Continent of America was found full of such Beasts when the Spaniards first came thither yet none of the Islands though very large which lay remote from the Land had any Lions Tygers or such-like Creatures in them Which is a demonstration that these Creatures were not originally from that part of the Earth for then the Islands would have been furnished with them as well as the Continent just as they are with all sorts of Vegetables And consequently the Continent it self was stored with these Creatures from some other part of the Earth Which might be done by some Neck of Land not yet discovered which joyns some part of Europe or Asia to the Continent of America Or if there be no such Neck of Land now extant yet there may have been such a Bridge as we may call it between the Northern parts of Asia or Europe and some Northern part of America or between the South-East part of China or the Philippine Islands and the Southern Continent of that other part of this World Though now broken of as many suppose England to have been from France by the violence of the Sea or by Earthquakes which have made great alterations in the Earth And truly he that observes as that great Man the Lord Chief Justice Hales speaks in his Book of the Origin of Mankind § II. c. 7. the infinite number of Islands lying between the Continent of China and Nova Guinea the most contiguous to each other hath probable reasons to believe that these were all formerly one Continent joyning China and Nova Guinea together Though now by the irruption of the Sea crumbled into many small Islands CHAP. XI Ver. 1. AND all the Earth i. e. The Inhabitants of the Earth as 1 Kings X. 24. all the Earth is explained 2 Chron. IX 23. all the Kings of the Earth Were of one Language In the Hebrew of one Lip which is one Instrument of Speech comprehending the rest Their Mouth found the same words So it follows And of one Speech Or Word as the Hebrew hath it Some distinguish these two so subtilly as to say they had not only the same Language but the same manner of pronunciation which is often very different in the same Language The Heathens themselves acknowledge there was but one Language anciently see Josephus and out of him Eusebius L. IX Praep. Evang. c. 14 15. which in all likelihood was the same that had been from the Beginning which Adam himself spake For Methuselah the Grand-Father of Noah lived some time with him and spake we may well suppose the same Language that he did And we cannot but think the same of Noah Who propagated it among his Posterity till this time But whether this was the Hebrew or no we cannot be certain The Chaldee Paraphrasts and the Hebrew Writers generally say it was and most Christian Writers have been of their Opinion In so much that R. Gedalian upon these words saith The wise Men among the Christians have searched what was the first Tongue and all the World confesses that from Adam to the Flood they spake the Holy Language Which it is not to be thought we have now intire and pure but that a considerable part of it still remains in the Bible As may be proved by no contemptible Arguments particularly this that Shem the Son of Noah was for some time contemporary with Abraham who descended from him and in whose Family continued the same Language which they both spake unto Moses his days They that have fansied there were more Languages than one at this time grounded their mistake upon those words Gen. X. 5 20 31. where the Sons of Noah are said to have had the Earth divided among them according to their Tongues Not considering that he speaks of this very Division of which he is going to give an account and briefly mentioned there verse 25. For the thirteen Sons of Joktan immediately after mentioned who had their share in the division were not in being when their Uncle Peleg was born as the most learned Primate Vsher hath demonstrated in his Annals A. M. 1757. Ver. 2. As they journeyed from the East He doth not speak of all the Posterity of Noah who after the Flood planted in the East much less Noah himself But of a great Colony of them who when the East was much peopled chose to go Westward By the East most understand Armenia where they suppose the Ark rested and Noah with his Sons planted But this hath great difficulty in it for the Mountains of Armenia lay North of Shinar or Assyria and not East Which Bochart solves in this manner Assyria being divided into two parts one on this side the other on the further side of Tigris they called all that part beyond Tigris the East Country though a great part of it towards Armenia was really Northward and that part on this side they called West though some of it lay to the South L. I. Phaleg c. 7. But there is no need of the help of this solution the Mountains of Ararat running a long way Eastward From which when Noah and his Sons descended they setled it's likely in Countries which were very much Eastward of Assyria They found a plain They continued to dwell in the Mountainous Countries of the East where the Ark rested till they grew very numerous and wanted room and then descended into the Plain and some of them went Westwardly into the Land of Shinar that pleasant Plain as Mr. Mede fansies where God at the Beginning had placed the first Father of Mankind Adam Shinar By this Name we are to understand not only that part of Assyria where Babylon stood but all that Country which bordered upon Tigris unto the Mountains of Armenia from whence Noah and his Sons are supposed to have descended when the Earth was dry and not to have gone far from thence at first till they were multiplied and then some of them came into this Country which Noah had inhabited before the Flood Thus Bochart in the place before-named But there is no certainty the Ark rested in Armenia it might be further Eastward upon some other part of that long Ridge of Mountains called Ararat From whence they descended when the Earth was dry and dwelt in the lower Grounds which were warmer and more fruitful than the Mountains But that from the East Mankind were propagated is apparent from the increase of Arts and Sciences which as Dr. Jackson observes Book I. c. 16. were in some measure perfected there in Times as ancient as any prophane History can point us unto and thence derived as from a Center to more remote parts of the World the ripeness of Literature civil Discipline and Arts among the Eastern People before they did so much as bud forth in Greece or Italy I may add Egypt either is a demonstration that these were the Stock and the other but Slips or Branches transplanted from thence Nay the State and Grandure of those Eastern Countries
Gift of the King besides those he had of his own before Ver. 17. And he plagued Pharaoh c. Some of the Hebrews think they had grievous Ulcers in the Secret Parts which made both him and his Servants uncapable to enjoy either her or any one else His House His Courtiers partake of the Punishment because they were Partners in the intended Sin Ver. 18. Why didst thou not tell me c. Some think he speaks this subtilly to Abram to see what he would say not knowing yet that she was his Wife Or that his Priests and wise Men had consulted the Oracles about the Cause of their Plagues But the simplest Account is That Sarai being interrogated about it confessed the whole Truth Whereupon he expostulated thus with Abram who being silent he took it for granted that indeed she was his Wife Ver. 19. Now therefore behold thy Wife c. He disclaims all Intention of abusing another Man's Wife so Vertuous they were in those days but would have made her his own as he saith in the foregoing words I might have taken her to me to Wife that is a secondary Wife as the manner was in those days for it is not likely he had no Wife at all before Ver. 20. Pharaoh commanded his Men concerning him c. Gave strict Orders none should hurt him or any thing belonging to him But conduct him safely whether he had a mind to go And accordingly the next words tell us they did They sent him away c. Not with Violence but gave him a safe Conduct Sending him away perhaps with a Guard for his Security Such was the Generosity of the Egyptian Princes in those times CHAP. XIII Ver. 1. INto the South Into the Southern part of Canaan where he had been before XII 9. Ver. 2. Very rich c. His Riches were increased since he went into Egypt by the Bounty of Pharaoh XII 16. And if we could believe Josephus L. I. Antiq. c. 8. by the Rewards he had for teaching them several Pieces of Learning which he brought out of Chaldaea The Author of Schalsch Hakkab quotes Eusebius his Praepar Evang. L. IX c. 4. to prove this And indeed I find Eusebius quoting Josephus in the XVI Chapter of that Book who says he taught Arithmetick and Astrology of which the Egyptians were ignorant before And in the XVIIth Chapter Eupolemus who says that Abram was familiarly conversant with the Egyptian Priests at Heliopolis when he went thither by reason of the Famine in Canaan and taught them many things particularly the Coelestial Sciences which he calls Astrology i. e. the knowledge of the Stars Ver. 3. Vnto Bethel c. Which was the second Place wherein he dwelt after his first entrance into Canaan XII 8. Ver. 4. Vnto the place of the Altar c. This seems to intimate that the Altar it self was either faln or thrown down Some think demolished by Abram himself when he left the place others by the Canaanites when he was gone And there Abram called on the Name of the LORD Commended himself and all he had to God's Protection Who had promised to bestow this Country upon him Perhaps he built the Altar again and offered Sacrifice thereon Ver. 5. And Lot also c. God had blessed him likewise as a faithful Companion of Abraham in his Travels and partaker also of his Faith Ver. 6. The Land was not able to bear them c. There was not sufficient Pasturage for them both in that part of the Country Ver. 7. And there was a strife c. Wealth commonly breeds Contentions Yet here was no difference between the Masters but between their Servants Each endeavouring to get the best Pastures and the best watering places for their Flocks And the Canaanite and the Perizzite c. This part of the Country was inhabited by the People peculiarly called Canaanites and by the Perizzites a very rugged and barbarous Nation See XV. 20. among whom Contention would have been dangerous at least very scandalous Ver. 8. Abram said to Lot The best the wisest and Men of greatest Experience in the World are most inclined to Peace and most yielding in order to it Let there be no strife between me and thee There had been none yet but their Servants Quarrel might have proved theirs at last And between my herds-men c. And here signifies or As XIX 12. Exod. XII 5. For we are Brethren Near Kinsmen whom the Hebrews call Brethren Ver. 9. Is not the Land before thee c. J There is room enough though not here yet in other parts of the Country Now since we cannot remain together take thy choice which way thou wilt go c. A wonderful Condescention in Abram to let the younger and least in Estate please himself And he did not desire Lot to leave the Country but only to settle himself in what part of it he liked best that he might be near to help him as he did afterwards Ver. 10. Beheld all the Plain of Jordan c. A fruitful and pleasant Country well watered by the Streams of Jordan Which in many windings and turnings run through it and at some times overflowed it which made the Ground very rich And therefore Moses compares this Plain to the Garden of Eden as most understand those words the Garden of the LORD which was well watered by a River running through it And to the Land of Egypt which is fatned by the overflowing of Nile as this was by the overflowing of Jordan As thou comest to Zoar. These words are not to be referred to the Land of Egypt immediately foregoing from which Zoar was at a great distance but to those words in the beginning a Plain well watered every where even to the utmost Skirts of it which was Zoar. Ver. 11. And Lot chose him all the Plain of Jordan He was invited by the richness of the Soil without regard to the Manners of the People Which proved afterwards a great Affliction to him And Lot journeyed East For the Plain of Jordan lay East from Bethel where they now were Ver. 12. And Abram dwelt in the Land of Canaan c. In that part of the Country where the People peculiarly called Canaanites Verse 7. and XII 6. were seated Otherwise if the Land of Canaan be taken largely the Plain of Jordan was also a part of it Ver. 13. The Men of Sodom were wicked c. Their Sins were grown ripe for Punishment having been brought as it were before the LORD and sentenced at his Tribunal to the Judgment which shortly after befell them Ver. 14. And the LORD said unto Abram c. It is likely the LORD appeared again to him as he had done formerly XII 7. after Lot was separated from him Both to comfort him in his absence by renewing his Promise in larger words and to assure him that his Posterity not Lot's should inherit this Country Lift up thine Eyes c. He dwelt now it is likely upon
Head but all over his Body Like an hairy Garment As rough as Hair-Cloth Just as the Poets describe Satyrs He was hirsutus not only hairy all over but those Hairs as stiff as Bristles arguing great strength of Body And a rough fierce Temper They called his Name Esau Which signifying made in Hebrew this is commonly taken for the reason of his Name that he was as full of Hairs when he was born as others are at Man's estate But I think it may as well denote his active Genius which they thought this presaged Ver. 26. Jacob. He certainly had his Name from his taking his Brother by the Heel at his birth As if he would supplant him as he afterwards did Was threescore Years old God exercised Isaac's Faith and Patience just as he had done Abraham's for the space of twenty Years before he gave him a Child For he was forty Years old when he married verse 20. and now sixty Ver. 27. A cunning Hunter Had great skill in Hunting in which his active genius delighted A Man of the Field That took pleasure to be abroad pursuing wild Beasts in Woods and Mountains Where afterwards he had his habitation A plain Man dwelling in Tents He loved not violent Exercise but kept at home or lookt after the Flocks of Sheep and the breed of Cattle Ver. 28. And Isaac loved Esau c. Not only because he was his First-born and because his love of Hunting argued him to be a Man of great Activity and Valour who was likely to prove a great Person But because he also took care frequently to entertain his Father with Venison which was of divers sorts and afforded him such variety at his Table as gave his Father frequent occasion to commend him But Rebekah loved Jacob. Being a Man of a more meek and quiet Temper suitable to her own Disposition and more at home also with her than Esau was and designed by God to inherit the Promise verse 23. It is likely Esau made great court as we speak to his Father and Jacob to his Mother Whereby they won their Affection Ver. 29. He was faint With too violent and long pursuit of his Sports Ver. 30 Feed me I pray thee with that same red c. It was made of Lentiles as we learn from the last Verse of this Chapter And St. Austin upon Psalm XLVI saith they were Egyptian Lentiles which were in great esteem and much commended by Athenaeus and A. Gellius And gave the Pottage it is probable a red tincture Some think Esau did not know what it was and therefore calls it only by its colour asking for that red that same red as it is in the Hebrew Therefore was his Name called Edom. This repeated eager desire of he knew not what for which he sold his Birth-right gave him the Name of Edom Which signifies red Whence the City which he built and the whole Country his Posterity inhabited was called by the same Name and by the Greeks Idumaea bordering toward the South upon Judaea Arabia and Egypt Ver. 31. Sell me this day thy Birth-right The eldest Son had several Privileges belonging to him above the rest The chief of which was to have a double Portion of his Father's Estate As for the right of Priesthood there are many reasons to prove it did not belong thereunto But whatsoever they were Jacob cunningly made an Advantage of Esau's Necessity to purchase them all for a small matter In which some think he did not amiss About which I shall not dispute Ver. 32. What profit shall this Birth-right do to me He speaks very slightly if not contemptuously of it Preferring the present satisfaction of his Appetite before his future Dignity and Greatness For some are of Opinion he pretended to be fainter than really he was out of a vehement longing for the Pottage which perhaps was a rarety Ver. 33. Swear to me this day That I shall peaceably enjoy the Prerogative of the Birth-right Esau seems to have been very violent in all things and to have pursued this as eagerly as he did his Sports Jacob on the contrary very sedate and crafty to make the best use of the Opportunities he met with to promote his Ends. Ver. 34. Rose up and went his way Well satisfied and without any trouble for what he had done Which the Apostle censures as a piece of Prophaneness Parents being wont to give a special Blessing to their First-born Despised his Birth-right He thought perhaps he could recover that by Force which he had lost by his Brother's Craft CHAP. XXVI Ver. 1. AND there was a famine in the Land c. Such a scarcity of Provisions as were in Abraham's days XII 10. when he was newly come into Canaan hapned again in the days of Isaac And Isaac went It is not said from whence he went But it is probable after the death of Abraham he went and dwelt where his Father had often done at Mamre near Hebron For he was not now at Beersheba or the Well Lahai-roi which was the last place of his habitation that we read of XXV 11. for that was in this very Country of Gerar to which he now went Vnto Abimelech The Son it is most likely of him to whom Abraham went For he is not to be thought the same it being an hundred Years since that time And all the Kings of that Country were for many Ages called by the Name of Abimelech as appears from the Story of David Who fled to one of that Name called Achish in 1 Sam. XXI 10. but Abimelech in the Title of the XXXIV Psalm See Gen. XX. 2. Ver. 2. And or for the LORD appeared to him He intended to have gone into Egypt as Abraham his Father had done in the like Case XII 10. But God forbad him appearing to him either in a Vision or a Dream or as the Glory of the LORD appeared afterward to Moses and the Congregation of Israel upon several occasions and directed him to stay in this Country which was in the way to Egypt Where he promises to provide for him Though Egypt was a most plentiful Country yet the King of it at this time was not so good a Man perhaps as him that reigned in the Days of Abraham Ver. 3. Sojourn in this Land c. He not only promises to take care of him at present during the Famine But renews the Promises made to Abraham his Father at sundry times and in divers places XII 3. XV. 5. XVII 2 8. and at last confirmed by an Oath XXII 16 17. I will be with thee and bless thee These and such like words Maimonides shows express a special Providence over those to whom they are spoken and over all belonging to them More Nevoch Par. III. cap. 18. Vnto thy Seed will I give all these Countries Which he repeats again in the next Verse having mentioned the vast multiplication of his Seed Ver. 4. In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be
only in the Land of Seir or barely in Seir to which he invited Jacob at his return XXXII 3. XXXIII 14 16. This Mountainous Country which was richer than the other he got into his possession after that time Esau is Edom. The Father of the Edomites as it follows verse 9. Ver. 12. She bare to Eliphaz Amalek This was necessary to be set down as I observed on verse 1. that there might be a distinction between the Amalekites who were to be destroyed and the rest of the Posterity of Esau Concerning whom it is said Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite because he is thy Brother Deut. XXIII 7. Thus Joseph Albo. For though they made a distinct People from the Edomites and lived in a neighbouring Country yet they possessed that part of Mount Seir which was near Kadesh Barnea as may be gathered from Numb XIII 29. and XIV 43. Ver. 15. These were Dukes The word Allouphe if we may believe R. Solomon Jarchi signifies Heads Chiefs or Rulers of Families Who may be called Princes though their Government was not yet Regal but a kind of Aristocracy in the beginning Ver. 16. Duke Korah He is not reckon'd among the Sons of Eliphaz verse 11. but called the Son of Aholibamah verse 14. and accordingly said to Rule over a Family descended from hers verse 18. We must suppose therefore there were two Korah's one the Son of Aholibamah the other a Nephew of Eliphaz by some of his Sons or Grand-Sons Who came to be a great Ruler and to get the Government of some of these Families And according to the Style of Scripture is reckoned for Eliphaz his Son Ver. 20. These are the Sons of Seir the Horite From this Seir the Country had its Name But from whom he descended is not recorded Who inhabited the Land Who were the ancient Inhabitants of this Country before Esau conquered it And perhaps were the first that possessed it after the Flood Whose Genealogy I suppose is here mentioned because Esau's Posterity married with some of them Particularly his eldest Son Eliphaz took Timna Sister of Lotan one of Seir's Sons for his Concubine verse 22. Yea Esau himself seems to have married one of this Family viz. Aholibamah Whose Father and Uncle are said to be Hivites verse 2. but here plainly called Horites Being descended from Seir the Horite though dwelling then among the Hivites Ver. 21. These are the Dukes of the Horites The Heads of their Families who governed the Country before Esau and his Posterity dispossessed them And setled themselves in the same form of Government which they found among these Horites In the Land of Edom. So it was called in the days of Moses Ver. 24. This is that Anah who found the Mules in the wilderness Not by Accident but by his Art and Industry he invented as we speak this mixture and produced this new kind of Creature So it is commonly interpreted But the word found though used four hundred times in Scripture never signifies as Bochart hath observed P. I. Hierozoic Lib. II. cap. 21. the Invention of that which was not before but the finding that which already is in being Nor doth Jemim signifie Asses in Scripture And therefore others have read the Hebrew word as if it had been written Jamim as St. Hierom observes imagining that as Anah fed his Father's Asses he found a great collection of Waters See Vossius L. III. de Idolol cap. 75. which some fansie to have been hot Waters or Baths as the Vulgar Latin interprets it But then we must read the Hebrew quite otherwise than we do now And Bochart gives other Reasons against this Interpretation and endeavours to establish another Opinion That by Jemim we are to understand Emim a Gigantick sort of People mentioned in Scripture and next Neighbours to the Horites These Anah is said to find i. e. to meet withall and incounter or rather to have fall'n upon on a sudden and unexpectedly as this Phrase he shows signifies in Scripture This Opinion he hath confirmed with a great many Reasons to which another late learned Writer Wagenseil thinks an Answer may be given Though he inclines to it if one thing were not in the way which makes him think here is rather meant some Herb or Plant called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word the LXX retains not knowing how to translate it And thus Aben-Ezra affirms many Interpreters of the Scripture have understood it Which seems to be the most probable Conjecture of all others See Wagenseil in his Annot. upon that Title of the Talmud called Sota p. 217 218 c. As he fed the Asses of Zibeon his Father The Sons of Princes were wont to follow this Imployment in ancient Times as Bochart shows out of many Authors Particularly the Scholiast upon Homer's Odysses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierozoic P. I. L. II. cap. 44. Ver. 28. The Children of Dishan are these Vz c. From this Man the whole Country or a great part of it is called by the Name of Vz Lament IV. 21. which was in Arabia Petraea in the Borders of the Land of Canaan Ver. 30. These are the Dukes that came of Hori This Hori was the Ancestor of Seir by whom this Country was first planted Among their Dukes Or according to their Families or Principalities Ver. 31. And these are the Kings that reigned in the Land of Edom. It appears by this that after several Dukes as we translate it had ruled the Country the Edomites changed their Government into a Monarchy And here follows a Catalogue of their Kings For I can find no ground for the Opinion of the Hebrew Doctors that Alluph a Duke differed in nothing from Melech a King but that the latter was crowned the former not crowned Before there reigned any King over the Children of Israel Moses having a little before this XXXV 11. mentioned the Promise of God to Jacob That Kings should come out of his Loins observes it as a thing remarkable being a great exercise of their Faith that Esau's Posterity should have so many Kings And there was as yet no King in Israel when he wrote this Book nor as it is commonly interpreted a long time after This Moses might well write without a Spirit of Prophecy nor is there any reason to say this Passage was inserted by some Body else after the death of Moses We might rather affirm if it were needful that Moses his meaning is All these were Kings in Edom before his own time Who was the first King in Israel Deut. XXXIII 5. For he truly exercised Royal Authority over them as Mr. Selden observes L. II. de Synedr cap. 1 2. Ver. 32. The name of his City was Dinhabah Of which he was Governor perhaps before he was made King and wherein he reigned Ver. 33. Of Bozrah Which was afterward the principal City of the whole Country as we read in the Prophet Isaiah XXXIV 6. and Jeremiah XLIX 3. and Amos I. 12. It seems by
word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that which the Hebrews properly use in Divorces And therefore denotes they think that the Lord put him away from his Presence as a Man did his Wife to whom he gave a Bill of Divorce Or as a Prince banishes a Subject that hath rebelled against him whom he sends into Exile out of his own Country And he placed at the East of the Garden This shows the Entrance into Paradise was from the East At which Entrance Adam being cast out it is likely he afterward inhabited some of the Eastern Countries Eutychius Patriarch of Alexandria saith a Mountain in India which the Mahometans commonly call Sarandib as Mr. Selden observes L. I. De Synedr Cap. II. p. 452 c. But Aben Ezra's Conjecture seems more reasonable That he dwelt in some Country not far from Paradise Cherubims Some of the heavenly Ministers that waited upon the Divine Majesty Who were called by this Name in Moses his time when he wrote this History in the Wilderness after the giving of the Law For the Glory of the LORD I take it here appeared at the expulsion of Adam and Eve in a most dreadful manner to deterr them from attempting to come near this Place again for fear of being consumed And a flaming Sword Or flame of a Sword Concerning which Maimonides thus discourses P. I. More Nevoch cap. 4. Our wise Men understand by lahat flame an Angel According to that of the Psalmist He maketh his Angels Spirits His Ministers lohet a flaming Fire Psalm CIV 4. That is one of the Seraphims or a flaming Angel in the form of a flying fiery Saraph or Serpent whose Body moving in the Air resembled the vibrations of a Sword was appointed with the Cherubims to guard the Entrance of the Garden For the Cherubims and Seraphims are frequently mentioned in Scripture as Attendants upon the SCHECHINAH or Divine Majesty Which appeared here in great Glory at the Passage into the Garden of Eden as it did in after-times at the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation of Israel to their great astonishment Which turned every way Angels says Maimonides in the fore-named place can turn themselves into all forms and Shapes Some of which strike greater Terror into those that behold them than others do But I take this expression not to signifie mutation of Shapes but the motion of the Angel Which was so very swift and glittering that devouring Flames seemed to come streaming out on every side To keep the way of the Tree of Life To secure the Passage into the Garden of Eden where this Tree was that none should dare to attempt a re-entrance But Adam was so far from thinking of this that if the Eastern Traditions were to be credited I should add He plunged himself into the deepest Sorrow for a long time bewailing his Sin begging Pardon c. till God dispatcht an Angel to Comfort him and further assure him of his Favour Which being but probable Conjectures I say no more of such Matters Nor can I assert with any degree of Confidence what our great Primate of Ireland says in his Annals That it seems to have been the tenth Day of the World's Age when Adam was cast out of Paradise In Memory of which Calamity the Solemn Day of Expiation and the great Fast was instituted in after-times wherein all were to afflict their Souls Lev. XVI 29. This indeed is the Doctrine of the Jews who say The great Day of Expiation which was on the tenth of September was appointed and sanctified from the Creation of the World But there is no other Authority for it It will be more useful I think to observe what Footsteps there are of these things remaining in the Gentile World I will mention but two One of which is noted by Eusebius who shows L. XII Praepar Evang. cap. 11. that Plato in his Symposium hath preserved the Memory of Paradise His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Garden of Jupiter being the same with this Garden of God in which Man was at first placed The other by St. Austin who says Therecydes the Scholar of Pythagoras called the Beginner of Evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is a Daemon in the shape of a Serpent So Heideggerus observes out of him Exercit. IV. De Adamo Eva n. 82. CHAP. IV. Ver. 1. AND Adam knew Eve his Wife c. After they were thrown out of Paradise not before whatsoever some of the Jewish Doctors fansie to the contrary nay as some will have it after they had spent some time in Acts of Repentance which is not an improbable Opinion I have gotten a Man from the LORD i. e. The promised Messiah which she imagined would have been her first-born For the words of the Promise III. 15. might as well be expounded of the first Seed the Woman had as of any of his Posterity Ver. 2. She bare his Brother Abel But gives no reason of his Name which signifies Vanity as she did of Cain's which signifies Acquisition or Possession Nor is it said who gave this Second Son the Name of Abel But it seems they made no account of him in comparison with the First-born Quod non posuerunt in eo spem factae promissionis de Semine ut in Kain as Joh. Forsterus judiciously speaks in his Lexicon on the word Hevel because they did not place in him their hope of the promised Seed as they did in Cain And Abel was a keeper of Sheep c. The younger Son was a Shepherd and the elder an Husbandman and Planter For this last seems to have been Adam's chief Imployment both before and after his Fall Gen. II. 15. III. 23. and therefore either chosen by Cain in imitation of his Father or put upon him by his direction as the more noble of the two Whence the Eastern People gave him the Name of Abdalcariths which some mistook for another Son of Adam But in truth was another Name of Cain signifying a tiller of the Field as Mr. Selden shows L. V. De Jure N. G. cap. 8. The Patriarchs indeed after the Flood at least in Abraham's Family chose to feed Cattle But that was because it was less Laborious and more suitable to that unsetled Condition wherein they lived for many Years removing like the ancient Nomades from one Country to another Ver. 3. In process of time In the Hebrew the words are in the end of Days That is in the conclusion of the Year or after Harvest So Days signifie in many other places particularly Judg. XI 4. where after Days is after a Year This was a very seasonable time to make their grateful acknowledgments to God who had given them a fruitful Year and blessed them with increase Accordingly God ordained in future times that the Israelites should keep a solemn Feast in the Year's end to thank him for the ingathering of their Fruits Exod. XXIII 16. XXXIV 22. But in what Year of the World it was that
