is a god But this knowledge wherof the history now speaketh is vnderstand to be that which hath annexed with it allowing Augustine fayth and obedience And they are thus sayd to be ignorant of god bycause they obeyed him not they did not put their hope and confidence in hym nether wer they zelouse to worshippe hym purelye and sincerely Augustine in his questions vpon this booke the 15. question affirmeth that it is playnely expressed in what sort the Israelites knew not god namely in those excellent and wonderful workes by which their elders came vnto the knowledge of the lord We rede also of Pharao that he as it is writtē in Exodus answered vnto Moyses that he knewe not the God of the Hebrues and the Lord eyther bicause he was not minded to hearken vnto his commaundements or els though after a sorte he knewe him yet he knewe not by certaine proofe that he was the God of the Hebrewes 11 And the children of Israel dyd euyll in the syght of the Lorde and serued Baalim 12 And they forsooke the Lorde the God of their Fathers whych brought them out of the
For if GOD would teache the Israelites the arte of warrefare then iudged he not that arte vnlawfull And to thys purpose serueth that which Dauid sayd Blessed be god which teacheth my handes to warre and my fyngers to battayle But thys question whyther it be lawfull to make iuste warres is not nowe to be entreated of for as muche as it is most euident and that by the holy Scriptures that it is lawfull And we shall haue occasion in an other place to speake at large of that matter Wherfore I will declare what the Hebrewe expositours iudge of thys place R. Salamon R. Dauid Kimhi and also R. Leui ben Gerson write that God when he had tempted the Hebrewes and detected theyr vngodlinesse and Idolatrye withdrewe from them their strength and ayde Wherby when they attempted to make warres by their owne power and to fight by their owne strength they learned what it was to make warre When God fought for the Israelits they knew not what it was to make warre Whereas before when God himselfe fought for them they were ignoraunt of it For he endued them with strength he draue a feare into their enemyes dissolued their strength and gaue the Hebrewes a prosperous successe in theyr enterprises One dyd then pursue a thousand and two ten thousand It is therfore aptlye sayd that the Israelites when he had not yet broken the league and god fought for them were ignoraunte of warlyke feates How our fyrste parentes after sinne knew both good and euell Euen as the fyrst parentes of mankinde when they had eaten of the forbidden tree beganne to know both good and euill For before when they were nourished with the grace of GOD they were touched with the feeling of no euil And we commonlye say of children when their parentes are taken from them that they shall nowe fele what it is to gette theyr own liuyng which before they had not learned when they had their parentes liuing Christe also vsed the same kinde of speche when he sayd vnto the Apostles When I sent you without bagge or scrippe vndoubtedly you wanted nothyng But now bicause I shall be taken from you let him which hath no sweard bye him one for hereafter the times shall be harde and paynefull vnto you so that ye shall proue and haue experience of those thinges which hitherto ye haue not felte And this is the meaning at this present that the Hebrewes were brought of necessitye now at the length to knowe and feele God commaūded nothing in the lawe for the learning of the art of warfare what it was to make warre with enemyes stronger than themselues They had not experience of that before GOD taught them it in taking awaye their strength and ayde Neither is it founde in the whole lawe that he ordained any thyng for the learning of the arte of warrefare In Deutronomye the xx Chapiter he made certaine lawes for making of warre but they pertayne nothing to the attayning of knowledge in the arte of warrefare And I in my iudgemente doe allowe the interpretation of the Hebrewes rather than that which was fyrst assigned 3 Of those whom he left there were fyue Lordes of the Philistians and all the Chananites and Sidonites and the Heuites that dwelled in Mount Libanon euen from Mount Baal Hermon vnto the entrance of Hamath 4 Those I say remayned to proue Israell by and to wete whether they would obey the preceptes of the Lord which he commaunded their fathers by the hand of Moyses 5 The children of Israell therefore dwelt among the Chananites Hethites Amorites Pherezites Heuites and Iebusites That which is in the Hebrewe Sirni Ierome sometimes translateth rulers and sometimes Lordes And we may call them Princes or Presidentes or ells Gouernours Satrapes Those woordes the Grecians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But yet they are deriued of the Persians yea the Latines sometimes vsed thē Terence in his comedie Heautontim Terence writeth If Satrapes that is a Lord be a louer he shal not be able to abide the charge Dauid Kimhi Dauid Kimhi thinketh these words in the text Fyue lords of the Philistians to be a figuratiue kinde of speche that by the fyue Lords The names of the Lordships of Palestine we might vnderstand those fiue places which they were lords ouer that is fiue Lordships of the Philistians And those places be named in the booke of Iosua the 13 chap. Gaza Asdod Ascalon Ackron Geth Of euery one of these cities they toke vnto thē the name of the lordship And vndoubtedly there is manifest mencion made of them in the fyrst booke of Samuell for of ech of thē there were gifts gathered wherwith the arke of the couenaunt was adorned to be sent agayne to the Israelites Howbeit this may seme to be strange how these cities should now be sayd not to be conquered by the Israelits When as in this booke the first chap. Gaza Ascalon Aekron are declared to be wonne in that battaile which was made by the tribes of Iuda and Simeon Whereunto we aunswere that in dede those cities were taken at the time when as for all that they were not fully conquered by the leading and conduct of Iosua as it is written in his boke Howbeit at this time as the history now testifyeth they were not in the power of the Iewes For by reason of the sinnes of the Hebrues the strength of the Philistians was confyrmed other nations of the land of Chanaan waxed euery day strōger stronger but the Israelites on the contrary side were feabled Wherfore it was an easye matter for these places to fall againe into the power of the Philistians For they were very skilful in feates of warre and they had yron and hooked Chariottes Neither did God fight for the Israelites Wherefore they might without any great trauaile by reason of the sinnes of the Iewes recouer againe the places which they had loste In that it is written And al the Chananites we must not vnderstand it absolutely and simplie but only of those which inhabited the places here mencioned Farther we must note that in the boke of Iosua there were also Chananites and Zidonites rehearsed which were not at that time destroyed And as touching the Mount Libanon The Mounte Libanon some write that it was so called of frankencense which the Grecians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea and the Hebrues call frankencense Libona And Mount Hermon as the boke of Deut. teacheth was called of the Amorrites Naschir of the Sirians Scherion Wherof peraduēture the prouince of Siria had his name 6 And they tooke the Daughters of them to be their wyues and gaue their own daughters to their sonnes and serued their Gods 7 Wherefore the children of Israel did wickedly in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lorde their God serued Baalim groues The Israelites synned three times against God First bicause as it is already shewed
sheweth the punishment wherwith for the same they wer punished As soone as their good Prince was dead the people fel againe to their olde wyckednes neyther did they onely commit those sinnes which before they had committed but to them they added some sinnes more grieuous The last fallinges wer for the most parte more grieuous than the first Seruitude is against the nature of man For the last falinges were for the most part greuouser than they which wer past for at the least thei added this in that they more more became ingrate for the benefites past when they againe fel from God with whom they were before reconciled into fauour Their punishment was bondage wherin they wer bound serued the Moabites Without doubt a grieuous kinde of punishment bicause it is marueylouslye agaynst the state and nature of man For al men by nature ar borne free And bondage as euen the Lawyers also do confesse Seruitude was brought in by cause of sinne was brought in by a commō law among men agreing to natural reason But it may more truly be said that it was brought in bicause of sinne Enemies when they wer ouercome in warre wer somtimes saued compelled to serue them which ouercame them and ther can be no iust warres taken in hand vnles it be to reuenge some facinorous acte Wherefore we said wel that seruitude was deriued of sinne is therfore a grieuous punishment bicause it is against the nature of man Certaine subiections are natural I graunt in deede that this is natural for the children to be obedient vnto the parentes the subiect vnto the Magistrates the vnlearned vnskilful vnto the wiser the weake ones must apply themselues to the mightier But this kinde of obedience and seruice namely toward them whych are fauourable vnto vs and seeke for our profyt is voluntary Wherefore it very much differeth from the seruitude wherof we now intreate For that voluntarye kynde of obedience myght haue bene vsed when men were in perfecte state but thys whyche was brought in for synne coulde not bee there And bondmen are compelled to serue not suche as are their friendes but straungers and enemyes and that in thynges vnprofitable vnto them Which is the more greuous bondage yea and often tymes thynges hurtfull and vnhonest Seruitude also is then far more grieuous when people are subiect vnto those enemies which once wer ouercome by them and whom before they ruled These euyls happened vnto the Israelites The Moabits were enemyes to the Iewes from the begining For the Moabites were enemies vnto the Hebrues euen from the beginning and they hired Balaam to curse them and in the wildernes they abandoned their women vnto them for the which the people was afterward grieuously plagued Farther the Iewes ouercame the Moabites by warre and punished them sore as we reade in the booke of Numbers Besides that the Moabites wer a filthy and an infamed people for their father was Moab the sonne of Loth who begat him by incest Nether would God suffer that they should be admitted into his church For these causes therfore was this bondage most hard and especially vnto the Hebrues which were alreadye before by god set at liberty both from the Egiptians and also from the Sirians and by wonderfull woorkes from them redeemed God strengthned Aeglon namely in geuing him courage and strength making him prompt and styrring him vp also by some certaine occasions And adioyned vnto hym Ammon and Amalek This may be vnderstand twoo wayes either that Eglon adioyned vnto him selfe such confederates or that god caused this league to be made betwene these nations And vndoubtedlye both significations are true for that which they dyd they coulde not haue executed without the wyll and ayde of god Let vs note in this place that the vngodly which otherwise agree not verye wel among them selues The vngodly do easilye conspire agaynst the people of god do easely conspire against the people of god Wherfore these three nations being ioyned together did easely ouercome the Israelites which wer forsaken of god And they possessed the city of Palme trees which is Iericho as it appeareth in Deut. and as it is before declared But in that it is said that they tooke possession of it it signifieth that they did not spoyle it and leaue it voyde for they claimed it vnto them selues making the landes and possessions therof proper vnto them selues Neither is it vnlykelye but that they put in it a garison of soldiors for to oppresse the Hebrues more grieuously And yet I do not thinke that they restored again the city vnto them for that came to passe afterward in the time of Achab as it is declared in the booke of Kynges Why god punisheth his people by vngodly ones But this peraduenture may seeme maruellous vnto some that god vsed to punish his people by other nations farre woorse than they wer for as muche as the Ammonites Amalekites and Moabites wer Idolatrers nations that were ouerwhelmed in all kinde of wickednes To this I wil answer that it was the prouidence of god which as I haue before declared doth in the sorte punish syns with synnes and in such maner chasten the vngodly by others that are vngodly Whi god soner punisheth his owne than he doth strangers Farther by it he declareth that these things though they be euyll yet they can not escape but that some way they shal serue his wil. But whi he differeth to punysh nations which otherwise are wicked and his own he straight ways punisheth this is the cause bicause they pertaining to god do synne against his law which they know Wherfore ther is no cause why the Turkes and Papists though they somtimes preuayle against vs to punish our sinnes should flatter them selues therby God wyll not easeli suffer his worde beynge knowen receiued to be despised as though they were much better than we are or as though their supersticions were better than our religion For if the Moabites Chananites and Assirians were not counted better than the Iewes whom they ouercame no more shall the Turkes or Papistes obtayne the same thoughe sometymes by the wyl of God they afflict the Gospellers Wherfore god doth quickly punish his for his woord sake which is among them published hee wyll not easely suffer that his woord being receaued and knowen should be despised and escape vnpunished There were vndoubtedly very many lyers and false men at Ierusalem and yet god suffered them where as he strayght waye destroyed Ananias and Saphira For he would adorne set forth the gospel holy ministery And now that the Ethnikes do see how seuerely God punisheth vs they maye easelye coniecture what hangeth ouer their heades according to the saying of Christ If this be done in the grene tree what shall be done in the drye tree And if by reason of their blindnesse they vnderstand not this we ought diligently to remember it
God euen then vseth by a certayne wonderfull manner to styrre vp great miseries and calamities out of ashes and sparckels which wer thought to haue bene long time quenched Iabin the king of Chanaan was kylled by Iosua as it is written in his booke the .xi. chap. and Hazor his kingly City destroied and burnt with fire Wherfore none would haue looked that war shoulde haue bene renued againe on that part But an other Iabin the sonne or sonnes sonne of him that was killed tooke courage againe and inuaded and oppressed the Israelites But least al that should be ascribed vnto his strength it is added that God intermedled in the matter when hee solde the Hebrues vnto him that is graunted vnto him to vse them as he thought good hymselfe euen to all most vile seruices and that as most abiect bondslaues And this calamity is amplified by many names First by the longnesse of the tyme for it continued .xx. yeares when as before Othoniels time they were afflicted onely .viii. yeares And before Ehud was stirred vp they serued .xviii. yeares It is declared that this seruitude was very cruell bicause Iabin oppressed the Hebrues by strength and violence And Iosephus writeth that it was in such sort that they durst not so much as to lift vp their head And the cause of his so great crueltye was Why Iabin was so cruel vnto the Hebrues bicause he remembred that the Iewes in the time of Iosua had killed his Father or Grandfather And had ouerthrowen the kingly City Hazor in wasting and burning it wyth sword and fyre Farther the violence and power of his tyranny is by this declared in that he had so great a number of yron or hooked chariots and if we may beleue Iosephus he went a warfare with three hundred thousand footemen Iosephus ten thousand horsemen and three thousand chariotes among which .ix. hundred of them were of yron Neither for al his great host had he ben able to haue brought the Hebrues vnder subiection vnles God as we haue before said had solde thē And vndoubtedly it is to be thought that Iabin vsed these .ix. hundred chariots which the history speaketh of by name to afflict the region of the Iewes which he had now conquered and to the end they should not fal from him And he dwelt in Hazoreth Howe raigned this man in Hazor whē as in the time of Iosua the City was ouerthrowen To this we answer first that after the ouerthrow which happened vnder Iosua the rest of the Chananites fled into a very huge wood which is called Of the Gentiles ther bi litle litle they so increased their power that thei set ouer thēselues a king which was of the surname of the first king namely his sonne or els his sonnes sōne which is therfore said to haue raigned in Hazor bicause he stil retained the title of the place as very many kings do at this day which keping the title of certain places do cal thēselues kings of the same places wherin in very dede they haue no possessiō at all But the Hebrue interpreters think the Hazoreth was a large huge wood which cōtained in it many cities Castels Vnto which sense the Chaldey paraphrast leaneth which turneth that worde munition of Castels This day also in Germany there is the wood of Hercinia wherin are both Cities and very many Castels And it is called Of the Gentiles either bicause a great number of diuers people resorted thither or bicause those places were built and fenced by the labour of manye Gentiles We might otherwise also answer that much more likely to be true namely that the citi of Hazor was after Iosua recouered reedefied by the Chananites so that it was the kingly city agayne wher Iabin either the sonne or els the sonnes sōne of the first Iabin raigned And to this reedefieng the times serued very aptly For from the burning of Hazor there wer passed .150 yeares more or lesse that is eight yeares of bondage which happened vnder the king of Mesopotamia .40 yeares of Othoniel .18 yeres of seruitude vnder Eglon king of Mesopotamia .80 yeres wherin Ehud peaceably iudged the Israelites and .20 yeres this Iabin afflicted the Hebrues Wherfore he might easily reigne in Hazor being againe reedified and this maketh with it bicause it is not writtē of this Iabin that he dwelled in the wood but that Sisara his captayne dwelt there For kinges vse not to kepe an house in their kingly citye but rather to haue them in their borders or in the fieldes wher they may be prompt and redy to accomplysh thinges to be done 3 And the children of Israel cried vnto the Lord for he had .900 chariottes of yron and .20 yeares he opressed Israel very sore 4 And Deborha a Prophetesse the wife of Lappidoth iudged Israel the same tyme. Both by the thinges before declared also by these which are now spoken of we may vnderstand the frowardnes of mans nature for vnles it be by troubles and aduersities brused and broken Men in desperate thinges call vpon God it regardeth not God yea as long as there is any hope of other helpes it neglecteth God and vseth them But whē thinges ar past all hope and do seperat then god is required as a certayne holy ankerhold Wherfore it is no maruayle though the Hebrues deferred their repētance 20. yeares long Surely I am persuaded that they did oftentimes grone and cry But bicause they lamented not that they had offended god and wickedly committed sinnes but only desired him to take a way the payne long punishment and paraduenture murmured against God therfore wer not their praiers heard But now at the last at the .20 yeares ende when with fayth and godlynes they prayed vnto God Though God deferre his help yet wee muste not dispaire he heard their prayer and graunted them their requestes By this example let vs learne that we must neuer dispaire of the help of god although it be deferred We all in deede desire to be strayghtwaye deliuered of our troubles but god in his counsel thinketh not good so soone to take away his punishments Wherfore that which he hath decreed we also must pacientlye suffer Deborah a Prophetesse God which before to deliuer Israel had chosen Ehud which had an impediment in his right hande and then Sangar a husbandman armed onely with the goade of an Oxe nowe choseth a woman by whose conduct the Iewes might be deliuered from a most grieuous enemy God vseth both stronge and weake a lyke Wherefore by these examples he aboundantly sheweth that his power is not bounde vnto noble men and to strong men but hee can easilye vse the weake and feable ones Yea and he sheweth forth his power rather in these than in the other Howbeit to declare that it is all one vnto him as touching both kynde of instrumentes sometimes he vseth the strong ones and other sometimes the weake ones And
wonder to see how Tyranny hath increased Howe punishments agaynst the clergy which mary haue dayly increased Conciliū Neocaesariensis and impiety by litle and litle taken depe rootes At the begynnyng the Ministers of the Church which contracted matrimonies were not altogether so seuerely handled For the counsell of Neocaesariensis as it is recited in the dist .28 chap. Presbiter cōmaūded such to be put onely out of their office and not from their benefice for they were still norished and receaued their stipendes from the Churche Neither in the meane tyme will I ouerpasse that the coūsel did cast out of the Church such Priests as wer adulterers and whoremongers namely in excommunicating them which was very mete and iust when as our men now a dayes do altogether winke at those sinnes After that they began not onely to put them out of their offices but also as they speake to remoue them from their benefices as it is written in the 33. dist chap. Eos chap. Decreuerunt yea and those which so maried they banished either into a monastery or into some straight place to do penāce but in our tyme they burne many of them And afterwarde they raged also against the women with whom the Ministers had maried as it is founde in the dist 81. Concilium Toletanum out of a certaine counsell holden at Toledo chap Quidam where it is commaunded that the women should be sold And in the dist 34. chap. Eos they are appointed to be seruauntes of that Church wherin the Priest was which hath contracted with them into seruitude and if peraduenture the Byshop could not bring them into seruitude he should commit it vnto the prince or lay Magistrat They banished them also sometimes into a monastery to do penance as it is read in the 34. dist chap Fraternitatis Neither were they content with this cruelty but the children also whiche were by such matrimonies borne would they haue to be seruauntes of that Church wherin their father had ben they depriued them of al their fathers inheritaūce And that is written in the 15. question the last chap Cū multae They do so not punish their adulterous sacrificers and whoremongers neither their harlottes nor yet their bastard children they onely exercise their cruell tyranny vpon the wifes of Priestes and their lawfull children At the laste when they haue almost no other thyng to bring they flye vnto theyr vowe as to a holy anchor They crye out that that must vtterly be kepte and therefore it is not any more lawfull for Ministers to mary bycause when they are ordeyned they do vowe sole lyfe Vow of vniust thinges are of no force As thoughe it were not both by the holy Scriptures and also by humane lawes commaunded that a vowe promise or othe shoulde be of no force if it compell vs to an vniust or vnhonest thyng And who seeth not that it is a thyng very filthy and agaynst the lawe of God that he whiche burneth in filthy luste yea and so burneth that he dayly defileth hymselfe with harlottes adulterers and vnlawfull Vsu veneris should be forbidden matrimonye Vndoubtedly the holy Ghost hath commaunded matrimony to all such as can not kepe themselues chaste yea and the fathers which in this matter are more enemyes to vs than they should sawe this Wherefore Ciprian as touchyng holy virgines Cyprian whiche had vnchastly behaued themselues sayeth If either they will not or can not kepe themselues chast let them mary Ierome Epiphanius Ierome also feared not to wryte the same vnto Demetrius Epiphanius also agaynste the Catharis sayeth It is better those whiche can not kepe themselues chast to mary wyues and sinne onely once than dayly to wounde their myndes with vnpure actions But the opinion of this father I do not in this thyng allowe bycause he affirmeth that those do sinne whiche when they haue made a vowe of chastitye do contracte matrimonye for as longe as they do obeye the voyce of GOD they charge not themselues with sinne Neither do I allowe that his reason wherein he sayth that one sinne is to be committed to auoyde a greater onely this I meane to shewe by his wordes that matrimony is very necessary to suche as can not kepe themselues chaste But I will entreate no more of this thing at this present for I haue aboundantly spoken of all this question in my booke of Vowes And the children of Israel ascended vp to her for iudgement Some affirme that this was done at certayne appoynted dayes so that the Israelites shoulde come to her house as to a certayne oracle and to an interpretor of the lawes of God Or els then they ascended vnto her when he was inspired with the spirite of Prophesye And vndoutedly it is very lykely that she then called the people together when she had any thyng to shewe vnto the Israelites in the name of God And they are sayd properly to ascende bycause in passing ouer the mount Ephraim they came vnto her 6 And she sent and called Barac the sonne of Abinoam out of Cedes Nephthalim and she sayd vnto hym Hath not the Lord God of Israel commaunded thee to go and leade vnto mount Thabor and take with the ten thousand men of thee childrē of Nephthalim and of the sonnes of Zebulon 7 And I wil bring vnto thee vnto the riuer Kison Sisera the captayne of the host of Iabin with his chariots and his people and I will deliuer him into thine handes 8 And Barac sayd vnto her If thou wilt go with me I will go but if thou wilt not go with me I will not go 9 Who answered I will surely go with thee but this iorney that thou takest shall not be for thine honour for the Lord shall delyuer Sisera into the hand of a woman So Deborah rose vp and went with Barac into Cedes Deborah vseth the authoritie of a prince when she citeth Barac vnto her and commaunded him to be called in her owne name he came from the Citie of Cedes That was a Citie of the Priestes in the tribe of Nepthalim and also a Citie of refuge as it is read in Iosuah the 19. chap. Hath not the Lorde God commaunded thee She vseth an interrogatiue speache for that very muche profiteth to stirre vp mindes and earnestly to commaunded any thyng Some thinke that Deborah had more than once yea often tymes admonished Barac in the name of god to accomplishe this office and he for feare lingered it Wherefore she at the last openly and before the Israelites reproueth them And it is as muche as if she should haue sayde In very dede it is God whiche hath commaunded thee these thynges That whiche I speake is not myne inuention I tell thee this thou must take in hande by the counsell and will of God To preceptes are ioyned promises And in these wordes of the Prophetesse may be obserued a maner much vsed in the holy Scriptures
This Hebrewe word Aim is a particle of one that sweareth and is very much vsed in the holy scriptures I haue sworne in mine anger if they shal enter into my rest Also Lorde if I haue done this or if there be iniquitye in my handes c. The reason of this kinde of speach is bycause they which do so sweare doo begin an execration and sometimes they performe it not If say they they should adde I do it let this or that happen vnto me let me perysh let me dye let me suffer cruell punishment and such like But sometimes they fully expresse it 9 My darte is set on the gouerners of Israell and on them that ar willing amonge the people prayse ye the Lorde 10 Speake ye that ryde on white asses ye that dwell by Middin and that walke by the way Deborah by an eloquent distribution turneth herself to diuers kinds of men exhorteth euery one of them to prayse the Lord. She maketh mention of princes before the other and sayth that her harte is set on them namely bicause she feruently desireth them to be thankful vnto God and to prayse him for the benefite which they haue receaued She calleth them Hokekei bicause to them pertained to make both decrees and lawes Afterwarde she speaketh of all those whiche of theyr owne will and accord had offred themselues vnto the battayle Ye which ride on white trim asses Almost al interpretours vnderstand this to be spoken of merchantes which ryde to and fro to fayres and marketes Asses are vsed in Siria And indeede asses are very much vsed in Siria for there the asses be stronge and mighty and of a good bigge stature and do go pleasauntly VVhiche dwell by Middin Some vnderstande it thus that they whiche are iudges shoulde be prouoked to prayse GOD. For saye they as shee had before stirred vp marchants and rich men to prayse God so now she calleth vpon iudges to do the same For as before marchants were hindred from their trades also were iudges letted from exercising iudgementes For they being oppressed of theyr enemies could not minister iustice But it is better that by this word Middin be expressed some certayne place which paraduenture was grieuouslier oppressed by the enemies thaÌ„ other places wer Or els bicause theyr marchandises wer wont to be much occupied which being now set at liberty in safety the inhabiters of that place are peculiarly stirred vp to prayse God And lastly this semeth to pertayne to the common people VVhich walke by the way Namely on fote For other either they did ryde or wer caried vpon asses for that they were rich and noble men All ye sayth she Schichu that is tel and shew But bicause that verbe signifieth also to meditate we will thus expound it with a redye and an attentiue minde tell or shew Or els it is sayd Ye which walke by the way to declare a certayne cause why they ought to geue thankes as though shee should haue sayd All ye which I haue mentioned therfore geue thankes vnto God bicause nowe ye may walke by the way freely 11 For the noyse of the archers appaised in the places wher water is drawen there shall they reherse the righteousnes of the Lorde hys righteousnes of his townes in Israell theÌ„ did the people of the lord go downe to the gates When she had nowe praysed God because he had restored the common highe wayes free vnto the Hebrewes she addeth now an other benefite which he had bestowed on them Water is a verye necessarye thing in Syria namely in that thei might with out feare draw water which before was in a maner wholy letted them This thing vndoubtedly althoughe in other places it seemeth to be of no greate value yet in Siria where is wonderfull greate scarecety of water it ought to be counted for an excellent gifte The welles or fountaynes whiche were without the cities by the streates and highe wayes could stande the Iewes in no steade by reason of the Chananites whiche kept away al thinges For the horsemen which were archers hidde them selues priuely neare such waters and assayled those which came forth to draw water there Many of them they led away captiues and with theyr noyse and cry they feared away in a manner all from drawinge of water Ye haue nowe escaped sayth Deborah the horrible and barbarous noises and cries of horsemeÌ„ which were archers vsed to crye with an horrible voyce when they assayle theyr enemies Ieremy in the .4 chap. testifieth And the whole city sayth he fled away at the cry of the horsemen which they made whilest they bended theyr bowes After that is setforth an other singular benefite namely that the little townes and villages which wanted fences and were not inclosed with walles and seemed to be desolate and emptye by reason of the enemies whiche besieged them ar now by the help of God reedefied and restored Wherfore she concludeth that for this cause also god must worthely be praised Lastly is added that the people of god might now assemble at the gates of the cities Why thei geue iudgements in the gates froÌ„ the which before they were altogether prohibited The iudgement place in the old time was wonte to be in the gates wher thei executed lawes But by reason of warres and oppressions it seemeth that iudgements ceased which thing how great a misery it bringeth to the publike wealth they do manifestly vnderstand which are not ignorant that in iudgementes in a manner the whole power of the publike wealth is contayned But why the Hebrewes executed these thinges in the gates thys seemeth to me to be the cause bicause they thought those places most meete to be chosen vnto which not onely the citizens but also the rusticall and husband men might easely come And the vndoubtedly could not be better done in any other place then in the very gates of the cityes Geue thankes therfore vnto God sayth Deborah bycause all these thinges by his ayde haue nowe recouered theyr olde forme and order 12 Arise arise Deborah arise arise singe a songe Vp Barak and leade thy captiuity captyue thou sonne of Abinoam Forasmucch as Deborah studied to inflame all the Israelites to geue thanks vnto god by an eloqueÌ„t figure she now stirreth vp herself that therby others might be pricked forward and endeuour themselues by her example to prayse God Go to Go to Deborah go to go to sing a songe This without doubt is the manner of sainctes in their Psalmes and songes that they neuer satisfie themselues in praysing God they alwayes thinke that they are to colde and for that cause euery where they vse suche stirringes vp of themselues Here R. Salomon doteth A fayned â—â—sition of R. â—â—lomon when he writeth that Deborah did to much boast of her selfe and therfore when her spirite began to waxe faynte she endeuored her selfe by such stirryng vp to kindle it agayne If these thinges are spoken by the
in the myndes of the vnderstanders than if they had ben perceaued by the outward senses Wherfore in expounding the Prophetes it is true that very oftentymes we stād in great doubt whether the thing were so done outwardly or rather so appeared to the Prophet to be done in mind And in certain of thē by reason of the circūstances of the matter we are compelled to graunt that it was onely a vision as Ierome testifieth of the breeches or hosen of Ieremy Ierome whiche at the commaundement of the Lord he put in a rocke by the riuer Euphrates and he suffred them to remayne there so long till they were rotten and then he was commaunded to take them and to put them on agayne And this vision happened whilest the city of Ierusalem was grieuously besieged by the Chaldeyans whē the Prophet could not go and come to the riuer Euphrates For at the same tyme when he would once haue gone to Anathoth where he was borne he was taken euē as he was going out of the gates and accused of treason In like manner the same Ierome affirmeth that that was onely done by a vision whiche is written in Ezechiell of the bread baked in the doung of an oxe and how it lay many dayes vpon one and the selfe same side To these may be added the eatyng of the booke and such like whiche either humane nature or circumstances of the matters and tymes suffred not so to be done as it is writtē And as touching the preaching expressing vnto the people that things which the Prophetes had in their myndes a thing sene by phantasy or imagination was all one and had as much efficacy as if it had outwardly bene sene But yet they fled not vnto the visions of the mynde when the thing it selfe might outwardly be done For seyng God can vse both wayes he hath sometymes taken this way and other sometymes that way as it hath pleased him and as he hath iudged mete and profitable for vs. But in all these things me thinketh the sentence of Ambrose is to be holden Ambrose The visions of Prophets wer not naturall which intreating of these images sayeth That they were such as will did chose and not such as nature hath formed whiche vndoubtedly maketh agaynst those whiche will haue prophesieng to be naturall as though by the power of the heauens or some certain instinct of nature or temperature of humors such images sights offred themselues to be sene of the outward senses of the Prophetes or to be knowen inwardly by imagination phantasy The will sayth Ambrose namely of god or of an aungell would those thinges and aboue other thinges chose them and not the power of nature formed them But there is an other doubt which in dede is not to be left vnspoken of Whether God at any tyme shewed himself or whether they were alwayes angels that appeared namely whether god himselfe at any tyme shewed himselfe vnder these images or formes Or whether onely aungels alwayes appeared which wrought spake with the Prophets sometimes in theyr own name other sometyme in the name of god Ther haue ben some which said the god himself neuer appeared but by angels in the name of god all those things were accōplished which are written to be either spoken or done in those visions And they contend that they haue certayne testimonies in the Scriptures which make with thē among which one is found in the Actes of the Apostles where Stephen expressedly calleth him an aungell whiche called to Moses out of the bushe when as for all that he is in Exodus named God Farther Paul to the Galathians testifieth that the lawe was geuen in the hande of a Mediator be the disposition of Aungels And no man doubteth but that in Exodus it is written that the law was geuen by god Wherfore they conclude that we must vnderstand that God appeared not by himselfe but by Aungels Howbeit forasmuch as the essence or diuine nature can not be taken away either from the holy ghost The holy ghost shewed himself in a Doue or from the sonne for either of them by nature is God how will they defend their opinion when as it is expressedly written in the gospell that the holy ghost descended vpon Christ in the forme of a Doue If they say that an aungell came and not the holy ghost they accuse the Scripture as a lyer but if they cōfesse that together with that Doue the holy ghost appeared what shall let but that god himselfe also appeared vnto the fathers vnder other figures and images They cā from this by no meanes escape except which I thinke they wil not do otherwise they should bring in a manifest heresy they will deny the holy ghost to be God And that which I haue aunswered of the holy ghost we may obiect the like of the sonne out of the wordes of Paul to Timothe the 3. The sonne of God appeared in humane flesh chap where he writeth Without controuersy it is a great mistery god is made manifest in the flesh iustified in the spirite c. For the whole Churche and right faith confesseth that the word was the true god whiche appeared vnder the fleshe of man Whiche if he did as vndoubtedly without conterfayting he did why may he not be said to haue done the same in the old Testament vnder sōdry formes and manifolde figures Without doubt that was much greater whiche he gaue vnto vs in the latter tyme. But he whiche hath geuen the greater thing we doubt not but that he also can geue that whiche is lesse Peraduenture they will say that that whiche was geuen in the latter tyme the holy Scriptures do set forth to the end we should beleue it but that whiche ye require to haue ben done in the old time is no where read It is the word or sonne of god by whom God spake vnto the fathers Prophetes Yea but if we diligently marke the Scriptures teach that also For the sonne of god is named by the Euangelist the worde or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche we must beleue was not by him done rashly but bycause it might be vnderstand that by him god spake when the scriptures testifie that he spake Wherfore as often as we read that the word of the Lord came vnto this mā or to that man I iudge that the same is so often to be attributed vnto the sonne of god Christ our Lord namely that god by him spake vnto the fathers and Prophetes Which least I should seme to speake in vayne I wil for this sentence bring forth two testimonies Iohn 1. The first is read in the first chap of Iohn No man hath sene god at any tyme straight way by the figure Occupatio is added The sonne which is in the bosome of the father he hath reueled hym For a man might aske If no man haue sene god at any tyme who appeared then