lessened by his forbearing them One hundred and twenty Years Which now we must suppose drew near to an end Verse 13. The observation of some of the Hebrew Doctors perhaps is too curious which is this That the Name of Jehovah which we translate LORD is used Verse 3. where the first mention is made of this matter for it betokens the clemency of the Divine Majesty till the One hundred and twenty Years were out and then Moses uses the Word Elohim which is a Name of Judgment the time of which was come For all flesh i. e. all Men had corrupted his way upon Earth Wholly departed from the Rule of Righteousness or had made their way of Life abominable throughout the whole World Ver. 13. The end of all flesh is come before me I am determined to make an end of i. e. to destroy all mankind shortly So it follows I will destroy them with the Earth i. e. With all the Beasts and the Fruits of the Earth Or from the Earth as it is in the Margin Ver. 14. Make thee an Ark. This Vessel was not in the form of one of our Ships or Boats For it was not made sharp forward to cut the Waves but broad like a Chest and therefore had a flat bottom with a Cover or a Roof We do not find it had any Rudder being steered by Angels Of Gopher-wood There are various opinions about Gopher which some take for Cedar others for Pine c. but our learned Nic. Fuller in his Miscellanies hath observed that it is nothing else but that which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Cypress-Tree For taking away the termination Cupar and Gophar differ very little in their sound Bochartus hath confirmed this and shown that no Country abounds so much with this Wood as that part of Assyria which was about Babylon Where Arrianus says Alexander built a Navy of these Trees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. L. VII for there is great plenty of these Trees alone in the Country of Assyria but of other fit for making Ships there is great scarcity Strabo saith the same L. XVI From whence Bochart thinks it probable that Noah and his Children lived in this Country before the Flood for it is not likely that such a vast Bulk as the Ark was carried far from the place where it was made And the Mountains of Ararat which he will have to be the Gordiaean Mountains are upon the borders of Assyria Northward which way the Wind blew if there were any in all likelyhood the Rain coming from the South Sea L. I. Phaleg c. 4. Rooms shalt thou make Little Cabbins or Cells to sever the Beasts from the Birds the clean Beasts from the unclean and to preserve their several sorts of Food And shalt pitch it c. So the Arabick translation expresly pitch it with pitch For the bitumen which was plentiful thereabouts which others think is here meant was of the same nature and served for the same use with Pitch Being very glutinous and tenacious to keep things close together But not only the Chinks were filled with it but the whole Body of the Ark seems to have been all over daubed with it Within To give a wholsome Scent some think among so many Beasts And without To make the Ark more glib and slippery to swim in the Water more easily Ver. 15. And this is the fashion c. There are those who take these for Geometrical Cubits every one of which contains Six of the common But there is no need of such For taking them for common Cubits containing each only one Foot and an half it is demonstrable there might be room enough in the Ark for all sorts of Beasts and Birds with Noah's Family and their necessary provision See Verse 20. Ver. 16. A Window shalt thou make to the Ark. To let in the Light into the several Apartments For which should we conceive that one great Window might be so contrived as to be sufficient I do not see how that would exclude many little ones here and there for greater convenience And in a Cubit shalt thou finish it above That is finish the Ark which had a Cover it is plain from VIII 13. and was made shelving that the Rain might slide off And the Door of the Ark shalt thou set in the side thereof But on what side or whereabouts on the side is not certain It is probable on one of the long sides and in the middle of it Patricides calls it the Eastern side With lower second and third Stories c. That Arabian Author and Pirke Elieser Cap. 23. place Noah and his Family in the uppermost Story the Birds in the middle and the Beasts in the lowest But they forget to leave a place for their Provision And therefore they make a better distribution who think the Beasts were bestowed in the lower Story and that the third served for the Birds with Noah and his Family The second between both being left for the Stores that were to be laid in of Meat and Drink for them all The creeping things some think might well live in the space between the lower Story and the bottom of the Ark. Ver. 17. And behold I even I do bring a Flood of Waters c. i. e. They shall unavoidably be all swept away for I my self will bring a Deluge upon them Not an ordinary Flood but one of which I will appear to be the Author All Nations it plainly appears by such Records as remain had heard something of this Flood Lucian in his Dea Syria tells a long story of it out of the Archives of Hierapolis very like to this of Moses only he puts the Name of Deucalion instead of Noah Plutarch mentions the Dove sent out of the Ark. And so doth Abydenus mentioned by Eusebius L. IX Praepar Evang. c. 12. speak of Birds in general which being sent out returned again to the Ship finding no place to rest in but there only Josephus mentions a great many more not only Berosus the Chaldaean but Hieronymus Aegyptius who wrote the Ancient Phoenician History Mnaseas Nicholaus Damascenus with many others St. Cyril also L. I. against Julian quotes a passage out of Alexander Polyhistor wherein is part of the Story only he calls Noah by the Name of Xisuthros as Abydenus calls him Seisithrus in the Dialect of the Assyrians as some conjecture And now it appears that the Americans have had a Tradition of it as credible Authors Acosta Herrera and others inform us which saith The whole Race of Mankind was destroyed by the Deluge except some few that escaped They are the words of Augustin Corata concerning the Peruvian Tradition And Lupus Gomara saith the same from those of Mexico And if we can believe Mart. Martinius his History of China there is the like among the People of that Country Ver. 18. And with thee I will establish my Covenant I will make good the Promise I have made thee
dwell in the Tents of Shem. i. e. His Territories shall be so dilated that in future times he shall possess some of his Brother's Countries Which is also prophesied of Numb XXIV 24. where it is said they of Cittim shall afflict the Children of Assur and Eber i. e. Afflict the Assyrians and the Hebrews who were of the Posterity of Shem. And so both the Greeks and the Romans did who invaded and conquered that part of Asia which belonged to Shem. The Chaldee Paraphrast gives a Spiritual Interpretation of this Passage which is very apt That the Gentiles should come into the Church which was in the Family of Shem. And it is very remarkable which is observed by our Mr. Mede B. I. Disc 48. That all the Offspring of Japhet are at this day Christians Magog only excepted i. e. the Turks whom God seems to have reserved as he did some of the Canaanites in the Land of Israel to prove and punish us withall Our learned N. Fuller gives a quite different Interpretation from all these making God the Subject of this Speech not Japhet and thus translates it God shall dwell in the Tents of Shem among them shall be the Schechinah or the Divine Majesty But this doth not agree with what follows And Canaan shall be his servant The Greeks and Romans descended from Japhet conquered Canaan And whatsoever Relicks there were of them any where for instance at Tyre built by the Sidonians at Thebes by Cadmus at Carthage by Dido they were all cut off by the Greeks or Romans It is observed by Campanella That None are descended from Cham but Slaves and Tyrants who are indeed Slaves Cap. IV. De Mon. Hispan But Mr. Mede's Observation is more pertinent in the fore-named Discourse p. 358. There hath never yet been a Son of Cham that hath shaken a Scepter over the Head of Japhet Sem hath subdued Japhet and Japhet subdued Sem But Cham never subdued either Which made Hannibal a Child of Canaan cry out with amazement of Soul Agnosco fatum Carthaginis I acknowledge the Fate of Carthage Livy L. XXVII in fine Ver. 28. And Noah lived after the Flood three hundred and fifty Years Which was of great Advantage for the certain Propagation of the Knowledge of those things before related and of those that follow in the next Chapter For he died not above two and thirty Years before Abraham was born CHAP. X. Ver. 1. NOW these are the Generations of the Sons of Noah c. As he had often before mentioned the three Sons of Noah so now he mentions them again being to give an Account of their Children by whom the Earth was peopled after the Flood And he reckons them in the same order he had always done VI. 10. VII 13. IX 18. first Shem then Ham and last of all Japhet But it is observable that in the next Verse he gives an Account first of the Sons of Japhet Who was indeed the eldest There is great use of this Genealogy as Maimonides shows Par. III. More Nev. c. 50. because the Doctrine of the Creation of the World which is the Foundation of the Law i. e. of Religion would not have been so easily believed if Moses had not given an Account of the Succession of Mankind from the first Man to the Flood and from the Flood to his own time Showing from whom all Nations were derived and how they came to be dispersed Shem is named first of Noah's Sons because the blessed Seed was to spring out of his Family In which the true Religion was preserved Which was soon lost in the Posterity of the other two among whom their Names remained in great Honour For Ham was the Heathen Jupiter who was called Hammon in Egypt which it will appear was part of Ham's Portion and is called the Land of Ham as every one knows in many places of the Psalms And accordingly the same Country is called by Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Japhet also seems to have been the same with Japetus whom the Greeks own to have been their Father Nor do they know any Name of greater Antiquity which made them give it to decrepit Persons as many particularly Bochart have observed and it became a Proverb in that Country Older than Japetus Whom their Poets feign to have attempted War against Jupiter because of the Dissentions which the unlikeness of their Manners begat between them Which seems to be nothing but the Story in Chapter IX of this Book verse 22. For Ham as I said is the Heathen Jupiter Ver. 2. The Sons of Japhet Were seven the eldest of which Gomer had three Sons and the fourth Javan had four Whose Names we have in the following Verses Gomer It 's hard at this distance to find what Country was peopled by his Posterity but Bochartus in his Phaleg hath made such probable Conjectures about this and all that follow from other Scriptures and from neighbouring Places and the Relicks of their Names in ancient Geographers and such-like things that they carry a great appearance of Truth in them Our famous Cambden in his Account of the first Inhabitants of Britain thinks that the Cimbri and Cimmerii descended from this Gomer who gave them their Name and that the old Britains came from him because they call themselves Kumero Cymro and Kumeri which seems to denote them the Posterity of Gomer But this as also the Notion of Ludov. Capellus in his Chron. Sacra p. 104. who if this of Mr. Camben be not accepted propounds another of the Comari and Chomari a People in Scythia mentioned by Ptolomy within the Mountain Imaus near Bactriana is confuted by what we read in Ezekiel who makes Gomer to have been a Neighbour of Torgamah Ezek. XXXVIII 6. And Torgamah was a Nation that usually went to the Marts of Tyre XXVII 14. and consequently were not seated in the furthermost part of the North but as will appear afterward not very far from Tyre And in some Country thereabouts we must seek for Gomer Who it 's likely gave Phrygia its Denomination For a part of it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Diodorus and Hesychius because it look'd as if it were burnt Such was all the Country about Cayster Maeander and the City Philadelphia Now this is the very signification of Gomer For in the Hebrew Gamar is to consume and so the Chaldee and Syriac frequently use it Whence Gumra or Gumro is a Coal And Phrygia is of the same signification for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek is to torrifie which being the Name of part of the Country in time became the Name of the whole Magog The second Son of Japhet was in all likelihood the Father of the Scythians which is the Opinion of Josephus Theodoret St. Hierom and others For all that is said in Scripture about Magog exactly agrees to them as Bochartus hath shown at large out of Ezekiel L. III. Phaleg c. 13. Madai From him the Country of Media
took its Name Where he and his Children setled And it is the farthermost Country Eastward where any of the Posterity of Japhet inhabited What is the Name of this Country at present is not easie to tell the ancient name and limits of Countries so remote being quite worn out of memory But it is no improbable Conjecture of Bochartus L. III. c. 14. That the ancient Sarmatae took their Name from this Man Sear or Sar-Madai being in Chaldee as much as the Relicks of Madai or the Medes Dr. Jackson I think hath well observed Book I. c. 16. that Scythia or the North part of Asia-Minor and other parts adjacent were inhabited by the Sons of Japhet before they came into Greece where the next Son setled or the other parts of Europe Javan Planted himself in Greece under which word is comprehended not only Achaia and the rest of the Countries thereabout but even Macedonia and the Nations neighbouring to it towards the West The Sea that washes them being called the Ionian Sea And indeed the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking away the Vowels may be either read Javan or Ion. From whence the Iones whom Homer calls Jaones which is near to Javan which a Persian in Aristophanes his Acharnenses pronounces Jaonau As Grotius observes Annot. in L. I. De V. R. C. Hence Daniel calls Alexander who came out of Macedonia the King of Javan VIII 21. And the Chaldee Paraphrase hath here instead of Javan Macedonia See Bochart L. III. c. 3. Tubal and Meshech These two are constantly joyned together by Ezekiel in many places XXVII 13. XXXII 26 c. Which is a sign these two Brothers planted themselves not far from one another And no Conjecture seems so probable as that of Bochartus who takes these to be the People whom the Greeks call Moschi and Tibareni Who are as constantly joyned together in Herodotus as Moschech and Tubal are in Ezekiel And none need wonder that Tubal was changed into Tubar and then into Tibar For nothing was more common among the Greeks than to change the Letter L into R as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Belial and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Phicol c. The Moschi inhabited the Mountains called Moschici North-East of Cappadocia and all the Mountains as Bochart thinks from the River Phasis to the Pontus-Cappadodicus The Tibareni were in the middle between the Trapezuntii and the Inhabitants of Armenia the less So Strabo describes them who was born not far from these Countries and had reason to know them Nor is this a new Opinion of Bochart's that the Tibareni came from Tubal For Epiphanius in his Ancorats mentions among the Descendants of Japhet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 together with the Chalybes and Mossynaeci Whom our Broughton follows Tiras Or Thiras the youngest of the Sons of Japhet possessed Thrace and Mysia and the rest of Europe towards the North. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Thiras or Thras by the change of the Letter Samech into Xi Which in the Greek Alphabet received from the Phoenicians answers to the Letter Samech so that some of the Hebrews write Thracia with an s Thrasia And a Thracian Woman is called by the Greeks themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which comes very near to Thiras And that great Man Bochartus says a great deal more to confirm this which was the Opinion he shows of many of the Ancients Phaleg L. III. c. 2. And in late times of Ludovicus Capellus who adds that possibly Tros and Troes were derived from this Thiras Ver. 3. And the Sons of Gomer Now follows an Account of those that descended from the eldest Son of Japhet Ashkenaz was the eldest Son of Gomer whose Posterity setled in Bithynia where we find the foot-steps of his Name in the Sinus Ascanius and Ascanius Lacus and Amnis and in Troas and the lesser Phrygia In which is a Country and a City called Ascania and Ascaniae-Insulae Into which Country the Offspring of Ashkenaz brought Colonies from Gomer or the greater Phrygia And extended themselves to the Sea Which being called by the People upon the Coast Ascenaz was pronounced by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which being an odious Name in their Language signifying inhospitable they changed it into the contrary and called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Euxin Sea See more in the fore-named Author L. III. c. 9. Ludov. Capellus hapned upon the same Conjecture Riphath or Diphath as it is written in 1 Chron. 1.6 Whose Posterity Josephus thinks to have inhabited Paphlagonia Which is a Country near to Phrygia upon the Euxine Sea And there are remainders of the Name in several places both ways written with Resh or with Daleth as Bochart shows L. III. c. 10. Mela places the Riphaces in this Country as Grotius observes Annot. in L. I. De V. R. C. Togarmah His Posterity it is manifest setled Northward of Judaea by that place in Ezek. XXXVIII 6. where the Greek Scholiast saith some hereby understand the Cappadocians and Galatians And indeed Cappadocia lies near to Gomer or Phrygia with whom Togarmah is wont to be joyn'd And in respect of Judaea it lies Northward And was most famous for excellent Horses which the Prophet saith came from Togarmah Ezek. XXVII 14. The Greek Interpreters constantly write it Torgama or Thorgama from whence the Name of the Trogmi or Trocmi may well be thought to be derived Who Strabo saith L. XII lived near Pontus and Cappadocia And it appears by Ptolomy they possessed some Cities in Cappadocia it self This People are called by Stephanus Trocmeni and in the Council of Chalcedon Trocmades or Trogmades For their Bishop is often mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Bochart in the same Book Cap. 11. Ver. 4. And the Sons of Javan Having told us what Sons Gomer had he informs us who had descended from Javan Who had four Sons that gave Names to four Provinces Elishah His first-born inhabited Peloponnesus In which their was an ample Country called by the Ancients Elis and one part of it called by Homer Alisium I omit the other Arguments whereby Bochartus proves this to be the part of the Earth where Elishah's Posterity setled not far from their Father Javan Nay Ludovicus Capellus p. 105. Chronol Sacra thinks the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aeoles and the Country Aeolia had its Name from thence Tarshish Or Tarsis Neither peopled Ciliciae where we meet with a like Name nor the Coast about Carthage as some of the Ancients thought but as Eusebius and from him our Broughton and lately Bochart have observed from him came the Iberi in Spain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which Name of Iberi came as Bochart thinks from the Phoenicians who called the Bochart and utmost Limits of any thing Ebrim or Ibrim a word often used in the Syriack Version of the Psalms and the New Testament From whence it is not unlikely the Spaniards were called by this Name of
Iberi because they were thought to possess the utmost Ends of the Earth Westward However we may well think Tarshish to be Spain or that part of it which was most frequented by the Phoenicians viz. About Gades and Tartessus As Bochartus I think hath proved by evident Arguments fetched chiefly from what Ezekiel says of Tarsis XXVII 12. and comparing it with this Country L. III. Phaleg c. 7. Kittim The same Author hath proved by solid Arguments and by good Authority that from him came the People who inhabited Italy In which there were anciently many footsteps of this Name For there was in Latium it self a City called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Halycarnassaeus tells us Which was one of those seven great and populous Cities taken by Coriolanus as Plutarch in his Life tells us There was a River called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about Cumae mentioned by Aristotle as turning Plants into Stones And the very Name of Latines answers to Chittim For most say it comes à latendo being formed to express this ancient Scripture Name For Chetema in Arabick which is a branch of the Hebrew Tongue is to hide And Chetim is hidden and latent And so no doubt it was anciently used in Hebrew For what better sence can we make of those words of Jeremy II. 22. thy inquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is hidden or laid up with me According to an usual expression in Scripture Deut. XXXII 34. Job XXI 9. Hos XIII 12. where there are words of the like import with this That famous Man Bochart saith a great deal more to assert this L. III. c. 5. Dodanim He is called Rhodanim in 1 Chron. I. 7. By whom the Greek Interpreters understand the People of Rhodes and so do several of the Ancients but the Name of that Island is much later than Moses his time And therefore it is better to understand hereby that Country now called France Which was peopled by the Posterity of this Son of Javan Who when they came to this Coast gave Name as Bochart conjectures to the great River Rhodanus Where it is likely they first seated themselves and called the adjacent Coast Rhodanusia Which had anciently in it a City of the same Name mentioned by Stephanus and said to be seated in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in tractu Massiliensi where now stands Marseilles See Bochart L. III. c. 6. These Dodanites are never mentioned in any other places of Scripture which makes it the more difficult where to find them But this Account seems more probable than that of our learned Mede who places them in Epirus where there was a City called Dodona and part of Peloponnesus All which and several Countries thereabout seem to be comprehended under the Name of Javan Ver. 5. By these were the Isles of the Gentiles divided By the word Isles we commonly understand Countries compassed round about by the Sea But there were not such Islands enough to contain the Sons of Japhet though these were part of their Portion and therefore we must seek for another sence of this word Which the Hebrews use as Mr. Mede hath observed to signifie all those Countries divided from them by the Sea or such as they used not to go to but by Sea See Book I. Disc 47. Many places testifie this Isai XI 10 11. XL. 15. Jer. II. 10 c. Now if Moses wrote this Book in Egypt as he thinks it probable they commonly went from thence to Phrygia Cappadocia Paphlagonia by Sea as well as to Greece Italy c. To Media indeed he thinks they did not use to go by Sea and therefore makes this an Objection against Madai being the Father of the Medes For their Country cannot be called an Isle But the far greater part of the Regions peopled by the Sons of Japhet being such as he confesses the Hebrews call Isles Moses might well say the Isles of the Gentiles were parted among them though Media be comprehended which was not such an Isle But there is no need of all this if we take the word we translate Isle for a Region Country or Province And so it plainly signifies Job XXII 30. Isai XX. 6. where in the Margin we translate it Country And then the word Goim which we render Gentiles signifies a multitude of People as it doth often in Scripture Particularly Gen. XVII 4 16. And so we translate it Nations in the last word of this Verse and in the last Clause of this Chapter by these were the Goim Nations divided in the Earth Which may serve to explain this Phrase here which we may thus interpret by these or among these were divided the Regions of the People or Nations descended from Japhet in their Lands in the several Countries which they possessed Divided It appears by the following words according to his Language Family and Nation this great Division of the Earth was made orderly and not by a confused irregular Dispersion wherein every one went whither he listed and seated himself where he thought good This Mr. Mede thinks is also suggested in the very word we translate divided Which signifies not a scattered but a distinct Partition Every one after his Tongue or Language The same is said ver 20. and ver 31. of the Posterity of Cham and Shem. Which signifies they did not all speak the same Language but doth not prove that every one of the fore-mentioned People had a Language peculiar to themselves distinct from the rest and not understood by them As when Ahasuerus is said to have caused Letters to be written to an hundred twenty seven Provinces according to their Language and their Writing Esth XIII 9. it doth not prove there were so many several sorts of Writing and so many several Languages in his Empire But only that to each of them was directed a Letter in that Language which they spake After their Families in their Nations The Particle in denotes as Mr. Mede observes Families to be subordinate to Nations as parts to a whole Families are parts of a Nation and a Nation is an Off-spring containing many Families So here was a two-fold order in this Division First They were ranged according to their Nations and then every Nation was ranked by his Families So that every Nation had his Lot by himself and in every Nation the Families belonging to it had their Portion by themselves The number of Nations descended from Japhet were seven according to the number of his Sons who were all Founders of several Nations But the number of Families is not here intirely set down For Moses names only the Families of Gomer and Javan Whose Children perhaps are rather to be lookt upon as Founders of Nations and therefore mentioned by Moses when the Posterity of the rest are omitted Ver. 6. And the Sons of Ham. Having given an Account of the Sons and Grand-Sons of Japhet the eldest Son of Noah he next proceeds to the Sons of Ham the second Son of Noah which were Four
Thus part of Galilee being inhabited by a mixed People of divers Countries was thence called Galilee of the Nations or Gentiles Matth. IV. 15. There were also as Sir W. Raleigh observes several petty Countries which adjoyned to Phoenicia viz. Palmyrena Batanea Apamena Laodicene c. which lay towards Mesopotamia on the North and Arabia on the East over which we may suppose Tidal reigned Eupolemus an ancient Greek Writer relating this Story calls them Armenians who made this inrode upon the Phoenicians as Eusebius tells us out of Alexander Polyhistor L. IX Praepar Evang. c. 17. Ver. 2. These made war with Bera king of Sodom c. They were Lords of the Country called Pentapolis or five Cities Which were so small that there was no need to bring a great King from beyond Tigris with such a mighty Monarch as he of Babylon is thought now to have been and several other Nations between these Kings and Euphrates to subdue their petty Province It had been madness also for these Kings to resist such powerful Armies as the Eastern Kings are commonly supposed to have brought against them And therefore I think it reasonable by the Kings in the first Verse to understand some such petty Princes as these mentioned in the second Ver. 3. Valley of Siddim The five Cities stood in this goodly Valley which now is the Salt-Sea or Lake Since the overthrow of these Cities by Fire and Brimstone from Heaven Some will not have Siddim a proper Name but translate it ploughed Lands in which this Valley was very rich Ver. 4 Twelve Years they served Chedorlaomer c. This shows he was the Principal in this War And if he had been King of all that Country called Elam we cannot think he would have passed through so great a part of the World as Assyria Mesopotamia and part of Arabia to conquer five Towns All whose Riches could not countervail the Charge though he had sent only one of his Lieutenants with a small Force to bring them under Ver. 5. Smote the Rephaims In their way to Sodom they subdued these Warlike People who it is likely opposed their Passage into Pentapolis And these Rephaims it appears by XV. 20. were a part of Canaan's Posterity situate as one may gather from Josh XII 4. XIII 12. on the other side Jordan in Bashan or Batanea They were of a Giant-like Stature And therefore the LXX here and in other places instead of Rephaim have Giants Ashtaroth-Karnaim It is plain from the fore-named place and from Deut. I. 4. that Ashtaroth was a place in Bashan Whether so called because the Goddess Astarte i. e. Diana or Juno was here worshipped no Body can resolve They that are of this Opinion fansie that Karnaim which in Hebrew signifies two horned denotes the New Moon But this word may as well note that Ashtaroth was a City in the form of a half Moon And the Zuzims Another Warlike People thereabouts Who some think are the same with the Zamzummims Deut. II. 10. The Emims It appears from Deut. II. 9 10 c. that these were also a Gigantick People and near Neighbours to the Horites mentioned in the next Verse For the Emims possessed Ar and the Field of Kirjath-Jearim and the Horites possessed Mount Seir till the former were driven out by the Moabites and the latter by the Children of Esau And then the Country of the Emims was called Moab and the Country of the Horites was called Edom. Ver. 7. And they returned From the Conquest of the fore-named People And came to En-mishpat Fell upon this Country which was called afterward by this Name because God here judged the Israelites for their Murmurings and Contention with Moses From whence also it was called Kadesh because here the Lord was sanctified among them Numb XX. 13. All the Country of the Amalekites The Country which was afterwards possessed by the Amalekites who were not yet in being For they were the Descendants of Esau as Moses shows Gen. XXXVI 16. And also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon-Tamar Which is the same with En-Gaddi near the dead Sea 2 Chron. XX. 2. Ver. 10. Full of Slime-pits Into which they hoped their Enemies might fall and so be broken Which made them draw up their Army and wait for them in this place And the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrha fled Were routed as we now speak Of the word Slime see XI 3. And fell there i. e. A great slaughter was made of their Armies For they themselves escaped it appears by the following part of the Story Some will have it that many of them fell into those Slime-pits in which they hoped to have seen their Enemies plunged But the simplest Sence is many of them were slain and the rest as it follows escaped to the Mountain But made such ill use of their Preservation from being killed with their Fellows that they only lived to suffer a greater Vengeance Ver. 11. And they took all the Goods c. This is a further proof that Chedorlaomer and the rest of his Confederates in this War were but petty Princes like the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrha c. for having broken the Army of the Five Kings they rested contented and march'd away with the Prisoners and Booty but took not one of their Cities Which if they had been such great Kings as is imagined they would have certainly sack'd and perhaps burnt if they had not thought fit to keep them But we read Verse 17. the King of Sodom still reigned after this Victory and went out of his City to meet Abram Ver. 12. And they took Lot c. Who is here called his Brother's Son and Verse 14 and 16. Abram's Brother This was the Foundation of Abram's Quarrel with the Four Kings whose War was just against the King of Sodom and his Confederates But they unjustly seized upon Lot and his Goods who was but a Sojourner in that Country and had no hand in their Revolt Who dwelt in Sodom In the Country of Sodom where he hired some Ground for his Cattle but it is not likely he yet dwelt in the City for then he had not been taken Captive but afterwards for more security betook himself thither Ver. 13. Told Abram the Hebrew So called from his Ancestor Heber as was before observed To which may be added That if he had been called by this Name as many think only from his passing over Euphrates which the LXX took to be the reason when they translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it would not have descended to all his Posterity who did not come from beyond the River So little a thing as that would not have given a Name to a whole and eminent Nation who are usually denominated from some eminent Progenitor And these were confederate with Abram The three forenamed Families were near Neighbours to Abram who it is likely farmed as we now speak some Ground of them And so entred into a League of Mutual Defence having the