And that second is specified to be vii yere olde in at which time being made fat at the leÌ„gth to be offred to Baal this bulloke god would haue offred vnto himselfe for aburnt offring And bycause there is no farther mencion made of the first bulloke neither did god coÌ„maunde what he would haue done with it therfore I thinke we must vnderstaÌ„d but one the self same bullok which before is put absolutly theÌ„ by exposition repeted that he might be by some certaine tokeÌ„s knowen froÌ„ other bulloks wherof peraduenture his father had many so that it was vii yeares fatted stood in the secoÌ„d stalle And as touching the vii yeres fatting there is no cause why we should meruaile at it Apis the oxe was loÌ„g fatted forasmuch as the oxe called Apis or Serapis which was wont to be sacrificed was fatted certain yeares before And it is not hard to beleue The Hebrues vsed the superstitions of the Egyptians but that this custome of the Egyptians was supersticiously kept among the idolatrous Hebrues for that they were not onely neighbours vnto Egypt but also they came out of it into the land of Palestine God would haue an alter erected vnto him vpon a hard and stronge rocke namely vpon that wherout fire was stricken to burne those thinges whiche Gideon brought as though God by the miracle had appointed it for himselfe He coÌ„maundeth an alter to be raised vp in a place apt for the stone or rock as it is to be supposed was great Wherfore he willeth Gideon to chose one certain euen part of it aboue the rest which was most fit to build an alter vpoÌ„ And this is chiefly to be noted the god when he would deliuer the Israelites from the Madianites coÌ„mauÌ„ded aboue all things the idolatry should be ouerthroweÌ„ For vntill as long as religioÌ„ is not restored Nothing goeth forwarde well in a plub welth except religion be first restored nothing goeth forward well luckely in the pub wealth Farthermore faith is the grouÌ„dsele fouÌ„dation of actioÌ„s to come And that caÌ„ not be had where the worshipping of god is turned into superstitioÌ„ impiety Which thing if god in a maner in al expeditions doth obserue let Magistrates therby gather what they ought aboue all things to do among the people whoÌ„ they gouerne Priuate meÌ„ also by this exaÌ„ple ar admonished chiefly to frame piety in their minds It is not sufficient to build an altar vnto the Lord vnles the sacrilegious altare be cut downe neither is it inough to ouerthrow that vnles vnto the true god be his altare builte There are whiche fall from the Pope but they so fall that they will not follow the Gospell And some there are which do in such sorte receaue the true doctrine that for all that they wil not depart from the pernicious masses and other papisticall impietyes God hathe not so not so I saye commaunded whiche soeuer of these thou neglectest thou breakest his commaundemente That there were groues by the temples of the idoles none About idoles were groues whiche hath red Poetes or hystoryes doubteth That was a certayne mutacion of the Patriarches which offred sacrifices vnder okes or in hilles which they called high places They delighted as I thinke in close places wherby theyr mind when they sacrificed was more voyd of worldly cares and affayres And for the most parte experience teacheth vs that in darke places where high trees grow a certain admiration commeth vnto the mindes by which admiration they applye themselues the more to the meditation of thinges deuine God coÌ„maundeth the groue to be cut down bicause it was together with the altare dedicated vnto the god Baal Yet he commaundeth his wood and the oxe appoynted for him to be transferred to his own sacrifice least any man should think that the true god is not lord of all thinges For there is nothing so vnder the power of the deuill but that it may be turned to the glory and honour of god Yet the godlye oughte not by this example to eate thinges offred vnto idoles when they know that they are suche in dede Not vndoubtedly bcause the nature of that flesh is chaunged or ceaseth to belonge vnto god but bicause of the conscience of the weake ones and leaste it shoulde seeme that we woulde be made pertakers of the table of the deuilles But such lawes God hath prescribed vnto vs not vnto him selfe Wherefore he maye vse thynges dedicated vnto idoles for hys owne burnt offringes The groue the altar and the bullock are mencioned to belong vnto Ioas the father of Gideon because he had the office of a Magistrate in Ophrath whatsoeuer was the cause it is to be thought that he mayntayned idolatry there And forasmuch as sacred places sacrifices are appointed to the possessioÌ„ of priuate men therfore magistrates are wonte to haue the rule disposition of them Gideon is chiefly commaunded to do these things that euery man might vnderstand that in purging of religioÌ„ or amending any other sin we must first begin at our own famely and at such as are niest of kinne least any man should seme to correcte other and in the meane time leaue his owne neglected and vnamended 27 Then Gideon tooke tenne men of his seruantes and did as the Lorde badde him But bicause he feared to doo it by daye for hys hys fathers householde and the menne of the Citye he dydde it by nyghte The feare of Gideon resisteth nothyng agaynst hys fayth God wil haue euery man to fulfil his vocatioÌ„ but yet he forbiddeth not to adde prudence We must take place time and occasion vnlesse God appoynt these thinges also Howbeit we muste beware that in adding these cautions we goe aboute nothinge that is agaynst the precepts of God for that prudence is praysed which with thinges well done neglecteth no sinne Supersticions are more set by oâ— men â—hâ—n pure religion Hereby also we gather that Gidion was not oâ— toâ— basest sort forasmuch as out of his famely he could take out ten seruantes He feared and so feared that in the day time he durst not do that whiche the Lorde haâ— commaunded For the worshippinge of Baal was nowe confirmed and superstitions once established by takinge deepe rootes are wonte to haue more authority than perfecte pure and sincere worshipping of god can euer obtayne Such vngodlines is there grafted in the hartes of men that at this day if a man in the papacy detest the masse or deride a pece of bread which the wicked sacrificers both worshippe and cary about he shal be much more cruellye punished and tormented than if he shoulde with horrible blasphemies defame the true God and our Lord Iesus Christ So at that time he was counted as a most detestable heretike worthy to be killed which had done any contumely vnto the holy seruices of Baal Whereunto the feare of Gideon tended But wherunto tended this pollicy
that they committed thys acte nowe when they came to make thys warre or els before when euery yeare they inuaded the lande of the Israelites in the tyme of haruest Of mount Thabor we haue before spoken when we entreated of the victory of Barak and Deborah It was not lawfull to saue these kyngs on lyue As the Lorde liueth if ye had saued their lyues Gideon mought haue saued these kynges lyues if they had not slayne hys brethren but bycause they had slayne them it was not lawfull For in the booke of Numbers there is a lawe wherein it is ordayned that the nexte of kynne muste not suffer the bloude of hym that is dead vnpunished not that a priuate man shoulde kyll a murtherer but he must be brought vnto the Iudge that there the cause beyng knoweÌ„ he myght be punished And therefore Gideon beyng a Magistrate ought by that lawe to punishe them Otherwyse he myght haue let them goo for as muche as they were not Chananites whom GOD had commaunded that they shoulde not spare Wherefore Gideon sweareth nothyng contrarye to the woorde of God And he sayde vnto Iether He commaundeth hys firste borne sonne beyng then a younge manne to slaye them but he feared neyther durste he drawe hys swoorde The two kynges disdayne would not be kylled with the hande of a chylde euen as Abimelech would be slayne of hys Armor bearer least he should seeme to be kylled of a woman Farther they easely sawe that they shoulde bee longe in payne or they were dead when as the chylde by reason of want of strength coulde not rid them out of theyr lyfe quickely Why Gideon willed his soÌ„ne to kil the kings And Gideon peraduenture dyd for thys cause commaunde hys sonne to doo thys thynge to inflame hys hearte euen from hys tendâ—r yeares agaynste the enemyes of the peopl of GOD as it is written of Hannibal who from a chylde vowed hymselfe agaynst the Romaynes Or elles he dyd it to learne hym from hys tender age to obey the lawe of God wherein was commaunded that the bloud of the next of kynne beyng shed should be reuenged But might not he haue committed that office vnto a hangeman why would he so vrge hys sonne To thys maye be aunswered two wayes Firste that in the olde tyme it was not vncomely to slay the guylty Farther The Hebrues had no hangemen that it is not sene that the Hebrues had hangemen And vndoubtedly that thys was no office amonge the Hebrues this testifieth bycause in the lawe it is written that a blasphemer beyng taken was so stoned to death that the hande of the wytnesses dyd throwe the firste stone agaynste hym neyther was the puttyng to death of any body committed to any peculiar hangeman And there are many examples whiche testifye that it was not ignominious to slaye the guilty Saul when he woulde haue the Priestes slayne called not hangemen to doo it but turned to the noble men whiche were with hym and commaunded them to inuade the Priestes who reuerensyng theyr ministery and dignitye durst not obey Onely Doeg the Edomite durst execute so greate a wycked acte who was not of least estimation with the kynge Samuell also with hys owne hande slewe kynge Agag the prysoner Ioab in lyke manner when he had cought holde of the horne of the altar was slayne of Banaia the chiefe Capitayne of the hoste Wherefore it seemeth that the Hebrues in that auncient tyme hadde no hangemen But as muche as maye be gathered by the Hystoryes of the Ethnikes Lictores were ministers appointed to execute corporall punishment Plutarche Lictores began at Rome vnder Romulus who as Plutarche wryteth in hys lyfe were called so eyther of ligando that is of byndyng or bycause the Grecians callem them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bycause they executed a publique office Romulus gaue them Roddes bounde together to cary and to them was an axe ioyned They had also cordes to bynde the Citezins withall that beyng bounde they myght eyther beate them with roddes or strike them with the axe But the men of more auncient tyme wanted thys office euery man executed it without any infamy as it was by the Magistrate commaunded hym And in verye dede that woorke of punishyng malefactors hath in it no dishonestye or vncomelynesse For if it be honest for a iudge or prince to geue sentence of death agaynst euyll doers why then shall it not be iuste and honest to execute the same sentence Yea and GOD hymselfe in punishyng vseth not onely euyll spirites but good spirites But thou wilte saye Why Lictores and hangemen are of the commoÌ„ people euill spoken of why are Lictores and hangemen commonly so euyll spoken of Firste bycause the common people are afrayde of them neither would any manne be punished for hys wicked actes hereby it commeth that the syght of the hangman driueth into them a certayn horror And that the people were so affected the maner of the publique wealth of Rome declareth where wheÌ„ ambicious men flattered the people more then was meete they sent away the hangeman out of the market place and iudgement house of Rome as euen the Oration of Cicero for Rabirius testifieth The Romaynes vsed not a hangeman for their Citezins The Citezins of Rome were not beaten with roddes nor put to death Theyr extremest punishement was banishement they were caried into ylandes at the length condemned to the working of Mettalles But the latter Romayne lawes whiche are in the digestes blotted out that exemption for in very dede it was vniust For a faulte worthy of death ought not to be wynked at althoughe a Citezin of Rome were the author of it And there were two principall lawes whereby the backe and head of the Citezins were prouided for Portia lex Sempronia the lawe I saye Portia and Sempronia whose power and defence neuerthelesse Paul as we rede in the Actes vsed and so escaped both roddes and bondes This is one cause why Lictores and hangmen are so hated The irregularity of the Canonistes An other cause hereof in the Papisticall opinion of irregularity whiche as the Canonistes wyll haue it is contracted of euery murther These men thinke that a man can not so iustly kyll any man that he may be promoted to the holye Ministerye when as yet the Inquisitours of the herecticall prauity as they terme it doo dayly cause an infinite number and those innocentes to be kylled The Popes Legates also in gouernyng of Cityes and Prouinces and makyng warres althoughe they be Cardinalles and Byshoppes doo styll continually cause bloud to be shed But in the meane tyme with greate hypocrisie they take hede that the sentence be geuen by a laye Iudge as they call hym and so they wrappe themselues out of that irregularity But the holy Scriptures do not so teache Moses sayde vnto the Leuites whiche with hym had kylled so many ye haue
maner Bassianus Caracalla whē he had destroyed his brother Geta. And not to ouerpasse our Abimelech God as we shall heare sent an euill spirite betwene hym and the princes of Sichemites and either party was taken with a certaine furie so that at length they destroyed one an other 7 And they told it vnto Iotham who went stode on the toppe of mount Gerizim lift vp his voyce cried said vnto them Herkē vnto me ye men of Sechem that God may herken vnto you 8 The trees went forth to anoynt a king ouer them and sayd vnto the oliue tree reigne thou ouer vs. 9 But the oliue tree said vnto thē should I leaue my fatnes wherw t by me they honor God man go to aduance me aboue the trees 10 Then the trees sayd vnto the figge tree come thou and reygne ouer vs. 11 But the fyg tree aunswered them Should I forsake my swetenes and my good fruite and go to aduance me aboue the trees 12 Then sayde the trees vnto the vine Come thou and be kinge ouer vs. 13 But the vine sayd vnto them Should I leaue my wyne which maketh mery both god and man and go to aduaunce me aboue the trees 14 Then sayd al the trees vnto the bramble Come thou and raign ouer vs. 15 And the bramble sayde vnto the trees If ye wyll annoynte me kynge ouer you come and put your trust vnder my shadow and if not let the fyre come out of the bramble and consume the Ceders of Lebanon 16 Now therfore if ye haue done truly and vncorruptly to make Abimelech king and if ye haue delte well with Ierubbaal and with his house if moreouer ye haue done vnto him according to the deseruyng of his handes 17 For my father foughte for you and aduentured his life to deliuer you out of the handes of Madian 18 And ye are risen vp against my fathers house this day and haue slayne his children .70 persons vpon one stone and haue made Abimelech the sonne of his mayde seruant king ouer the men of Sechem because he is your brother 19 If ye I say haue delte truly and vncorruptly with Ierubbaal his house this day reioyse ye with Abimelech let him reioise with you 20 But if not let a fire come out from Abimelech and consume the men of Sechem the house of Millo Also let a fire come forth from the mē of Sechē and from the house of Millo destroy Abimelech 21 And Iotham ranne away and fled and wēt to Beer and dwelt there from the face of Abimelech his brother Iotham the brother of Abimelech inspired as it appeareth with the spirite of god threatneth that punishments are at hande both for him and for the Sechemites He ascended vpon the mount Gerizim The citye of Sechem whiche was nere vnto the citye of Sechem In the booke of Genesis 34. chapter there is mention made of this city at that tyme Hemor the father of Sechem possessed it who rauished Dina wherefore the citye was destroyed by Simeon and Leui. And afterwarde Iacob gaue it vnto Ioseph Ierome A place of Genesis is expoūded to haue it besides his common lot in the lande of Chanaan for his posterity as we rede in the same booke the 48. chapter Wherefore it was in the tribe of Manasses and as Ierom in his Hebrew questions vpon Genesis testifieth Iacob was there healed of his haltyng which he got by wrastling wyth the aungell as it appereth in the same boke the 34. chap. namely that he came Salem to the city of Sichem And we must know that Salem there is not a name of a city but signifieth safe and sound Otherwise Salem longed not to the Amorhites but to the Iebusites whiche afterwarde was called Ierusalem In his Epistle to Eustochius whych conteyneth an Epitaph of Paule the same Ierome writeth that this city lay situate by the side or roote of mount Gerizim and in his time it was called Neapolis and it longed vnto the Samaritanes And the same is it whiche Iohn maketh mencion of in his Gospel the .4 chapter wher it is written Sichar but as Ierome sayth by a corrupt word for it should haue bene written Sechem Thither went Iesus when he went out of Iewry into Galile But the mount Gerizim and Eball lay one ouer agaynste an other and in one of them euery yeare were recited blessings The Mountes Gerizim Eball and in the other cursings Thither did Iotham ascend peraduenture at that time as some suppose when the multitude was assembled according to the institution to heare the blessings and cursinges of the law Whiche thinge yet to speake as it is semeth to me not verye likely for as much as I rather beleue that for the worshipping of Baal that ceremonye was omitted and partelye because it seemeth that the multitude did for this cause assemble thither with a solemne assemblye to constitute Abimeleche theyr new kyng Wherefore in that solemnitye Iotham spake these thinges vndoubtedly by the holy Ghost as the euent taught The sūme of his oration conteineth an exprobation of the wickednes which they had cōmitted and a threatning of most grieuous punishments And that the thinge mighte be made more playne and manifest before theyr eyes he vseth a most elegant Apology Of a fable and Apology What a fable is Augustine AN Apologye they saye is a kinde of fable And they define a fable to bee a narration of a false thing fayned for cōmodities sake or oblectation Or as Augustine sayth in his .2 booke and .11 chapt de Soliloquiis a fable is a lye made for delectation althoughe properlye it cannot be called a lye For the falsenes is strayghtway found out and specially in Apologies For in them are brought in insensible or vnreasonable creatures talking one to an other and entreating of matters very weighty And as sone as the hearer perceaueth that straightway he vnderstandeth that the thing is fayned and not so done in dede And vndoubtedly certaine thinges in fables are very likely Certain fables are likelye and some are not and some are most farre distante frō probability For it is very likely that sometyme there arose a cōtention betwen Aiax and Vlisses for the armor of Achilles which was iudged at the length vnto Vlisses and that Aiax therfore toke such a displeasure that becomminge madde he slewe himselfe But contrarywise it is altogether improbable that a woman was turned into a plant or into a stone An Apology Wherfore an Apology may be counted a fable which is not likely The kindes of a fable What fables are to be repudiated what to be admitted Filthy fables are to be repudiated The kinds of a fable are Comedies Tragedies Satires and Narrations of Lirike and Heroike Poetes also Apologies But which of these fayned things are lawfull and which are vnlawfull thus may be discerned They which haue fylthinesse scurility that is mirth
and punisheth it by his lawes And if at any tyme it be sayd in the Scriptures that he either willeth or worketh sinne in men that must be referred vnto other considerations whiche I haue declared both in an other place and also now here And this is sufficient as touching this question And God sent an euil spirit By an euil spirit I vnderstād either the deuill What is vnderstād vp an euil spirite or wicked affections or cruelty stirred vp to reuenge iniuryes but the end was to take vengeaunce for the bloud of the sonnes of Ierubbaal The men of Sechem layd wayte agaynst hym The cause of the lying in wayt There may be three causes of their lying in wayte First bycause they would slay him as he passed by And an other was bicause they would not haue his souldiers to go to and fro The third was to shake of their yoke and to declare that they were free This was as much as to say as they now nothing passed vpon his kyngly power It was tolde Abimelech A short sentence cut of wherby yet we vnderstand that Abimelech passed not that way for feare of fallyng into their snares 26 Then came Gaal the sonne of Ebed his brethren they went to Sechem and the men of Sechem put their confidence in him 27 Therfore they wēt out into the field gathered in their grapes trodde them made mery And they went into the house of their God and did eate and drinke and cursed Abimelech 28 And Gaal the sonne of Ebed sayd Who is Abimelech who is Sechē that we shuld serue him Is he not the sonne of Ierubbaal and Zebul is his hed officer Serue rather the men of Hamor the father of Sechem But why shall we serue hym 29 And who will geue this people into myne hand and I wil take awaye Abimelech And he sayde vnto Abimelech increase thyne army and come out Here cōmeth an occasion of the euils one Gaal by chaunce trauailed that way the Sechemites hired him to be their ruler and captayne and therefore puttyng their confidence in him they go out into theyr vineardes gather the grapes and treade them with great security What this Gaal was it appeareth not by the Scriptures R. Salomon thinketh he was an Ethnike R. Salomon The Sechemites were so afeard of Abimelech that they durst not gather their grapes wherfore they hired this man First now they go forth into the fielde whiche thyng before they durst not doo they make great ioye and mirthe For in the olde tyme also as it semeth they vsed as they do now a dayes The wātōnes vsed at the gatheryng in of grapes great wantōnes and liberty in the gathering in of the grapes of whiche custome sprange the Comedyes and Tragedies with the Grecians And when Bacchus returned a conquerer out of India the people led daunces in honor of him at the wynepresses Yea and the Chaldey paraphrast maketh mention of daunces in this place They went into the temple It was also the manner among the Ethnikes to geue thankes vnto God of their first fruites But these men go into the temple of God and rate drinke singe and curse their kyng and whom before they had annoynted hym now they rayle vpon and teare with reproches And that in the temple wherin before they had taken counsel for to make Abimelech their ruler Such are the iudgementes of God The place might haue admonished them for out of it they gaue him money but forgettyng all thynges they curse him Although the scripture expressedly declareth not whether this tēple were that selfe same where out they tooke the money in the beginning VVho is Abimelech In the feastes of their wine gathering they mocke theyr kyng and that he beyng absent and aboue the rest Gaal much more greuously scorneth hym Let vs marke the peruersenes of mans nature if any sinne be by chaunce committed it addeth not a iust remedy but healeth mischief with mischief cureth sinne with sinne They should haue called vpon the Lord haue repented but these do far otherwise they se that they haue done noughtly yet they go farther to reproches This is the manner of the frowardnes of man yea and Dauid when he had committed aduoutry did not strayghtway repent as he should haue done but slewe Vrias Iudas whē he had betrayed Christ would not repent but went and hanged himselfe and so was author of hys owne death So in a maner when we haue sinned we go to worser sinnes They ought not in deede to haue chosen Abimelech but when he had once