should one day make Discourse XXV where he observes that the more lively to express this God so disposed That the very Place where the Ram was offered instead of Isaac should be the Place of Sacrifice for Israel For there it was where the LORD answered David by Fire from Heaven 1 Chron. XXI 26. and so designed it for the Place he had chosen for his Altar There David pitched him a Tabernacle 1 Chron. XXII 1. and there Solomon built him an House 2 Chron. III. 1. Ver. 14. Jehovah-jireh The LORD will see or provide That is take care of their Safety who sted-fastly obey him As it is said to this day Which is thus called to this day Or as others interpret it now it is a proverbial Speech when Men are in great straits in the Mount of the LORD it shall be seen Where a double variation is observed from what was said before For here is Jehovah instead of Elohim verse 12. and then Jeraeh instead of jireh i. e. the Passive instead of the Active Signifying that the LORD will not only see or provide but make himself conspicuous by so providing that all shall behold the Care he takes of those that fear him Ver. 15. And the Angel of the LORD called c. This confirms what was noted on verse 12. that it was God himself who called to Abraham to stay his Hand and now says By my self have I sworn saith the LORD c. What can be clearer as Hackspan glosses Disput II. de Nominibus Divinis n. 16. than that we are to turn away our Eyes from the Angel and fix them upon God who blessed Abraham and is called the LORD for whose sake verse 12. Abraham spared not his only Son In all like Cases therefore which exceed the Angelical Dignity we are always to understand some such words as these here mentioned Neum Jehovah thus saith the LORD Ver. 16. By my self have I sworn c. I observed upon XII 7. and XVII 6. That God inlarged his Mercies to Abraham proportionable to his Obedience Which is apparent in this great and last Trial of all the offering his Son Which was rewarded by the Ratification of God's former Promise or Covenant by a most solemn Oath By my self have I sworn I will multiply thy Seed c. This was promised before but not confirmed by an Oath And besides the very Promise is now more Affectionate if I may so stile it in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee c. In the latter end also of the Blessing there seems to be couched the highest of all Blessings That God would make his own only Son such a Sacrifice as Abraham was ready to have made his Son Isaac That all the Nations of the World verse 18. might be blessed in him i. e. all that would follow the Faith of Abraham So Abarbinel himself interprets it upon XII 3. Ver. 17. Possess the Gates that is the Cities of his Enemies And consequently their Country For the Gates being taken thereby they entred into their Cities And their Cities being surrendred the Country was conquered Ver. 18. In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed God promised to make Abraham's Seed as numerous as the Stars of Heaven XV. 5. which Promise he assures him here shall be fulfilled in Isaac verse 17. But moreover directs him to expect after the multiplying of his Posterity One particular Seed who should bring a Blessing to all Mankind This Singularity St. Paul observes and presses very much Gal. III. 16. applying it to the Messiah And it is further observable that there is an increase of Sence in these words as there is in the former For he doth not simply say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall be blessed but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall bless themselves or count themselves blessed in him To show as Jacobus Altingius thinks that this Person should not stand in need of any Blessing himself as the rest of Abraham's Seed did But be the Author of all Blessings unto others who should derive them from him alone L. II. Schilo c. 2. Because thou hast obeyed c. As a Reward the word in the Hebrew signifies for obeying my Voice Ver. 19. Went together to Beer-sheba Where he had for some time setled his abode XXI 33. Ver. 20. Milcah hath born Children c. The following Genealogy is set down to show whence Rebekah the Wife of Isaac was descended For she alone of all Bethuel's Daughters which is probable were many is mentioned verse 23. Ver. 21. Huz his first-born There were two other of this Name One the Son of Aram X. 23. another of the Posterity of Esau XXXVI 28. But this Vz here mentioned is be from whom Job descended Whose Country was called Ausitis so the LXX translate Vz Job I. 1. and his Posterity called Ausitae by Ptolemy who were a People of Arabia Deserta near Chaldaea not far from Euphrates Buz. From whom came Elihu the Buzite Job XXXII 2. a People in some part of the same Country or near it Aram. Who inhabited perhaps some part of Syria Which had the Name of Aram from another mentioned X. 23. Ver. 22. Chesed He was the Father of the Chaldaeans who are called Chasdim in Scripture from this Chesed or Chasad as some read it Where the rest that follow setled or whether they had any Posterity or no I cannot find It 's likely they never grew to make a Nation or a Family and so left no Name behind them Ver. 24. And his Concubine This was not an ill Name in these ancient Times But signifies a Wife who was not the Mistress of the Family but only taken for the increase of it by Procreation of Children Such Wives were generally Servants whereas the Prime Wife was a Free-Woman or made so by being married to govern the Family and bring Children to inherit the Estate CHAP. XXIII Ver. 1. AND Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty c. The whole Verse may be thus translated And the years of the life of Sarah were in the whole an hundred twenty and seven years It being usual with the Hebrews to repeat a word as Life is here when they would signifie any thing to be compleat And Sarah is the only Woman whose intire Age is set down in Scripture Ver. 2. Kirjath-arba i. e. The City of Arba who was a famous Man among the Anakims as we read Josh XIV ult and either built this City or made it the place of his residence from whence it took his Name It doth not appear when Abraham left Beer-sheba and removed to this place The same is Hebron A very ancient City as appears from Numb XIII 22. When it assumed this Name instead of Kirjath-Arba is not certain But some conjecture it might be after Abraham purchased a Burial-place in this Country See XIII 18. Abraham came Some fansie he was in some other Part of the Country
Sabaei in the furthermost parts of Arabia near the Persian and the Red-Sea there were also a People of that Name descended it is very probable from this Son of Jokshan in the very Entrance of Arabia Foelix as Strabo tells us Who says that they and the Nabataei were the very next People to Syria And were wont to make Excursions upon their Neighbours By which we may understand which otherwise could not be made out how the Sabaeans broke into Job's Country and carried away his Cattle For it is not credible they could come so far as from the Persian or Arabian Sea But from this Country there was an easie Passage through the Desarts of Arabia into the Land of Vz or Ausitis which lay upon the Borders of Euphrates See Bochart in his Phaleg L. IV. cap. 9. And Dedan There was one of this Name as I said before the Son of Rhegma Gen. X. 7. who gave Name to a City upon the Persian Sea now called Dadan But besides that there was an Inland City called Dedan in the Country of Idumaea mentioned by Jeremiah XXV 23. XLIX 8. whose Inhabitants are called Dedanim Isai XXI 13. And this Dedan here mentioned may well be thought to be the Founder of it as the same Bochart observes L. IV. cap. 6. And the Sons of Dedan were Ashurim and Letushim and Leummim If these were Heads of Nations or Families the memory of them is lost For it is a mistake of Cleodemus who mentions the first of these in Euseb Praepar Evang. L. IX c. 20. to derive the Assyrians from this Ashurim They having their Original from Ashur one of the Sons of Shem X. 22. Ver. 4. And the Sons of Midian Ephah The Name of Ephah the eldest Son of Midian continued a long time for these two are mentioned by Isaiah as near Neighbours LX. 6. And not only Josephus Eusebius and St. Hierom but the Nubiensian Geographer also tells us of a City called Madian in the Shoar of the Red-Sea Near to which was Ephah in the Province of Madian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epha or Hipha is the same with that Place the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Ptolomy mentions both a Mountain and a Village of this Name on the same Shoar a little below Madiane which is the Madian here mentioned as Bochart observes in his Hierozoic P. I. L. 2. cap. 3. And Epher I can find no remainders of his Family unless it be among the Homeritae before-mentioned whose Metropolis was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In which Theophilus sent by Constantius to convert that Country built a Church as Philostorgius relates L. III. Hist Eccles § 4. Which City is mentioned by many other Authors as Jacobus Gotofredus observes in his Dissertations upon Philostorgius Particularly by Arrianus in his Periplus of the Red-Sea where he calls the Metropolis of the Homeritae expresly by the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which one cannot well doubt came from this Epher And Hanoch In that part of Arabia Foelix where the Adranitae were seated there was a great trading Town called Cane as Ptolomy tells us and shows its distance from Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. VIII Pliny also mentions a Country in Arabia which he calls Regio Canauna which may be thought to have taken its Name from this Person and his Posterity And Abidah The Relicks of this Name remain if the two last Syllables as is usual be inverted in the People called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who lived in an Island called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which lay between Arabia and India and is by Authors said to belong sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other Philostorgius saith only they bear the Name of Indians in the place before-named where he saith Theophilus who was sent to convert the Homerites was born here But Pliny reckoning up the Tracts of Arabia places the Isle called Devadae which I take to be this over against the fore-named Region called Canauna L. VI. cap. 28. And Strabo as Gothofred observes Agatharcides and others call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Eldaah I know not where to find any Remains of this Name unless it be in the City Elana which might easily be formed from Eldaah by leaving out the Daleth and turning the Ain into Nun than which nothing more common which was seated in the Sinus Arabicus toward the East called by others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aelana from whence the Sinus it self was called Elanites and the People that lived in it Elanitae as Salmasius shows out of many Authors Exercit. in Solinum p. 482. Ver. 5. Gave all he had to Isaac As he designed long before XXIV 36. Ver. 6. Sons of his Concubines Which were Hagar and Keturah Who were Wives but of an inferior sort according to the manner of those Times and Countries Keturah is expresly called his Concubine 1 Chron. I. 32. as she is above verse 1. of this Chapter called his Wife Which R. Bechai in Mr. Selden cap. 3 de Successionibus thus explains She was his Concubine because of a servile Condition but his Wife because married with Covenants to provide for her and her Children though they were not to heir his Estate The Talmudists indeed do not perfectly agree in this matter For though they all agree and prove it evidently that they were real Wives yet some say they were made so only by Solemn Espousals without any Marriage Settlement in Writing as the principal Wives had Others think they had a Writing also but not with such Conditions as the principal Wives enjoyed Abarbinel hath an accurate Discourse about this which Buxtorf hath translated into his Book de Sponsalibus n. 17. And see also Mr. Selden L. V. de Jure N. G. cap. 7. p. 570 c. and G. Sckickard de Jure Regio cap. 3. p. 70. Gave gifts Some Portion of his Money or moveable Goods Or perhaps of both Which in all probability he gave to Ishmael as well as to these Sons though it be not mentioned Gen. XXI 14. because Moses here saith he gave Gifts to the Sons of his Concubines of which Hagar was one Into the East Country Into Arabia and the adjacent Countries as was said before For the Midianites are called the Children of the East in Judg. VI. 3 33. VII 12. VIII 10. Ver. 7. These are the Days of the Years of Abraham c. This is spoken by anticipation to finish the Story of Abraham for Esau and Jacob were born before he died And were now fifteen Years old For Isaac was but sixty Years old when they were born verse 26. and seventy five when Abraham died Who was an hundred Years old at Isaac's birth and lived to the Age of one hundred seventy and five Ver. 8. Abraham gave up the ghost Died of no Disease but old Age. In a good old Age. Without Pain or Sickness Full of Years The Hebrew hath only the word full We add
Years to make up the Sence Which some think rather to be this That he was satisfied and had enough of this World desiring to live no longer Like that Expression in Seneca Epist LXI Vixi Lucili charissime quantum satis est mortem plenus expecto Gathered to his People It doth not relate to his Body which was not buried with them and therefore must relate to his Soul which is supposed by this still to live in that place where his pious Fore-fathers were gone Or else it is an Hebrew Idiotism signifying no more but that he left this World as all his Fathers had done before him Ver. 9. His Sons Isaac and Ishmael c. By this it appears that Isaac and Ishmael were not strangers one to another Nay some of the Orientals tell us that Abraham went to see Ishmael at his House and that Ishmael came to see him after he was sent away Which is not at all improbable For no doubt Abraham provided for him suitable to the Condition of his Birth And Ishmael could not but be convinced that the Inheritance of his Father belonged of right to Isaac who was the Son of a Free-Woman and he only of a Bond-Woman Nor could he well be ignorant that Isaac was to be Heir of Abraham's Estate by God's Designation In the Field of Ephron c. See XXIII 17. Ver. 11. Isaac dwelt by the Well Lahai-roi He continued after Abraham's death his former Habitation which he had when he married XXIV 62. Ver. 12. Now these are the Generations of Ishmael c. Having mentioned the Blessing of God which went along with Isaac after his Father's death in the foregoing Verse he takes this occasion to show that God was not unmindful of his Promise made to Abraham concerning Ishmael also XVII 20. Ver. 13. Nebaioth As he was the first-born of Ishmael so his Posterity gave the denomination to the whole Country of Arabia Petraea in the best part of which see verse 3. they inhabited which Pliny Strabo and Ptolomy call Nabataea and sometimes other Authors call Nabathis As the Inhabitants were called Nabataei who are mentioned also by Dionysius Periegetes in his Description of the World and by Plutarch in the Life of Demetrius who he saith was sent to subdue the Arabs called Nabataei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he was in great danger to perish by falling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into places where there was no Water These are commonly called in Scripture Ishmaelites as if they had been the sole Heirs of their Progenitor And they dwelt near to the Midianites their half Brethren for in the Story of Joseph he is said in one place to be sold unto the Ishmaelites in another to the Midianites Gen. XXXVII 27 28 36. they being Neighbours and Co-partners in Traffick The Country of Moab also was near to these Nabataei as appears from Epiphanius Haeres LIII where speaking of the Countries that lay beyond the Dead-Sea he mentions this which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Region of Nebaioth Ituraea and Moabitis See Salmasius Plin. Exercit. p. 615. Kedar His Posterity called Kedareni were also seated in Arabia Petraea together with their elder Brother And their Name also was so famous that some Authors call the whole Country Kedar For the Language of Kedar is the Arabian Language And when David complains that he had dwelt long in the Tents of Kedar the Chaldee expounds it in the dwelling of the Arabians But those Arabians called Scenitae were properly the People of Kedar And yet not all the Scenitae i. e. all the Arabs who dwelt in Tents but those only who dwelt in Arabia Petraea For there were divers kinds of them all called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some near Euphrates others in Arabia Foelix c. as Salmasius shows in his Plin. Exercit. p. 484. Some take them to be the same with those whom Ptolomy calls Pharanitae For what the Psalmist calls dwelling among the Tents of Kedar is called 1 Sam. XXVI 1. dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran Pliny only says Pharanitis bordered upon the Arabs in or a contermina gentis Arabiae and so later Writers make Pharan and Arabia Petraea to be near Neighbours as the same Salmasius shows p. 485. Ver. 14. Dumah He seems by Isaiah XXI 11. to have been seated near Idumaea Ver. 15. Hadar Some think the Athritae in Arabia Foelix came from him In which likewise there was a City called Tema from the next Son of Ishmael And Jetur the next Son to him may well be thought to have been the Father of the Ituraei in Coelo-Syria And Kedemah the last of his Sons to have dwelt near his Brother Kedar For so Jacobus Capellus expounds those words Jer. XLIX 28. Go up to Kedar and spoil the Men of Kedem which we translate the Men of the East And there are some other People in those Countries whose Names sound something like the rest of the Sons of Ishmael but not so like as these I have mentioned Which makes me omit all further search after them enough having been said to show the truth of this Account which Moses gives us of Ishmael's Posterity Ver. 16. These are their Names by their Towns Though some of them dwelt in Tents and thence were called Scenitae Arabes yet they did not live so scatteringly but pitched them together and made a Town And their Castles They had even then Places of Defence Which may make it probable that they had also walled Towns to which they resorted from their Tents in the Fields when they were in any danger Isai XLII 11. For it must be here noted That as there were divers People of this Name of Scenitae Arabes so there was this difference among them as Salmasius observes in the fore-named place that some of them were Nomades who wandred from place to place others of them were not Particularly the Sabaean Scenitae and most of the rest dwelt in Tents but were fixed in their Habitations and did not remove from one place to another As those that dwelt in Mesopotamia did who were both Scenitae and also Nomades They therefore who were setled in Tents as the Sons of Ishmael were had reason to build Fortresses for the security of their slender Habitations Twelve Princes according to their Nations Or rather as Dr. Jackson well glosses Book I. on the Creed c. 25. twelve Heads of so many several Houses Tribes or Clans Which kind of Government they continued till four hundred Years after Christ and is better expressed by Heathen Writers than by many Christian Interpreters when they call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers of their Tribes as Strabo speaks L. XVI in his Description of Syria And so the later Writers speak of the Saracens who were the same People formerly called Scenitae Arabes whose Governors they called Phylarchi Saracenorum as may be seen in Sextus Rufus and Jornandes See Salmas as before p. 484 485. Ver. 17. Gathered unto his People The same
Phrases being used here of the death of Ishmael that were Verse 8. of the death of Abraham they show the meaning is no more but that they left the World as others had done before them We do not read where Ishmael was buried It is likely in his own Country not in the Cave of Machpelah For that had been to give his Posterity a claim to a share in the Land of Canaan Ver. 18. They dwelt from Havilah unto Shur c. See Gen. X. 7. Josephus L. I. Antiq. cap. 12. makes the Ishmaelites to have possessed the whole Tract between Euphrates and the Red-Sea Which appears by this place not to be true For between them and Euphrates were the Amalekites and Moabites who did not reach to Euphrates neither The Ishmaelites therefore possessed the Country which in that part Eastward that was next to the Amalekites was called the Wilderness of Havilah and in that part next to Egypt was called the Wilderness of Shur And in other places of Scripture is called Kedar the Wilderderness of Paran and the Wilderness of Sin All which was comprehended afterward under the Name of Arabia For Stephanus as Salmasius observes Plin. Exerc. p. 488. makes but two Arabia's One which he calls the Spicy between the Persian and the Arabian Sea The other on one end of it Westward was next to Egypt on the other end Northward next to Syria As thou goest towards Assyria The Wilderness of Shur was over against Egypt and touched it in that part by which the Way lay from Egypt to Assyria Or as some understand the whole Verse The Sons of Ishmael dwelt from Shur which is towards Egypt unto Havilah which is towards Assyria in the way from Egypt thither He died Heb. fell in the presence of all his Brethren Of all his Relations or Kindred Which are call'd Brethren in Scripture But his death has been spoken of before and in this Verse mention being made only of the situation of his Country some interpret it in this manner His Lot fell i. e. he had his Portion in the presence of all his Brethren According to the Promise made to his Mother XVI 12. The Children of Keturah lying on the East of his Country and Isaac's Seed on the West Or if we take it to relate to his death it may have the same Sence Till death he dwelt in the presence of all his Brethren and was in a flourishing condition Ver. 19. These are the Generations of Isaac His principal design being to give an Account of those descended from Abraham by Isaac Moses returns to that after a short Account of his other Posterity Ver. 20. The Syrian of Padan-Aram c. Bethuel and Laban are called Aramites or Syrians not because they were of that Nation but because they lived in the Country of Aram or Syria that is in Padan-Aram as it is here explained and appears more fully from Rebekah's discourse with her Son Jacob when she sent him thither XXVIII 2 5. where he living twenty Years with his Uncle Laban was upon that account called a Syrian though born in Canaan Deut. XXVI 5. Padan-Aram was a part of Mesopotamia I say a part of it for Mesopotamia it self was called Aram-Naharaim that part of Syria for there were many other Aram's which lay between the two great Rivers of Euphratis and Tigris Which Country had two parts also One toward the North from the Mountains of Armenia to the River Chaboras i. e. Araxes from whence Balaam seems to have been fetcht Numb XXIII 7. which was exceeding fruitful and upon that account called Padan Which signifies in Arabick the same that Sede doth in Hebrew i. e. a Field And therefore what Moses calls going to Padan-Aram Gen. XXVIII 2. the Prophet Hosea calls fleeing to Sede-Aram into the Country or Field of Syria Hosea XII 12. This being a cultivated Country abounding with all plenty The other part of Mesopotamia was Southerly from the fore-named River unto Babylon And was very stony and barren The Syrians lived in the former And the Arabians in the latter as Bochart observes L. II. Phaleg cap. 6. Ver. 21. Isaac intreated the LORD for his Wife c. The Hebrew word Atar doth not signifie barely to intreat or pray But to beseech with earnestness vehemence and importunity It 's most likely he continued these importunate Prayers several Years The desire of seeing the Messiah making them very uneasie under barrenness And some of the Hebrews fansie That she remaining barren twenty Years Isaac at last carried her with him to Mount Moriah where he should have been offered and there made most fervent Supplications for a Son As if he would remember God of the Promise he had there made him that he would multiply Abraham's Seed as the Stars of Heaven XXII 17. Ver. 22. And the Children strugled together within her Some time before her delivery verse 24. she felt as if two were wrestling together in her Womb And put her into Pangs by striving which should get out first If it be so why am I thus If I cannot be delivered why did I conceive And she went The Strugling and Pangs we must suppose ceased for some time So that she was able to go and consult the Divine Majesty about this unusual Contest To enquire of the LORD There was some Place where the Divine Majesty used to appear which was the setled Place of Worship See IV. 3. Maimonides will have it that she went to the School of Sem or Heber who were Prophets to desire them to consult the Divine Majesty about her Case More Nevoch P. II. cap. 41. And it is very probable that there was some divinely-inspired Person attending the SCHECHINAH wheresoever it was Such as Melchizedek was at Salem Whom Patricides takes to have been the Person to whom Rebekah resorted for Resolution of her Doubt Ver. 23. And the LORD said unto her By Melchizedek saith the fore-named Patricides By an Angel saith Maimonides Who tells us in the place now mentioned their Masters are so setled in their Opinion that she went to enquire of the fore-named Prophets and that by the LORD is meant his Angel that they will have Heber to be him that gave the answer for Prophets say they are sometimes called Angels or the Angel that spake to Heber in this Prophecy But it is most reasonable to think that the LORD spake to her by an Angel from the SCHECHINAH Two Nations are in thy Womb. The Heads of two Nations Two manner of People shall be separated Greatly differing in their Dispositions Manners course of Life and Country Which will make them perpetually disagree From thy Bowels Shall issue from thee The elder shall serve the younger In his Posterity not in his own Person Ver. 24. When her days to be delivered were fulfilled This demonstrates the time of her delivery was not come when the strugling first began Ver. 25. Red all over Some will have it with red Hair not only on his
Moses could not have said there was no Man to till the Earth Ver. 6. But there went up a Mist c. Many think this will best cohere with what went before by translating it nor did there taking the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not from the foregoing Verse as is usual a Mist go up from the Earth See Drusius Levit. X. 6. and Hottinger in Hexapl. Paris p. 89. But I see no necessity of this and think it more likely there did go up a Vapour or Steam out of the Earth when it came reeking out of the Waters as was said upon Verse 9. of the 1. Chap. to moisten the superficies of it before any Clouds were raised by the Power of the Sun to give Rain Ver. 7. Out of the Dust of the Ground Not dry but moist Dust as the LXX have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From whence the Apostle calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Corinth XV. 47. which teaches us this Dust was mixt with Water For so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Limus as the vulgar Latin hath it Which agrees with the Hebrew jatzar formed which is used concerning Potters who make their Vessels of Clay not of dry Earth Diodorus Siculus seems to have had some Notion of this when he saith Man was made out of the Slime or Mud of Nile Upon which Original of Man's Body the ancient Fathers make many Pious Reflections But none better or shorter than that of Nazianzen's who says it is to teach us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that when we are apt to be lifted up because we are made after God's Image the thoughts of the Dirt out of which we were taken may humble and lay us low And God breathed into his Nostrils the breath of life This being said of no other Creature leads us to conceive not only that the Soul of Man is a distinct thing of a different Original from his Body but that a more excellent Spirit was put into him by God as appears by its Operations than into other Animals For though the simple Speech of inspiring him with the breath of Life would not prove this yet Moses speaking in the Plural Number that God breathed into him Nischmath chajim the Breath or Spirit of Lifes it plainly denotes not only that Spirit which makes Man breathe and move but think also reason and discourse And he became a living Soul This is the immediate result of the Union of the Soul with the Body Which Eusebius thus explains L. VII Praepar Evang. cap. 10. Moses having laid the Foundations of Religion before-mentioned viz. The Knowledge of God and of the Creation of the World proceeds to another Point of Doctrine most necessary to be understood which is the Knowledge of a Man's self to which he leads him by showing the difference between his Soul and his Body His Soul being an Intelligent Substance made after the Image of God his Body only an Earthly Covering of the Soul To which Moses adds a third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A certain Vital Breath whereby the other two are united and linked together by a powerful Bond or strong Tie His Soul it is manifest did not come out of the Earth or any Power of Matter but from the Power of God who infused it into him by his Divine Inspiration And this was the Original of Eve's Soul also though it be not mentioned For if her Soul had been made out of Adam as her Body was he would have said not only She is Bone of my Bone but Soul of my Soul which would have mightily strengthned the Bond of Marriage and exceedingly heightned Conjugal Affection Ver. 8. And the LORD God planted Or had planted for it doth not seem to be a new thing A Garden A most pleasant part of the Earth Eastward Or as others translate it before in the beginning viz. On the Third Day when he made all Vegetables And it cannot be denied that mikkedem may signifie time as well as place But as the greatest part of Interpreters Ancient and Modern take it here to signifie place so Moses himself uses it in the following part of this Book III. 24. XI 2. XII 8. XIII 11. In Eden A Country as most understand it so called perhaps from its Pleasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theophilus ad Autolyc speaks L. II. Where Eden was there are two or three places of Scripture that give some direction to our search 2 Kings XIX 12. Isa XXXVII 12. Ezek. XXVII 23. which show there was a Country that for many Ages after this retained the Name of Eden And that Eastward as Moses here tells us it was situated That is Eastward of Judaea or of the Desart of the Amorites where he wrote these Books For the Scripture calls those People the Children of the East who dwelt in Arabia Mesopotamia and Persia But in what Country of the East Eden was will be best understood from ver 10. And there he put the Man whom he had formed He was formed we must suppose in some other place and conducted hither by God in Token of his singular Kindness to him Where he declared him saith a Syriac Writer mentioned by Hottinger in his Dissert de Hexaplis Paris p. 115. an Heir of Paradise and made him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a King a Priest and a Prophet Ver. 9. And out of the Ground Of that Garden before-mentioned Made the LORD God to grow every Tree c. The greatest variety of the choicest Plants Flowers and Fruit For Tree comprehends every thing that grows out of the Earth Pleasant to the sight He gratified Man's Eye as well as his Taste and his Smell The Tree of Life So called because there was a Virtue in it as several of the ancient Fathers think not only to repair the Animal Spirits as other Nourishment doth but also to preserve and maintain them and all the Organs of the Body in the same equal Temper and State wherein they were created without any decay Until Man should have been fit to be translated into another World To this purpose Irenaeus St. Chrysostom Theodoret but especially Greg. Nazianzen speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If therefore we had continued what we were and kept the Commandment we should have been what we were not by coming to the Tree of Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being made immortal and approaching nigh to God Orat. XLIII p. 699. D. And why we should think it impossible or unlikely that God should make such a Fruit I do not see Nay it seems necessary there should have been such a kind of Food unless we will suppose God would have preserved Adam had he continued Innocent from dying by a continual Miracle Which is a harder supposition than the other But this Garden being also a Type of Heaven perhaps God intended by this Tree to represent that immortal Life which he meant to bestow upon Man with himself Revel XXII 2. And so St.
Austin in that famous Saying of his Erat ei in caeteris lignis alimentum in isto autem Sacramentum L. VIII de Gen. ad Lit. cap. 4. In other Trees there was Nourishment for Man but in this also a Sacrament For it was both a Symbol of that Life which God had already bestowed upon Man who was hereby put in mind that God was the Author of his Being and all his Enjoyments and of that Life he was to hope for in another World if he proved Obedient In the midst of the Garden This signifies either its Situation or its Excellence For that which is most Eminent in any place the Hebrews say is in the midst XXIII 10. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. So called as I take it because God intended by this Tree to prove Adam and Eve whether they would be good or bad Which was to be made known by their abstaining from its Fruit or eating of it It is generally thought indeed by Interpreters of which I leave the Reader to judge that it had this Name afterward either because the Tempter pretended it would make them so wise as to know all things for so good and evil may be expounded III. 5. to signifie as much as all things whatsoever or because in the event upon the eating of this Fruit they did actually know by miserable experience which they would not learn without it the great difference between obeying and disobeying God's Commands That is they who did not sufficiently attend to their Duty nor consider what it was to Sin and what the effect of it would be presently upon the eating of this Fruit reflected upon both For they saw how grievous it was to incurr God's Displeasure by believing a Creature rather than Him and by being so ungrateful as not to acknowledge his Bounty in all the Blessings they enjoyed without thinking Him envious in denying them one as a proof of their Obedience Some think it was so called as a Caveat to them not to study Craft and Subtilty but to content themselves in a simple plain way of life wherein God made them without any Curiosity to know more than was needful for them Which they think is confirmed by III. 6. She saw it was good to make one wise i. e. cunning and wily Ver. 10. And a River went out of Eden c. These words afford us such a Key to open to us the Place where this Garden was planted that one can scarce doubt whereabout it was though the precise spot of Ground be not marked out in this description of it For it lay in the Country of Eden and we are directed to find that out by this remarkable Circumstance That a River went out of it Which doth not signifie that the Spring of the River was in Eden but that the River run through that Country into the Garden to water it The Garden therefore it is probable was a part of the Province of Eden and was water'd by that River which came from it The only difficulty is to find what River this was Our Country man Mr. Canver in his learned Discourse of the Terrestrial Paradise chap. VII endeavours to prove that the two great Rivers Euphrates and Tigris having but one and the same Fountain in Armenia the greater run along for some time in one Stream called Tigris Upon which he thinks this Garden was seated before this River parted into two Streams Euphrates and Tigris This he confirms out of the two Epistles of the Nestorian Christians written to Rome 1552 and translated by Masius where they call Tigris the River of Eden And there are indeed some ancient Authors particularly Lucan and Boetius who say that these two Rivers come out of the same Spring But their mistake arose its likely from hence That they sprung as Strabo tells us out of one and the same Mountain viz. Niphates which is a part of Taurus And Euphrates sprung out of the Northern side of it and Tigris out of the Southern as Salmasius observes upon Solinus p. 621 c. Certain it is that the best Authors both Ancient and Modern make them to have different Springs from whence they hold different Courses Euphrates toward the West and Tigris toward the East And do not make one River till after they have run through many Countries they meet and joyn together about Apamia according to Ptolomy And then indeed they make for a long way but one great Stream Which I take to be the River here mentioned by Moses and run through the Country of Eden which perhaps lay on both sides of the River as the Garden it is plain by verse 8. did on the Eastern side of it extending it self to the place where these united Rivers parted again For so it follows And from thence i. e. Below the Garden It parted Or was divided again as it had been before into two other Streams By which words we seem to have found the Place where the Garden ended but being not told where it began nor how far it spread it self Eastward from the River side I will not presume to say what Country or Countries it included Certain it is there was a Country as I observed before called Eden in after times which was part of the Kingdom of Assyria 2 Kings XIX 12. And that Kingdom then comprehended not only the Country anciently called Ashur but Mesopotamia and Babylonia c. In some part of which last Province it is probable this Garden was seated And became into four Heads He doth not say was parted into four Heads but became into four Heads whose Names here follow two before they united viz. Tigris and Euphrates and two after they again parted viz. Pison and Gihon These he calls Heads or Principal Rivers as David Chytraeus I think rightly understands it quatuor illustria magna flumina efficiebant made four famous and great Rivers For all Divisions from the main Stream are called the Heads of a Water as Sir W. Raleigh observes out of Vlpianus And it is indifferent whether the Water come out of a Fountain or out of a River or a Lake For that part of the River suppose where the Branch forsakes the main Stream is called the Head of that Branch which becomes a new River In like manner may Euphrates and Tigris be called the Heads of that River which they made at their meeting As where they part again the beginnings as the LXX translate the word of the other two Rivers Pison and Gihon are properly called the Heads of them Ver. 11. The name of the first is Pison or Phison This is that Branch which runs Westerly and being nearest to the place where Moses wrote on the other side of Jordan is first mentioned by him It is a long time since both this River and Gihon have lost these Names The Greek and Roman Writers calling them still after their parting by the Names they had before they met Euphrates and Tigris But
there was a remainder of the Name of Pison preserved in the Easterly River called Pasitigris which is the same with Oroatis as Salmasius observes in his Exerc. Plinianae in Solin p. 701 702 And is called as Mr. Carver notes by Xenophon simply Physeus in which the Name of Phison is plainly enough retained Which continued till the time of Alexander the Great For Q. Curtius as he further notes commonly calls Tigris it self by the Name of Phasis and says it was so called by the Inhabitants thereabouts Which in all probability was at first the Name of this other River Phison but lost by the many alterations which were made for a long time in the course of it as Pliny tells us For he says the Orcheni and other neighbouring Nations made great and deep Cuts or Canals to carry the Water of Euphrates meaning this River into their Fields and so it lost its course and run through Tigris and the Marshes into the Sea Strabo saith the same that from these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he calls them deep Trenches which carried the Water of Euphrates into Tigris came the Name of Pasitigris that is Pison mixed with Tigris See Salmasius in the fore-named Exercitations pag. 703 where he shows this River was not perfectly restored to its Course till the times of Alexander the Great That is it which compasseth the whole Land of Havilah By finding where this Country was we certainly find the River Phison Now Moses makes mention of two Havilah's one descended from Cush Gen. X. 7. and the other from Jocktan ver 29. The latter of these cannot be here meant for his Posterity were planted Eastward but the former who were a more Western People in that part of Arabia Foelix which bordered upon this Stream For the Ishmaelites who inhabited Arabia deserta are described by Moses XXV 18. as bounded by Shur towards Egypt and by Havilah in the way to Assyria And Saul found Havilah in after-times in the very same situation 1 Sam. XV. 7. And still much later Strabo mentions the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are certainly the Posterity of Chavilah among the People of Arabia See Bochart's Phaleg L. IV. c. 11. Where there is Gold Nothing is more famous than the Gold of Arabia Where Diodorus Siculus says it is digged up in great Lumps as big as a Chesnut L. II. p. 93. Edit H. Steph. Ver. 12. And the Gold of that Land is good i. e. Is excellent For the fore-named Author says it is of such a flaming Colour that it adds much to the Lustre of precious Stones that are set in it There is Bdellium The Hebrew word being Bedolach some have thought Bdellium to come from thence which is an Aromatick Gum. Others think Bedolach to be Chrystal others Amber but Bochart rather thinks it signifies Pearl Which he proves in his Hieroizoc P. II. L. V. c. 25. from the Country it self here mentioned viz. Havilah which he looks upon as that Part of Arabia which lies upon the Persian Gulph Where at Catipha there is a great Pearl-fishing The Manna also wherewith the Israelites were fed in the Wilderness is described Numb XI 7. to be round like Coriander-Seed and of the Colour of Bedolach Now in his former Description Moses says it was white Exod. XVI 14. which agrees to Pearls as also doth roundness but not to the sweet Gum called Bdellium Of which see Salmasius in his Exerc. Plin. p. 1150. And the Onyx Stone This Country also was famous for Precious Stones as appears by the Report which Nearchus Alexander's Admiral made of the Western Coast of the Persian Gulph in Strabo L. XVI But Braunius L. II. De Vestitu Sacerd. Hebr. cap. 18. thinks Schoham should rather be translated the Sardonyx Which soever it be Arabia was famous both for the Onyx and Sardonyae as Salmasius observes out of Pliny Ib. p. 562 563. Ver. 13. The name of the second River is Gihon There is no footsteps of this Name remaining that I can find but we are directed by the Country it is said to compass to take it to be the Eastern Stream that arose from the parting of Euphrates and Tigris as Pison I said was the Western Compasseth or runneth along by the whole Land of Aethiopia Or Cush Who was seated more Eastward than his Sons Havilah Seba and the rest mentioned Gen. X. 6 7. upon the Borders of this River For when People first began to spread themselves they kept as near to great Rivers as they could for the better Communication one with another and affording mutual Succour and Assistance It is probable that he gave Name to the Country of Susiana which the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is now called by the Persians Chuzestan i. e. The Province of Chus And when his Posterity multiplied they went more Westward toward the Arabian Sea From whence his Brother Mitzraim passed into Egypt Our Translators follow the LXX in rendring the Hebrew Name Cush by Aethiopia Not meaning that in Africa but this in Assa For the Ancients frequently mention a double Aethiopia as many have observed particularly Job Ludolphus who herein justifies the LXX in great part L. II. Comment in Histor Aethiop Cap. III. n. 16. Ver. 14. The name of the third is Hiddekel Which River being called by Daniel X. 4. the great river cannot be as many have fansied Nahar-malca For that was but a Cut made by Trajan to waft his Army out of Euphrates into Tigris as Ammian Marcellinus tells us and therefore Hiddekel is Tigris it self Which as Pliny says was called Diglito in those Parts where its Course was slow and where it began to be rapid it took the Name of Tigris And so the Arabians call this River Deglat and Degela from the Hebrew word Hiddekel Which Salmasius derives from Hadda or Chadda sharp pointed and Kal swift because of its very quick and hasty Motion And thence the Greeks he observes derive the Name of Tigris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exerc. in Solin p. 694. Rauwolff in his Travels P. II. c. 9. says That when he was at Caruch on the Confines of Media which was about an hundred Years ago Tigris was still called in their Language Hidekel Which goeth toward the East of Assyria If it make a great bend Northward as Pliny saith it doth about Apamia it must needs run toward the East of Assyria for some time But this is not the Course of the River and therefore the LXX translate the word Kidmath which we english toward the East simply toward And it is certain Tigris did run by Assyria for Nineveh the chief City of Assyria stood upon the East side of this River as Bochart hath demonstrated in his Phaleg L. IV. cap. 20. The fourth River is Euphrates None doubt that the River called here in the Hebrew Perath or Phrath is the same that hath been called for many Ages Euphrates The Course of which was so well known in those Days that Moses
2. Their Observation is more pertinent who take notice That God creating and joyning together but one Man and one Woman in the beginning intended Mankind should be so propagated and not by Polygamy Which in process of time indeed became the general practice but from the beginning it was not so as our Saviour speaks in the Case of Divorces Which he concludes from these very words were against the Divine Institution which made two to be one Flesh Matth. XIX 5 6 8. So he interprets these words and St. Paul doth the same 1 Cor. VI. 16. they shall be one Flesh And so doth Jonathan's Paraphrase and the Samaritan Code as Mr. Selden observes in the place now named Ver. 25. And they were both naked the Man and his Wife They did not yet find any necessity of Cloths And they were not ashamed Did not blush no more than little Children do when they behold one another naked and embrace with an innocent Affection Besides there was no Body but they two who in effect were as One to behold them And therefore they had no more reason to blush than a Man doth when he is naked alone by himself CHAP. III. EVsebius observes L. VII Praepar Evang. cap. 9 10. That Moses having setled the great Doctrines of the Creation of the World and the Dignity of Man made in the Image of God proceeds very wisely to instruct the Israelites that there are none so happy but without due Care and Watchfulness may become most miserable There being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his words are a wicked Daemon at every Man's Elbow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 envious a hater of those that are good and from the beginning a wily underminer of Mens Salvation Now this following immediately after the relation of the formation of Eve hath made some fansie that our first Parents fell the very same day they were made And thus much I think must be supposed That they did not continue very long in their happy state For if they had persisted stedfastly in their Duty for a considerable time they would have acquired such an habit of well-doing as would not have been so easily lost But that they continued longer than a Day there are many Circumstances to induce us to believe For it required some time for Adam to be acquainted with all other Creatures and to impose Names upon them And there being none of them a meet help for him he slept some time till Eve had taken her Beginning out of him Whom when he saw he received and own'd her for his Wife and no doubt made more Reflections upon God's Wisdom Power and Goodness than are set down in this Sacred Story They both also received a Command from God not to eat of one Tree in the Garden Into which when they were brought we cannot but think they walk'd about it and took such a view of it as to be convinced by the bountiful Provision God had made for them they had no reason to complain of the small Restraint he laid upon them All which could not be performed so speedily as some have imagined for though God can do what he pleases in an instant yet Man cannot and God himself did not in one Day create the World And besides that some time was necessary for transacting all these things it is not likely the Devil would immediately set upon Eve as soon as the Command was laid upon them but rather let it be a little forgotten And if the time be observed when he assaulted her it will much confirm this Opinion which was in the absence of her Husband for that we cannot easily believe to have been upon the same Day they were created The extraordinary Kindness they had one for the other will scarce allow us to think it possible they should be so soon separated It is plain also God sanctified the Seventh Day before their fall Which it is highly probable they spent in admiring and praising the Almighty Goodness Ver. 1. Now the Serpent Or that Serpent as some think it should be translated which the Tempter made use of as his Instrument to deceive Was more subtil The whole Species of Serpents is noted by Aristotle L. I. Histor Animal c. 1. to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extreamly insidious But this was extraordinary wily What sort it was is not here expressed But all agree there is now none like it the Curse of God having degraded it St. Basil in his Book of Paradise p. 627. saith it was not a frightful Creature as it is now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but mild and gentle Not crawling and winding about in a terrible manner upon the Ground 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but lofty and going upright upon its Feet Several of the Jews have been of this Opinion and our famous Mr. Mede inclines to it Discourse XXXVIII p. 291 c. But I take the conjecture of another very learned Person now a Bishop of our Church to be far more probable Which I shall endeavour to strengthen There were and still are in the Eastern and Southern Parts of the World Serpents having Wings and shining very brightly like to Fire So we read Isai XIV 29. of a flying fiery Serpent Which fiery Serpents are called Seraphims in Numb XXI 6 8. and termed fiery not merely with respect to their Venom which made sore Inflammations in the Bodies of those who were bitten by them but because they appeared shining like Fire when they flew in the Air. Whence Seraphim is the Name also of the highest sort of Angels called the Angels of the Presence Isai VI. 2 6. Who appeared I suppose in some such form with flaming Wings For otherwise I cannot think Serpents would have been honoured as Sacred things in so many Countries as we find they anciently were unless they had been the Symbols of Angels The Devil therefore I conceive made use of some such Serpent but of a more surpassing brightness than any now extant that he might resemble one of the most illustrious Angels who appeared sometimes in the like shape Which moved Eve the more readily to hearken unto the Voice of the Serpent taking it to be one of the heavenly Seraphims which she had seen sometime in such a splendid form attend upon the Divine Glory or Majesty For the Angels always made a part of the SCHECHINAH And thus one would think Tertullian understood this matter when he said in his Book De Praescript Haeret. C. XLVII Istum fuisse Serpentem cui Eva ut filio Dei crediderat this was the Serpent to whom Eve gave Credit as to the Son of God Which if any one take to be the words of the Hereticks he is there speaking of yet those are not which we find in his Book against the Valentinians cap. II. where he saith the Serpent was a Primordio Divinae imaginis praedo an Usurper of the Divine Image from the beginning See Dr. Tenison of Idolatry p. 356. To which that
Rest and Quiet Because says he This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our Hands He expected some think that he should be the blessed Seed promised III. 15. Or that it should spring immediately from him But the last words toil of our hands seem to import some inferiour consolation which he expected from Noah And the Hebrew Interpreters generally expound it thus He shall make our Labour in tilling the Earth more easie and less toilsome to us Which agrees to what follows Because of the Ground which the LORD hath cursed There was a general Curse upon it for the Sin of Adam and a particular upon some part of it for the Sin of Cain Now God he foretells would take them both off in great measure and bless the Earth to the posterity of this same Man Who perfected the Art of Husbandry and found out fitter Instruments for plowing the Earth than had been known before When Men being chiefly imployed in digging and throwing up the Earth with their own Hands their labour was more difficult Which now is much abated because the pains lie more upon Beasts than upon Men. And indeed Noah is called IX 20. Isch haadamah a Man of the Ground which we translate an Husbandman one that improved Agriculture as other famous Men had done Pastorage and found out other Arts IV. 20 c. In the same place also IX 20. we read that Noah planted a Vineyard With respect to which if he was the first inventor of making Wine he might well be said here to comfort them concerning their work and toil of their hands Wine chearing the Heart and reviving the Spirits of Men that are spent with Labour But if the last Words of this Verse be expounded of the LORD 's Cursing the Ground by sending a Flood upon it as Enoch had foretold then Noah is here called their Comforter with respect to his being the Restorer of the World after it had been dispeopled by that inundation And so Jacobus Capellus not unreasonably interprets them to have relation to both Curses à maledictione quam Terrae inflixit inflicturus est Deus He shall give Men rest from the Curse which God hath inflicted and intends further to inflict upon the Earth Hist Sacra Exot. ad A. M. 1053. Ver. 32. And Noah was Five hundred Years old See Verse 6. where I have said enough to shew it is not reasonable to think he had no Children 'till this Age of his Life And Noah begat Shem Ham and Japhet Here ends the Line of Adam before the Flood For tho' these Three were married it appears VII 13. before the Flood came yet they either had no Children or they did not live For they carried none with them into the Ark. It doth not follow that Shem was the Eldest of these Three because he is here and every where else in this Book mentioned first For I shall show plainly in its due place that Japhet was the Eldest X. 21. Scaliger indeed would have this a setled Rule that Hunc Ordinem Filii in Scriptura habent quem illis natura dedit That Children are placed in Scripture according to the Order which Nature hath given them But it is apparent from many Instances that the Scripture hath regard to their Dignity otherways and not to the Order of their Birth As Abraham is mentioned before Nahor and Haran merite excellentiae with respect to his Excellence as St. Austin speaks to which God raised him though he was not the Eldest Son of Terah Gen. XI 28. Thus Jacob is mentioned before Esau Mal. I. 1. and Isaac before Ishmael 1 Chron. I. 28. Thus Shem's Eminence in other respects placed him before Japhet to whom he was inferiour in the order of Nature As appears even from their Genealogy both in Gen. X. and 1 Chron. I. where Shem's posterity are placed below those of both his other Brothers CHAP. VI. Ver. 1. WHen Men began to multiply To increase exceeding fast for they were multiplied before but not so as to fill the Earth Or the Word Men may be limited to the Children of Cain See Verse 2. who now began to be very numerous And Daughters were born to them In great numbers For Daughters no doubt they had before but now so many more Daughters than Sons that they had not Matches for all No though we should suppose they followed the Steps of Lamech IV. 19. and took more Wives than one Ver. 2. The Sons of God There are two famous Interpretations of these Words besides that of some of the Ancients who took them for Angels Some understand by the Sons of God the great Men Nobles Rulers and Judges whether they were of the Family of Seth or of Cain And so indeed the word Elohim signifies in many places Exod. XXI 6. XXII 28. c. and the ancient Greek Version which Philo and St. Austin used perhaps meant no more where these words are translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Angels of God his great Ministers in this World who in after-times were mistaken for Angels in Heaven These great Persons were taken with the Beauty of the Daughters of Men i. e. of the meaner sort for so sometimes Men signifies Psal XLIX 2 c. and took by Force and Violence as many as they pleased being so potent as to be able to do any thing with impunity For they that should have given a good Example and punished Vice were the great promoters of it But there are other ancient Interpreters and most of the later who by the Sons of God understand the posterity of Seth who were the Worshippers of the true God IV. Vlt. They saw the Daughters of Men. Conversed with the Daughters of Cain So Tho. Aquinas himself interprets it Pars I. Q. 51. Art 3. ad 6. That they were Fair. Being exceedingly taken with their Beauty And they took them Wives Made Matches with them and perhaps took more than one apiece Of all that they chose Whomsoever they liked so the word chuse is used in many places Psal XXV 12 c. without regard to any thing else but their Beauty Some of the Hebrews by Daughters understand Virgins which they distinguish from Nasim Wives or married Women whom they also took and abused as they pleased But there is no evidence of this The plain Sence is that they who had hitherto kept themselves unless it were some few See Verse 15. unmingled with the posterity of Cain according to a Solemn charge which their godly Forefathers had given them were now joined to them in Marriage and made one People with them Which was the greater Crime if we can give any credit to what an Arabick Writer saith mentioned first by Mr. Selden in his Book de Diis Syris Cap. 3. prolegom de Jure N. G. L. V. Cap. 8. f. 578. that the Children of Seth had sworn by the Blood of Abel they would never leave the mountainous Countrey which they inhabited to
Country was drowned by the Flood no more of the Earth being then inhabited For those Countries could not have held the fortieth part of the Inhabitants which were produced between the Creation and the Flood no all the Earth was not more than sufficient to contain them as many have clearly proved Plato says there were in his days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ancient Traditions which affirm'd there had been sundry destructions of Mankind by Floods as well as other ways In which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a small parcel of Mankind were left And particularly he saith concerning Floods That they were so great that only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some very little Sparks of Mankind were saved and those upon the tops of Mountains And the like he saith of Beasts That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very few of them were left to support the life of Mankind L. III. De Legib p. 677. Edit Seran But this appears to have been an imperfect Tradition the higher Mountains having been covered with the Waters as well as the low Countries and that all the Earth over Which need not seem strange if we consider what was said before upon Verse 11. And withal observe that the Diameter of the Earth being seven thousand Miles and consequently from the Superficies to the Center no less than Three thousand five hundred Miles it is not incredible as Sir W. Raleigh discourses L. I. c. 7. § 6. that there was Water enough in the great Deep which being forced up from thence might overflow the loftiest Mountains Especially when Water came pouring down also from above so fast that no Words can express it For there is no Mountain above thirty Miles high upright which thirty Miles being found in the Depths of the Earth One hundred and sixteen times why should we think it incredible that the Waters in the Earth Three thousand five hundred Miles deep might be well able to cover the space of thirty Miles in heighth It would help Mens unbelief if they would likewise consider the vast Inundations which are made yearly in Egypt only from the Rains that fall in Aethiopia And the like Overflowings yearly in America of the great River Orenoque whereby many Islands and Plains at other times inhabited are laid twenty Foot under Water between May and September Ver. 20. Fifteen Cubits upwards did the Waters prevail c. Moses doth not here plainly say That the Waters prevailed fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountains though I do not see but there might be Water enough heaped up by the fore-mentioned means to cover them so high And the whole Verse be thus interpreted The Waters prevailed fifteen Cubits upwards after the Mountains were covered Otherwise by the high Hills in the Verse before we must understand only such single Hills as are in several Countries and by Mountains in this Verse those long Ridges of Hills such as Caucasus and Taurus c. which stretch themselves many hundreds of Miles through a great part of the Earth See VIII 5. Ver. 24. And the Waters prevailed upon the Earth an hundred and fifty Days These words seem to me to import That whatsoever short intermissions there might be yet the Rain continued an Hundred and fifty Days Otherwise it is hard to explain how the Waters increased more and more as it is said verse 17 18 19. Besides had the Rain ended as we commonly suppose at forty Days end the Waters could not have prevailed an Hundred and fifty Days but would have sunk much before that time by reason of the declivity of the Earth And yet they were so far from falling that as Mr. Ray hath observed in his pious and learned Discourse of the Dissolution of the World the tops of Mountains were not seen till the beginning of the tenth Month that is till Two hundred and seventy Days were passed CHAP. VIII Ver. 1. AND God remembred Noah c. Took Compassion upon him and heard his Prayers which we may well suppose he made for himself and for all Creatures that were with him Thus the word remember is used XIX 29. XXX 22. The Hebrew Doctors here again take notice of the word Elohim See VI. 12. which is the Name for Judges and observe that even God's Justice was turned to Mercy Justice it self was satisfied as Sol. Jarchi expresses it And God made a Wind to pass over the Earth c. Some gather from hence that during the fall of the Rain there was no Storm or violent Wind at all but the Rain fell down-right And consequently the Ark was not driven far from the place where it was built It having no Masts or Sails but moving as a Hulk or Body of a Ship without a Rudder upon a calm Sea Philo indeed in his Book De Abrahamo gives a quite different Description of the Deluge representing the incessant Showers to have been accompanied with dreadful Thunder and Lightning Storms and Tempests But there is not a word in this Story to countenance it This Wind it is very probable was the North-Wind which is very drying and drives away Rain Prov. XXV 23. which came perhaps out of the South as I said upon VI. 14. Thus Ovid represents it in the Flood of Deucalion where he saith Jupiter Nubila disjecit nimbisque Aquilone remotis c. And the Waters asswaged This drying Wind and the Sun which now began to shine with great power made the Waters fall For if the Second Month when the Flood began was part of our October and November then the Flood abated after an Hundred and fifty Days in the beginning of May when the Summer came on apace Ver. 2. The Fountains also of the Deep There was no further irruption or boiling up of the Water out of the Bowels of the Earth And the Rain from Heaven was restrained So that the Rains ceased at the end of an Hundred and fifty Days Ver. 3. And the Waters returned from off the Earth continually c. The Waters rolling to and fro by the Wind fell by little and little And after the end of the Hundred and fifty Days began to decrease So the vulgar Latin well translates the latter end of this Verse were abated i. e. began sensibly to decrease Ver. 4. And the Ark rested in the seventh Month c. Of the Year not of the Flood Vpon the Mountains of Ararat i. e. Upon one of the Mountains as XIX 29. God overthrew the Cities in which Lot dwelt i. e. In one of which he dwelt Judg. XII 7. Jephtah was buried in the Cities of Gilead i. e. In one of the Cities For there was no one Mountain called by this Name of Ararat But it belonged to a long Ridge of Mountains like the Alps or Pyrenaean which are Names appertaining not to one but to all And Sir W. Raleigh I think truly judges that all the long Ridge of Mountains which run through Armenia Mesopotamia Assyria Media Susiana c. i. e. From Cilian to Paraponisus are called by