gotten the dominion of things they should not so haue cursed him Before the victory they sing a song of victory There is nothyng more foolishe then to contemne an enemy for an enemy is not to be contemned vnles he be ouercome But this Gaal goeth childishely to worke He exhorteth and prayseth the Sechemites bycause they had shaked of their yoke And he composeth his oration of thynges compared together A cōparatis He compareth Abimelech with Hamor the prince of that Citye whom the sonnes of Iacob slewe by guile VVho is Sechem Sechem in this place is not the name of the City but of the chief man namely the sonne of Hamor VVho is Abimelech He is the sonne of Ierubbaal He hath in vs neyther right nor iurisdiction Let hym goo and bragge amonge his owne Sechem was in the olde tyme Lorde of this Citye hym we ought to haue obeyed But we slewe hym howe then can we obeye this man This comparison is nowe manifest youghe But to increase the contempt more Zebul sayeth he is the seruaunt of Abimelech knowen well ynough vnto vs whome he hath made ruler ouer hys Citye Therefore we shall haue two Lordes And we whiche woulde not obey the Lord of Sechem shall we nowe obeye a seruaunt It is an vnworthy thyng The sēse of the oratiō of Gaal Wherefore this semeth to be the sense of hys oration If we shoulde haue serued we should rather haue serued Sechem But we haue not serued him therfore neither will we serue this Abimelech Serue the sonnes of Hamor As though he should haue sayd serue them rather whiche were the auncient Lordes of this Citye and if we haue not serued them why should we serue Abimelech c. And who wyll geue thys people into my hande The other parte of the oration contayneth an exhortation wherein he exhorteth them to make hym ruler ouer the people VVho will geue This forme of speakyng expresseth an affection of one that wisheth I sayth he if I were your ruler would easely take away Abimelech All the Sechemites were not of one opinion Hereby it appeareth that al the Sechemites were not of one opinion ▪ There were many which thē also wer on Abimeleches side Wherfore I would to God sayth he that all you were of one mynd I would thē easely take away the tyranne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and shall Iudas syt vpon the twelue seates and iudge the twelue Tribes of Israel Dyd Christ chaunge hys sentence No sayth he but Iudas was chaunged Whiche selfe same thing wee must iudge of the Citye of Niniue and of king Ezechias whom god pronounced should dye For neither Niniue at that tyme perished nor Ezechias dyed bicause they were chaunged God sayde at the beginning that the feare of men shoulde be vpon beastes But it happeneth contrarily for men are nowe afrayde of Lyons Beares and Tigers bycause they are of them oftentymes torne But that commeth hereof bicause of the condicion of men is chaunged and not the counsell of God Wherfore those promises of god are to be vnderstande accordyng to the present state of thinges Therefore when we heare the promises of God How we must take the promises of God wee must thus thinke Either they haue some condicion adioyned or they are absolutelye put Farther either they are of force for this time onely or hereafter they shal be fulfylled And as touching the condicions of promises and threatnings we must diligently marke that some promises are of the lawe and some of the gospell what they differ one from an other I haue before aboundantlye entreated Promises of the law haue a condition annexed And this wil I now briefly say that promises of the law are those which haue a condicion annexed so that the promise is not due vnlesse the law be most perfectlye fulfylled and so those condicions may be called causes of rewardes if we coulde fulfyl them which thing seing by reason and this corruption and vice of nature we are not able to performe god is not bounde to render the rewarde Wherefore seing we cannot fulfyl the lawe as we ought to doo all cause of meryte is vtterlye taken awaye and yet are not those promyses geuen in vayne For although by reason of infirmity we cannot performe the condition yet yf we flee vnto Christ and being regenerate do begin a better lyfe the promyses which were promises of the law Promises of the Gospel are made promises of the Gospel not bycause we liuing vnder grace do fulfil those conditions but bicause by Christ they are made absolute and perfect whose righteousnes is imputed vnto vs. In this maner must we thinke of the promises of God How we must vnderstand the threatnings of God In like manner is it of threateninges bicause often tymes muste bee added this condicion Except ye repent I sayde often tymes bicause vniuersallye it is not true as it appeareth in Dauid who repented and yet suffered those thinges which Nathan threatened Moses also repented and yet came hee not into the promised land And as touching the condicion of repentaunce we must not ouer passe this that it is not perfect in vs otherwise the forgeuenes of syns should be due vnto vs as a rewarde wherefore wee must holde this for certaine that the condicion of repentaunce is Euangelicall and when there is repentaunce founde in vs it is a fruite of fayth and not a merite Of this thing ryght well wryteth Chrisostome in hys .v. Homelye to the people of Antioche Chrisostome where hee comforteth the people bicause of the threatninges of Theodosius He bringeth a place out of Ieremy the .xviii. chapter A difference betwene Princes of the worlde God and addeth that the sentence of God is farre otherwise then the sentence of Princes of this worlde For the sentence of a Prince is straightwaye as soone as it is once spoken performed and can scarcely be chaunged but the sentence of God if it haue threatened any thyng is not headlong vnto destruction nor vntreatable yea rather it maye seeme a degree and a certaine beginning vnto saluation For by this meanes God oftentimes reuoketh synners vnto the right waye and saueth them And thus much as concerning condicions But as touching time we must not alwaies looke that God should straightway performe his promises If he deferre it wee ought thus to comfort our selues he hath not yet accomplished but he will doo it in due tyme. He will in the meane time after this maner exercise our faith God seemeth many times to do nothing lesse then that which he hath promised and threatned He promised vnto Dauid a kingdome but by what tribulations did he exercise him before that he accomplished his promises For first he was poore and a Shepehearde afterward being taken into the court he began to be hated of Saul and so endaungered that there wanted very litle but that he was almost fallen into his power When our Lord and sauiour Iesus Christ should be borne of Mary the Angell promised that he should haue the throne of Dauid his father and yet till he was thirty yeares of age he lyued in a maner vnknowen And then was he odious vnto the high Priestes Phariseis and Scribes and was in that sort long tyme yll handled and at the length by them crucified Wherfore Esay very wel admonisheth that he which beleueth shoulde not make haste For God will in due time performe those thinges which hee hath promised but it is our part in the meane time not to prescribe any thing vnto him Paul in the .x. to the Hebrues writeth ye haue neede of pacience that doing the wyll of God ye maye obtaine the promise For yet a litle while and he that shall come wyll come and wyll not tarye and the iust liueth by faith But if any withdrawe himselfe my soule shal haue no pleasure in him The same thing also must we determine of threatenynges God sayde he woulde ouerthrowe the Babilonians but they floorished and triumphed yea and they led awaye the people of God captiue Wherefore God would not then accomplish his threateninges which yet afterward when he saw his time he performed Let vs apply these thinges vnto our place What sayde God I wil not helpe you that is at thys present but afterwarde when I see oportunitye I wil helpe you Yea and God oftentimes answereth vnto vs also inwardly in our hart I wil not helpe you for ye are laden with sinnes What shal we then doo shall we cease of from prayers Not so Let vs rather imitate the Hebrues they the more sharpely God answered them the more they increased their repentaunce Iohn saith If our hart accuse vs God is greater then our hart What we must aunswer to the accusation of our hart Our hart doth then accuse vs when we say vnto our selues God wil not heare bicause of our synnes God doth the more accuse vs bicause he seeth more in vs then wee our selues can see Wherefore Dauid said Clense me Lord from my secrete synnes What remedy is there then For who is he whom his hart accuseth not Let vs turne our selues vnto Christ and if that our hart shall say he will not helpe let vs say vnto it This I may wel beleue if I should looke vpon my selfe onely but I looke vpon
the sōne of God who hath geuen himself for me Hereof springeth that confidence which Paul had when he said Who shall lay accusation against the elect of god It is god which iustifieth c. Wherefore if god accuseth vs not neither will our hart accuse vs when we beholde Christe For we haue now confidence towardes god and we shall obtaine And whilest wee are conuerted vnto Christ not onely accusation and sinne is abolished but repentance also is augmented as we now see is done in the Hebrues 15 And the children of Israel aunswered vnto the Lorde we haue synned doo vnto vs whatsoeuer is good in thyne eyes onelye wee pray thee delyuer vs thys day 16 Then they put awaye their straunge Gods from among them and serued the Lorde and hys soule was grieued for the miserye of Israel 17 Then the chyldren of Ammon gathered together and pytched in Gilead and the children of Israel assembled them selues and pitched in Mizpa 18 And the people and Princes of Gilead sayde euerye one to hys neyghbour whosoeuer wil begyn the battayle against the chyldren of Ammon shal be Captaine ouer al the inhabitantes of Gilead The repentaunce of the Hebrues profited god aunswered very sharpelye The propertye of true repentaunce I wyl not heare you But they crye againe Doo what seemeth good in thine eyes that is what soeuer pleaseth thee This vndoubtedly is to repent when we are not onelye repentaunt for the synnes which wee haue committed but also wee willingly suffer what soeuer pleaseth god A notable example is set foorth vnto vs in that they put away their straunge gods and woorshipped the true god It is not sufficient to take awaye euyll thynges excepte in the place of euyll thinges we substitute thinges that are good Many haue taken awaye Masses idolatries and superstitions and yet haue not woorshipped god trulye bicause he is not woorshipped by woordes but by true fayth good woorkes But ther are very fewe which embrace these thinges And hys soule was grieued Contraction ampliation of the mynde Thys Hebrew woorde Tiktsad signifieth to drawe together When we reioyce and are merye the spirites in vs are made more ample but when wee are sorye the spirites are contracted vnto the hart So it is said that God contracted hys soule Affections are improperlye attributed vnto God and was after a sorte sory for the miseries of his people This kinde of speeche is not proper of God but improper For God is not sory neither is he touched with affections Wherefore it is a speeche after the condition of men For often times those thinges are ascribed vnto god whych are noted to be in men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And often tymes thinges which happen vnto men are ascribed vnto God For men are fyrst grieued for the miserye of an other before they haue compassion of them Therfore bicause God doth that which men do that ar grieued that is bicause he helpeth it is said he his grieued which thinges happeneth in men that helpe those that are in misery Such a kinde of speche is ther in the booke of Numbers the .21 R. Moses Maimon chap. The soule of the people was faint bicause of the iourney for that wildernes grieued the people But R. Moses Maimon sayth that this woorde Catsad signifieth not onely a minde but also a wil which being before ready to reuenge did now after a sort withdraw it self Howbeit the first interpretacion seemeth to hang wel together The Ammonites on euery side grieuously oppressed al Israel but bicause Gilead was a notable City and wel fensed they determined therfore first of al to conquer it But the children of Israel pitched in Mispa so far from thence that they could not easelye succour those that were besieged Wherfore the Gileadites in so great a daunger thought they had nede of a captaine for the administration of thinges for the state consisting onely of the people there could be nothing well done vnles some one man were made ruler ouer them Euen after the same maner as the Romanes were wont in great daūgers to create a Dictator Wherfore the Giliadites saw that they needed a Captaine but who that should be they could not easely prouide VVho so euer say they wyl begyn the battayle agaynst the Chyldren of Israel let hym be our heade Peraduenture they had desired a captaine of the Lord and receaued an answer that by this token they should know who should be receaued as their captaine namely he which first shoulde begyn the battaile against the enemies Such signes God somtimes vsed without any voice or outward oracle as whan he promised the seruant of Abraham that she should be Isaacs wife which should geue drinke vnto the Camels It maye also be that the Citizens decreed so among themselues that the chiefe man of the city being stirred vp with the desire of the rewarde might the more couragiouslye and cherefully fight against their enemies In this maner Chaleb when hee besieged Hebron encouraged the mindes of his soldiours Whosoeuer said he cōquereth Hebron I wil geue him Achsa my daughter to wife With which promise Othoniel being moued cōquered the City was made the sonne in law of Chaleb So in these hard times when things wer in great daunger it was necessary to vse such coūsel But what if he which first would haue begon the battaile against the aduersaries had bene a naughty and wicked man What I say shoulde then haue bene done What also if he had bene vnmeete to gouerne the publike wealth although he had had warlike strength This obiection maketh me rather to allow the first sentence that is that the signe was offered of God and therfore they were sure that he would not geue them an euill captaine Although as touching the question we may thus answer All ciuil promises are so farforth to be kept as they may be performed by honest wayes right meanes that is so much as conscience and the woord of God wil suffer ¶ The .xi. Chapter 1 ANd Iiphtah the Galaadite was a mightye man the sonne of an harlot and Gilead begat Iiphtah 2 And Gileads wyfe bare hym sonnes whiche when they wer come to age thrust out Iiphtah and said vnto hym thou shalt not inherite in our fathers house For thou art the sonne of a straunge woman HEre is set foorth vnto vs Iiphtah a man abiect and obscure not as touching his Tribe for he was of the Tribe of Manasses but as touching his mother for he was the sonne of an harlot Wherefore his brethren thrust him out as a bastard The name of his father was Gilead who seemeth to haue bene so called by the name of the mounte and citye And that man had not onely this bastard to sonne but also he had other which wer legitimate children Wherfore though Iiphtah had a noble man to his father yet that nothing profited him bycause he was a bastard and not borne in lawful
this .300 yeares and Balac though he were a mighty Prince and other also neuer required it againe wherfore then doest thou demaund it againe especiallye seing we haue had it so long time That which we translate Art thou better in Hebrue it is Tob tob For bicause they want the comparatiue degree they vse in steede of it a repeticion of the positiue degree Why Balac fought agaynst the Israelites Balac of whom he speaketh was he which hired Bileam to cursse the Iewes And when he fought against the Israelites he did not therefore fight bicause he would wrest from them that land this was onely his entent that they shoulde not enter into his borders Hesbon Hesbon was the kingly Citye of Sihon There dwelled Israell and in all her townes .300 yeares and now at the last demaundest thou it agayne If a man wyl count the number of the yeares euen to this time he shall not fullye finde .300 yeares but onely .270 But so vse they to doo which prescribe any thing by time to adde somwhat aboue the iust number Although the scripture also is wont in supputacions many times to follow the greater number And .270 yeares come nere vnto .300 yeares then to .200 yeares And for that cause it seemeth that the number should be put whole Wherfore Iiphtah concludeth after this maner I haue not offended thee Bicause thou art the occasion of the warre and haue shewed thee my reasons now resteth to put the matter in Gods hand he wyll iudge best Thys was the message of Iiphtah We must fyrst entreate by messengers before we go to weapons Titus Liuius This Oration as farre as it appeareth pertaineth vnto the iudicial kynde and entreateth of possession and the reasons are layde foorth But nowe let vs marke that Iiphtah before he moueth battail sendeth messengers before That is a custome verye laudable For Titus Liuius writeth in his first booke that it was the maner of Rome that before warre was proclaymed againste their enemies messengers were sent to complaine of the iniuries and to require againe the thinges taken away And if by their message they nothing profited they returned vnto the Senate who vnderstanding the matter proclaimed war by the publike assent For wise men iudged it not best rashlye and sodainlye to fall to warres So Iiphtah though he were a warlike and valiant man yet woulde he gouerne the matter wisely and moderatlye For he was not so light brained as many now adayes are who firste prepare them selues to battaile and make a bragging before any man know that there is any warre proclaimed God thus ordained in the .27 chap. of Deut. when thou shalt come to any Citye thou shalt firste offer peace So Iiphtah assayeth firste to compose the matter by woords before he goeth to hand strokes The king of Ammon alledgeth a cause in dede but it is but a fained cause for first it was not the laÌ„d of Ammon but of Moab and the Amorhites draue them out as the second chap. of Deut. testifieth For Israel had none of their landes For God had before said that he woulde geue nothing vnto the Israelites of that which pertained either to the Edomites or to the Ammonites or to the Moabites and when they offred no wrong vnto anye man Sihon the king of the Amorhites pursued them with an host and assayed to destroy them but God gaue the victory wherin both Sihon was slain and his kingdome came to the Israelites Wherfore it can not seme that they did wrong vnto the Ammonites for that land at that time longed to the Amorhites which they before had taken away from the Moabites Whither the Israelites sent messengers vnto the Moabites or no. But in this place ariseth a doubt for it is written that the Israelites sent messengers vnto the Moabites and that is not found in the .21 chap. of Numb The Hebrue interpreters say that that may be gathered out of the .2 chap. of Deutr. where it is after this sorte written I sent messengers vnto Sihon the king of the Amorhites with woordes of peace saying Let vs passe throughe thy lande and we wil go by the high way we wil not decline neither to the right hande nor to the leaft Sel vs meate for money for to eate geue vs water for money to drink Onely geue vs leaue to passe through as did the children of Esau which dwell in Seir and the Moabites which dwel in Arre Ther are three principal pointes in this message What wer the chief points of I phtahs meâ—sage for first Iiphtah answereth that he possesseth this land by the right of war secondly by gift lastlye by prescription I thinke it good to examine these thinges singularly and aparte ¶ Of things whych are taken by the ryght of warres AS touching the first we learne that it may be that some thing may be claymed by the right of warre which maye be confirmed both by mans lawes and by the lawes of God But I wyl begyn with mans lawes In the Digestes de captiuis et postliminio reuersis in the law Postliminium Postliminium a law by 〈…〉 we receaue agayn 〈◊〉 â—hichâ— we lostâ— in warres The thinges that we haue lost in war or in affaires of war if we afterward recouer the same again we shal possesse them by the law Postliminium For so long as they are not recouered they are possessed of our enemies And thys ryghte is towarde those whyche are declared to bee enemyes But suche were declared to bee enemies against whom the people of Rome publikelye proclaimed warre or they which publikely prohibited warre against the people of Rome as it is had in the same title in the law Hostes For Pirates or theues cannot by this meanes attaine to be owners or possesse any thing by the law of warre For warre ought to be made to the ende to attaine something by the right of warre And in the Digestes de acquirendo rerum dominio in the lawe Naturale paragrapho the last Such thinges as are taken from enemies by the common law of all men agreing vnto naturall reason are straightwaye made theirs which take them And thus the lawes of man as touching this thing are very manifest So is it also by the lawes of God Abraham as it manifestlye appeareth in the booke of Genesis the .14 chap. made warre against the .v. kinges whiche had led away Lot prisoner The battaile being finished theyr praye came into the handes and power of Abraham which maye easelye bee proued bicause of that pray he gaue tithes vnto Melchisedech But it had not bene lawfull for him to haue geuen tithes of an other mans goods therfore they wer his own of which he gaue Wherfore we must beleue that that pray was truelye in his possession For in that he gaue it to the king of Sodom it was of his mere liberality for he was not therunto compelled by the law I coulde make mencion what