Moses Ararat as by Pliny they are called Taurus And that Author thinks the Ark setled in some of the Eastern Parts of Taurus because Noah planted himself in the East after the Flood and it is likely did not travel far from the place where the Ark rested as appears he thinks from Gen. XI 2. where we read his Posterity when they began to spread went Westward and built Babel The common Opinion is That the Ark rested in some of the Mountains of Armenia as the vulgar Latin translates the word Ararat i. e. saith St. Hierom upon the highest part of Taurus But Epiphanius who was before him saith upon the Gordiaean Mountains and so Jonathan and Onkelos and the Nubiensian Geographer and many others mentioned by Bochartus Who is of this Opinion as having the most Authority Many of which say That some Relicks of the Ark were remaining upon those Mountains Which as Theodoret observes upon Isa XIV 13. were accounted the highest in the whole World V. Phaleg L. II. c. 3. and L. IV. c. 38. There were such Remainders of this History among the ancient Scythians that in their dispute with the Egyptians about their Antiquity they argue it partly from hence that if the Earth had ever been drown'd their Country must needs be first inhabited again because it was first clear'd from the Water being the highest of all other Countries in the World Thus their Argument runs in Justin L. II. c. 1. where he hath given us a brief relation of it if we had Trogus whom he Epitomizes it 's likely we should have understood their Tradition more perfectly in this manner If all Countries were anciently drown'd in the Deep profectò editissimam quamque partem we must needs grant the highest parts of the Earth were first uncovered of the Waters that ran down from them And the sooner any part was dry the sooner were Animals there generated Now Scythia is so much raised above all other Countries that all the Rivers which rise there run down into the Moeotis and so into the Pontick and Egyptian Sea c. Ver. 5. And the Waters decreased continually until the tenth Month. For the Summer's heat must needs very much dry them up when there was no Rain In the tenth Month were the tops of the Mountains seen This shows the Mountain on which the Ark rested was the highest at least in those Parts Because it setled there above two Months before the tops of other Mountains were seen And perhaps the Ark by its weight might settle there while the top of that Mountain was covered with Water Which it 's possible might not appear much before the rest Ver. 6. At the end of forty Days Forty Days after the tops of the Mountains appeared i. e. on the eleventh Day of the eleventh Month which was about the end of our July Ver. 7. He sent forth a Raven For the same End no doubt that the Dove was sent forth To make discovery whether the Earth were dry For if it were the smell of the dead Carcases he knew would allure it to fly far from the Ark Which it did not but only hover'd about it as it follows in the next Words Went forth to and fro In the Hebrew more plainly going forth and returning That is it often went from the Ark and as often returned to it For after many flights finding nothing but Water it still betook it self unto the Ark either entring into it or sitting upon it 'till at last the Waters being dried up it returned no more That is Fifty Days after its first going forth Verse 13. All which time it spent in going out and coming back Bochart indeed approves of the Greek Version which makes the Raven not to have returned For which he gives some specious Reasons L. II. c. 12. P. 2. Hierozoic and hath such of the Hebrews to countenance him as R. Elieser who saith Pirke c. 23. That the Raven found a Carcase of a Man upon a Mountain and so would return no more But the next words which in the Greek and Hebrew are both alike confute this Translation Vntil the Waters were dried up from the Earth Which make this plain and easie Sence in connexion with the foregoing as they run in the Hebrew that while the Earth continued covered with Water the Raven often flew from the Ark but finding no convenient place to rest in returned thither again Till the Ground was dry Whereas according to the Greek we must suppose the Raven to have returned to the Ark when the Waters were dried up from the Ground Which is very absurd For if it had some time sat upon a Carcase floating in the Waters before they were dried up or upon the top of some Mountain which already appeared what should make it return when all the Waters were gone every where and not rather while they remained upon the Ground Ver. 8. Also he sent forth a Dove As a proper Creature to make further Discoveries Being of a strong flight loving to seed upon the Ground and pick up Seeds and constantly returning to its rest from the remotest places These two Birds the Raven and the Dove some imagine were sent forth upon one and the same Day or but a Day between as Bochartus conjectures But this doth not agree with Verse 10. where it is said Noah stayed yet other seven Days and then sent out the Dove again Which relates to seven Days preceding which seem to have passed between the sending out of the Raven and of the Dove Ver. 9. The Dove found no rest c. For though the tops of the Mountains appeared yet they continued muddy as some conceive or they were so far off that the Dove could not easily reach them Ver. 10. And he staid yet other seven Days It appears by this that on the seventh Day Noah expected a Blessing rather than on another Day It being the Day devoted from the beginning to Religious Services Which he having it is likely performed thereupon sent out the Dove upon this Day as he had done before with hope of good Tidings Ver. 11. And lo in her Mouth was an Olive-Leaf or Branch the word signifies pluckt off Bochart thinks the Dove brought this out of Assyria which abounds with Olive-Trees and lay South of Ararat the Wind then blowing towards that Country from the North. See Hierozoic L. I. c. 6. p. 2. where he shows out of many Authors that not only Olive-Trees but some other also will live and be green under Water All the difficulty is how the Dove could break off a Branch as the Vulgar translates it from the Tree But it is easily solved if we allow as I have said before that now it was Summer-time which brought new Shoots out of the Trees that were easily cropt So he knew the Waters were abated The tops of Mountains were seen before verse 5. but now he understood the Waters had left the lower Grounds Yet not so left them that
And gives an Account also of every one of their Sons and of some of their Grand-Sons Cush Gave Name to a Country very often mention'd in Scripture which most of the Ancients take for Aethiopia and so we commonly translate the word Cush But if by Aethiopia they meant that Country South of Egypt and not an Eastern Country which may be a question Jonathan is rather to be followed who here Paraphrases it Arabia For Cush is the same with Chusan only this latter is a diminutive which is made the same with Midian Habak III. 7. And so Moses his Wife is called a Chushite we render it Aethiopian for she was a Midianite Exod. II. 16 21. and therefore was of Arabia not of Aethiopia And so we should translate it Numb XII 2. an Arabian Woman And there is a Demonstration of it in Ezek. XXIX 10. that Cush cannot be Aethiopia for when God saith he will make Egypt desolate from the tower of Syene to the border of Cush if we should understand by Cush the Country of Aethiopia it will be as if he had said from Aethiopia to Aethiopia For every one knows Syene was the Border of Egypt towards Aethiopia And therefore here being two opposite Borders it is manifest that Cush which is the opposite term to Syene cannot be Aethiopia but Arabia Which bounded that part of Egypt which is most remote from Aethiopia A great number of other Arguments out of the Scriptures evince this Which Bochartus hath collected L. IV. Phaleg c. 2. and Philip. Beroaldus asserted the same thing before him Mizraim The Father of them who inhabited Egypt whose Metropolis Alcairo the Arabians at this Day call Meser and the first Month among the ancient Egyptians was called Mesori And Cedrenus calls the Country it self Mestra as Grotius observes in his Annot. in L. I. De V. R. C. and Lud. Capellus in his Chronol Sacra p. 109. And this word Mizraim being of the Dual Number which shows it to be the Name of the Country rather than of a Person denotes two Egypts as Bochart observes For so there were the higher and the lower All that Country was called the higher where Nile runs in one Stream The lower was that where it is divided into many Which the Greeks call Delta from its triangular form Phut All Africa was divided between Mizraim and Phut as Bochartus observes For all Egypt and several other parts of Africa as far as the Lake Trilonides which divides Africa into two almost equal parts fell to Mizraim The rest beyond that Lake to the Atlantick Ocean was the Portion of Phut Of which Name there are some footsteps in the City Putea which Ptolomy L. III. c. 1. calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the River called Phut mentioned by Pliny as Grotius notes and a Country which St. Hierom in his time says was called Regio Phutensis Which lies not far from Fez. Another Name of Africa is Lub which we often meet withall in Scripture Whence the Name of Lybia Concerning which and a great many other Proofs that Phut was planted in Africa see the famous Bochartus L. IV. Phaleg c. 33. Canaan The youngest Son of Ham every one knows gave Name to that Country which God gave afterwards to the Israelites Which the Phoenicians who descended from the Canaanites called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a contraction of the word Canaan as many have observed out of Eusebius L. I. Praepar c. 10. who quotes Sanchuniathon and Philo-Byblius for it It is so certain that the Phoenicians had their Original from the Canaanites that the LXX use their Names promiscuously For example Shaul is called Gen. XLVI 10. the Son of a Canaanitish Woman Whom in Exod. VI. 15. they call the Son of a Phoenician Woman And so in the New Testament the Woman whom St. Matthew calls a Woman of Canaan XV. 22. St. Mark calls a Syrophoenician VII 26. We never indeed find the Phoenicians called Canaanites by the Greeks For their Posterity being ashamed as we may suppose of that Name because of the Curse pronounced upon Canaan chose to be called rather Syrians or Assyrians or Sidonians or Phoenicians For Syria which was a common Name to a great many People round about was at first proper to them from the Metropolis of Phoenicia which was Tyre in Hebrew Sor or Sur from whence Surim and thence the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They that would see more of this may read the fore-named Author L. IV. Phaleg c. 34. Ver. 7. In this Verse Moses acquaints us what People descended from the eldest Son of Ham viz. Cush who had five Sons And the fourth of them had two Seba. There were four Nations that had the Name of Seba or Shebah as Bochart observes L. II. c. 25. Three of them are mentioned here in this Chapter The first of them this Son of Cush is written with Samech all the rest with Schin viz. The Grand-Son of Cush who was the Son of Raamah or Rhegma in the end of this Verse The third was the Son of Jocktan the Son of Shem verse 28. And the fourth was a Grand-Child of Abraham by his Son Jokshan XXV 3. They that descended from the three first of these were a People given to Trade from the fourth came a People addicted to Robbery The first the second and the fourth were seated near the Persian Sea the third near the Arabian Whence Pliny saith the Sabaeans stretched themselves to both Seas L. V. c. 28. For all these four People were comprehended under the Name of Sabaeans though very different one from another But it may be doubted whether the Sabaeans who descended from Jokshan the Grand-Child of Abraham did live near the Persian Sea And I shall show upon XXV 3. that Bochart himself thought otherwise upon further Consideration And as for this Seba he was the Father of a People in Arabia called Jemamites as Alcamus an Arabian Writer tells us Whose words are A certain Man called Saba gathered together the Tribes of the Jemamites i. e. He was the Founder of the People called by that Name from a famous Queen of that Country called Jemama See Bochartus L. IV. c. 8. where he shows where they were situated And that they are the Sabaeans who are said by Agatharcides to have been a very tall proper People mentioned Isai XLV 14. Havilah Or Chavilah There were two Havilahs also One the Son of Cush here mentioned another the Son of Jocktan verse 29. From this Havilah seem to have come the People called Chanlothaei by Eratosthenes Who were seated in Arabia Foelix as Strabo tells us between the Nabataei and the Agraei i. e. the Hagerens By Pliny they are called Chavelaei which comes nearest to the Hebrew Name who were feated in that part of the Country which lay towards Babylon As appears by this that in the Scripture the Wilderness of Shur nigh Egypt and Havilah are opposed as the most remote opposite Bounds of Arabia Thus the
Ishmaelites are said to have dwelt from Havilah to Shur Gen. XXV 18. that is before Egypt è Regione Egypti over-against Egypt as Bochart translates it That is Havilah bounded them on the North-East and Shur on the South-West Which Shur was near to Egypt And so Saul is said to have smitten the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur c. 1 Sam. XV. 7. Where we translate the last words over against Egypt Sabta Or Sabtha whom the Ancients call Sabatha or Sabathes seems to have been setled in that part of Arabia Foelix called Leanitis upon the Persian Sea Where there was a City not far distant from the Sea called by Ptolomy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From whence they sent Colonies over the Sea into Persia as Bochart shows by several Arguments L. IV. c. 10. For there is an Island on that Coast called Sophtha and a People called Messabatae or Massabathae upon the Confines of Media From the Chaldaean word Mesa which signifies middle and Sabatha as if one would say the Mediterranean Sabtae Raamah Or as the Ancients pronounce his Name Rhegma was situated in the same Arabia upon the Persian Sea Where there is a City mentioned by Ptolomy's Tables Rhegama in the Greek Text expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rhegma And so Stephanus mentions both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the Persian Gulph Sabtecha Or Sabtheca as some read it was the youngest Son of Cush except Nimrod who is mentioned by himself It is hard to find the place of his Habitation But the rest of the Sons of Cush being seated about the Persian Sea except Nimrod who as Moses tells us went to Babylon Bochartus thinks it reasonable to seek for him in that part of Caramania where there was a City called Samydace and a River Samydachus Which he thinks may have come from Sabetecha by the change of the Letter B into M Which was very frequent in Arabia and the neighbouring Countries For Merodach is also called Berodach in the Book of the Kings And in the Chaldee Paraphrase Basan is called Bathnan and Mathnan And Abana the famous River of Damascus is expounded Amana And Meccha and Beccha are the same City among the Arabians In like manner Sabtecha or Sabithace might be changed into Samydace Now into Caramania there was a short cut over the Streights of the Persian Gulph out of Arabia I see nothing any where more probable than this Conjecture of a very learned Man L. IV. Phaleg c. 4. And the Sons of Ramah Sheba and Dedan He gives an account of none of Cush's other Sons posterity but only of this Whose two Sons were seated near him and one another For the younger of them Dedan seems to have left his Name in a City now called Dadan hard by Rhegma upon the same Shore East-ward And from this Dadan the Country now hath its Name Of which Ezekiel speaks XXVII 15. as Bochart shews plainly L. IV. c. 6. And Sheba or as others read it Seba or Saba his elder Brother was seated in the same Country not far from Dedan where Pomponius mentions a People called Sabaei and Arrianus speaks of a great Mountain not far off called Sabo from this Saba Whose posterity easily passing over the Straits before-mentioned into Caramania might possibly give Name to a City there which Ptolomy calls Sabis And Pliny mentions a River of the same Name And Dionys Periegetes speaks of a People called Sabae Of whom the Scripture seems to speak in those places where Sheba and Seba are joined together LXXII 10. The Kings of Sheba i. e. of this Country and Seba shall offer Gifts And sometimes Sheba and Raamah for Rhegma are joined Ezek. XXVII 22. where the Prophet speaks of this Sheba the Son of Rhegma who brought those precious Commodities there mentioned out of Arabia They lying very commodiously for Traffick upon the Persian Gulph And these are the People also mentioned verse 23. of that Chapter with sundry other Nations who lived upon Tigris and Euphrates which run into the Persian Sea and therefore it is reasonable to think that Sheba's posterity lived near the same Sea Ver. 8. And Cush begat Nimrod Besides all the fore-mentioned he also begat this Son whom Moses distinguishes from the rest and mentions him alone by himself because he was the most eminent among his Brethren though born the last a mighty Commander as Moses here describes him Thus in the Title of Psal XVIII it is said David was delivered out of the hand of all his Enemies and out of the hand of Saul Who is particularly mentioned by himself because he was his Chief Enemy Sir W. Raleigh thinks he was begotten by Cush when his other Children were become Fathers and so being younger than his Grandsons he is named after an account is given of every one of them Nimrod The Author of the Chronicon Alexandr thinks he was the same with Ninus But Vossius rather takes him for him whom the Greek Writers call Belus that is Lord And that Ninus was his Son so called from the very thing it self Nin in Hebrew signifying a Son L. I. de Idolol cap. 24. The same Chronicon saith that Nimrod taught the Assyrians to worship the Fire And both Elmacinus and Patricides affirm the same See Hotting Smegma Orient L. I. c. 8. p. 272. Which if it be true I doubt not was as an Emblem of the Divine Majesty which used to appear in a glorious Flame Vr a City of Chaldaea seems to have had its name from the Fire which was there worshipped And that Vr also from whence Abraham came the Hebrews fansie had the same original for their Fable is That Abraham was thrown into the Fire because he would not Worship it and by the power of God delivered as St. Hierom tells us in his Questions upon Genesis He began to be a mighty one in the Earth He was the first great Warrior and Conqueror so Gibbor is to be understood not for a Giant or Man of great Stature but for a potent Person And as some will have it a more severe Governour than they had been who only exercised Paternal Authority For he was the first that put down the Government of Eldership or Paternity as Sir W. Raleigh speaks and laid the Foundation of Soveraign Rule Ver. 9. He was a mighty Hunter Or rather mighty in Hunting For the Word tzid doth not signify a Hunter but Hunting Which shows by what means he came to be so great a Monarch He hardned himself to Labour by this Exercise which was very toilsom and drew together a great Company of robust Young Men to attend him in this sport Who were hereby also fitted to pursue Men as they had done wild Beasts For this was lookt upon in all ages as the rudiment of Warfare as Bochart shews out of a great many Authors L. IV. cap. 12. All the Heroes of old such as Nestor Theseus Castor Pollux Vlysses Diomedes Achilles Aeneas
c. being all bred up to hunting as Xenophon informs us And it was not without some such reason that noble Families carry in their Coats of Arms as Ensigns of their valorous Atchievements Lyons Bears Tygers c. from their killing such like fierce Creatures For it must be farther noted that in this Age of Nimrod the Exercise of Hunting might well be the more highly esteemed and win him the Hearts of Mankind because he delivered them by this means from those wild Beasts whereby they were much infested and very dangerously exposed while they were but few and lived scattered up and down in the open Air or in Tents but weakly defended The destroying of wild Beasts and perhaps of Thieves whom he hunted also was a great service in those times and made many join with him in greater designs which he had at last to subdue Men and make himself Master of the People who were his Neighbours in Babylon Susiana and Assyria The memory of this hunting of his was preserved by the Assyrians who made Nimrod the same with Orion who joined the Dog and the Hare the first Creature perhaps that was hunted with his Constellation This Mr. Selden observes in his Titles of Honour Part. I. cap. I. where he farther notes that he is to this day called by the Arabians Algebar the mighty Man or the Giant From the Hebrew Gibbor here in the text Before the Lord. i. e. To the highest degree For so a great City to God is a very great City Jonah III. 3. and a Child very beautiful is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fair to or before God Acts VII 20. Or the meaning may be he was truly so not only in common opinion For that is said to be before God which really is Because God cannot be deceived with false appearances Wherefore it is said even as Nimrod the mighty c. i. e. Thence came the common Proverb Which Moses alledges as a proof of the Truth of what he delivered Nothing being more usual in his days than for Men to say when they would express how exceeding great any Man was He is like Nimrod the mighty Hunter before the LORD Thus common Sayings are quoted in other places nothing being more notorious than such Proverbial Speeches Numb XXI 27. 1 Sam. X. 12. It is not improbable that Nimrod is the same with him whom the Greeks call Bacchus whose Conquests in the East as far as India are nothing else but the Expeditions of Nimrod and his Successors The very Name of Bacchus imports this which was made out of Bar-Chus the Son of Cush as Dammasek i. e. Damascus was out of Darmasek Many other Arguments for this are collected by Bochartus L. I. Phaleg cap. 2. Ver. 10. The beginning of his Kingdom was Babel See XI 5 8. Which according to the Gentile Writers was built by Belus the same with Nimrod who was called Belus as I noted before from Baal because of his Dominion and large Empire over which he was an absolute Lord. They that say his Son Ninus or as Philo-Byblius his Son Babylon was the Builder may be thus reconciled with the fore-mention'd Opinion That Belus began it and his Son much augmented it See Voss L. I. De Idol c. 24. L. VII c 9. There are those that say it was built by Semiramis but as they have it only from Ctesias who is not to be relied on against Berosus and Abydenus who wrote the History of that Country out of the ancient Records and say Belus built it so if it be true we must understand it of her rebuilding it after it was decayed or adding greater Splendor to it And this also must be understood not of the Wife of Ninus for it is a question whether he had any Wife of that Name Or if he had she was different from her whom the Greeks so much magnifie who lived almost two thousand Years after the Son of Belus as Salmasius observes Exercit. in Solin p. 1228. out of Philo-Byblius And Erec c. Having built Babel which he made the chief City of his Kingdom he proceeded to build three Cities more in the same Country Which they that think he won by Conquest imagine also that he made Babel the Head City because he won it first and then the other And all this say some before the dispersion we read of in the next Chapter Which others think hapned after the dispersion Erec seems to have been the City which Ptolomy calls Arecca and Ammianus Arecha Which lay in the Country of Susiana upon the River Tigris Whence the Areccaei Campi in Tibullus as Salmasius observes in his Exercit. in Solinum p. 1194. From whence Huetius thinks the Country below it was called Iraque mentioned by Alferganus and other Arabian Writers Acchad It is an hard matter to give any account of this City but the LXX calling it Archad from the Chaldee Idiom which is wont to change the Daghes which doubles a Letter into R as Darmasek for Dammasek i. e. Damascus and by the same reason Archad for Acchad the footsteps of this Name may be thought to remain in Argad a River of Sittacene in Persia For nothing is more common than to change ch into g. Chalne It is sometimes called Chalno Isai X. 9. and Channe Ezek. XXVII 23. From whence the Country called Chalonitis mentioned by Pliny and Strabo Polybius and Dionys Periegetes may well be thought to have taken its Name Whose chief City was called Chalne or Chalone which is the same and afterwards changed by Pacorus King of Persia into Ctesiphon Ver. 11. Out of that Land went forth Ashur This Translation is not so likely as that in the Margin He went out into Assyria For Moses is speaking of what Nimrod the Son of Cush did and not of the Sons of Shem among whom Ashur was one Nor is it agreeable to the order of History to tell us here what Ashur did before there be any mention of his Birth which follows verse 22. Besides it was not peculiar to Ashur the Son of Shem that he went out of the Land of Shinar For so did almost all Men who were dispersed from thence Add to this that Assyria is called the Land of Nimrod by Micah V. 6. They shall waste the Land of Assyria with the Sword and the Land of Nimrod with their Lances or in the entrance thereof as we translate it Therefore it is very reasonable to take Ashur here not for the Name of a Man but of a Place as it is frequently And expound the word Ashur as if it were Leashur into Ashur as beth in 2 Sam. VI. 10. is put for lebeth other Examples there are of this 2 Sam. X. 2. 1 Chron. XIX 2. By going forth into Ashur Bochart thinks is meant Nimrod's making War there For so the Hebrew Phrase go forth imports in 2 Sam. XI 1. Psalm LX. 12. Isai XLII Zac. XIV 3. So Nimrod went forth into Assyria which belong'd to the Children
of Shem But was usurped he thinks by this Son of Cush who had no right to it but what he got by his Sword If this be true Mr. Mede's Observation which I mentioned upon verse 27. of the foregoing Chapter That the Posterity of Cham never subdued either those of Japhet or Shem must be understood of such large Conquests as they two made over one another and over him And builded Niniveh Which Nimrod so called from his Son Ninus The very word Niniveh being as much as Ninus his habitation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus Cain built a City and called it not by his own but his Son's Name IV. 17. This was the chief City of Assyria and flourished in great Glory till it was utterly razed by the Medes and never again re-built It stood on the West-side of Tigris Rehoboth There was a City of this Name upon Euphrates which was famous for the Birth of Saul one of the Kings of Edom Gen. XXXVI 37. which the Arabians call Rahabath-Melic i. e. Rahabath of the Kings a little below Cercusium at the Mouth of the River Chaboras But this being two far distant from Niniveh to which this and the two following Cities were Neighbours Bochart's Conjecture is not unreasonable That this is the City which Ptolomy calls Birtha on the West of Tigris at the Mouth of the River Lycus For in the Chaldee Tongue Streets are called Birtha and that is the signification of Rehoboth as the Margin of our Bible will inform the Reader Calah or Calach Seems to have been the chief City of the Country called Calachene about the Fountain of the River Lycus Which Strabo often mentions Ver. 12. And Resen c. The fore-named great Man conjectures this to have been the City which Xenophon calls Larissa situate upon the Tigris Which Moses might well call a great City For so Xenophon says it was and describes the heighth of the Walls to have been an hundred Foot the breadth five and twenty and the compass of it eight Miles about The Greeks found it in Ruines and uninhabited when they came into those parts being destroyed by the Persians when they spoiled the Medes of their Empire And it is possible as Bochart goes on the Greeks asking whose City that was and the Assyrians answering Leresen i. e. Resen's adding as is usual le the Note of the Genitive Case they might thence call it Larissa Such a mistake he shows there is in the Vulgar Translation of the Bible which takes this Particle le for part of the Name For in 1 Chron. V. 26. where it is said the King of Assyria carried the Israelites to Halah the Vulgar says unto Lahelah Whereas it is certain from 2 Kings XVII 6. that it should be unto Halah or Helah However it is reasonable to think that these words this is a great City belongs to Resen not to Niniveh Whose greatness as well as Babylon's was very well known and therefore these words seem to be added to denote Resen to be a great deal bigger than the two before-named Rehoboth and Calah See Bochart L. IV. c. 23. They that think Nimrod setled his Kingdom in Babel before the Dispersion by confusion of their Languages imagine that he made this Expedition into Assyria where he built Niniveh and the rest of the Cities here mentioned after they were forced to leave off their vain-glorious building at Babel and to disperse themselves into other Countries Ver. 13. And Mizraim the second Son of Cham begat Ludim By whom we are to understand the Aethiopians as Bochart hath proved by many Arguments which I shall not mention and therefore understands by these words that the Aethiopians were a Colony of the Egyptians L. IV. Phaleg c. 26. For it appears by Diodorus that they were near of kin having many things common to both Nations which he reckons up and are sufficient to persuade those who consider them that they had the same Original The only difference among them being this which of them was of greatest Antiquity The Egyptians fansied they were the first of all Men and the Aethiopians pretended that they living more Southerly had a stronger Sun which contributed more efficaciously to natural Generation And that Egypt was a Country thrown up by the Mudd which Nilus left and so got out of the Sea But Moses hath determined this Controversie in these words and by the rest of his History Which shows that the first Men after the Flood came from the Mountains of Armenia which is in the North and consequently they went to the Southerly Countries by degrees through Assyria Babylon Syria and Egypt into Aethiopia And their discourse is ridiculous about the Original of Egypt unto which we see nothing added by the Nile in many Ages Anamim Our Broughton takes these to be the Numidians among whom he finds Anubis Others take them for the Anaitae in Aethiopia But these Anamims being derived from Mizraim we are rather to seek them about Egypt And the Opinion of Bochartus is probable that they are the Nomades who lived about Ammon and Nasamonitis and called Anamii from Anam which signifies a Sheep among the ancient Egyptians as it doth among the Arabians For the Nomades fed Sheep as Herodotus tells us and lived upon them whereas they abstained from eating Cows or Swine and their Garments also as he tells us were of Sheep-Skins Lehabim These are thought to be the Lybians but that being a Name which belongs to the greatest part of Africa it cannot be well thought that so great a Portion fell to this Son of Mizraim or that so many People were descended from him Therefore Bochart with great reason thinks the Lehabaei were not all the Lybians but those whom Ptolomy Pliny and others call Lybiaegyptii Because they lived next to Egypt on the West of Thebais in a sandy adust Soil burnt by excessive heat from whence he thinks they had the Name of Lehabim For Lehaba signifies both a Flame and Heat As in Joel I. 19. The flame lehaba in the Hebrew or scorching heat hath burnt all the trees of the field Naphtuhim These seem to be the People of Nephthuah and what that is we may learn from Plutarch Who in his Book De Iside Osiride says the Egyptians call the Country and the Mountains that lie upon the Sea Nephthun which may incline us to think that the Naphtuhim were those People that lived upon the shoar of the Mediterranean in Marmarica For the People upon the Red-Sea belonged to Arabia not to Egypt It is not improbable that from hence came the Name of Neptune who originally was a Lybian God and known to none but that People There was a City called Nepata by Pliny which Grotius thinks may explain this Name But it was in Aethiopia and Moses is speaking of the Sons of Mizraim Ver. 14. And Pathrusim Who were the Inhabitants it is likely of Patros Which was a part of Egypt though represented sometime in Scripture
as a Country distinct from it Just as Thebais is in some Authors said to be whereas it was the upper Egypt Bochart hath brought a great many Arguments to prove this Particularly from Ezekiel XXIX 14. which shows clearly that Pathros belongs to Egypt For the Prophet foretelling that God would bring again the Captivity of Egypt he saith he would cause them to return into the Land of Pathros into the Land of their Habitation or Nativity That is into Thebais which Nebuchadnezzar had principally afflicted carrying most of the Inhabitants of Thebes into Captivity This seems a more probable Account of the Pathrusim than theirs who take them to be the Pharusi as Grotius doth or Phautusii who were a People of Aethiopia Casluhim or Casluchim These were the Colchi who though they lived far from Egypt from whence they are said here to descend yet there are a great many Arguments that they had their Original from that Country For several ancient Authors say so as Herodotus Diodorus Strabo and Ammianus All of great Credit And there are many Reasons whereby Herodotus proves it as Bochart shows in his admirable Work often mentioned L. IV. Phaleg c. 31. they agreeing in so many things especially in their Manners and Language that one can scarce have any doubt of it These People were seated at the East-end of the Euxine Sea Out of whom came Philistim They were the off-spring of the People of Colchis as will appear in what follows And Caphtorim These were a People near to Colchis as appears from hence that the Philistim who are said here to come from Casluchim in other places are said to have come from Caphtor Jer. XLVII 4. Amos IX 7. And Moses himself relates how the Avims nigh to Gaza a famous City of the Philistim were driven out by the Caphtorim Deut. II. 23. All the Ancients therefore are in the right who take the Caphtorim for the Cappadocians Yet not all the Inhabitants of that Country part of which was possessed by other People as was said before but that part of Cappadocia which was next to Colchis viz. About Trapezund where Colchis ended For there we find the City called Side and the Country Sidene mentioned by Strabo Now Side in Greek as Bochart ingeniously observes signifies the same with Caphtor in Hebrew viz. Malum punicum And therefore in all likelihood the same Country was called by the Hebrews Caphtor and by the Greeks Sidene What invited the Caphtorim out of Egypt into this Country is hard to tell at this distance of time But Strabo thinks it was the Fame of the Gold wherewith this Country abounded And as this drew them thither so perhaps the coldness of the Country very much different from that wherein they were born or else their Neighbours the Scythians and Mesech and Tubal viz. the Moschi and Tibareni who dwelt near them and might be troublesome to them made them think of returning back again And in their way through Palestine they fell upon the Avim whom they dispossessed of their Country and setled there Deut. II. 23. by the Name of Philistim Ver. 15. And Canaan Now follows an Account of the Posterity of Ham's youngest Son Sidon Was his first-born Who was the Founder of the famous City called by his Name Sidon Which Trogus saith was so called from plenty of Fish on that Coast And so the present Name of it Said signifies Fishing or Fishery As the Town in Galilee called Bethsaida is as much as the place of Fishing For that Sea upon which it lies the Hebrews say abounded with Fish However the Sidonians came from this Son of Canaan and some of them if he did not found it himself called the City by this Name in memory of him It was far more ancient and famous than Tyre For we read of it in the Books of Moses and Joshua and the Judges But nothing of Tyre till the Days of David Nor doth Homer mention Tyre though he speaks of Sidon and the Sidonians in many places Heth. His second Son was the Father of the Hittites or the Children of Heth often mentioned in Scripture Who dwelt about Hebron and Beersheba in the South of the Land of Canaan They were a very Warlike People and struck a Terror into their Neighbours From whence the word Hittha seems to be derived which signifies fright and sudden Consternation such as came upon the Syrians when they thought the Kings of the Hittites were coming against them 2 Kings VII 6. This was the Country of the Anakims For from Arba who was an Hittite descended Anak and from him those three Giants Ahiman Sheshai and Talmai and the rest of the Anakims Numb XIII 22 33. Josh XV. 13 14. Ver. 16. The Jebusite This People who were situated near to the former descended from Jebus the third Son of Canaan And were a very Warlike People also for they kept Jerusalem and the Fortress of Zion to the times of David notwithstanding all the Power of the Benjamites And when David besieged it they mock'd at his Attempt 2 Sam V. 8. And the Emorite They came from Emor the fourth Son of Canaan and are commonly called Amorites Who possessed the Mountainous parts of Judaea and many of them passed over Jordan and making War upon the Moabites and Ammonites seized upon Bashan and Heshbon and all the Country between the Rivers of Jabbok and Arnon Numb XIII 29. Josh V. 1. In memory of which Victory some Canaanite Poet made a Triumphing Song which Moses hath recorded Numb XXI 27. What a mighty People these were we learn from Amos II. 9. Gergasite There was a Remnant of this People about Gerasa or Gadara beyond Jordan in our Saviour's time Matth. VIII 28. Mark V. 1. Luke VIII 26. And they were called perhaps by this Name from the fat clayie Soil of the Country where they lived for garges in Hebrew is white Clay Ver. 17. And the Hivite or Hevite They lived in and about Mount Hermon as we read Josh XI 3. which being toward the East of the Land of Canaan they are call'd Radmonites i. e. Orientals or Easterlings Gen. XV. 19. The Gibeonites and Sichemites were Colonies from them Josh XI 19. Gen. XXXIV 2. who dwelt more Westward The former of them Neighbours to Jerusalem and the latter to Samaria Arkite This People Bochart thinks inhabited Mount Libanus where Ptolomy and Josephus mention a City called Arca or Arce In which he thinks was the Temple Veneris Architidis worshipped by the Phoenicians as Macrobius tells us L. I. Saturn c. 27. Pliny also Mentions Arca among the Cities of the Decapolitan Syria and saith it was one of those which had a Royal Jurisdiction under the Name of a Tetrarchy as Salmasius observes in his Exerc. in Solin p. 576. Sinite St. Hierom saith that not far from Arca there was a City called Sin where we may suppose these People to have dwelt But Bochart rather by the Sinites understands the Peleusiots whose City was called