the enemyes of the olde Testament snatche occasion to speake euill of GOD the creator of the world For they called hym both an euyll GOD and a cruell Suche were the Maniches Valentinians Marcionites and suche lyke pestilences When he delighteth saye they in the bloude of manne howe can he not but bee cruell Augustine aunswereth God reioyseth not in bloud So farre is it of that GOD reioyseth in the bloude of man that he reioyseth not euen in the bloude of beastes onely he suffred for a tyme that sacrifices of beastes shoulde be offred by lytle and lytle to instructe men But what the Sacrifices of the Elders signified whiche serued to theyr erudition in that place What the sacrifices of the Elders signified he declareth not but I will in fewe woordes shewe it First was set foorth in those Sacrifices that the rewarde of sinne is death And that dyd he after a sorte testifie whiche brought the Sacrifice namely that he had deserued to be kylled but by the goodnes of GOD hys death was transferred to the Sacrifice By thys meanes were the Elders instructed that they should eschewe synnes Farther those Sacrifices directed the myndes of menne vnto Christe and they were certayne visible sermons of hym and taught that Christ shoulde bee that Sacrifice whiche shoulde take awaye the sinnes of the worlde and vpon whom our death and damnation should be transferred God mought haue required humane sacrifices Wherefore GOD of hymselfe delyghted not in bloude but by thys schoolyng he instructed his people Yea if he had delyghted in Sacrifices he mought haue required them of the number of menne For what should haue letted hym or what iniury shoulde he haue doone vs if he woulde haue had Sacrifices of menne offred vnto hym For manne must needes sometymes dye Wherefore to preuent the tyme one yeare or two it woulde not haue bene so grieuous neither shoulde he haue doone vs any iniurye chiefly when we shoulde vnderstande that with hym we shoulde lyue for euer Vndoubtedly in thys thyng no manne coulde haue accused GOD as cruell But nowe seyng he hath remoued all those holy seruices he manifestly teacheth that he reioyseth not neither in the bloude of menne God woulde haue the firste borne of menne redemed and not sacrificed nor in the bloude of beastes Yea the firste borne of menne when they were bounde vnto hym he woulde not haue them Sacrificed but redemed with a price whiche he woulde not haue doone if he had taken any pleasure in bloude In Deuteromy the .12 chapter he sayeth The Nation whiche I wyl expell before thee doo Sacrifice theyr sonnes and daughters but see that thou do not so Certayne kyllynges of men are acceptable vnto God But Augustine demaundeth farther whether there be any slaughter of men whiche is acceptable vnto GOD Hee aunswereth that there is But what slaughter When menne sayeth he are kylled for ryghteousnes sake not that the death of Martyrs of it self pleaseth GOD but bicause faith towardes God piety is by that Martyrdomes are lyke sacrifices both declared and also kept And the death of Christ so pleased God that it redemed the whole worlde and the death of Christians whiche they suffer in Christes name may be called after a sorte a Sacrifice Wherefore Paul in the .2 to Timo. the last chapter writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I sacrifice c. in whiche saying he calleth his death an immolation And to the Phil. the .2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The martirdomes of men make not satisfaction for sins but if I offre in an oblation and seruice of our fayth And yet do not such sacrifices make satisfaction for sinnes for that doth the death of Christe onely But the death of Martirs are acceptable because the cause is thankefull Augustine was baptised of Ambrose and being wōderfully affectioned toward him he followeth his opinion as his Scholemayster asmuch as he may but somwhat more warely He cōpareth Iiphtah with Abraham but he putteth a difference whyche Ambrose noted not Abraham saythe he had the woorde of god to sacrifice his sonne so had not Iiphtah yea rather he had the law against him that he shoulde not sacrifice And in Abraham not the death pleased god but the faith Farther there is great difference for a man to do any thinge of himself and to haue a will to doo those thinges that are commaunded him And Augustine doth subtilly admonish Iiphtah vowed an human◠sacrifice as Augustine thinketh that Iiphtah vowed an humane sacrifice not deceaued but willinglye Whatsoeuer sayth he shall come out of my house I will offer it for a burnte offringe c. Doo we thinke that beastes woulde come forth to meete him returninge home Men vse to go and mete such as haue the victory and to reioyse Wherfore he vowed an humane sacrifice The scripture only maketh mencyon of this acte but praiseth it not as also it is there written that Iudas had to do with his daughter in law but it is not allowed So there can nothing be gathered by these wordes The rashenes of the father is punished in the death of the children why the acte of Iiphtah should be praysed Farther Augustine thinketh with Ierome that god woulde punish the rashenes of the vow in the father by the death of hys daughter But there are two places sayth he why I cannot reprehend Iiphtah Because in the Epistle to the Hebrewes he is numbred among the saints in this place it is written that the spirite of the Lord was vpon him But those holy men which are rekoned vnto the Hebrewes did they neuer sinne Vndoubtedly their sinnes also ar set forth in the holy scriptures Gideon who is in the number a little before his deth made an Ephod which was the destructiō both of himself of his house But as touchinge the other place The sprite of the Lorde came vpon hym But this nothing letteth but that afterward he might fall But Iiphtah thou wilte saye had the victory but Gidion after that acte nothing went well with him Yea rather sayth he Gideon did before after a sort tempt God yet he had the victory So much of Augustine But I would say otherwise For I agree not with Augustine to thinke that Gidion tēpted God Therfore I would aunswere after this maner Dauid cōmitted aduoutry straightway afterward obteined the victory toke the city Rabath-Ammon in whose siege he prepared that Vrias should be slayne Saule persecuted Dauid in the meane time there were brought him messengers from the Philistians He leauing Dauid went to war and obteined the victory Moses sinned at the waters of strife the people also hadde sinned many waies and yet they obteyned the victorye agaynste Sihon and Og moste myghtye Kynges Wherefore wee will graunte that Iiphtah was numbred amonge the Sayntes and yet he mighte sinne and althoughe he synned he obteyned the victorye And we wil graunt that
it was peculiar and aboue the common institution of others by the deede I say and not by the ryght or vowe of the parentes Samson ought to haue obeyed althoughe he had not vowed Whether it was lawful for Hanna â—o vow for her sonne bicause it was done by the word of god Howbeit of Hanna the mother of Samuel it may be doubted how it was lawfull for her to vow for her sonne For it may scarse seme iust that the sonne should be bound by the vowe of the parent It was demaunded in the tyme of Benedict whether the children offred by the parentes vnto monasteries when they came vnto mans state might mary Gregorius Gregorius Magnus to Augustine a Byshop of England aunswereth that it is vtterly vnlawful Whiche is a verye hard saying and agaynst the word of god For Paul sayth it is better to mary then to burne And he whiche can not conteyne let him mary ConciliuÌ„ Carthaginense In the counsell of Carthage the .3 wherat Augustine also was present it was decreed that childreÌ„ offred vnto the Church when they came to mans estate should either mary or els vow chastity This also was rough ynough For who shuld require this at that age being vnskilfull of thinges not certayne of his own streÌ„gth But these things I speake that we might knowe that decrees are contrary to decrees But to returne to the matter I saye that Hanna mought vowe for her sonne for as touching the performyng of the vow as longe as he was brought vp by his pareÌ„tes she might easely prouide that he should not drinke any wyne nor cut of hys heare nor be at any funerals But after he came to lawfull age it was Samuels duty to obserue these things not in dede in respect of the vow but bycause of the obedience whiche he ought vnto his parentes For children ought to obey theyr parentes in all those thinges which are not agaynst piety the word of God So the Rechabites as it is in Ieremy wheÌ„ they obeyed their father Ionadab The Rechabites who coÌ„maunded them to drinke no wine all their lyfe tyme or to dwel in Cityes were for the same cause praysed of God Howbeit Hanna vnles she had had a peculiar inspiration from God she could not haue vowed that Samuel should all his lyfe tyme haue ministred at the tabernacle of the Lord for as much as the law of god absolued meÌ„ froÌ„ the ministery at a certaine space of yeares namely in the .50 yere Magister sententiarum But that which I haue sayd that it was lawful for Hanna to vowe the vow of a Nazarite for her sonne it semeth not to be firme with the definition of a vow whiche is thus brought of the Master of the Sentences A vowe is a testificatioÌ„ of a willing promise made vnto God The definition of a vowe of things which pertayne vnto God But a vowe which is vowed by the parent for the sonne can not seme willing Yea but it is bycause the parentes vowed not being compelled but of their owne fre will farther it is mete for the children to obey the will of their parentes freely of their owne accorde especially when they commaunde no vngodly thyng or contrary to the worde of God By this place some gather that Samson was sanctified in the wombe of hys mother whiche selfe same thyng is beleued both of Ieremy and also of Iohn Baptiste How some are sayd to be sanctified froÌ„ the wombe And they will haue him so to be sanctified that afterwarde he committed no mortal sinne as they call it But this is false and vayne Neither to sanctifye in this place is anye thyng els then to appointe one to the execution of some certayn worke Samson therefore was sanctified that is appoynted of God to deliuer his people So was Ieremy ordeyned to Prophesie And Iohn to be the voyce of a crier in the wildernes Neither of this kinde of sanctification doth it follow that these holy men neuer sinned For euery maÌ„ is a lyer also there is no maÌ„ sayth Salomon whiche sinneth not Farther what shal we say of Samson Did he neuer sinne He fel vndoubtedly and that greuously Paul also who sayth to the Galathians that he was himselfe separated from his mothers wombe and yet he persecuted the Churche of God Moreouer the children also of Christians are called holy for as muche as God is not our God onely but also the God of our seede according to that saying of Paul to the Corinthians Your children are holy who yet no man doubteth but that they afterward fal and grieuously sinne If the vow be against charity it is to be broken One thinge remayneth to be spoken of and afterwarde I will returne vnto the history When the father voweth and the sonne desireth to performe the vowe of the father what if the vow be a gaynste the health of the sonne He shall peraduenture fal into some disease and he must nedes drinke wine or cut away his heare what is to be done in this case I haue in an other place admonished that the preceptes of god ar of diuers sortes so that some ar greater and some easier As touching god whiche is the commaunder all are equall and like one to an other But as touching the thinges which are coÌ„maunded there is some difference Wherfore the lesse precept must geue place vnto the greater For whiche cause Christ sayth by the wordes of the Prophet I will haue mercy and not Sacrifice not as thoughe God vtterly contemned Sacrifices which he had commaunded but bycause he more estemed mercy And Christ also admonisheth in the Gospell in the .5 chapter of Math. that if thou offer thy gift at the alter and there remeÌ„berest that thy brother hath somewhat agaynst thee thou must go first and reconcile thy selfe vnto thy brother and then returne and offer thy gifte Whereby he declareth that he altogether wil haue the les precepte geue place vnto the greater Wherfore we must thus aunswere vnto the question God commauÌ„deth the Nazarites to absteyne from wine he also commaundeth euery man to defend his life by good meanes Here when as the sicke man can not preserue both the preceptes it is necessary that he preferre the greater before the les For so dyd the Rechabites the sonnes of Ionadab behaue themselues For althoughe theyr father coÌ„maunded them that they should not dwel in Cities neither drinke any wine and were also commended of God bycause they obeyed the preceptes of theyr father yet at that tyme when Ieremy wrote these thinges of them they dwelled at Ierusalem contrary to the precept of their father For the Chaldeyans had wasted all the fieldes Wherefore they perceaued that there was then no place for their fathers precept But in monasteryes they doo contraryly For if the father be sicke the sonne is so bound by religion that he can by no meanes helpe him 6 And the
fayth do in vayne poure out theyr prayers What manner of one the publicane was when he prayed But if a man will obiecte the Publicane who being a sinner prayed vnto god and departed iustified I aunswere that that publicane was in suche sorte a sinner that yet when he prayed he was not without fayth yea rather he prayed with fayth otherwise god would not haue heard his prayers And vndoubtedly Iames doth right wel admonishe vs when he sayth Pray hauing faith In sum that sentence is firme and perfecte wherin it is sayde whatsoeuer is offred vnto God for a sacrifice the same is acceptable vnto him if faythe and iustification of him that offreth go before A verye subtile cauilacion Some do cauile of the fyrst acte of fayth whereby we begynne fyrst to assente vnto god and they doubt whither it be acceptable vnto god or no. Vndoubtedly before it he is an enemy which now beginneth to beleue Then say they if that fyrst consente be acceptable vnto God then accepteth he the gifte of an enemye But if it be not acceptable then it iustifieth not To this I aunswer two wayes Fyrst that men are not iustified of the worthinesse of the acte of fayth but of the firme promise of god which faith embraceth Farther when any man first assenteth and beleueth then is he first made of an enemy a friende and although before he was an enemy yet so sone as he beleueth he is made a friend and ceaseth to be an enemy Plato But that which we haue before concluded that he which offreth is more acceptable vnto God then the gift the Ethnikes also sawe For Plato in Alcibiade maketh mencion that the Athenienses vpon a time made war againste the Lacedemonians and when they were ouercome they sente messengers vnto Iupiter Ammon by whom they sayd that they marueiled for what cause where as they hadde offred so greate giftes vnto the Godes and theyr enemies on the contrary side sacrificed sparingly and sclenderly and yet had they the victorye ouer them Ammon aunswered that the gods more estemed the prayers of the Lacedemonians then the moste fatte sacrifices of the Athenienses For when they burnt Oxen vnto theyr Gods in the meane time they thought nothinge of theyr soules So in Homere Iupiter speaketh that the Gods are not moued with the smoke and smel of sacrifices when as they hated Priamus and the Troyanes Wherfore the Ethnikes vnderstoode that which the Papists at this day see not which thynke that theyr blinde sacrificer though he be neuer so vnpure and vngodly doth yet with his hands offer vp Christ vnto god the father Now let vs see the other argument of this woman God would neuer haue shewed vs these thinges if he woulde haue killed vs Forasmuche as hee is not wont to make hys enemies of his coūcel Thus the wife of Manoah comforteth her fearefull husband But this argument seemeth somewhat obscure when as Balaam althoughe he were vngodlye was not ignorante of the Councelles of GOD. Chryste also sayth Manye shall saye vnto mee in that daye haue wee not Prophesyed in thy name To these thynges I aunsweare that GOD didde not onelye foretell vnto them thynges that should come to passe for the deliuerye of the people but also of the childe whiche they should receaue and of his education Wherefore seying he vsed them as fellowe workemen it was a certayne argument that god had not appointed strayghteway to kyll them Neyther speaketh she here of eternall life but of this earthlye and corruptible life And the childe grew and his name was called Samson Hereby we know that Zorah was the name of the place where Samsons fathers was borne Samson This Hebrew word Shemesch signifieth the sunne being therefore so called as though he wer of the sunne but for what cause he was so called it is not known I meruaile that Iosephus interpreteth Sampson for stronge or mightye Iosephus vndoubtedly such an Etimology agreeth not with the Hebrew word But he oftentims goeth from the historye And in this place also he sayth that the woman prayed when as that is not founde in the text God blessed Samson That is bestowed and heaped benefites vpon hym The sprite of God That is the sprite of strength and mighte began to strengthen him In the host of Dan. The history speketh thus by reason of those times The tribe of Dan had not yet obteined possession in the land of promes but they wer in tents and fought against theyr enemyes R.D. Kimhi R.D. Kimhi sayth that they did thē besiege the city of Lais. Wherefore he being a younge man was together with thē in the hoste The Hebrew worde is Paam and it signifieth to be moued to be striken at certayne tymes not perpetually but by courses He being a yonge man was moued and waxed hote to fyght the more vehemently against his enemies And his impulsions bycause they were of God therefore are they ascribed vnto the spyrite But bicause wee are alreadye come vnto the ende of thys chapter before we enter into the next there are certayne thinges whych are to be marked Fyrst hereby we gather a most sure argumēt with how singuler a care god gouerneth his church For although the Iewes had greuously sinned yet had god a regard to theyr health sendeth thē a captain which should deliuer them foretelleth what things should come to pas least they should seme to haue happened by chaunce Farther he woulde haue the childe to be a Nazarite Outward thynges are not to be neglected and to haue his heare to grow and to abstaine from wine and stronge drinke Wherefore we are taught that these outward thinges are not vtterly vaine but may be applied vnto the glory of god Men are wont sometimes to say when they are admonished of outward thinges What doth god regard these thinges In dede we know also that in those thinges is no holinesse to be put Howebeit we muste take heede that both in liuinge and in apparell and in going also in all gesture and in habite we behaue our selues comely both before God and also before the churche not superstitiously but holily that our modesty may aduaunce the kingdome of Christ and his holy Gospel Farthermore let vs here consider that the wife helpeth the husband with her councell For although by the ordinarye lawe it is not lawfull for women to preach and teache in an assembly yet are they not so destitute of the gratious gifts of God but that they may instruct theyr husbands with good counsels ¶ Of the visions of Aungels THe nexte thinge is that I somewhat intreate of the visions of Aungels For as we haue now heard an Aungel appeared vnto Manoah and oftentimes in other places as the scriptures declare aungels haue bene sene of men But it may be demaunded howe they appeared whither with any bodye or els onely in phantasye And if it were with a bodye whither it were with theyr