Sin which is of the very same signification with Pelusium Ver. 18. And the Arvadite These People are the same with the Aradii who possessed the Island called Aradus upon the Coast of Phoenicia and part of the neighbouring Continent Where a place called Antaradus opposite to the Island was seated Strabo and others speak of this Island and mention another of the same Name in the Persian Gulph as Salmasius observes upon Solinus p. 1023. whose Inhabitants said they were a Colony from this Island I now speak of and had the same Religious Rites with these Aradians Who were very skilful in Navigation and therefore joyned by Ezekiel with Zidon XXVII 8. where he makes them also a Warlike People verse 11. Zemarite They who make these the same with the Samaritans do not observe that these Names are written quite differently in the Hebrew And that the Samaritans so much spoken of in Scripture had their Name from Somron And therefore Bochart thinks these are the Samarites mentioned by St. Hierom who says they inhabited the Noble City of Edessa in Coelosyria it should be the City of Emesa or Emisa which was in that Country but Edessa in Mesopotamia beyond Euphrates and so both the Chaldee Paraphrases have here for Zemarite Emisaei But I do not see why we should not rather think this Son of Canaan Zemarus from whom the Zemarites came was the Founder of the City of Zemaraim Josh XVIII 22. which fell to the Lot of the Tribe of Benjamin Hamathite These were the posterity of the last Son of Canaan From whom the City and Country of Hamath took its Name Of which Name there were Two one called by the Greeks Antiochia the other Epiphania The former called the Great Amos VI. 2. to distinguish it from this which St. Hierom says in his time was called Epiphania and by the Arabians in the Nubian Geographer Hama This is the City which is meant when we so often read that the bounds of Judaea were to the Entrance of Hamath Northward Numb XIII 21. XXXIV 8. and other places For it is certain they did not reach to Antiochia but came near to Epiphania Afterwards were the Families of the Canaanites spread abroad In process of time they enlarged their bounds For they possessed all the Country which lies from Idumaea and Palestine to the mouth of Orontes Which they held for Seven hundred Years or thereabout Moses indeed confines the Land of Canaan in narrower bounds toward the North as hath been said but we must consider that he describes only that part of Canaan which God gave to the Israelites for their Portion Now there being Eleven Nations who had their Original as appears from this and the foregoing Verses from so many Sons of Canaan we do not find that the First and the Five last were devoted by God to destruction as the rest were For we read nothing of the Zidonians Arkites Sinites Aradites Zemarites and Hamathites among those Nations upon whom the Sentence of Excision was pronounced by God and their Country bestowed upon the Israelites But read of Two others not here mentioned who made up the Seven Nations whom God ordered to be cut off viz. the Perizzites and those who were peculiarly called Canaanites who sprang from some of the fore-named XI Families but we do not know from which We shall meet with it in the XV. Chapter of this Book Ver. 19. And the border of the Canaanites c. Here Moses describes the Bounds of that Country which was given by God to the Jews From Sidon i. e. The Country of Sidon which extended it self from the City so called towards the East as far as Jordan or near it This therefore may be lookt upon as the Northern bounds of the promised Land As thou comest to Gerar unto Gaza c. These and all the rest belong to the Southern bounds For these two were Cities near to the Philistims We often read of Gaza and Gerar was famous for Abraham's and Isaac's sojourning there Gen. XX. 1. XXVI 1. and for the overthrow of the Cushites 2 Chron. XIV 13. Sodom and Gomorrha c. These Four Cities are famous for their destruction by Fire and Brimstone from Heaven Even unto Lashah Or Lasa which St. Hierom takes for Callirrhoe as doth Jonathan also A place famous for hot Waters which run into the dead Sea But Bochartus L. IV. Phaleg c. 37. doubts of this because Callirrhoe was not in the Southern part of Judaea as Lashah was He propounds it therefore to consideration whether it may not be a City of the Arabs called Lusa Which Ptolomy places in the middle way between the Dead Sea and the Red. Ver. 20. These are the Sons of Ham after their Families c. This is sufficiently explained by what was said upon verse 5. where Moses concludes his account of the Sons of Japhet Only it may be observed in general that these Four Sons of Ham and their Children had all Africa for their Portion Mizraim having Egypt and Phut the rest and no small part of Asia which fell to the share of Cush and Canaan Ver. 21. Vnto Shem also the Father of all the Children of Eber. That is of the Hebrew Nation whom Moses would have to know from what an illustrious Original they sprung and therefore breaks off the Thread of his Genealogy to give a short touch of it I can give no reason so likely as this why he calls Shem the Father of Eber's Children rather than of any other descended from him He having told them before that Ham was the Father of Canaan IX 22. whom God Cursed and at the same time Blessed Shem He now tells them that this blessed Man was the Father from whom their Nation was descended that they might comfort themselves in their noble Stock and believe Canaan should be subdued by them The Brother of Japhet the Elder Scaliger translates these Words Sem the Elder Brother of Japhet But the he which is prefixt to Gadol i. e. Greater plainly directs us to referr the Word Greater or Elder to him who was last spoken of viz. Japhet Who may be plainly proved to have been the Eldest Son of Noah from this observation That Noah was Five hundred years old before any of his Three Sons Sem Ham and Japhet were born V. 32. When he was Six hundred Years old he entred into the Ark with them VII 11. And when he came out two Years after the Flood Shem begat Arphaxad being then an Hundred Years old XI 10. and consequently Noah was Six hundred and two From whence it follows that Shem was born when Noah was Five hundred and two Years old And therefore Japhet must be two Years older than he for Noah began to have Children when he was Five hundred But God preferred Shem before him giving hereby an early demonstration of which there were many instances afterward that he would not be confined to the order of Nature in the disposal
of his Favours which he frequently bestowed upon the Younger Children As he did upon Jacob and in after-times upon David who was the youngest and meanest of all his Father's Children Even unto him were Children born Perhaps he was the last of his Brethren that married and then Moses shews in the following Verses had Five Sons the Progeny of two of which are mentioned but the rest passed over in silence Ver. 22. Elam Was his First-born from whom came the Elamites mentioned Acts II. 9. Whose Metropolis was the famous City of Elymais They lay between the Medes and Mesopotamians as Bochartus shows L. II. Phaleg c. 2. and were a very Warlike and Fierce People as Isaiah Jeremiah and Ezekiel testifie The Susians were a neighbouring People but different from them And therefore when Daniel says Sushan was in the Province of Elam he takes Elam in a large sence as Pliny and Ptolomy also do who mention Elamites at the mouth of the River Eulaeus Vlai in Daniel which was below Susiana See Salmasius Exerc. in Solin p. 1193 1194. And thus Josephus may be allowed to say the Elamites were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Founders of the Persians who were a distinct People from them Though often comprehended under this Name of Elam Ashur From whom came the People called at first Assyres and afterward Assyrians Which was a Name as large as their Empire comprehending even Syria it self which in several Authors is the same with Assyria But in proper speaking it was only that Country whose head was Niniveh called sometimes Adiabene and Aturia or Assyria Arphaxad Many following Josephus make him the Father of the Chaldees But I find no good reason for it and it seems more probable that the Chaldees in Hebrew Chasdim came from Chesed one of Abraham's Brother's Sons Gen. XXII 22. which St. Hierom positively affirms Therefore it is more reasonable to think Arphaxad gave Name to that Country which Ptolomy calls Arraphachitis Which was a part of Assyria Lud. Seems to have given Name to the Country of Lydia which lay about Maeander and included in it Mysia and Caria which lay on the South side of that River Which having the most Windings and Turnings in it of any River in the World for it returns sometimes towards its Fountain the Phoenicians call this Country and another viz. Aethiopia that lay upon the Nile which next to Maeander is the most crooked of all Rivers by the Name of Lud Which in their Language signified bending or crooked See Bochart L. II. Phaleg c. 12. Aram. From whom sprung the Syrians whose Name anciently was Aramai the Children of Aram. A Name not unknown to the ancient Graecians for Homer mentions the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his second Book of Iliads and so doth Hesiod and Strabo also saith that many understood by the Arimi the Syrians And the Syrians at this day call themselves Aramaeans But Syria being so large a Name that Ancient Authors extend it to all those Countries that lay between Tyre and Babylon we must not take all the People of them to have been the posterity of Aram. For it is evident some of them descended from Canaan others from Ashur others from Arphaxad Therefore those are to be thought to have come from him to whom the Name of Aram is praefixt or subjoined as Aram-Naharajim and Padan-Aram i. e. the Mesopotamians Aram-Soba the People of Palmyra and the Neighbouring Cities Aram-Damasek situated between Libanus and Anti-Libanus whose chief City was Damascus and perhaps Aram-Maacha and Aram-Bethrehob which were places beyond Jordan one of which fell to the share of Manasseh the other of Asser Ver. 23. And the Children of Aram c. The Four Persons that follow in this Verse are called the Sons of Shem 1 Chron. I. 17. Nothing being more ordinary in scripture than to call those the Sons of any Person who were his Grandsons XXIX 5 c. Vz Or Vtz the First-born of Aram is generally said to have been the builder of Damascus The Valley belonging to which is by the Arabians at this day called Gaut and Gauta which differs from Vtz in the Letters but not in the Pronunciation it being common to pronounce the Letter Ajin by our G. as in the Words Gaza and Gomorrha Accordingly the Arabick Paraphrast for Vtz hath here Algauta There were two other Vz's besides this one the Son of Nahor Abraham's Brother Gen. XXII 21. whose Country was Ausitis in Arabia Deserta The other was of the posterity of Edom Gen. XXXVI 28. Hull Or Chul Grotius observes out of Ptolomy that there was a City in Syria called Chollae which he thinks might be founded by this second Son of Aram. But Bochart more probably conjectures that his posterity possessed the Country called Cholobetene which was a part of Armenia For the Armenians and Arabians and Syrians were much alike as Strabo saith in their Shape of Body Speech and manner of Life And there are divers Cities which Ptolomy places in this Country that begin with Hol or Chol as Cholus Choluata Cholana And Cholobetene the Name of the Country which in their Language is Gholbeth signifies as much as the House or Seat of Chol. Gether It is hard to give any account of the Country where his posterity-setled unless they gave the River Getri its Name which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which runs between the Carduchi and the Armenians as Xenophon tells us This is Bochart's Conjecture which is a little nearer than that of Grotius Annot. in L. I. de V. R. C. who explains this by the City Gindarus in Ptolomy and the People called by Pliny Gindareni in Coelo-Syria But after all it may seem as probable that Gadara the chief City of Peraea which Ptolomy places in the Decapolis of Coelo-Syria had its Name and Original from this Gether Mash Who is called Mesech in 1 Chron. I. 17. seated himself as Bochart thinks in Mesopotamia about the Mountain Masius which is Grotius's conjecture also from whence there flowed a River which Xenophon calls Masca The Inhabitants of which Mountain Stephanus calls Masiaeni and perhaps the Moscheni whom Pliny speaks of between Adiabene and Armenia the greater were descended from this Mash or Mesech Ver. 24. And Arphaxad begat Salah Having given an account of the posterity of Shem's youngest Son he now tells us what People descended from his third Son Salah In Hebrew Shelah His Father being born but two Years after the Flood XI 10. seems to have given this Name to his Son to preserve the Memory of that dreadful Punishment That his Posterity might not incur the like by their Sins For Sela signifies the letting forth of Waters Job V. 10. He is thought to have been the Father of the Susiani The chief City of their Country next to Susa being called Sela as we find in Ammian Marcellinus Either because he was the Founder of it or in Memory of him And Salah begat Eber. The Father of those
from whom came the Hebrew Nation as was said before Verse 21. Abraham being descended from him in the Sixth Generation All other derivations of the Name of Hebrew have great Objections lie against them but this hath none that I can see and is most agreeable to the Grammar of that Language in which all such Names ending in Jod as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth are noted to come either from a Place or Country or People or Author Therefore since there is no Country or Place from which the Name of Hebrew can be derived it is most reasonable to deduce it from the Author of this People Heber And it is authorized by that Speech of Balaam Numb XXIV 24. Where as by Ashur is meant the Assyrians so by Heber in all reason we are to understand the Hebrews Ver. 25. Peleg Either he or some of his Posterity in memory of him it is not unlikely gave Name to a Town upon Euphrates called Phalga not far from the place where the River Chaboras runs into it Upon which Charrah stood built by Charan the Brother of Abraham For in his Days was the Earth divided The great Dispersion which we read of in the following Chapter fell out just when he was born which made his Father call him by this Name signifying Division and Separation Which it appears by the Account given of his Ancestors XI from verse 10 to 16. hapned in the Hundred and first Year after the Flood In that Year the Tower of Babel and their Language were confounded upon which necessarily followed the Separation here mentioned The Age that preceeded from the Deluge to this Division is called by the ancient Poets the Golden Age as Bochart observes L. I. Phaleg c. 9. because the Earth not being divided they enjoyed all things in common And Noah whom they called Saturn governing them not as Kings do their Subjects but as Parents their Children not so much with Fear and Dread as with Love and Reverence to his fatherly Authority it made the World so happy as it hath not been since Joktan or Jektan The Brother of Peleg had a numerous Offspring of thirteen Sons all seated in the inmost parts of Arabia Foelix So the Arabians it is certain derive their own Original Who in this may as well be credited as the Europaeans who derive themselves from Japetus or Japhet and the Africans from Cham or Hammon They call him Cahtan as our Mr. Pocock as well as others observes by which Name the Arabick Paraphrast upon this place explains that of Jektan And this Cahtan they say expresly was the Son of Eber the Son of Salah c. From whence the Name of Catanitae a People in Arabia Foelix mention'd by Ptolomy and a City in the Territory of Mecha still retains the very Name of Jektan being called Baisath-Jektan i. e. the Seat or Habitation of Jektan in the Arabian Geographer See Mr. Pocock's Notes upon Abul-Farajus concerning the Original of the Arabians p. 38 39. Ver. 26. Almodad The eldest Son of Joktan seems to have given Name to the People whom Ptolomy calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the middle of Arabia Foelix near the Original of the River Lar which runs into the Persian Gulph The Greeks who knew little of this People who lived a great way from the Sea might easily mispronounce their Name calling them Allumaeotae instead of Almodaei Sheleph or Saleph Was it is likely the Father of the Salapeni For such a People there were mentioned by Ptolomy who calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who were remote from the rest about the Neck of Arabia not far from the Spring of the River Betius Hatzermaveth Though the Arabians write this Name with the very same Letters yet it sounds among them thus Hadramuth or Chadramuth Which the Greeks pronounce divers ways because of the ambiguous sound of the two Letters Tzadi and Cheth For sometimes he is called Asarmoth sometimes without an A. Sarmoth and Armoth and Atermoth as Bochartus hath observed Who thinks the Country called Chatramitis or Atramitis Chatramotis or Atramotis to have been peopled by the Children of this Hadramuth as the Arabians pronounce this Name Hatazmaveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salmasius shows is the Name of a City or Place and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a People or Nation Exercit. in Solin p. 489. And the same People he observes p. 490. are called by Artemidorus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whose Country was that part of Arabia which abounded with Frankincense Myrrh Cassia and Cinnamon as Theophrastus tells us And Strabo calls them as he there notes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Vranius in Stephanus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So differently was this hard Word pronounced Who were so famous that Eustathius Antioch Eusebius and others make this Hatzermaveth the Father of the Arabians and Epiphanius derives their Language from him which they as was said before derive from Jektan himself looking upon the Dialect of Chadramitis as barbarous See Bochartus L. II. Phaleg c. 16. where he observes that Hatzermaveth in Hebrew signifies the Entrance of Death and Hadhramauth in Arabick the Region of Death Because the Air of that Country was very thick and foggy and consequently unwholsom as Arrianus relates who saith that the Frankincense and Myrrh were therefore gathered only by the King's Slaves and by condemned Persons Jerah or Jerach From whom came the People called Jerachaei who lived near the Red-Sea called by Agatharcides and others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alilaei Which is the very same in Arabick with the other in Hebrew For Hilal is the Moon in that Language as Jerach is in Hebrew And the Nubiensian Geographer mentions a People about Mecha who at this day are called Bene-hilal the Children of Jerach as the Hebrews would have expressed it It seems they are come more towards the East when anciently they dwelt in the South Ptolomy mentions also an Island upon the Coast of the Alilaei which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it doth not signifie the Isle of Hawks as the Greeks fansied who imagined all these old words to come from their Tongue but of the Jerachaei Ver. 27. Hadoram He seems to have fixed his Seat in the utmost Corner of Arabia towards the East where there was a People whom Pliny calls Drimati A Name easily made from Hadoramus And the extream Promontory of that Country is called by the Greeks Corodamon by transposing the Letters D and R from Hadoramus I can find nothing more likely than this Conjecture of that great Man Bochartus who hath out-done all that went before him in this Argument L. II. Phaleg c. 20. Vzal Abraham Zachut as he also observes says the Jews who in his time dwelt there called the chief City of Aljeman by the Name of Vzal Now the Kingdom of Aljeman or Jeman is the South-part of Arabia Foelix As the very Name of Jeman imports which signifies both the Right-hand and the South Diklah Both in the Chaldee and
as he doth XV. 21. or in general all the Nations which the Israelites afterward destroyed It seems to me the first of these is meant and that by Land he means only that part of the Country where Sichem lay which was then possessed by this particular People For in the next place that Abram went to it is said The Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the Land XIV 7. i. e. in that part of the Country Where we do not read what Entertainment Abram met withal but I take it as an Argument of Abram's great Faith that he would adventure among such a rough and fierce People Who had no kindness for the Posterity of Shem upon an old Score and if the ancient Tradition in Epiphanius be true upon a fresh Account For he saith Haeres LXVI n. 84. that this Country called Canaan did really belong to the Children of Shem by Virtue of the Division made among the Sons of Noah But the Children of Canaan had dispossessed them So that these words the Canaanite was then in the Land signifies they had already invaded this Country before Abram came thither To whom God promising to give it he only restored the Posterity of Shem from whom Abram descended unto that which the Children of Ham had wrongfully seized By all which it is easie to see how frivolous their Reasonings are who from this place conclude Moses did not write this Book Because these words seem to signifie the Writer of them lived after the Canaanites were thrown out of this Land Which was after Moses his death If these Men had not a greater inclination to Cavil than to find out the Truth they would rather have said the meaning is The Canaanite was possessed of this part of the Country in Abraham's time though thrown out of it by Jacob's Sons Gen. XXXIV before the Times of Moses Which is another way of explaining these words Against which I see no Objection but this That their Prince is called an Hivite XXXIV 2. To which there is an Answer verse 30. which shows the People were partly Canaanites Ver. 7. And the LORD appeared unto Abram As he had done before Verse 1. but now it is likely in a more glorious manner to establish him in Faith and Obedience And said unto him c. There was a Voice came from the Schechinah or Divine Glory which now appeared to him and told him this was the Country he intended to bestow upon his Posterity It is very remarkable that he no sooner entred Canaan but God renewed his Promise to him made before he came out of his own Country And it is further observable as we shall see in the following Story that Abram's Obedience was constantly rewarded in kind according to the quality of the Service he performed Though in quantity the Reward far exceeded the Service Thus having left his own Country and Father's House which was the first trial of his Obedience God promises to give him the whole Land of Canaan and to make his Posterity a mighty Nation See XVII 6. XXII 16. And there he built an Altar c. This was so Glorious an Appearance that it moved him to offer up a solemn Sacrifice to God for which he built an Altar here in Sichem And it being the first that he built in this Country it made this become the first place that was established for Publick Worship after the Israelites conquered the Land of Canaan For here was the Sanctuary of God in Joshua's time near this very Grove where Abram first pitched his Tent and built an Altar Josh XXIV 1 25 26. It continued famous also in after-times as appears from Judg. IX 6. Ver. 8. And he removed from thence unto a Mountain c. Though the LORD here appeared to him yet he did not think fit to trust himself among the Canaanites who were the chief of the wicked Nations that possessed this Land or he thought fit to see the rest of the Country which God promised to give him And therefore came hither which was about twenty Miles further Southward And there he built an Altar Upon the Mountain where they anciently chose to sacrifice rather than in other places And it is likely God again appeared to him here to incourage and strengthen him against all his Fears Which made him build a new Altar and offer Sacrifices of Thanksgiving to God to implore his continued Favour And it is observable That the Promise which God made in the former place verse 7. he renewed again in this and more at large after he came out of Egypt XIII 3 4 14 15 16. On the East of Bethel So it was called in after-times Ver. 9. And Abram journeyed c. He did not think fit to fix yet in the fore-named place But made a further progress into the Southern parts of the Country Yet after he had been in Egypt the Story of which follows he returned to this place Ver. 10. A Famine in the Land Of Canaan He went down Egypt lay low in comparison with Canaan To sojourn Not to dwell there For he doubted not of God's Promise to him of possessing the Land which he had left Ver. 11. Thou art a fair Woman c. She was now threescore Years old But having comely Features and being of a fair Complexion in comparison with the Egyptians who were sallow she seemed to be younger than she was Ver. 12. They will kill me Knowing them to be a libidinous People he was afraid they might be tempted to make him away that they might have his Wife Ver. 13. Say thou art my Sister He himself upon another occasion explains in what sence she was so XX. 12. Therefore he teaches her not to tell a Lye but to conceal the Truth Ver. 15. Pharaoh The Egyptian Kingdom began about three hundred Years before this in the days of Ragau XI 18. if the Arabian Writers say true and now was grown to be very Powerful by the means of some King of this Name which it appears by this place was very ancient and continued to be the Name of all the Kings of Egypt till the Captivity of Babylon and we know not how much longer Just as Ptolomy was their Name after the times of Alexander And Caesar and Augustus were the Names of all the Emperors of Rome and Candace of all the Queens of Aethiopia and the like may be observed in several other Countries Ludolphus takes Pharaoh to be a compound word signifying as much as Father of the Country For that 's the meaning of Phar-ot in the Aethiopick Language as Pharmut is Mother of the Country The Princes also c. The Courtiers who studied to gratifie their Prince's Pleasure Was taken into Pharaoh's House Into the House of the Women it is probable for the Egyptian Kings were now as I said very great like those of Persia in after-times intending to make her one of his Concubines Ver. 16. And he had Sheep and Oxen c. By the
the Mountain which was on the East of Bethel where he pitched his Tent before he went into Egypt XII 8. and returned to it when he came from thence Verse 3 4. of this Chapter which gave him the advantage of a fair and long prospect of the Country every way Ver. 15. For all the Land thou seest c. That whole Country some Parts of which he saw a great way in every Quarter of it and all the rest contiguous to them were hereby assured to him For ever It doth not signifie strictly Time without end But a very long Period The Jews indeed say that this word Olam when it is written full as they speak that is with Vau denotes Eternity though without Vau they confess it signifies only a long time But this small Observation is quite overthrown by many Examples to the contrary For Exod. XV. 18. where the Lord is said to reign for ever this word Olam is without a Vau and yet denotes Eternity And Deut. XV. 17. where it is said he shall be thy Servant for ever it is written with a Vau and yet denotes only a term of fifty Years at the most Ver. 16. I will make thy Seed as the Dust of the Earth c. More than could be contained in that Land Ver. 17. Arise walk through the Land c. He would have him for his satisfaction go and view it all more nearly in every part of it Or he gives him leave if he desired to understand more fully both the Quality and Quantity of the Inheritance he bestowed on him to go and survey it Promising he would protect and preserve him in his perambulation Nay some look upon this as giving him a Warrant to take possession of the Country though he should not yet enjoy it Ver. 18. Then Abram removed his Tent. To a place about twenty four Miles from Bethel where he was before And dwelt in the Plain Here the word we had before XII 6 is in the Plural Number and is taken by many for Oaks i. e. for an Oaken Grove So the Arabick Interpreter The LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Oak in the Singular Number for there seems to have been one Oak more eminent than the rest Under which Abram pitched his Tent and built an Altar unto the LORD This is confirmed by XVIII 1. compared with Verse 8. And indeed the Ancients very much reverenced an Oak and therefore planted this Tree very frequently Jacob buried the Idolatrous Trumpery of his Family under an Oak XXXV 4. which was by Schechem where the place of Publick Worship seems to have been fix'd in Joshua's time Josh XXIV 1 26. The Angel of the LORD also appeared to Gideon under an Oak Judg. VI. 11 19 25. IX 6. And of all other Trees an Oak was held most Sacred by the Heathen particularly by the Druids See Pliny L. XVI c. 44. Max. Tyrius Dissert 34. And Pausanias in his Account of Arcadia says the Ancients made the Images of their Gods of Oak being the most durable Wood. This Oak some fansie was in being in the time of Constantine and there was great resort to it See Sozomen L. II. cap. 4. Here Abram dwelt a long time and many great things passed here before he removed to any other place Mamre Was the Name of a Man among the Amorites as appears from the next Chapter verse 13. Which is in Hebron Or rather by or near Hebron for so the Particle Beth is often used which was a very ancient City built seven Years before Zoar i. e. the famous City of Tanis in Egypt Numb XIII 22. It was called Arba or Kirjath-Arba at the first XXIII 2. but in Moses his time Hebron There are those indeed who say it was not called Hebron till the time of Joshua who gave it to Caleb for his Portion Josh XV. 13 15. And thence conclude this Passage was not wrote by Moses but put in by some other Hand after his time But I see not the least proof of this Assertion that Caleb was the first who gave it this Name His Grand-Son mentioned 1 Chron. II. 42 43. may rather be thought to have taken his Name from this Place than to have given a Name to it Besides there have been two Occasions of giving one and the same Name as appears by what is said of Beersheba XXI 31. XXVI 33. And therefore this City might have the Name of Hebron in Moses his time and it might be confirmed in Joshua's CHAP. XIV Ver. 1. AND it came to pass c. It is very easie to give an Account of this War which the Kings of the East made upon the King of Sodom and Gomorrha c. if what was said before XII 6. be admitted that the Canaanites had invaded the Rights of the Children of Shem and gotten Possession of a Country belonging to them which they now endeavoured to recover as they had attempted before verse 4. For Elam of which Chedorlaomer was King descended from Shem Gen. X. 22. Amraphel king of Shinar i. e. King of Babylon as it is commonly understood But it cannot well be thought that so Potent a King as he is supposed to have been in those days should need any Associates in a War against such petty Princes as those mentioned verse 2. Or that the King of Elam whose Quarrel this was as appears from verse 4. should not be able of himself to grapple with them Or that the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrha c. durst have adventured with a handful of People in comparison to rebel against him after he had brought them under his subjection Therefore we must either take Amraphel to have been some small Prince in the Country of Shinar i. e. Assyria Or if he were King of Babylon that Monarchy was not very great in the days of Abram And we must also look upon the rest as Names of some particular Places like Sodom and Gomorrha over which Arioch and Chedorlaomer reigned Who were such Kings as those in Canaan when Joshua conquered it Or else Commanders of Colonies which they had led out of Assyria and Persia and setling thereabouts endeavoured to inlarge their Plantations As the manner was in those and in succeeding Times when the Captains of a Troop and Leaders of a small Body of Men were called Princes or Kings Arioch king of Ellasar There was a City mentioned by Stephanus De urbibus called Ellas in Coelo-Syria on the Borders of Arabia where Arioch perhaps commanded Chedorlaomer king of Elam Concerning this Country see X. 22. where Chedorlaomer was either Governor of some little Province or City or a Commander of some Troop of that Nation Tidal king of Nations Some take Gojim in this place which we translate Nations for a Country or City But it is more agreeable to the common use of the word in Scripture to take it to signifie a People Who either wanted a fixed Habitation or were gathered out of sundry Regions