companyon Then the Philistians came vp and burnt her and her father wyth fyre 7 And Samson said vnto them If ye had done these thinges but I wyl be auenged of you and then I wyl cease This woord Lampades they haue translated firebrandes which are easelye set on fire Samson bounde the tayles of the Foxes two and twoo together wyth a strong knot and in the middest he bound a fyrebrande When the Foxes coulde not agree together in their course for the one drew this way and the other that way so that they could not hide themselues in their holes but the flame by stirring and moouing was more and more kindled they ran into the standing com And at that time was the wheate haruest and the wheate partlye reaped and partly grewe still Wherefore the Foxes running thorowe the corne dyd them very great hurt For they lost both their straw and their corne with their vineyardes and Oliues Why Samson did chuse foxes The coÌ„sideration of Samsons pollecy was this He chose a Foxe to this enterprise rather then any other beast bicause it is a craftye and subtil beast and goeth by crooked and bye passages But Samson goeth the right way to woorke otherwise he mought easelier haue bound Dogges together but he rather vsed Foxes for the cause before alledged as Dauid Kimhi affirmeth Neither would he to euery Foxe alone binde a firebrande partly bicause they would haue drawen the firebrands along the ground and so might easely haue put them out and partly bicause they would soone haue gotten them into theyr holes But wheÌ„ two and two wer by the tayles ioyned together the one drew one way the other an other way by that mocion was the fire the more kindled Origene and when they ranne into the corne they did very great hurt Origene vpon Cantica Canticorum in his .iiii. Homely as he is euery where ful of Allegories referreth al this thing also to an Allegory although he plainely confesseth that it is hard to apply an Allegorye vnto this History But I as I haue often in other places so do I also in this place omit Allegories But if a man aske how Samson got so manye Foxes he must vnderstande that as there are sundry regions so are there also in them manyfolde and sundry increase of thinges In some place there are manye horses and those fayre In some place there is great aboundaunce of Cattell In Englande there is great plentye of Conies and so is there in the Ilandes called Baleares In those Regions a man maye easelye in one daye and in a lytle grounde take three or foure hundreth Conies Siria aboundeth in Foxes which to some peraduenture myght seeme incredyble And so is it sayd that there is a very great aboundaunce of Foxes in Siria and specially in the borders of Iewry Wherefore Salamon in hys Canticles sayth Take Foxes for vs which destroye the vyneyardes Wherefore there was so great number of them that they also destroyed the vineyardes for they delight most of all in ripe grapes Yea and Dauid saith of the vngodlye They shall bee partes of Foxes that is their pray so that their karkases shall be deuoured of them And out of the .4 chap. of Nehemias is gathered that the number of them was so great that they could in a maner ouerturne the walles of the city And Samson tooke them either by his own industry or by the helpe of his friendes He sent the Foxes and destroied their corne Hereby we may gather that in iust war it is lawful to vse burninges and spoilinges to endomage their enemies The Philistians sayd who hath done this They seeke for the authour and they doo not onely fynde him but also they vnderstand the cause why he dyd it and they take vengeaunce of hys father in lawe and his wyfe that was maryed vnto an other If ye had done these thynges These are the woordes of a man that is angry and therefore cut of wherefore we must vnderstand if ye had done these thinges at the beginning when my wyfe was first taken from mee I had bene pacified But ye haue done it to late therefore I wyll yet be auenged of you For that which ye haue done ye haue not done for loue to iustice and honesty but for feare of a greater hurt If iustice had moued them they woulde at the fyrste haue punished them But they followe the common nature of men which are with no other thing more touched then by the feelyng of present euyls which we may perceaue not onely here Men are morâ— moued by â—â—râ— then bâ— anye other meanes but also in the historye whyche is found in the latter booke of Samuel Absolon had long lyued in exile Ioab obtained of the kyng that he might returne Wherefore he returned but hee was not admitted vnto the kynges syght And when Ioab woulde not wyllinglye come vnto him Absolon commaunded hys seruauntes to burne the corne of Ioab Wherefore Ioab beyng mooued with this iniurye came vnto hym at the last So also the Philistians being in a manner compelled Whi somtimes the syn oâ— a priuate man is the cause of the destruction of a whole citye or kingdome doo reuenge the iniury of Samson This also is to be noted that often times a whole City or kingdome is punished for the synne of one man or of one famely And that sawe the Poetes when they wrote that onelye the aduoultrye of Paris ouerthrewe the kingdome of Troy And vndoubtedly when a publike wealth eyther wynketh at or defendeth or punisheth not the synne of a priuate man God counteth it all one as if they had all synned together If they haue good lawes and doo followe them in punishyng wycked actes God wyll not for their sakes punyshe them all Hereby also we may see that the sentence of Salomon is most true wherein he sayth That which the vngodly feareth shall happen vnto him The maâ—den feared least her fathers house should be burnt Why the vngodlye call 〈◊〉 those euylls or which they be a feard of and she by that waye moste of all brought burning by which shee thoughte to auoyde it But why happeneth iâ— that the vngodlye doo fall into that which they feare Bicause when they fearâ— euyll thinges they go about to auoyde them by euyll meanes and not by good Iosephs brethren feared least he should be preferred before them when they saw that his father loued him so well And that they might auoyde his promocion they sold him into Egipt But by that meanes chiefly it came to passe that Ioseph was made ruler ouer them The Iewes feared least if Christ should go forward as he began the Romanes woulde come and take awaye their nacion and place And to turne awaye that they gaue vnto Iudas a price and crucified Christ whereby they the sooner threwe them selues headlong into those euyls which they feared The mayden was burned with al her fathers famely By
They count them therefore in a manner for bondewomen and of them they make gaine wherefore they are in a manner baudes As much might be sayd concerning vsury They suffer in their dominions Iewes which ar vsurers and they take gayne of their vsury euery yeare a certaine part at the leaste the tweÌ„ty part Wherfore the Pope is not onely a baud but also an vsurer And that which I affirme of the Pope let prophane princes also take heede leaste the same may be saide of them also which excercise this kind of gaine of the Iewes To them vndoubtedlye agreeth that sayinge of Dauid If thou sawest a theefe thou ranst with him and thou didst put thy portion with adulterers But they say that these ar tributes What tribute is But in the Code in the title de vectigalibus coÌ„mensis in the law ex prestatione and in the lawe allegatis Tribute is defined to be that which is payd for those things which are brought into the publike wealth from outward nacions For they ar called in latteÌ„ vectigalia that is tributes of this worde Vehere which signifieth to cary And the eight parte of euery thinge was paide in the name of a tribute Octauarii wherefore publicanes were called Octauarii of octaua parte that is the .viii. part which they gathered But what do harlots I praye you bring into the publike wealth Vncleanes and filthy lustes of which thinges the courtiers sacrificers of the Pope do not gather the eight parte but the whole These thinges are called tributes and customes which are taken of fieldes and landes but what fields haue harlottes What lands None Wherfore let theÌ„ cease to excuse a most filthy thing with an honest title I know they wil say if harlots were suffred free and at liberty they would more licenciously sinne O godly kind of correction Can harlots be by no other meanes restrained but so They shoulde rather decre that they shoulde not be in the citye that they should haue filthy and darke houses that they should cast away al the ornameÌ„ts of theyr body that they should not come abroade openly and shoulde be dishonested by some markes of filthines that thereby they might be a mocking stock vnto all men By this meanes peraduenture they might be reuoked into the righte way But now good God how are they restrained The sumptuousâ—es of harlots of Rome They haue moste gorgeous houses they openly ride in Chariots apparaled like princes they ride vpoÌ„ their fine ambling horses they haue with them as fellowes men decked with chaines and disguised yea and sometimes Cardinals especially in the night and a most sumptuous flock of waiting maidens Wil they deny that these things ar true Let graue and sincere men then which haue at any time bene at Rome shew whither the thinge be so or no. If they will not beleue me I can bringe for witnesses Cardinals and Prelates of Rome Paulus .iii. once declared that he entended some reformation of the Church he committed the matter to Cardinals and Bishops which were counted more pure theÌ„ other And what they iudged it is extant in the .3 Volume of counsels And they complain that the power of harlots was greater at Rome then it was any where els But hath Paulus .iii. ameÌ„ded this In the Sinod also of Trident the clergy of Rome promised some great reformacion But they did it not neither went they about any thing at al. Why do they not rather imitate and folow the lawes of Iustinian He in is Authentikes in the title de lenonibus wil haue harlots to be vtterly thrust out of the city and that if they promised any thing vnto bauds they should not be bound to pay and accomplish the same Yea rather if they haue sworn to be harlots for a time he absolueth them of theyr oth These things these men dissemble and suffer and maintaine harlots Which thing yet ought not to be meruailed at For forasmuch as they do so diligeÌ„tly cetain and encrease spirituall fornication of myndes that is superstition and idolatrye why also shoulde they not mayntaine fornication of the bodye But seinge they toke away wiues from theyr sacrificers it was a harde thinge yea and impossible to want brothel houses Iustinianus sorowed bicause he saw brothell houses nighe vnto the Churches of God but now they dwell in the middest of cities not from the houses where holye seruices are ministred and it nothinge greueth the Pope But let the Lordes of those houses whiche the harlots dwell in pleade theyr cause But such houses pertaine for the most part vnto Bishops and churches they will say we do not take part of the gain of a harlot but as it is mete we receaue rentes for our houses which is not prohibited by the ciuill lawes For in the Digestes de petitione haereditatis in the law Ancillaram it is sayd that brothell houses are occupied in the city rents of honest men And in the same title in the law possessor it is ordeined that if a maÌ„ haue vnhonest gaines he should be compelled to restore theÌ„ least an honest interpretacioÌ„ should bring profite vnto the possessor with an vnhonest gayne But bicause they will maintain it by lawes why haue they not a respect vnto the interpretacion of those lawes That is If this kinde of gaine bee once exacted of harlots that ought to be restored vnto the hire otherwise it is not law full to require them Neyther can contrariety of lawes be auoided by any other meanes For these lawes should not agre with those of Iustinians which ar had in the Authentikes de lenonibus scenicis mulieribus But let them marke I pray you the thinges which are had in the title de ritu nuptiarum in the law palam and in the title de iis qui notantur infamia in the law Athletas namely that that woman is infamous whiche hath prostituted herselfe and he also which is partaker of the gaine And that vniuersally al bawdes are infamous Let vs also which is of much more weight haue a regard to the wordes of god which coÌ„maundeth Be ye holy bicause I am holy What do we gather by these woords That that is not to be suffred among ChristiaÌ„s wherby men are made infamous wherefore take away baudes and harlots for asmuch as these kinde of persons ar by the testimonie of the ciuil lawes noted infamous But they wil say Men fall very oftentimes and sometimes coÌ„mit those thinges wherby they are made infamous I graunt that yet is not this to be borne withall wherby wil or nill they they ar made infamous But thoughe they had a thousand ciuil lawes on their side Ierome yet ought we more to esteme the worde of God Ierome speakinge of thys thynge wryteth verye well in hys Epitaphe of Fabiola Ciuill lawes sayth he are not so diligentlye to be cited Pampinianus writeth one thing and Paule an other Tertulliane And before Ierome
in the booke of Iosua do seme altogether to pertaine to this place Farther al the Hebrue Interpreters doo agree that it was the same city Let vs therefore rather say that when as in the booke of Iosua there is described the distribution of the land and that it cōmeth vnto this city that which was done long time after is there added by an interpretacion to expound after what sort the Danites shoulde in successe of tyme obtaine that city And that particle was added not of any meane man but either of Samuel or els of Ezra or of some other Prophet And this is not to corrupt or to confound the scriptures but to put in something that is not from the purpose whereby the whole matter may be the better vnderstand so that it be done by the holy ghost And I could bring foorth a great many examples whyche are found to be spoken in the scriptures by the figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or anticipacion But those thinges ought to be sufficient which are red in the beginning of this booke ¶ Of Security BVt bicause there is mencion made of security I wyl speake somwhat largely of it in this place how it is to be praysed or dispraysed Security semeth to be a contempt of Gods iustice whereby synnes are punished If we speake of that that can neuer be but vicious But there is founde an other also which vndoubtedly is to be allowed and is laudable Hope is a mean betwene security desperaciō But to make the thing more plaine let vs consider three thinges Security Hope and Desperacion Hope is euer the meane whiche ought alwaies to bee commended Security is excesse but Desperacion is want For as in puttyng away the mercy of God we are made desperate so in contemning his iustice we become secure Wherfore we maye conclude that Security is a certaine immoderate hope Wherof security springeth And it springeth hereof either bicause we attribute to muche to our owne strength and wisdome as though by our selues we thinke that wee are able to obtaine any thing or els though we thinke that it lieth in the mercy of God yet we suppose that he for our worthynes ought to accomplish it So do they which promise themselues remission of synnes or eternal felicity although they do no repentaunce but lyue vnpurely and wickedlye Or els it springeth hereof for that we doo not beleue that there is in God any execution of iustice And thys Security wherof we entreate The feare of God is contrarye to desperacion Bernhardus is not onely contrary vnto Desperacion but also vnto the feare of God For Desperacion springeth of to much feare of the iustice of God against synnes but Securitye thinketh of nothing at all of that iustice Wherfore Bernardus hath rightly sayd Euen as the feare of God is the begynning of wysdome so is security the ground of al impietye and the begynning of foolishnes For the feare of the Lord as the scriptures testifye of it pertayneth chefely vnto piety and religion Wherefore in the Actes the .x. chap. Cornelius is called a man religious and fearing God Wherfore iustly hath security impiety ioyned with it as it springeth of an euil beginning so also bringeth it forth euil noughty fruites as sluggishnes luskishnes slothfulnes Therfore they which trust vnto thēselues neither seke for helpe at gods hand nor yet for ayd of men These people of Lais lyued securelye What Negligence is althoughe they were ioyned in no league or fellowshyp with their next neighbours They were also infected wyth Negligence which is nothing els then a priuacion of that endeuour whych we ought to apply for the gouerning of thinges By it the wyll is weakened and the chearefulnes of the body is diminished This kinde of security hath alwaies a daunger ioyned wyth it For those thinges are not driuen away whych maye be hurtfull For how can that be done when as they are secure or careles thinking rightly neyther of theyr owne strengthes nor yet of the mercy of God yea they are vtterly vnknowen vnto them selues For if they knewe them selues they woulde not lyue so securely Augustine Augustine vpon the foure score and nynetene Psalme wryteth Where as is most security there is most daunger And he addeth that a Shyppe when it is brought into the Hauen thou thynckest it is in safety But by the same waye that the Shyppe entreth in the wynde also entreth in and oftentymes tosseth it and breaketh it vpon a rocke Where then can there be securitye Adam fell in Paradise Iudas in the fellowshyp of Christ Cain in the household of Noe manye in the Lawe and manye also in the Gospell Where then shall wee lyue securely Vndoubtedly no where Therefore Ecclesiasticus doth right wel admonish vs Sonne stand in the feare of the Lord and prepare thy soule to temptacion The Israelites sawe the Egiptians drowned in the red sea Was it then meete for them to lyue in security No surelye Yea within a whyle after they were tempted in the wyldernes Christ was baptised of Iohn was he therefore made secure No. For he was strayghtway tempted of the Deuyll Wherefore we ought then to be most of all carefull when we are receaued into the fauour of God for then the Dyuel doth most of all watche for our destruction and seeketh to make vs to fall And therefore there is no place for securitye But are we so made of God that we can in no place be secure What Securitye is good and laudable Not so vndoubtedly For there is an other good and laudable Securitye whyche as Augustine sayth consisteth in the promises of God and is taken holde of by fayth Thys engendreth not luskishnes or sluggishnes but chearefulnes and diligēce Of it Dauid hath very well soong in hys foure score and eleuen Psalme Hee which dwelleth in the helpe of the most highest shall abide in the protection of the God of heauen Where as it is wrytten in the lattine Adiutorio that is in the helpe the Hebrue woord signifieth a couer or secrete place whiche no man taketh hold of but he which hath faith in the promises of God By that buckler we are defended with that shadowe we are couered agaynst all hurt this is the Security of faith and of the spirite which cleaueth vnto the woord of God Securitye of the fleshe And therefore it cannot be but commended But the other Securitye is of the fleshe and therefore it is execrable and detestable Against it are set foorth most manyfest commaundementes of Christ namely that we should alwayes pray knock seeke and watch for the daye of the Lorde wyl come lyke a theefe If the good man of the house knewe what tyme the theefe woulde come he would vndoubtedlye watche neither would he suffer hys house to be inuaded We oughte alwayes to praye and watche bycause although the spirite be ready yet the fleshe is weake Paul admonisheth vs
very often For if she fal often into adultry she ought not to be receaued The Glose in the same place obiecteth vnto it self christ who whē he was demaūded how oftē we shuld forgeue our brother whē he offendeth against vs answered not onely seuē times but seuenty seuē times To this he sayth that the words of the Cannō are to be vnderstād that when the adulteresse so oftentimes falleth the church shall not entreate for her reconciliacion partelye bycause there shoulde be opened a wyndowe to wyckednes When the churche ought to entreate for those that fall and partly bycause she might thinke that penaunce is but fayned and dessembled There is also added an other aunswere that that is spoken for a terrour least men should more freely and carelesly commit sinne Hereby is gathered that the church oughte to entreate for the reconciliation of the repentant that they may be reconciled Wherfore an adultresse either sheweth signes of repentaunce or els sheweth not If she shew signes the church oughte to entreate for her that there may be a reconciliation made But if she shewe none the churche shall not entreate for her otherwise it should seme to maintain sinnes Now must we aunswere vnto the arguments which semed to be agaynst reconciliation Aunsweres vnto the reasons on the contrary part The counsell of Orleance The cause why the law of Moses prohibited the returne of a wyfe repudiated vnto her first husbande As touching the ciuill lawes they are to be corrected by the word of God Ierome and Chrisostome do speake of such an adultresse whiche repenteth not which selfe same thing is manifestly vnderstand by the counsel of Orleance For that it is there had He whiche retaineth an adultresse is partaker of the crime but if she repent let her be receaued But why the lawe of Moses suffred not that a wife repudiated should not after the death of her latter husbande returne vnto her first the cause may easely be assigned For if he had permitted that then diuorsements would easely haue bene had in hope somtimes to recouer agayne theyr wife God would that she that was repudiated shoulde returne no more to the ende that shee shoulde not easelye bee repudiated There mighte also bee conspiracies made agaynste the latter husbande whereby the wyfe myghte when hee were dyspatched awaye returne agayne vnto her firste husbande Wherefore the lawe of God was moste iuste whiche pertayned not vnto adultrous women which by the commaūdement of God ought to be stoned By these thinges now it is manifest that it is lawfull for the husband to return into fauor with his wife being an adulteresse so that she repent who yet ought to accuse his wife of adultry if it be a publike crime or if she perseuer in her wickednes or els if she bring forth any children by adultry least the lawful heires should be defrauded for vnlesse she be accused the husbande cannot depriue the son borne in adultry but that he shall inherite Farther let the church entreate and work with him that he would receaue againe the woman being repentāt Wherfore our Leuite ought not to be reproued bicause he receaued again into fauor his wife being an adultresse so that she repented her of her adultery But now will I return to the interpretation 11 When they were nere to Iebus the day was sore spent and the seruant said vnto his master come I pray thee and let vs turn into this city of the Iebusites and lodge al night there 12 And his maister aunswered him we wil not turne into the city of straungers that are not of the children of Israel but we will go forth to Gibaah 13 And he said vnto his seruant Come and let vs draw nere to one of these places that we may lodge in Gibaah or in Ramah 14 So they wente forwarde vpon their waye and the sunne wente downe vpon them nere to Gibaah which is in Beniamin 15 Then they turned thither to goe in and lodge in Gibaah and when he came he sate him down in a strete of the city for there was no man that tooke them into his house to lodging 16 And behold there came an old man from his worke out of the field at euen and the man was of mounte Ephraim but dwelte in Gibbaah and the men of the place wer the children of Iemini 17 And when he had lift vp his eyes he saw a wayfaringe man in the streetes of the city then this old man sayd whether goest thou and whence camest thou 18 And he aunswered him we came from Beth-lehem Iudah vnto the side of mounte Ephraim from thence am I and I wente to Beth-lehem Iudah and go now to the house of the Lorde and no man receaueth me into his house 19 Although we haue straw and prouender for our Asses and also breade and wyne for me and thine handmayd and for the boy that is wyth thy seruant we lacke nothing 20 And the old man said peace be with thee al thy penury be vpon me onely abide not in the strete al night Ierusalem was therfore called Iebus bicause the Iebusites in the old time inhabited it The seruant counselled his master to take iodgynge before the Sunne should set But he would not VVe will not turne in sayth he neither to this city nor to that neither to any other city of straungers which ar Gentiles But it may seme merueilous how Ierusalem is called straunge from the Israelites when as in the beginning of this booke there is mencion made that the Hebrewes toke it named it Ierusalem How it is sayd that Ierusalē was at this time a city of straungers They which sayd that this history is to be referred vnto the fyrst times of the Iudges namely that it was done before Othoniell beganne to iudge from the death I say of Iosua to the gouernment of Othoniell seeme to be ledde by this argument In that space of time they say these thinges happened These mens coniecture hath in dede som shew of truth But it is not very firm For wee muste knowe that the Iewes often times behaued themselues ill in fallinge from the worshippinge of the true God Wherefore he left them destitute of his ayde wherof they being beriued they were again ouercome of those whome before they had ouercome whereby it came to passe that the Iebusites recouered agayne theyr city and dwelled in it Wherfore those thinges which are written in the beginninge of this booke are not agaynst those which are nowe declared For the Iebusites hauing recouered theyr city inhabited it as they did before and it was called after the old name The wise counsell of the seruaunt The seruant did geue his maister wise counsell if a man should loke vpon that the euent For it is daungerous to trauayle by night especially for a man that is a straunger and vnarmed as this Leuite was which had with him onely his wife and his seruant Neyther is
this any new or vnaccustomed thinge that seruantes ar somtimes wiser thē their masters although it oftētimes happeneth that counsel hath authority of the geuer as we vnderstand happened here wher counsel although it were profitable Aristotle is despised peraduēture bycause it came frō a seruāt Aristotle in his Politikes saith they which excel in mind coūsel ought to beare rule and they which are strong of body must obey But that cōmeth not alwayes to passe yea rather it oftentymes happeneth that masters which are not of the wisest but yet strong in body haue seruaunts far wiser then themselues although they be not very strong in body Farther we must not deny The giftes of God are not bound vnto the estates or cōditions of men but the prudence and counsels whiche are the giftes of God are not bounde vnto the conditions or estates of Lordshyp and seruitude nor also to the temperatures of bodyes God geueth them to them whom he thinketh good that most freely somtymes to seruauntes and sometymes to Lordes sometymes to poore men and sometymes to riche men GOD ministred vnto a man beyng a seruaunt good counsell whiche yet the Leuite would not fellowe to his great hurt For if he had turned into the City of the Iebusites peraduenture he had not fallen into that calamity whiche followed These thinges are spoken concernyng the counsell of the seruaunt if we consider the vtility therof but yet a thing is not to be iudged by the euent The Leuite is excused Neither is the Leuite in this place rashely to be accused bycause it seemeth that he had a shewe of honesty piety For he thought that if it were possible he should not go vnto the vngodly Idolatrers such as wer the Iebusites and he had a great deale better opinion of the Hebrues then of straungers Yea and the seruaunt for that he so earnestly desired to turne into the Iebusites may be accused either of sluggishnes for that he being weary of the waye would take no paynes to go any further or els he may be accused of vnaduisednes bycause he considered not with himselfe that the Iebusites wer enemyes vnto the Hebrues or els of an vngodly mind for that he litle passed to turne vnto Idolatrers Wherfore it seemeth that the Leuite did rightly and wisely if we looke vpon the ordinary way and law of piety and not vpon the end But all thynges happened contraryly For in Gibaa as we shall heare his wife was by violence oppressed and so died and ciuile warre stirred vp wherin many thousandes of men died What we ought in counsell to counte doubtful and what certayn Wherfore we ought alwayes to suspect our counsels as touching the ende but yet not as touchyng iustice not that we should feare least god shuld cast vs away but least for our sinnes there might happē some miserable end Wherfore whē we haue determined to do any thing we must with most feruent prayers pray vnto God to turne to good the counsell whiche we haue taken and to direct our purpose For vnles he build the house What is to be doone after we haue taken coūsell they labour in vayne whiche build it And except he prosper our enterprises all thynges are in vayne taken in hand And yet in the meane tyme we must vse a very great diligence But now we rede not that the Leuite called vpon God when as yet he was in some daunger Iacob when he should iorney into Mesopotamia called vpon God with a great fayth The counsell or purpose of the Leuite was to turne into Cities which the Hebrues inhabited especially either vnto Gibaa or vnto Rama These Cityes were not farre from Ierusalem He entred into Gibaa where no man bad hym to hys house That City longed to the tribe of Beniamin It may seeme that he would rather haue gone to Rama but as it is written the sunne went downe vpon him nyghe vnto Gibaa wherfore he entred into a City of men vncurteous For whē the man being a straunger stoode in the streetes in the night tyme no man receaued him into his house But where as barbarous inhospitality reigneth there also are more grieuous wicked vices wont not to be wantyng Why no man bad the Leuite to his house But why no mā receaued him into his house the cause was for that in a great number of euil Citezins there were very few good men if there were any the same wer afrayed to receaue him into their house least for his sake some euill should happen vnto them For they knewe the wantōnes and the filthy lustes of those men And so whilest the straunger was despised the law of God was in that City had in contempt For it commaunded that gentlenes should be shewed vnto straungers yea and God called himselfe the tutor and reuenger of straungers neither could those Citezins seeme any longer to be the people of God seyng they had cast awaye hys lawe A praise of hospitality And euen as to contemne straungers is a most grieuous vice so is Hospitality a vertue most excellent Wherfore in the Epistle to the Hebrues it is writtē Forget not liberality and Hospitality Although not to dissemble in Greeke it be somewhat otherwise written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is the general worde of hospitality But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the general word of Hospitality Then it followeth For with such sacrifices God is wel pleased Out of which place the Papistes go about to defende merites as though he whiche sheweth himselfe liberall towardes the poore shall deserue something at Gods hand But in the Greke is rede 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whiche signifieth not shal be wonne by deserte but receaueth with a glad and chearefull minde which is to be referred vnto God and not to those whiche shew liberality vnto the poore The sense therfore is this that god doth reioyse in such sacrifices doth accept them with a glad mynde yea and Christ himselfe also shall say in the last iudgement I was a straunger and ye lodged me for he that receaueth a straunger receaueth Christ in him So Abraham Lot when they thought that they had had straungers in their house receaued the sonne of God aungels The Gabaonites being voyde of this vertue contemned the Leuite beyng a straunger walkyng in the streete But there was in that City a certayne other straūger whiche was borne in mount Ephraim who being moued with mercy receaued the Leuite into hys house And so in Gabaa a straunger was better then the Citezins This man peraduenture was a husband man and in the euenyng returned out of the field frō his rusticall worke The Leuite telleth him that he hath prouendre for his Asses and also that he wanted not bread and wine that he might the easelier and willinglier be receaued As thoughe he should haue sayd we shall not be burdenous vnto any man for we haue all things
Mizpa Then the children of Israell sayde Howe is this wickednes committed 4 And the man the Leuite the womans husband that was slayne aunswered and sayde I came vnto Gibea whiche is in Beniamin with my concubine to lodge 5 And the men of Gibea arose agaynst me and beset the house roūd aboute vpon me by nyght thynking to haue slayne mee And haue forced my concubine that she is dead 6 Then I tooke my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her thorough out all the countrey of the inheritance of Israel For they haue committed abhomination and vilany in Israel 7 Beholde all ye children of Israell geue your aduise and Counsell herein The congregation of the Israelites was assembled together to iudge of the crime This Hebrew word Edah signifieth a Church or an assembly The end of assemblyes or meatynges together beyng deriued of this verbe Adah whiche is to testify bycause that it is the vse and ende of such assemblyes that the godly should faythfully testify before God of those thynges whiche are put forth to be consulted of From Dan euen vnto Beerseba Dan Beerseba In this kinde of Paraphrasis is comprehended the whole people of Israel For these ar the endes of that kyngdome Dan is the ende towarde the North wherby the Iewes are neyghbours vnto the Zidonians and Beerseba toward the South Euen vnto Gilead That land is beyond Iordane The borders of the region of the Hebrues where the two tribes Ruben and Gad together with halfe the tribe of Manasses dwelled Thys was the third end toward the East And ouer agaynst that toward the West lay the sea called mare Mediterraneum Within these termes and lymites was conteyned the region of the Hebrues whiche they possessed in the land of Chanaan They came into Mizpa vnto the LORDE Where Mizpa was Mizpa was a place moste apte to haue assemblyes in it was not farre frome Ierusalem in the Tribe of Iudah In the fyrste booke of the Machabites the thyrde Chapiter it is thus written When the people by reason of the tyranny of the Macedonians fled out of Ierusalem they assembled together in Mizpa vnto Iudas Machabeus And it is added that that place was a house of prayer of aūcient tyme laye situate ouer agaynst the City of Ierusalem And in this booke we haue before heard how that when Iiphtah should be ordeyned Iudge ouer the people the people assembled together in Mizpa In Samuels tyme also the people assembled together twise vnto that place once when they should leade an army agaynst the Philistines an other tyme when Saul should be created kyng Farther when all the Citye was ouerthrowen by Nebuchad-Nezar all the people fled to Godolia in Mizpa Moreouer besides the oportunity of the place was added a notable benefite of God bycause as we rede in the .10 chapter of Iosuah there assembled thether agaynst the people of Israel a very great nūber of kynges for there were not fiue or sixe but very many kinges which were neyghbours entending vtterly to destroye the name of the Iewes Yet God commaunded them to be of a good valiaunt courage bycause he would geue vnto his people the victory ouer them all And when that thyng happened contrary to all mans hope the Hebrues for a monument of so great a benefite built in that place an alter vnto God Wherfore it is probable as the Rabbines affirme that in Mizpa began to bee a house of prayer For the people went not to the tabernacle or to Ierusalem so often as they had occasion to pray Euery Citye had Synagoges but had in Cityes and Villages certayne Synagoges wherein they prayed together vnto GOD. But to doo Sacrifices it was not after that manner lawfull but onely at the tabernacle of Moses or at Ierusalem after Salomon had builte the Temple althoughe hyghe places were sometymes vsed Wherfore the people assembled thether as well for the opportunity of the place as also by reason of the auncient Religion neither thought they it lawefull to begyn any thyng without prayers Whiche institution for that the Papistes woulde somewhat resemble they firste prouide to haue a Masse of the holy Ghost songe before they make any leagues or rather conspiracyes agaynste Christe It is sayde that they assembled together vnto the Lorde to praye together vnto the Lorde D. Kimhi Although Dauid Kimhi thinketh that this was added bycause wheresoeuer is a multitude of the godly there is GOD also present And to confirme that sentence he bringeth a place put of the Psalme GOD stoode in the Synagoge of Goddes For Iudges whiche in thys place are called Goddes when they geue iudgement ought not to thinke that they haue theyr owne cause in hande but Goddes cause as Iosaphat the godly kynge shewed them I doo not dissallowe this sentence for it is both godly and also it maketh menne to vnderstande that when assemblyes are godly had then doo menne assemble vnto GOD whiche thyng if menne in these dayes woulde consider greate menne woulde handle publique causes with more feare of GOD. Howbeit thys is for certayne that the Israelites assembled not in Silo as some thinke And the corners of all the people assembled The Hebrewe woorde is Penoth whiche properly signifyeth corners but in this place it is taken for Capitaines heades ouer ten Cēturious Tribunes and gouernors of warlike affayres For they after a sort are corners strengthes and stayes of an army Wherfore the villages of the Holuetians in the Italian toungue are called Cantones Wherfore the Hebrues come and assemble in Mizpa not rashly but in their orders They had not in deede a kyng or myghty Magistrates or Senadrim as it is thought for they wer sore decayed and weakened by the Philistines Yet they retayned among themselues some order and discipline Fower hundreth thousande footemen When they went out of Epypte they were 666000. The nomber of the Israelites diminishe men It seemeth that the number was nowe diminished And no meruayle bycause they had ben afflicted with many greuous calamities Also the tribe of Beniamin was away which peraduenture had thirty thousande soldiours For that tribe was both ample and also mighty And the chyldren of Beniamin heard The Beniamites would not be present they onely heard what should be done Dauid Kimhi Kimhi admonisheth that these woordes are put in by a parenthesis for there is no cause shewed why they woulde not be among them And the children of Israel sayd Tel how this wycked act was committed Kimhi thinketh that these things are to be red in the vocatiue case as though it should haue bene sayd O ye children of Israel declare the whole matter in order as it was done in the meane time it seemeth that the Beniamites are noted bycause they would not come vnto the assembly neyther take awaye euill from among them The people assembled together to vnderstand the cause that for as much as ther was
of the tribe of Beniamin but to all Schebat in Hebrue is a tribe but here it is taken for a famely And in very dede tribes wer nothing els then famelies comming of the Patriarches namely the children of Iacob But the tribe of Beniamin had ten famelies Beniamin had ten faâ—elies R. Selomoh who toke their names of their first Parentes And those ten famelies were so notable and aboundant that R. Selomoh saith that Rachel after a sort brought forth twelue tribes that is ther came out of Beniamin ten famelies which myght bee likened vnto ten tribes Farther of Ioseph were borne Ephraim and Manasses Wherfore the Tribe of Beniamin was very populous and mighty Whereby also it came to passe that they trusted to much in their own strength and thought that they were able to resist al Israell Wherfore they would neither deliuer the guiltye nor yet punish them For they thought it ignominious vnto them if they should haue don either of them They would not geue place to sound counsels wherefore they could not deny but that warre was iustlye made against them which by honest meanes they might haue auoided But the rest of the people are to bee praysed bicause they with so great moderacion tooke in hande so great a matter Fyrst A comparyson betwene the people and the BeÌ„iamites they would know the cause then sende messengers to require that the guiltye might be put to death lastly they would assay althinges rather then they would make war against their brethren On the contrarye syde the Beniamites doo al thinges peruerslye they take no counsel they neither deny nor excuse their act they wyll not deliuer the guilty but prepare them selues to defende And so for the wickednes of a fewe they contaminate them selues all And as Paul sayth to the Romanes they do not onelye euyll them selues but also consent to them that doo euyl Neither could they excuse themselues by ignoraunce of the law which they had so often heard They acknowledge that the wycked act was most grieuous which yet they allow in defending the guilty 14 But the children of Beniamin gathered them selues together out of the Cities into Gibea to go out and fyght agaynst the chyldren of Israel 15 And the children of Beniamin were numbred at that tyme .26 thousand men that drew swoorde besides the inhabiters of Gibea whych were numbred .vi. hundreth chosen men 16 Of al this people there were .7 hundreth chosen men that were shut in their ryght hande all these coulde slyng stones at an heare breadth and not fayle 17 Also the men of Israel beside Beniamin were numbred .400 thousand men that drew sword Al these wer men of warre 18 And they arose vp and went vp to Bethel and asked of God the children of Israel sayd which of vs shal go vp firste to fyght agaynst the chyldren of Beniamin And the Lord sayde Iuda shall be fyrst 19 Then the chyldren of Israell rose vp earelye and camped agaynst Gibea 20 The men of Israel I say went out to battaile agaynst Beniamin and the men of Israel put them selues in aray to fight against them besyde Gibea 21 And the chyldren of Beniamin came oute of Gibea and slewe downe to the ground of the Israelites that day .xxii. thousand meÌ„ 22 And the people the men of Israel plucked vp their hartes and set their battayle agayne in aray in the place where they put them in a ray the fyrst day 23 And the children of Israel went vp and asked the Lord saying Shal I go agayne to battayle agaynste the chyldren of Beniamin my brethren And the Lord sayd Go vp against them 24 Then the chyldren of Israel came neare the chyldren of Beniamin the second day 25 And the second day Beniamin came forth to meete them out of Gibea and slew downe to the grounde of the chyldren of Israel agayne .xviii. thousand men Al they could handle the swoord The Beniamites assembled together to Gibea bicause they saw al the brunt of the battail bent thitherwarde They tooke out the choyce of their soldiours wherein were not comprehended the inhabiters of Gibea which were in number sixe hundreth men of warre and men picked out And it is added for a thyng wonderful that there were of the Beniamites seuen hundreth which had an impediment in their right handes but vsed slynges leuened so nye that they missed not euen an heare bredth What hande is said to be closed It is saide that they had their handes closed bycause the sinews wer bound neither could the spirites haue their mouings frely For which cause they were vnapt to draw swordes The latin translacion hath ambi dexteros bicause they could vse both handes as though either hand were the right hand Leafthanded And they which excuse this translacion do say that they so vsed the leaft hand as if they had had no right hand I thinke rather that they were leaft handed But in that it is added that they leueled so rightly that they missed not a heare bredth Hyperbole I thinke it be spoken by this figure Hiperbole wherby their cunning and industry might the more be commended In the Hebrue it is read that the Beniamites had .xxvi. thousande soldiours But in the latin interpretacioÌ„ are put onely .xxv. thousaÌ„d for this cause as I suppose bicause in that last conflict wherein the Beniamites were ouerthrowen we reade onely of .xxv. thousand that were slaine Wherfore if a man compare the first number with the latter there are a thousand ouer whom other thinke that when their host was discomfited and thinges past all hope they turned backe fled into Europe D. Kimhi But Kimhi thinketh more rightlye that they were myssing when the Beniamites got the vpper hand in those twoo first conflictes For it is not credible that they so ouercame that they lost none of their soldiours Wherfore if thou adde them vnto the .xxv. thousand which fel in the third battail then is the whole number of .xxvi. thousande explete These thinges I knowe are of smal waight which yet I thought good to note bicause the Rabbines haue written many thinges of them and the translacions do differ When the soldiours were chosen out and al thinges set in an order the Israelites send to Bethel and aske counsel of God The Arke of the Lorde was at that time in Siloh Bethel is not alwaies the proper name of a place and from thence wer geuen answers And Bethel in this place is not the name of a City but is takeÌ„ for the house of God and signifieth a place where the Arke of the couenant remained Farther Siloh was not farre from Gibea wherfore it was no hard matter for the Israelites to send thether to aske counsel of God They asked the Lord which tribe should haue the fyrst place in the battayle for some one tribe must nedes be the first Answer was made that this should be geuen vnto the tribe of Iuda