same Interest I should think also that having the Priest of the most High God not far from them Verse 18. they were good pious People rather than conclude as I find some do that they were utter strangers to the true Religion which made Abram more forward to embrace if not to court their Friendship For the Sins of the Amorites being not yet full XV. 16. there might be some remainders of true Piety among them And it is no argument that because these three Families were of that Nation they were wicked Idolaters Ver. 14. Armed his trained Servants Drew forth a select number of his Servants whom he had instructed to handle Arms in case of any Assaults by Robbers or injurious Neighbours We read before XII 5. of the Servants they brought with them from Haran and now they were more increased as their Cattle were XII 16. XIII 2 6. so that he might well make a little Army out of them And pursued them to Dan. As far as that place where one of the Heads or Springs of Jordan breaks forth called Dan as Josephus relates where he speaks of this very History L. I. Antiq. c. 10. This plain and short Account of this word Dan overthrows the Argument which Cavillers draw from hence to prove that Moses did not write this Book Ver. 15. And he divided himself against them he and his servants by night The Vulgar Latin here reads His Companions being divided he fell upon them by Night Minding rather the sence than the words For here is no mention of any but Abram and his Servants Though it appears by the last Verse of the Chapter that his Confederates before-mentioned Verse 13. Aner Eshcol and Mamre joyned with him in this Expedition Which they managed with great Judgment for Stratagems in War were never wanting from the beginning Abram and his Servants making one Troop or Battalion as they now speak and the Confederates making three more Who dividing themselves fell upon the Four Kings in the four Quarters of their Camp That they might the more distract them and make them apprehend their Forces to be more numerous than indeed they were They were put also into the greater Confusion because this Assault was made in the Night When perhaps they were buried both in Wine and in Sleep Ver. 15. Vnto Hobah Which lay in the Vale between Libanus and Antilibanus Called by Amos I. 5. the Valley of Aven and Beth-Eden or the Seat of Pleasure In this Vale was Damascus seated Ver. 16. He brought back all the Goods c. All the Prey whether in Money Cattle or other things which the Four Kings had carried away The Women also and the People It seems they had carried away all the People of Pentapolis who did not flee to the Mountains or fenced Cities And Women in those days were a special part of their Booty Ver. 17. Went out to meet him To congratulate his Victory and to desire his People might be restored to him At the Valley of Shaveh This seems to have been a pleasant Place wherein the King that is Melchizedeck I guess by what follows took delight Whence it was called the King's-Dale In which the King of Sodom met Abram and Melchizedeck entertained him with Bread and Wine Ver. 18. And Melchizedeck The Jews generally say this was Shem the Son of Noah But we have reason to look upon this Opinion as proceeding from their Pride and Vanity Which could not endure to think the Father of their Nation had any Superior in another Nation especially among the Canaanites And therefore they will have Abram to have been blessed by his great Ancestor Shem to whom also he paid Tithes Which is a fancy so plainly confuted by the Apostle to the Hebrews that it is strange any Christian should follow it For he saith expresly that Melchizedeck was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VII 6. his Descent or Pedigree was not counted from them Which is not true of Shem. Nor could Shem be said to be without Father or Mother whose Genealogy is evident from Adam Nor was Shem's Priesthood if he had any of a different Order from Levi's who was in his Loins as well as in the Loins of Abram And therefore it could not be said that Levi paid him Tithes in the Loins of Abram but it would be as true that he received Tithes in the Loins of Shem For according to this Interpretation he was in the Loins both of him that received Tithes and of him that paid them and so the whole Argumentation of the Apostle falls to the Ground But setting aside these and other Christian Reasons which are strongly urged by Bochartus L. II. Phaleg c. 1. there is no Cause that we can discern why Moses should call Shem whom he so often mentions by any other Name than his own Nor is it likely that Shem reigned in the Land of Canaan which now was in the possession of his Brother's Son Nor could Abram be said to sojourn there as in a strange Country if his Noble Ancestor Shem had been a King there Nor is this an ancient Opinion among the Jews at least not constantly believed For Josephus says expresly that Melchizedeck was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Potentate of the Canaanites L. VII De Bello Jud. c. 18. And yet it was so common that it went to the Samaritans as Epiphanius tells us Haeres LV. n. 6. though not to the Arabians who say he was the Son of Peleg See Hotting Smegma Orient 256 269 306. and many Christians have embraced it merely as far as I can discern because they would not acknowledge any good Man to have been then among the Canaanites Some Hereticks held him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Epiphanius tells us in the place fore-mentioned Num. I. Which was the Opinion of Hieracas a great Scholar and famous Physician in Egypt Haeres LXVII n. 3. And some of the Church took him to have been the Son of God himself who then appeared to Abram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the form of a Man Haeres LV. n. 7. But the plain truth is he was a King and Priest for those two Offices anciently were in the same Person in that Country Where Men were not as yet wholly degenerated and faln from the true Religion King of Salem It is a great Error to think that this Salem was the same with Jerusalem For it is plain as Bochart observes L. II. Phaleg c. 4. that Salem was in the way which led from the Valley of Damascus unto Sodom Which we learn from this very place of Scripture And so St. Hierom says that he learnt from the Jews in his time that it was seated on this side of Jordan And it retained it's Name in our Saviour's days as appears by the Story of John's Baptizing near Salim Joh. III. 23. Several of the Fathers are of the same Mind quoted by Mr. Selden in his Review of the History of Tithes p. 452. Brought forth
heinous Iniquities were abominable Idolatries Cruelty beastly Filthiness to a prodigious excess Levit. XVIII 22 23 c. See Theodoret upon Psalm CV 44. and P. Fagius upon Levit. V. 1. But in Abram's time their Iniquity was not full i. e. There were several good Men still remaining among them as Mamre Eshcol and Aner seem to have been who were confederate with Abram and Melchizedek certainly was who being Priest of the most high God had some People sure worshipped together with him And therefore God staid till there was an universal Corruption and they were all ripe for Destruction For we read of none but Rahab whose Faith saved her and her Family when the time of their Destruction came Ver. 17. Behold a smoking Furnace If the great horror Verse 12 represented the extream Misery of the Children of Israel in Egypt Then this seems to signifie God's Vengeance upon the Egyptians for oppressing them in the Furnaces wherein they wrought Exod. IX 8. A burning Lamp or a Lamp of Fire i. e. The Schechinah or Divine Majesty appeared in great Splendor so Maimonides rightly explains it P. I. More Nev. cap. 21. like to a flaming Fire So it appeared to Moses when God came to deliver them from the Egyptian Bondage Exod. III. 2 6 c. Passed between the pieces In Token as it follows verse 18. that he entred into a Covenant with Abram and with his Posterity For passing between the pieces he consumed them as St. Chrysostom rightly understands it and thereby testified his Acceptance of the Sacrifices which Abram offered I noted before that there is no such Rite we read of any where in Scripture but in Jeremiah of making a Covenant in this manner But there are those who think they find this Custom in other Nations For if Dictys Cretensis do not Lye after the manner of the Cretians as Bochart speaks both the Greeks and Trojans from the time of Homer did make Covenants in this fashion Certain it is the Boeotians and Macedonians passed on some occasions through the parts of a Beast dissected But it was for Lustration not for Covenanting as the same Bochart observes P. I. Hierozoic L. II. cap. 46. Ver. 18. Vnto thy Seed will I give this Land c. Here is the utmost extent of the Donation made to Abram Which began to be fulfilled in David 2 Sam. VIII 3 c. for till then they did not inlarge their Borders as far as Euphrates The River of Egypt So Nile is commonly called but cannot be here meant because the Israelites never enjoyed all the Land of Egypt on this side Nile Therefore we are to understand by it that little River which came out of that Branch of Nile called Pelusiacum Brachium From whence a small River not Navigable ran toward Judaea falling into the Egyptian or Phoenician Sea For this River was the Bounds of Palestine and is mentioned by Strabo and others whom G. Vossius cites L. II. De Idolol c. 74. It is called Amos VI. 14. the River of the Wilderness because it run through the Wilderness which is between Egypt and Palestine into the Sea Ver. 19. The Kenites and Kenizzites These are put into the Number of the Nations whose Country God gave to Abram but whether they were descended from any of the Sons of Canaan we cannot tell Nor are we certain where they dwelt Only Eustathius Bishop of Antioch says the Kenites dwelt about Libanus and Amanus And the Kenizzites it 's likely were their Neighbours But the Names of these People were quite extinct between the times of Abram and Moses for we find no mention of them by Joshua in the Division of the Land of Canaan nor in the Account he gives of the Nations he conquered We read indeed of the Kenezites Numb XXXII 12. Josh XIV 6 14. but they were of the Children of Israel And of the Kenites Judg. I. 16. IV. 11 17. but they descended from the Father-in-law of Moses And therefore those whom Moses here speaks of it is probable lost their Name being incorporated into some of the seven Nations who inhabited this Country when Joshua subdued it The Kadmonites These are no where else mentioned But are thought by Bochartus to be the same with the Hivites Who living about Mount Hermon toward the East of the Land of Canaan were thence called Kadmonites i. e. Orientals See X. 17. Ver. 20. Hittites See X. 15. Perizzites They were a People inhabiting the Mountainous and woody Country of Canaan as appears from Josh XI 3. XVII 13. From whence we may gather they were a wild sort of People who lived far from Cities in little Villages and thence perhaps had their Name For Pherazoth in Hebrew signifies Pagi Villages But from which of the Sons of Canaan they descended there is not the least signification in Holy Scripture Rephaim They dwelt in Bashan and perhaps in other Countries thereabouts See XIV 5. Ver. 21. Amorites These were the mightiest People in the Land of Canaan See X. 16. Canaanites These were some of the Posterity of Canaan who peculiarly inherited his Name living upon the Sea-Coast and upon the Banks of Jordan Num. XIII 30. Deut. I. 7. XI 30. And it is a reasonable Conjecture That they sprang from such of Canaan's Sons as had for a time the greatest Power and Authority in that Country And therefore had the Prerogative of being called by his Name Or else they were so called because they were Merchants and great Traders by Sea For so the word is used in Scripture Gergasite See X. 16. Jebusite See there also CHAP. XVI Ver. 1. SArai bare him no Child Still the fulfilling of God's Promise was deferred for the greater trial of Abram's Faith Which now had held out ten Years Verse 3. without seeing any Fruit of it She had an handmaid an Egyptian An Egyptian by Nation but a Proselyte to the true Religion St. Chrysostom thinks Pharaoh bestowed her upon Sarai when he took her into his House or when he sent her away XII 15 20. Which he learnt from the Jews who say the same as may be seen in Pirke Elieser c. 26. who says also as R. Solomon Jarchi doth that she was Pharaoh's Daughter by his Concubine But it is more likely she was such a Servant to Sarai as Eliezer was to Abram born in his House of an Egyptian as he was of a Syrian Woman Ver. 2. And Sarai said unto Abram c. It is likely he having acquainted her with the Promise she grew impatient to have it fulfilled some way or other Go in unto my Maid i. e. Take her to Wife Verse 3. It may be I may obtain Children by her Being born of her Bond-slave they would be Sarai's Children according to the Custom of those Times XXX 3. Exod. XXI 4. And Abram hearkned to the Voice of Sarai Thinking perhaps that God might fulfil his Promise this way because he had only told him he should have Seed but had not as
the more reasonable because he might think though God had spared them for the present yet they taking no warning by the Calamity of their Country would shortly perish as the rest had done And so Theodoret and others think this City was afterwards destroyed Of which there is no certain Record and if the Tradition be true it was not speedily swallowed up as they report but retained for some time the Name of Zoar being before called Bela XIV 2. Dwelt in the Mountain It is not said what Mountain but it is probable one of the Mountains in the Country afterward called Moab from one of his Children which he here begat For Epiphanius Haeres LIII describes the Country of Moab as lying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. beyond the Salt or Dead Sea See Salmas Exerc. Plin. p. 615. Ver. 31. There is not a Man in all the Earth Not one remaining of their Kindred that they knew For they were not much acquainted we may suppose beyond that Country which was destroyed and those of Zoar were so wicked that they look'd upon them as Beasts rather than Men. Ver. 32. Let us make him drink Wine Which they brought with them out of Sodom to support their Spirits in their flight or else got at Zoar Of which they invited their Father to drink liberally and chear himself under his extream great Sorrow That we may preserve Seed of our Father This Fact of theirs being objected by Celsus against our Religion Origen gives this account of it Lib. IV. contra Cels That these two Maids having learnt something of the Conflagration of the World and seeing their own City and Country destroyed by Fire imagined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Seminary of Mankind remained only in their Father and them And if what they did was upon this supposition That there was no other way to restore the World they did no worse than the Stoicks thought their wise Man might do if the Race of Mankind were extinct so that none but he and his Daughter were left alive Irenaeus makes the same Excuse for them and says they did this innocently and in their simplicity believing all Mankind were destroyed L. IV. cap. 51. But I take their Conjecture to be highly probable who conceive that the eager Desire which then possessed the Hearts of Good People to fulfill the Promise of the Messiah was that which put them upon this otherwise monstrous Crime For which there are these Reasons First That they had lived so chastly in the midst of the Impurities of Sodom that one cannot think a Spirit of Uncleanness now entred into them and carried them to this Action And indeed Secondly Their joyning together in this Contrivance whereas Matters of this Nature use to be carefully concealed from the nearest Friends or make them fall out if they find themselves ingaged in the same Intrigue shows that they were acted by Counsel and Design and not by brutish Lust And Thirdly Their perpetuating the Memory of this Fact in the Names of their Children is a demonstration there was something extraordinary in it and that they were not ashamed of it but rather gloried in it desiring it might be remembred that these Children were descended from Lot Who they thought perhaps might pretend to fulfil the Promise as well as Abraham Being the Son of Abraham's elder Brother and called out of Sodom by the Ministry of Angels as Abraham was called out of Chaldaea Ver. 23. He perceived not when she lay down c. This seems hard to be understood But it must be noted That Moses only says he did not perceive when she came to bed to him and when she got up again not that he did not perceive when he lay with her of which he could not but have some perception Though M. Montaigne in his Essays relates a Story of a Widow who being drunk was abused by a Hind in her House and afterward finding her self with Child could not remember how it came to pass But the Fellow at last confessed his Fact Of which whatsoever Sense she had then she had perfectly forgot it when she awaked Ver. 34. Go thou in c. If he had retained any remembrance of what he had done the Night before one cannot think he would have faln into the same Snare so soon again For which reason it is probable he did not think he had been intoxicated but only drank so freely as to make him sleep soundly and forget his Sorrow Ver. 37. Moab Most will have this word to signifie from my Father But Drusius in Deut. II. 8. takes the import of it to be Aqua Patris Ver. 38. Ben-ammi This signifies as much as the Son of my People Which doth not acknowledge so plainly as the other That this Son was begotten by her Father But only that he was the Son of one of her own Nation or Kindred not by a Stranger CHAP. XX. Ver. 1. JOurneyed from thence i. e. From Mamre where he had dwelt a great while and where many remarkable Passages had hapned XIII 18. XVIII 1. Toward the South Country Toward Egypt For some fansie the very Stench of the Lake of Sodom was offensive to him in Mamre Sojourned in Gerar. The Metropolis of Palestine and as some compute it not much above six Mile from Mamre Ver. 2. Abraham said of Sarah c. Just as he had done in Egypt XII 13. when there was greater reason for it she being then thirty Years younger than now when she was no less than ninety Years old But it seems her Beauty remained at this Age being healthful and having born and suckled no Children And Women in those days living so long that they were as fresh at ninety as they are now at forty or fifty When many that are of excellent Constitutions and naturally handsom continue very lovely Abimelech The Name of all the Kings of Palestine as Pharaoh was of the Kings of Egypt It is not improbable as the Author of Tzemath David conjectures that the succeeding Kings took the Name of him who was the first King of the Country Ad A. M. 2600. Sent and took Sarah By Violence some think but I see no ground for it He desired to have her and might think Abraham would look upon it as a great Honour to have his Sister become Wife to a King And Abraham it is likely showed no unwillingness not being in a Condition to deny him Ver. 3. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night Two differences are observed by Maimonides between this manifestation which God made of his Mind to Abimelech and that which he made to the Prophets For it is only said here God came to Abimelech and that he came in a dream by night The very same is said of Laban the Syrian who doth not seem to have been so good a Man as Abimelech XXXI 24. But of Jacob it is said God spake unto Israel and he spake to him in the Visions of
the Night not in a Dream and said Jacob Jacob XLVI 2. See More Nevoch P. II. c. 41. God was not a Stranger to other Nations when he was peculiarly kind to Abraham But spake to them in Dreams and sometimes in Visions as appears in Eliphaz and Elihu Job IV. 13. XXXIII 14 15 c. Thou art but a dead Man viz. If thou dost not restore Abraham his Wife verse 7. She is a Man's Wife Or married to a Husband as we translate it in the Margin so compleatly that he hath enjoyed her as his Wife For from this place the Jewish Doctors prove that the Marriage Contract was not perfected in these Days till the Parties had lain together After which if any other Person lay with the Woman he was to be put to death as an Adulterer but not if he lay with her after the Contract before it was consummated by actual Enjoyment See Mr. Selden de Jure N. G. L. V. c. 4. p. 551. Ver. 4. But Abimelech had not come near her To use her as his Wife Wilt thou slay also a righteous Nation He was afraid as became a good Man and a good King lest his People should suffer upon his account who in this Particular had no Guilt upon them Ver. 5. Said he not unto me c. The Fault is in them not in me For I had both their words for it that he was her Brother and he said nothing of her being his Wife In the integrity of my heart Not with any Intention to defile her but to make her my Wife And innocence of my hands I did not take her by Violence from Abraham but he and she consented to it Ver. 6. And God said unto him in a dream The same Expression is still retained which we had verse 3. to show that this was a lower Degree of Divine Manifestation than was in Abraham's Family I know thou didst this in the integrity c. i. e. That thou didst not design any Evil. For I also c. Or rather And I also withheld thee I dealt well with thee because of thy Integrity Some think he was withheld by a Disease in the Secret Parts verse 17. From sinning against me From committing Adultery Ver. 7. He is a Prophet This is the first time we meet with the word Nabi a Prophet And Abraham is the first that is honoured with this Name Which signifies one familiar with God who might come to him to consult him upon all occasions and be authorized to declare God's Mind and Will to others and also prevail with him by his Prayers for a Blessing upon them So it here follows He shall pray for thee Obtain Life and Health to thee The greater any Prophet was the more powerful he was in Prayer As appears by the Stories of Moses Elias and Samuel See Psalm XCIX 6. It appears by this whole History of Abimelech that he was a Man of great Vertue in those Days And not an Idolater but a worshipper of the True God as Melchizedeck the High-Priest of that Country was Yet not so well acquainted with Divine Revelations as Abraham was Ver. 8. Abimelech rose up early in the Morning This is a further Token of his Goodness that he delayed not to obey the Divine Command Called all his Servants His Privy Council as we speak who were all of the same Mind with him That this was a Divine Admonition which it was not safe to disobey From whence we may probably gather his Court was not so corrupted as Abraham suspected Ver. 9. What hast thou done unto us Into what Danger hast thou brought us Thou hast brought on me and my Kingdom a great Sin Run me into the hazard of committing a great Sin or suffering an heavy Punishment for so Sin is sometimes taken in not telling me the Truth Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done This is not fair dealing such as I might have expected from thee Ver. 10. What sawest thou c. What didst thou observe in my Country that made thee think we would meddle with thy Wife What Tokens of Injustice or Impurity didst thou see among us Ver. 11. Because I thought surely c. The word Rak which we translate surely signifies only And may be thus well translated here this only I saw wanting in your Country the fear of God i. e. A Sence of Religion which restrains Men from all manner of Wickedness It seems the People were not so good as their King Ver. 12. And yet indeed she is my Sister Do not condemn me of telling a Lye for she is truly my Sister Such was the Language of those Days to call their Wives Sisters and their Nephews Brothers As he calls Lot XIII 8. who was his Nephew and the Brother of Sarah as was observed upon XI 29. She is the Daughter of my Father i. e. His Father's Grand-Daughter who are frequently in Scripture called the Children of their Grand-Fathers For she was Daughter to Haran elder Brother of Abraham But not the Daughter of my Mother It seems Terah had two Wives by one of which he had Haran the Father of Lot and Sarah and by the other he had Abraham So Sarah was Daughter to one who was his Brother by his Father's side but not by his Mother And with such a Niece they thought it not unlawful then to marry No regard being had to consanguinity if we may believe R. Solomon Jarchi by the Father's side before the Law of Moses but only by the Mother's The more received Opinion indeed of the Hebrew Doctors is as Mr. Selden observes L. V. de Jure N. G. cap. 2. that Sarah was indeed the Daughter of Terah by his second Wife and so Abraham's half Sister And Said Batricides Patriarch of Alexandria above seven hundred Years ago in his Arabick History tells us the Name of Terah's first Wife was Jona and the Name of his second Tevitha by whom he had Sarah But there is no other Authority for this Ver. 13. When God caused me to wander The Hebrew word which we translate wander being in the Plural Number the LXX render the word Elohim God the Angels Who by the Command of God led him from his Father's House through divers Countries But the Chaldee translates it when because of the Idols of Chaldaea I was called away from my own Country c. For so the Gods that is the Idol Gods might be said to cause him to wander Because it was by reason of them that God would not have him stay any longer in his own Country But there is no need of these Devices Nothing being more usual in the Hebrew Language than for the Plural Number to be put instead of the Singular especially when they speak of God as Bochart observes in many places Gen. XXXV 7. Exod. XXXII 4. Psalm CXLIX 2. Eccles XII 1. See Hierozoic P. I. L. II. c. 34. Nay Hackspan hath rightly observed that there are Nouns of the Plural
descend from Isaac and not they that descend from Ishmael shall be owned by me for the Children of Abraham particularly the Messiah shall be one of his Seed Ver. 13. Also of the Son of thy hand-maid c. He renews the Promise he had made him before XVII 20. that Ishmael should have a numerous Posterity Because he was descended from Abraham Ver. 14. Rose up early in the morning Delayed not to fulfill the Divine Will Took Bread and a bottle of Water Which includes all sort of Provision for their present necessity Till they came to the place unto which in all probability he directed them to bend their Course For it is not reasonable to think that he sent them to seek their Fortune as we speak without any care what became of them It may seem strange rather that he did not send a Servant to attend them but let Hagar carry the Provision her self Which I suppose was done to humble her and to show that her Son was to have no Portion of Abraham's Inheritance nor of his Goods of which Servants were a part Doctor Jackson Book I. on the Creed chap. 25. thinks that Abraham would scarce have suffered them to go into a Wilderness so poorly provided when he had store of all things unless he had been directed by some secret instinct presaging the rude and sharking kind of life unto which his Progeny was ordained Yet it is probable he was as kind to him as he was to the Sons he had by Keturah and sent him some Tokens of his Love afterwards See XXV 6. Ver. 15. She cast the Child under one of the Shrubs He being faint and ready to die with thirst A Presage saith the great Man before-named that his Posterity should be pinched with the like Penury Scantness of Water which was their best Drink streightning their Territories in Arabia as Strabo observes L. XVI And after they had inlarged their Bounds even in Mesopotamia it self they were still confined to the dry and barren Places of it Ver. 16. And she went and sat her down c. Her Strength carried her further than he could go But her Affection still kept her within sight of the place where he was Ver. 17. And God heard the Voice of the Lad. Who cried it seems as well as his Mother And it moved the Divine Pity to send an Angel to their Relief Fear not Do not think I come to terrifie thee Or do not fear the death of thy Child Ver. 18. Lift up the Lad c. It seems he was so faint that he was not able to stand without support Ver. 19. Opened her Eyes Made her see what she did not observe before by reason of her Tears or the great disturbance of her Mind Ver. 20. And God was with the Lad. Preserved and prospered him So that he grew to be a Man Became an Archer A skilful Hunter and Warriour also with Bow and Arrows Am. Marcellinus L. XIV tells us that the Saracens who were of the Posterity of Ishmael never set their Hands to the Plough but got their living for the most part by their Bow For such as they were themselves such was their Food Victus universis caro ferina c. they all lived upon wild Flesh or Venison and such wild Fowl as the Wilderness afforded with Herbs and Milk Dr. Jackson observes that he compares them to Kites ready to spy a Prey but so wild withal that they would not stay by it as Crows or other ravenous Birds do by Carrion but presently fled with what they caught into their Nests Ver. 21. He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran Which was near to Arabia In which Country all the Oriental Writers say the Posterity of Ishmael lived Particularly Patricides who says he went into the Land of Jathreb which is that part of Arabia in which is the City of Medina A Wife out of Egypt Out of her own Country where she was best acquainted The Jewish Doctors say he had two Wives whose Names they tell us were Aischah and Phatimah The first of which received Abraham churlishly when he went to visit his Son and therefore he put her away and took the other who proved more civil when he made a second Journey thither Which though it look like a Fable yet I think it not improbable that Abraham might go to see how his Son lived and that Ishmael might sometimes wait upon him as the Author of Schalscall Hakab and Pirke Elieser affirm for we cannot think they were so unnatural as never to have any correspondence Especially since we read that Ishmael as well as Isaac took care of Abraham's Funeral XXV 9. After which it is not improbable Hagar might have another Husband Which is the account Aben Ezra upon Psalm LXXXIII 6. gives of the People called Hagarenes who are there mentioned as distinct from the Ishmaelites They were saith he descended from Hagar by another Husband not by Abraham Ver. 22. Abimelech and Pichol c. It is plain by this that Abraham still lived if not in the Country of Gerar yet very near it God is with thee in all that thou dost They saw him so thriving and prosperous that they were afraid he might grow too strong for them if he should have a mind to disturb them Ver. 23. Swear that thou wilt not deal falsly c. That as there hath been a long Friendship between me and thee so thou wilt not violate it but alway preserve it even when I am dead According to thy frequent Professions and perhaps Promises According to the kindness c. Abimelech thought he might claim this Oath from Abraham by Virtue of the Obligations he had laid upon him Ver. 24. I will swear He was as forward to confirm his Promises as to make them Ver. 25. And Abraham reproved Abimelech But before he sware he thought it necessary to settle a right Understanding between them And therefore argued with Abimelech as it may be rendred about a Well of Water digged by Abraham's Servants which Abimelech's had injuriously taken from him This was Wisdom to complain of Wrongs now before they entred into a Covenant that they being redressed there might remain no occasion of Quarrels afterward Ver. 26. Abimelech said I wot not c. This is the first time I heard of it If thou hadst complained before I would have done thee right Ver. 27. And Abraham took Sheep c. Some think they were a Present he made to Abimelech in gratitude for what he had bestowed on him XX. 14. or in token of Friendship with him But others think they were designed for Sacrifice by which they made a Covenant one with another At least some of them served for that use Ver. 28. And he set seven Ewe-lambs by themselves The meaning of this is afterwards explained verse 30. That though they were part of the Present he made him yet they should be understood also being set apart from the rest to be a purchase
of a quiet possession of that Well Ver. 30. A witness unto me that I have digged this Well By this Token it shall be remembred hereafter that I digged this Well and that thou didst grant me quiet possession of it Ver. 31. Called the place Beer-sheba The Hebrew word Sheba signifies both an Oath and also seven Perhaps for both reasons this Place had this Name We are sure for the first which is here mentioned Because they sware to each other Ver. 32. Thus they made a Covenant c. By giving and accepting those Sheep and Oxen mentioned verse 27. and perhaps by offering Sacrifices or at least by eating and drinking together As Isaac and Abimelech did in after-times XXVI 30. Here some observe it was not unlawful by the Law of Nature to make Covenants with Infidels and Idolaters for mutual Defence and Commerce or such like reasons But I see no proof that Abimelech was such a Person In future Ages the People of Canaan were so corrupted by this as well as other Sins that God commanded them to be exterminated and made it unlawful to enter into a Covenant with them Exod. XXXIV 15. But as the Philistines were none of them So it still remained lawful to make Leagues with other Gentiles who were not of the seven Nations of Canaan as we see by the Examples of David and Solomon and others They returned into the Land of the Philistines Into that part of the Country where they dwelt For both Abimelech and Abraham were now in that Land as appears from the last Verse of this Chapter Ver. 33. Abraham planted a Grove For a solemn and retired Place wherein to worship God For as Servius says upon the IX Aeneid Nunquam est Lucus sine Religione There never was a Grove in ancient times without Religion And therefore here we may well suppose Abraham built an Altar Which was fenced and bounded with an Inclosure and shaded with Trees as Mr. Mede Discourse XIX observes their Proseucha's or Places of Prayer to have been in after-times For that this was intended for a Place of Prayer appears by the following words and called there on the Name of the Lord c. From hence some think the Custom of planting Groves was derived into all the Gentile World Who so prophaned them by Images and Filthiness and Sacrifices to Daemons that God commanded them by the Law of Moses to be cut down But Abraham made use of a Grove before this XII 6 8. where we find he built an Altar on a Mountain which I question not was compassed with Trees See XIII 18. Therefore I take this only to have been the first Grove that he planted himself Called upon the Name of the LORD the everlasting God I find that Maimonides in several places of his More Nevochim translates the last words The LORD God of the World or the LORD the Almighty Creator of the World For this was the great Article of Faith in those Days That God made the World Par. II. cap. 30. Par. III. c. 29. Ver. 34. Sojourned many days c. The word Days often signifies Years And it is likely signifies so in this place For here Isaac was born and here he was weaned And after that Abraham found so much friendship from Abimelech and so many conveniencies of Life that they invited him to stay a long time in this Country CHAP. XXII Ver. 1. AND it came to pass after these things That which follows fell out while Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba or near it verse 19. God did tempt Abraham Proved or tried his Faith in a very difficult Instance The Hebrews take great notice that the Name of Elohim which they call Nomen Judicii is here used as it is in several of the following Verses And said unto him Abraham I suppose there was such a visible appearance of the Divine Majesty to him as he had often seen XV. 1. XVII 1. XVIII 1. Here I am A Phrase expressing readiness to hearken and to give answer verse 7 12. Ver. 2. Take now Immediately Thy Son A hard thing had it been Ishmael Thy only Son Isaac His only Son by Sarah and the Child of the Promise XXI 12. Whom thou lovest Who was far dearer to him than any thing in this World dearer than his own life For Men will venture that to preserve their Children According to an old saying in Euripides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Children are to all Mankind their very Life or Soul Whence it was that Pacatus Drepanius said in his Panegyrick to Theodosius the Great Instituente Natura plus ferè filios quam nosmetipsos diligimus We are taught by Nature to love our Sons in a manner more than our selves But the love of God in Abraham was stronger than either Get thee into the Land of Moriah So it was called afterwards from God's appearing there verse 14. for the Deliverance of Isaac as many think Certain it is that the Temple of Solomon was built upon Mount Moriah 1 Chron. III. 1. But this Name belonged not only to that Mountain but to all the Mountainous Country thereabouts Which is here called the Land of Moriah Which Aquila translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conspicuous For it is derived from the word Raah to see And the LXX translate it not amiss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 high Country Which is very conspicuous But Mount Sion and Acra and other neighbouring Mountains being also very high this Name of Moriah belonged to them because they were very conspicuous In so much that Mount Sion is often used in Scripture for Mount Moriah For all that Mountainous Country went by one and the same Name And offer him there The Hebrews observe the word is ambiguous and may be translated make him to go up But Abraham understood it in the usual Sence That he should kill him as they did the Beasts for Sacrifices A very hard injunction which some think God would not have laid upon Abraham if he had not had a Power thus to dispose of Isaac inherent in him as his Father See Dr. Taylor Duct Dubit L. III. c. V. Rule 2. n. 1. Vpon one of the Mountains There were more Hills than one thereabouts Psalm CXXV 2. as I observed on the foregoing Verse And it may be further here noted That in ancient Times they chose Mountains or high Places whereon to worship God and offer Sacrifices XII 8. Which God himself approved of till they were prophaned as the Groves were see XXI 33. and then he commanded Abraham's Posterity not to worship in high Places but only in one certain Mountain where he ordered his Temple to be seated Nothing is plainer in the Gentile Writers than that they chose Mountains for Places of Worship And herein Celsus the Epicurean compares them with the Jews observing particularly out of Herodotus that the Persians offered Sacrifices to Jupiter going up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the top of the highest Mountains as his words are in Origen L. V.