That was of al the tribes most populous and noble vnto which afterward came the kingdome They enquired not who should be the captaine of the warre but which tribe shoulde begyn the battaile first against the enemies Why thei doubted not of the victory Wherin the Israelits synned They nothing doubt of the victory neither demaund they any thing concerning it They saw that their quarrell was iust They sawe also that they were more in number and multitude and that it would be easy to ouercome so fewe wherefore they pray not vnto God to geue them the victory which was a grieuous synne as R. Leui ben Gerson affirmeth Wherefore God being offended suffred them twise to fal before their enemies and that wonderfullye For God hateth nothing more then pride and to much trust in our owne strengthes He wil also haue men knowe that victory is both to be required D. Kimhi and also to be hoped for at his handes onelye But Kimhi sayth that other thinke that this so great misfortune of warre happened bicause of the idolatry of Micha the Israelite As though God should in this maner haue delt with them Ye will auenge the iniury done vnto a man being a Leuite but ye neglect and wyncke at the contumely which I suffer at the Danites handes who publikely worship Idoles Either of these sentences is very likelye althoughe neither of them is gathered out of the text Howbeit this we may affirme that there were some certain causes wherby God was excedinglye prouoked of the Israelites But what those causes were though we know not it is no meruayle For the counsels of God are hidden and obscure Order at the length required this that the Israelites should first auenge the contumely of God himself and afterward of the Leuite But this is sufficiently declared in the text What thynges the Israelites had omitted that they at those twoo first tymes came not vnto God earnestly inough They came in deede but they neither fasted nor killed sacrifices nor made any praiers as far as the holy history declareth But at the last hauing already two ouerthrowes all of them with a lowly and humble minde come vnto God al pray together and fast These thinges seme sufficiently to declare that they were not before in the house of the Lord in suche maner as they ought to haue beene For if they had had true fayth they would haue before also proclaimed both cōmon prayers and also fasting Mourning fasting and praiers are the effectes of faith and true repentaunce These thinges for that they had not it is probable that therfore they receaued so great losse at the first and second conflict This thing also might bee a cause for that they made warre to much securely and contemptuously as they which dyd put their confidence in the number and strength of their own men Wherefore they contemned the enemy The contempt of enemies hurteth very much then the which nothing is more vnprofitable to those that shal fight For contempt of the enemies engendreth negligence in the hostes 26 Then al the children of Israel ascended and all the people and they came into the house of God and wept and abode there before the Lorde They fasted also that day vnto the euening and offered burnt offringes and peace offeringes before the Lord. 27 And the chyldren of Israel asked the Lorde for there was the Arke of the Lord in those dayes 28 And Pinhas the sonne of Eleazar the sonne of Aaron stoode before it in those dayes saying Shal I yet go any more to battayle against the children of Beniamin my brethren or shal I cease The Lord answered Go vp for to morow I wil deliuer them into your hand 29 And Israel set men to lye in wayte round about Gibea 30 And the children of Israel went vp against the children of Beniamin the thyrd day and put them selues in aray against Gibea as at other tymes 31 Then the children of Beniamin comming out to meete the people were drawen from their City and they beganne to smite and to kyl of the people as at other times euen by the wayes whereof one goeth vp to the house of God and the other to Gibea in the fielde vpon a thirty men of Israel 32 And the chyldren of Beniamin sayd They are fallen before vs as at the first But the children of Israel said Let vs flie and pluck them away from the city euen to the high wayes 33 And when al the men of Israel rose vp oute of their place and put them selues in aray in Baal-Thamar in the meane while the men of Israel that lay in wayte came forth of their place euen out of the medowes of Gibea 34 And they came ouer agaynst Gibea ten thousande chosen men of all Israel and the battayle was sore for they knewe not that the euyll was neare them 35 And the Lord smote Beniamin before Israel and the chyldren of Israel destroyed of the Beniamites the same day .xxv. thousand and one hundreth men All they coulde handle the swoord 36 So the children of Beniamin saw that they wer smitten down for the children of Israel gaue place vnto the Beniamites bycause they trusted to the men that lay in wayte whych they had layde besydes Gibea 37 And they that lay in wayte hasted and brake forth toward Gibea and the embushment drew themselues along and smote al the City wyth the edge of the swoord 38 Also the men of Israel had appointed a certayne tyme with the embushmentes that with great speede they shoulde make a great flame and smoke ryse out of the City 39 And the men of Israel retired in the battayle and Beniamin began to smyte and kyll the men of Israell about .xxx. persons for they sayd Surely they are striken downe before vs as in the fyrste battayle 40 But when the flame began to aryse out of the City as a pyller of smoke the Beniamites looked backe and beholde the flame of the City began to ascend vp to heauen 41 Then the men of Israel turned againe and the children of Beniamin were astoyned for they saw their destruction at hand 42 Therefore they fled before the men of Israel vnto the waye of the wyldernes but the battayle ouertooke them also they whyche came out of the Cities slewe them among them 43 Thus they compassed the Beniamites about and chased them at ease and ouerran them euē ouer against Gibea on the East side 44 And there fel of Beniamin .xviii. thousand men which were all men of warre 45 And they turned and fled vnto the wyldernes vnto the rocke Rimmon and the Israelites glayned of them by the way .v. thousand men and pursued after them vnto Gidehon slew two thousand men of them 46 So that al that were slayne that day of the Beniamites were 25 thousand men that drew sword which were all men of warre 47 But .vi. hundreth men turned and fled to the wyldernes vnto the rocke of
in warre taken in hand by common counsel to withdraw themselues by priuate counsell Metius Suffecius captaine of Albany when he forsoke Tullus Hostilius fighting against the Fidenates by the commaundement of Tullus was bound to two cartes and so drawē in peces Solon depriued him of al honour dignity Solon A decre of Pōpeius which in the time of sedicion adioyned himselfe to neyther party And Pompeius as Plutarche affirmeth when he fled from Cesar proclaymed that he woulde count all them to be enemies which abode at Rome and helped not the common cause And after this maner are the Iabenites prescribed and counted for enemies And no otherwise are they to be counted which in this our tyme when there is controuersye concerning religion doo dissemble althinges when as in the meane tyme they wyl neither stand on the Papistes syde nor on ours It is not lawful for vs in religion to be neuters They say they wyll stand in the myddest betwene both which is nothing els then that they wyll be wyth the aduersaries or enemies For they halte on either side and therfore it may be said that after a sort they fauor them Farther the cause of religion is farre greater and greuouser then the cause of the publike wealth In the Churche no man can excuse himselfe that hee is a straunger for no man which professeth himself to be a Christian can be a straunger from religion wherfore warre is iustly proclaymed against the Iabenites Althoughe I thinke that in this matter also the Isralites wer to cruel For it semeth that it should haue bene sufficient to haue slaine the men that were apt vnto warre To much crueltye against the Iabenites which had committed the crime of rebellion But to kil womē old men and children it was to much cruelty Neither could they say that they had vowed vnto the Lord the vow Cherem forasmuch as they had saued the mayden virgins And vndoubtedly so great cruelty turned them to euyl for if they had delt more gently with the Iabenites they had had more women for the Beniamites Neither coulde they haue geuen counsell to haue vsed force to get them selues wiues But it is good to vnderstand how the Israelites founde oute that the Iabenites were absent The battaile being finished they al assembled to Siloh and numbred the people among whom when they founde none of the Iabenites they easelye vnderstoode that they were absent from the warre So great was their piety and religion at that time that when they had obtained the victory al of them assembled together to geue thankes vnto God But that thing is contemned now a daies for how many are there which when they haue gotten the victory wil acknowledge the benefite of God and geue him thankes Preachers do out of the Pulpit admonish the people to pray publikely for sicke folkes of which we either se or heare of none in a maner which when they are restored to health do publikelye geue thankes vnto God for that they haue by the prayers of the Churche escaped free They proclaymed peace vnto them which were in Rimmon That is gaue them safeconduct to returne home againe in safety 14 And Beniamin returned at that tyme and they gaue them wiues whom they had made on lyue of the women of Iabes Gilead which yet were not sufficient for them 15 And the people had compassion on Beniamin bicause the Lord had made a gappe in the tribes of Israel 16 And then the Elders of the congregacion sayd what shall wee do for wiues for the rest For the womē of Beniamin are destroied 17 And they sayd There must be an inheritance for them that bee escaped of Beniamin that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel 18 For we cannot geue them of our daughters to wyues For the chyldren of Israel had sworne saying Cursed be he that geueth a wyfe to Beniamin 19 Then they sayd Behold there is a feast of a Lorde yearelye in Siloh in the place which is on the North syde of the house of God and on the East syde of the way that goeth from the house of God vnto Sechem and is South from Libanon 20 And they commaunded the chyldren of Beniamin saying Go and lye in wayte in the vyneyardes 21 And take hede For behold if the doughters of Siloh come out to daunce in a row then come ye out of the vyneyardes and catche vnto you euery man hys wyfe of the daughters of Siloh and get you into the land of Beniamin 22 And if their fathers or brethren come vnto vs to complayne we wyll say vnto them Haue pity on vs for them bicause we reserued not to eche man hys wyfe in tyme of war And bicause ye haue not geuen vnto them so that ye haue at this tyme offended 23 And the children of Beniamin did euen so and tooke them wiues of the dauncers according to their number whom they cought and went their wayes and returned euery man to hys inheritance And repairyng their cities they dwelt in them 24 And the children of Israel departed thence at that time euerye man to hys trybe and to his famelye And went out from thence euerye man to hys inheritaunce 25 In those dayes there was no kyng in Israel but euery man did that which seemed ryght in hys owne eyes They are sayd to haue made on lyue those maydens whom they had not slain for forasmuch as they had thē in their power it semed that they might iustly haue slayne them But they would preserue them on lyue Whereby they vnderstode that God wold saue the tribe of Bēiamin for that they sawe it was not the wyl of God that al the Beniamites should vtterly be destroyed and here by they vnderstoode the wil of God bicause he had caused sixe hundreth of them to escape Wherfore they gaue them safeconduct and the maydens of the Iabenites to be their wiues God made a breache in Israel That which they did themselues they ascribe vnto God A breache they cal the cutting of of one tribe Here is expressedlye set foorth the inconstancy of mans minde In that fury and hot anger they woulde haue destroyed al and they desyred of God to graunt them a ful victory when they haue obtained it and finished the matter they mourne afflict themselues If they had moderatly vsed the victory this thing had not happened vnto them After the same maner they synned against the Iabenites for if they had not slaine al the women ther they had had wiues inough for the Beniamites Now hauing slayne all they found onely .400 mayden virgins which not being sufficient they are compelled to seeke other by rapte or stelth And the Elders sayd So were the Senators or Senadrim called or els the Tribunes and Centurions which were rulers ouer the warlike affaires Let their inheritance be safe Iosua had appointed vnto euery tribe his inheritance Wherfore the Israelites could not clayme vnto
cause god would haue some men sometymes to be borne with so huge bodies It was done for this cause Augustine thincketh in his boke before alledged 23. chap. to leaue a testimony vnto vs that nether the beauty of the body neither the bignesse of stature nor strength of the flesh are to be accompted among the chief good thinges when as they are no lesse commune to the godly sometymes than they are to the vngodly They surely which are desirous of godlinesse will iudge that spirituall good thynges are farre to be preferred before them Forme and stature auayle nothing to saluation partely bycause they are an helpe vnto vs to saluation and partely bycause they make vs more noble in dede than others And that giauntes had no helpe by their huge stature to saluation he confirmeth it by that which Baruch the Prophet hath writtē in the .3 chap. There are giauntes from the beginning of the worlde famous men expert in warres those hath not the Lord chosen neither hath he geuē them the way of knowledge but they haue perished bycause they had not wisedome Giauntes toke not godly causes in hande to defende Also if a man shall read ouer the holy scriptures he shall neuer almost fynd that they tooke in hand any good or godly cause whiche they would defend and for the whiche they would fight yea he shall rather se that by their peruersenesse and pride they haue alwayes ben agaynst God So did Og king of Basan behaue hym selfe so also did Goliah and his brethren All these were most deadly enemies to the people whom God loued and had chosen from the rest to be peculiar to him selfe Giaūtes were ouercome in battaile of weake persons There is an other thing also besides whiche may much confirme our faith for the holy scriptures do alwayes declare how such mōstrous giaūtes were filthyly ouercome in battaile and that by feable men and very vnexpert in warlike affaires namely by Dauid being yet but a shepheard the people of Israel which were thē but yong beginners in matters of warre wherby the spirite of god doth admonishe vs to be of a constaunte and valiaunte corage when for godlinesse sake we must fight against such monsters We must haue no regarde there to our owne strength seing that the holy oracles do so often declare that it is god whiche deliuereth such beastes into their handes whom he defendeth Whiche thinges seing they are so this without doubt cometh to passe that we shoulde by no meanes be affeard of tyrannes whiche are almost alwayes agaynst God and trust to their owne great might when they defend vngodly partes and thincke that they can robbe and spoyle as they list them selues the flocke of Christ which is feable and weake seing the might of gods word power of his spirite will make vs mightie and inuincible agaynst them thoughe we be neuer so lowe and weake of nature Moreouer if we should follow humane reason beyng compared with thē we should easely seeme either wormes or grashoppers but being hedged fensed with the might of god we shall not only be superiours but also to speake as Paul speaketh to the Romaines we shal ouercome also For Christ will ayde vs who bindeth the strong armed man taketh away the most riche spoyles which he had gathered he hath luckly wrastled with the deuill and his members we by him shal haue good successe in our warres and shal obteyne a farre more noble victorye than that whiche the Poetes haue fayned that their gods obtayned of the Ciclops Titans Why Giaunts haue resisted God and other giauntes whiche were as they fable destroyed by the lightnings of Iupiter at Phlegra It is a playne token why gyaūtes in the old time mighty princes now of dayes do with the wise men of this world resist god surely bicause they cleaue trust to much to their own strength whereunto they ouermuch stickīg God accomplisheth his thinges by humble persons not by giauntes there is no mischief which they dare not enterprise there is nothing which they thincke is not lawful for thē to do But god vouchesafeth not by such men to accomplish those thinges whiche he hath decreed to bring to passe but to set forth his might power farre abroad he vseth rather to accomplish such things as he hath decreed to do by Dauid and any abiect persones Whether Og were the last of al the giaunts Of this thing I would thincke that I had spoken enoughe but that there is a certein place remayning to be expounded namely how it should be written in Deut. that there was no more of the giauntes remayning but only Og king of Basan I am not ignorante what R. Salomo fableth but his exposition is so childishe so worthy to be laughed at that I am ashamed to rehearse it I iudge therfore that it was not spokē absolutely simply that there were no more remayning but he as thoughe there were no more giauntes in all the worlde but he but it is meant that he onely was remayning in those places namely beyonde Iordane The Moabites also draue Giauntes out of their coastes Moreouer we must vnderstand that not onely the Israelites destroyed the giauntes out of those regions but also the Moabites as it is written in the second chap. of Deut. draue them out of their coastes which must also be thought to haue ben brought to passe by them thorough the fauour of God for it is in the same place written that god gaue vnto the Moabites those regions to inhabite Now will I returne to the wordes of the holy hystory And from thence they went to the mountaynes of Debir and the name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher Why this citie is called the citie of Letters It is commonly translated the citie of letters and therfore would they haue this citie so called bycause the first letters wer found there or els bycause learning or good studies florished in that Citie as they do at this daye in vniuersities where good sciences are openly taught Some thincke that lawyers liued there whiche kept the recordes of iudgementes There be some also whiche write that there was a notable library there R. D. Kimhi affirmeth that Debir in the Persian language signifieth a letter but the worde Sephir in Hebrew signifieth not properly a letter or a figure but rather a litle boke or scrolle written vpon The Hebrues do make mencion that Othoniel did in this place expound certein rules of the lawe whiche before that tyme were almost blotted out and of that dede was the citie so afterwarde named but this cā scarse be probable bycause it seemeth that that citie had that name before the Israelites possessed it We must know moreouer that this citie also was taken when Iosua was a lyue whiche is shewed in his owne booke And that by no meanes can be fayned to be sayd there by preuenting or as