when his Wife died And several of the Jews have a Conceit that he came from Mount Moriah which is confuted by what we read XXII 19. where Sarah hearing he was gone to sacrifice her Son died with Grief But Maimonides speaks better Sence when he says Abraham came from his own Tent which was separate as I noted before XVIII 9. from his Wife 's As appears further from XXIV 67. To mourn for Sarah and to weep for her The first relates to Private Sorrow The other to the Publick especially at the Funeral Solemnities when they made great Lamentation After Abraham had performed the former he made preparations for the latter But what the Rites of Mourning were in those days we do not know It 's likely they shut themselves up from Company neglected the Care of their Bodies abstained from their ordinary Food Which with many others were the Customs of Abraham's Posterity who made it a part of their Religion to mourn for the dead Ver. 3. And Abraham stood up from before his dead By this it seems to be apparent that in Abraham's time they sat upon the Ground while they mourned as it is certain they did in future Ages In which Posture they continued till they had satisfied natural Affection and the decent Custom of the Age and Country where they lived Then they rose up as Abraham here did to take care of the Interment of his Wife Seven Days in after Ages were the common time of Mourning And for Illustrious Persons they mourned thirty Days Spake unto the Sons of Heth. In whose Country he now lived Concerning whom see X. 15. By the Sons are meant the Principal Persons of that Nation Ver. 4. I am a stranger and a sojourner with you Though I am not a Native of your Country yet I have lived long enough among you to be known to you Give me possession of a burying place c. I do not desire any large Possessions among you being but a Sojourner let me only have a Place which I may call my own wherein to bury those of my Family which die Ver. 5. And the Children or Sons of Heth answered c. By one of their Body who spake in the Name of the rest As appears by the first words of the next Verse Hear us my Lord In which form they were wont to address themselves to great Men verse 11 13 15 16. Ver. 6. Thou art a mighty Prince We have a great Honour for thee In the choice of our Sepulchres c. Make choice of any one Sepulchre and no Body will deny to let thee have it Every Family at least great ones had their proper place for Burial Which I suppose were sometime so large that they might spare others a part of them or of the Ground wherein they were made Ver. 7. Abraham stood up It seems they had desired him to sit down among them while they treated this business Which when they had granted he stood up to thank them And bowed himself The Hebrew word signifies the bowing of the Body And there are other words in that Language proper to the bowing of the Head or of the Knee Ver. 8. Intreat for me to Ephron c. He desires them to mediate between him and this Man who perhaps was not then present in the Assembly for a Purchase of a convenient Place in his Ground Ver. 9. Cave of Machpelah We take this word Machpelah for a proper Name as many others do But the Talmudists generally think it to have been speluncam duplicem as the Vulgar Latin also with the LXX understand it a double Cave Yet they cannot agree in what Sence it was so whether they went through one Cave into another or there was one above another For that by a Cave is meant a Vault arched over with Stones or Wood which the Ancients called Cryptae no Body doubts Salmasius hath described them in his Plin. Exercit. p. 1208. where he says this Cave is said to have been double in the same Sence that the Greeks called theirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they had a double Entrance so that one might go into them at both Ends as Hesychius expounds it Which shows as he adds it was a large Place and would contain many Bodies And of this he is so confident as to say Non quaerenda est alia duplicis speluncae interpretatio No other Interpretation of this double Sepulchre ought to be sought after But learned Men will not hearken to such Dictates and particularly Theodorick Hackspan maintains Machpelah to be a proper Name as we take it by these two Reasons First Because the Field it self wherein this Cave was is called the Field of Machpelah verse 19. Which doth not signifie sure that there was a double Gate to this Field but that it was in that Tract of Ground called Machpelah And Secondly This Field in Machpelah is said to be before Mamre verse 17. Which plainly denotes it to be a Place so called Miscell Lib. I. cap. 10. For which last Reason Guil. Vorstius also takes it to have been the Name of a Country or Province in which this Field and Cave lay Animadv in Pirke Elieser p. 179. Which is in the end of his Field Burying-Places were not anciently in the Cities much less in their Temples but in the Fields in Caves or Vaults made to hold a good Number of Bodies And so they continued it's manifest in our Saviour's Time among the Jews as appears by Lazarus his Monument John XI 30 31. and by the Burying-places for strangers Matth. XXVII 7. and their carrying the Widows Son out of the City Luke VII 12 c. This seems to have been in the Corner of the Field before mentioned which perhaps was near the High-way For there they sometimes affected to bury their dead as appears from Gen. XXXV 8 19. Josh XXIV 30. Ver. 10. And Ephron dwelt The Hebrew word for dwelt signifies literally sat Which hath made some think that Ephron was a great Man a Ruler or Governor among the Children of Heth Who sat as a Prince or Judge in this Assembly And that this was the reason why Abraham Verse 8. addressed himself to others of the same Rank that they would make way for him into his Favour In the audience of the Children of Heth c. It is judiciously observed by Cornel. Bertram that all weighty Matters in those Days were determined by the King if they had any or the Elders with the Consent of the People De Repub. Judaic cap. 3. Marriages were a Matter of Publick Right XXIX 22. as Sepulchres were it appears by this place Both of them being held to belong to Religion Ver. 11. In the presence of the Sons of my People c. Contracts or Grants were wont to be made before all the People or their Representatives till Writings were invented Ver. 12. Abraham bowed c. Because by their Intercession this Favour was granted him Ver. 13. I will give thee
Pulse or such like mean Diet to promote his Master's Profit Ver. 39. That which was torn of Beasts c. And that also which was stolen by Theft was not brought to Laban's Account but Jacob made them good Which was not only an unjust exaction but an inhumane For the most careful Shepherd in the World could not have his Eye every where to prevent such things especially in the dark as it follows Whether stolen by day or by night A most barbarous usage of a Nephew and a Son-in-law to make him pay for that which wild Beasts devoured or Thieves stole against his will when no Body could see their approach in the Night Some question where Jacob got Money to pay for them But it is to be considered that he did not come quite unprovided from his Father's House with which also we may reasonably think he still held some Correspondence Ver. 40. Thus was I in the day the drought c. While I served thee the Heat consumed me in the Day-time and the Frost nipt me by Night For in those Countries Shepherds were wont to watch their Flocks especially about the time that Ews were likely to yean As we read Luke II. 8. See Bochart in his Hierozoic P. I. L. II. cap. 44. My Sleep departed from mine Eyes Many times he took no rest being awakned by wild Beasts or by Thieves or kept awake by his great solicitude for his Flock Ver. 41. Thus have I been twenty Years in thy House This hath been my manner of life for no less than twenty Years that I have been a Servant in thy Family Ver. 42. The fear of Isaac The God whom Isaac feared that is worshipped As the Chaldee interprets it Thou hadst sent we away now empty Without Goods Wives or Children For he seems to have been so barbarous that if he had been left to himself he would have made them all his Slaves God hath seen my affliction How ill thou hast treated me and taken care to relieve me For so the word seen signifies in many places particularly XVI 13. Ver. 43. These Cattle are my Cattle c. Because they belonged to his Daughters and their Children therefore he calls them his That is now he is in a good mood and pretends the same Care of every thing that Jacob had as if it were his own So it follows And what can I do this day unto these my Daughters c. How can I do them any harm when they are so very dear to me Ver. 44. Let us make a Covenant c. Enter into a strict League by some Monument or other that shall remain as a Testimony of our Friendship Ver. 45. Set it up for a Pillar For a Monument of what Laban desired Ver. 46. Jacob said to his Brethren Gather stones c. He prays every one whom Laban had brought with him to bring a Stone and they did so and laid them together on an heap which was flat at the top like a Table So that they did eat upon it the next Morning verse 54. Ver. 47. Laban called it Jegar-Sahadutha c. One of them gave it a Syriac Name signifying the heap of Testimony The other an Hebrew signifying the heap of Witness For Gal is an Heap in Hebrew and Ed a Witness These two Languages were different But not so much that they did not understand one another as appears by the whole Story Ver. 48. This heap is a witness between me and thee this day It shall remain as a Monument that we agree not to transgress these Bounds as it is explained verse 52. Ver. 49. Mizpah A Watch-Tower This shows that Laban understood Hebrew as well as Syriac Or rather that these were two Dialects Which differed in pronunciation and in many words as those mentioned verse 47. but in most had the same common to them both The LORD watch between me and thee Observe how we behave our selves when we cannot see one another Here he uses the Name of Jehovah which shows he was acquainted with the Religion of Jacob as well as his Language and worshipped it 's likely the LORD of Heaven and of Earth though not without some superstitious mixtures Ver. 50. If thou shalt afflict my Daughters c. It seems to be a short form of Speech importing God who observes all things will punish thee for it If thou take other Wives besides my Daughters Which might have been worse for them and their Posterity And therefore he lays this restraint upon him No Man is with us c. Though here be no Man besides our selves to be Witness of this Agreement yet consider that God which is infinitely more knows it and will punish him that transgresses it In these two last Verses he discourses very Religiously which revived also his natural Affection to his Children Ver. 52. This heap be witness and this pillar be witness c. It seems that Laban and his Company set up an Heap made of the Stones which every one brought and Jacob set up one single large Stone verse 45. in the form of a Pillar And it 's likely his Pillar lookt towards the Land of Canaan and their Heap towards Haran That I will not pass over this heap c. As Stones were set in the Confines of Fields to be Boundaries and Land-marks as we call them to distinguish Mens Possessions and limit them from incroaching one upon another So were this Heap and this Pillar intended to be in the nature of such Boundaries beyond which neither of them should pass armed to offend the other Ver. 53. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor These two were Brethren for he doth not mean sure their Grand-Father the Father of Terah XI 24. and before Abraham was called out of Vr they both worshipped other Gods Josh XXIV 2. But then Abraham renounced those Gods and worshipped only the Creator of Heaven and Earth As Nahor I have formerly conjectured also did when he followed him to Haran Therefore I think we need not make a question by which of Abraham's Gods Laban now swears For I take him to have been bred up in the true Religion which made Abraham desire his Son should have a Wife out of this Family for which reason Isaac also sent Jacob hither The God of their Father As much as to say by the God of our Ancestors Who after God's appearing to Abraham and calling him out of his own Country became the Worshippers of the LORD of Heaven and Earth alone See XI 31. Jacob sware by the fear of his Father Isaac By him whom Isaac worshipped verse 42. He mentions the fear of Isaac rather than the God of Abraham to declare more plainly and undoubtedly by what God he sware For Abraham had been an Idolater but Isaac never was Ver. 54. Jacob offered sacrifice Peace-Offerings as they were afterward called part of which were eaten by him that offered them and by his Friends This further shows they were of the
this List of their Kings that the Kingdom at this time was Elective for the Father did not succeed the Son Which may have been the reason perhaps why it lasted but a while before their Government was altered again verse 40. Maimonides hath an Opinion different from all others that none of these Kings were of the Race of Esau but strangers who oppressed the Edomites And are here set down by Moses to admonish the Israelites to observe that Precept Deut. XVII 15. Not to set a stranger to be King over them who is not their Brother i. e. One of their own Nation Ver. 35. Who smote Midian in the Field of Moab The Midianites perhaps came to invade them and Hadad march'd out and met them in the Frontiers of their Country which joyned to that of Moab Where he got a great Victory over them Ver. 37. And Saul of Rehoboth by the River reigned c. If by the River we should understand Euphrates as it usually signifies near to which stood the City of Rehoboth Gen. X. 11. it may seem strange that one should be chosen from so remote a Country to be King of Edom Unless we suppose him to have been born there but to have lived in Edom And by his great Atchievements to have got into the Throne Otherwise we must take this for some other City which stood by the most known River of this Country Ver. 38. Baal-hanan This Name is the reverse as I may call it of Hani-ball Ver. 39. His Wife's name was Mehetabel c. None of their Wives much less their Pedigree are named besides this alone Which shows she was an eminent Woman in those Times and that Country either for Wisdom or Parentage or Estate or some other Excellence Ver. 40. And these are the names of the Dukes that came of Esau They seem now to have returned to their first Constitution and Kings were laid aside for some time But in future Ages we find they changed again and then Kings reigned successively the Son after the Father as they did in Israel Some think these were the great Men who ruled in Edom in Moses his time According to their Families c. They were the Heads of different Families and lived in different Places and perhaps reigned at the same time in several Parts of the Country So the words seem to import Ver. 43. In the Land of their possession In their own Country whilst the Seed of Jacob sojourned in a strange Country and possessed no Land of their own He is Esau c. He ends as he began This is the Account of Esau the Father of the People who are now called Edomites CHAP. XXXVII Ver. 1. AND Jacob dwelt in the Land c. Having given us an Account of Esau's removal to Seir XXXVI 6 7. and of the Prosperity of his Family there He now goes on to tell us that Jacob still continued in the Country where his Father had sojourned in the Land of Canaan Ver. 2. These are the Generations of Jacob. These words are to be connected with the latter end of XXXV 23 24 c. where he relates how many Sons Jacob had and then gives an account of the Family of Esau in the XXXVI Chapter which being ended he returns to finish the History of Jacob. And the Lad was with the Sons of Bilhah c. These words vehu naar signifie he was very young in the simplicity of his Childish Years and come in by way of a Parenthesis in this manner Joseph being seventeen Years old was feeding the Flock with his Brethren and he was but a Youth unexperienced and therefore called a Child verse 30. with the Sons of Bilhah c. Which last words are an explication of the former showing with which of his Brethren he was Not with the Sons of Leah but with the Sons of his Hand-Maids Particularly with Bilhah's whom we may look upon as a Mother to him now Rachel was dead having waited upon her And Zilpah's Sons are also mentioned in the second place as those it is likely who were thought to have less emulation to him than the Sons of Leah But we see by this how much our greatest Prudence often fails For Reuben and Judah the Children of Leah had more Kindness for Joseph than any of the rest Their evil report What evil Lives they led Ver. 3. Because he was the Son of his old age Benjamin was more so than he and the rest were born not many Years before him But he is so called because he had been married a good while to Rachel before he had him And he was the greatest Comfort of his old Age Benjamin not being yet grown up to give any proof of his future worth He made him a Coat of many colours It is commonly thought to signifie a Garment wrought with Threds of divers Colours or made up of pieces of Silk or Stuff which had much variety in them or wrought as some think with Figures of Fruit or other things See Salmasius upon Flav. Vopiscus p. 396. But Braunius de Vestib Sacerd. Hebr. L. I. cap. 17. hath proved I think that the Hebrew word Passim here signifies a long Garment down to the Heels or Ankles and with long Sleeves down to the Wrests Which had a Border at the bottom and a Facing as we speak at the Hands of another Colour different from the Garment See verse 23. Ver. 4. Could not speak peaceably to him In a kind and friendly manner But churlishly and with evident signs of hatred Aben-Ezra fansies they would not so much as salute him or wish him peace as the Phrase then was peace be to thee or ask him how he did as our Custom is Ver. 5. Joseph dreamed a Dream This was usual among the ancient Patriarchs and others also as appears by Elihu Who shows that all Dreams were not Illusions of evil Spirits Job XXXIII 14 15 c. And long before his time Abimelech was warned by God in a Dream Chapter XX. of this Book verse 3 6 7. Upon which Consideration as Dr. Jackson well observes we should not mistrust the Reports of several ancient Historians who tell us how Princes and Fathers of Families have had Fore-warnings of future Events Either concerning themselves their Kingdoms or Posterity Book I. upon the Creed chap. 9. He told his Brethren This argues his great Innocence and Simplicity that he had not yet Understanding enough to consider how ill this Dream might be expounded or not Prudence enough to conceal what might be ill interpreted by them They hated him yet more The first ground of their Hatred was their Father 's great Love to him and then his informing their Father of their bad Behaviour Which was still increased by the fine Clothes his Father bestowed on him and now most of all by this Dream which they interpreted to signifie his Superiority over them Ver. 7. Your Sheaves stood round about and made obeysance c. Or gathered round about mine
Which was fulfilled when they came for Corn into Egypt of which these Sheaves some think were an apt representation Ver. 8. Shalt thou indeed reign over us It seems they could readily interpret the meaning of a Dream Which shows how common they were in those Days For his Dreams and for his Words This seems to import that he had more Dreams of like nature and was wont to talk of them Which they thought savoured of Arrogance Ver. 9. He dreamt yet another Dream Which confirmed the former by repeating the same thing under different Figures For as the former was taken from the Earth so this from Heaven And is more comprehensive than the former for it concerns his Father as well as his Brethren Behold the Sun and the Moon c. They seemed to descend to him or he to be carried up to them Where they bowed and lay at his Feet Ver. 10. His Father rebuked him Gave him a check that Joseph might not grow conceited of himself and his Brethren might not be provoked to hate him What is this Dream that thou hast dreamed What an idle Dream is this Shall I and thy Mother and Brethren c. Who can believe this Thy Mother is dead which is sufficient to show the vanity of this Dream and thy Father sure is not to truckle unto thee no nor thy elder Brethren Ver. 11. His Brethren envied him Though Jacob seemed to slight what he said it incensed his Brethren against him But his Father observed the Saying He did not look upon it as a mere Fancy but thought there might be something in it And therefore though he thought fit publickly to slight it yet he took such notice of it privately that he preserved it in Mind and laid it up in his Heart as the Scripture elsewhere speaks And it really was fulfilled when he went down into Egypt and no doubt showed that Respect which was due to the Vice-Roy of the Country And so did his Mother Bilhah and all his Brethren Ver. 12. His Brethren went to feed their Father's flock in Shechem As their Flocks increased so they inlarged their Pasture And they often removed to find fresh Pasture Besides he had made a Purchace in this Place where they fed his Flocks in his own Ground Ver. 13. Come I will send thee unto them Make thy self ready that I may send thee to inquire of thy Brethrens Welfare About which he was now the more solicitous because they were gone to a Place where they had some Years ago given great provocation to the Country by their barbarous Cruelty Ver. 15. A certain Man found him Some take this to have been an Angel Who took care of him when he was at a loss which way to go So Maimonides P. II. More Nevochim cap. 42 Where he makes this Passage the very same with that XVI 7. The Angel of the LORD found her c. Ver. 18. They conspired against him The Hebrew word signifies they took subtil and crafty Counsel against him to slay him Laid their Heads together as we now speak to kill him so that the Murder might be concealed from their Father Ver. 19. Behold this Dreamer cometh In the Hebrew This Master of Dreams or a frequent Dreamer one that hath Dreams at command Ver. 20. Cast him into some pit Which they were wont to dig frequently in those Countries to hold Rain-Water for their Cattle when they could not find a Spring or were near no River Ver. 21. He delivered him out of their Hands Preserved him from being murdred by them as they intended Which he did by the following Counsel Which seemed to have something of Humanity in it and yet would effect what they resolved Ver. 22. Cast him into this pit That he might perish with hunger And lay no Hands upon him c. Let not us kill him This he said that he might save his life intending secretly to draw him out of the Pit and restore him safe to his Father By which piece of good Service Reuben perhaps hoped to reconcile his Father to him who was justly angry with him for defiling his Bed XXXV 22. Ver. 23. His Coat of many colours By this it seems he was distinguished from the rest of his Brethren Being not yet grown up to such laborious Imployments as they followed abroad and therefore indulged to wear a richer sort of Garment with his Father at home For according to the common Notion it was wrought or embroidered with Flowers which was accounted Noble as well as Beautiful in ancient Times As appears by Plato who commending the Government then admired in Greece compares it to such a Garment that hath variety of Colours in it L. VIII de Republ. p. 557. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 24. The pit was empty there was no Water in it This shows the use of such Pits was to hold Water Which at this time was dried up for want of Rain Ver. 25. A company of Ishmaelites In the Language of these Times it is called a Caravan Merchants not daring to travel alone or in small Numbers in those Eastern Countries through the Desarts for fear of Robbers or of wild Beasts From mount Gilead They came from Parts beyond that but passed that way to Traffick there With there Camels Which were and still are the most proper Beasts for Carriage in those Countries Being able to travel a great way in the Desarts without Drink And the Midianites who are here the same with the Ishmaelites ver 28. had as great a breed of them as any other Country As Bochart observes P. I. Hierozoic L. II. cap. 3. Bearing Spicery The word Necoth which we and a great many others translate Spicery in general seems to signifie some particular sort of Spicery as the following words do A great many Conjectures there are what sort and Bochart most probably concludes it to be Storax See the fore-named Book P. II. Lib. IV. cap. 12. Balm So Kimchi whom the Modern Interpreters generally follow expounds the Hebrew word Tzeri Which the Ancients interpret Resin and Bochart justifies them by such Reasons as these That there was no Balm in Gilead in these Days but it was brought thither out of Arabia Foelix in the Reign of King Solomon And then it grew on this side Jordan about Engaddi and Hiericho not beyond Jordan in the Land of Gilead Ib. Par. I. Lib. II. cap. 51. Ver. 26. What profit is it if we slay our Brother c. We shall get nothing by letting him die in the Pit Had we not better make Money of him And conceal his Blood Though we should be able to conceal his Murder which is not easie to do Ver. 27. For he is our Brother and our Flesh Natural Affection persuaded to this rather than to the other And his Brethren were content As many of them as were then present for Reuben was not among them at this Consultation Ver. 28. Then passed by Midianites They are called Ishmaelites just
Esau did Isaac by marrying the Daughters of Heth. Whose name was Shuah Her Father's Name was Shuah verse 12. He took her To be his Wife verse 12. Ver. 5. And he was at Chezib when she bare him Some think this Town the same with Achzib belonging to Judah Josh XV. 44. But why Moses mentions his absence when this Child was born and why he sets down the Place where he then was we cannot give an account Though there was no doubt some special Reason for it Perhaps it is to show why she gave the Name to this and to her former Son whereas he himself named the first verse 3. because he was not at home when they were born Ver. 6. Whose name was Tamar She seems also to have been a Woman of Canaan but not an Idolater Ver. 7. Was wicked in the sight of the LORD i. e. Exceeding impious and that notoriously See Gen. X. 9. What particular Sins he was guilty of is but conjectured Some fansie they were of the same nature with his next Brother's See Bonfrere or Menochius out of him And the LORD slew him Cut him off suddenly by some unusual stroke Ver. 8. Go in unto thy Brother's Wife c. This say the Hebrew Doctors was an ancient Custom in force before the Law of Moses Which only enacted what had been formerly practised Maimon P. III. cap. 49. More Nevoch that when a Man died without Issue his next Brother should marry his Wife Deut. XXV 5. Which Custom afterward extended to the next Cousin if no Brother remained And raise up Seed unto thy Brother Preserve thy Brother's Name and Family by begetting a Child which may be accounted his and inherit his Estate For so the Law was that the First-born of such a match was not to be lookt upon as the Child of him that begat him but as his Brother's who was the Mother's first Husband All the following Children were to be his own Ver. 9. Onan knew that the Seed should not be his i. e. The First-born should be reputed his Brother's Child Lest he should give Seed to his Brother Or lest a Child should be born in the name of his Brother as the Vulgar Latin interprets it very exactly according to the Opinion of the Hebrews as Mr. Selden observes L. VII de Jure N. G. cap. 3. Ver. 10. The thing which he did displeased the LORD This made his Sin the more heinous that he acted against the Divine Promise made to Abraham concerning the multiplying of his Seed Especially against the Belief of the Promise of the Messiah that Seed for which all good Men longed Ver. 11. Remain a widow in thy Father's house c. It seems the Contract of Marriage at first was so understood in those Days that if the Husband died without Issue the Woman must marry his next Brother and as long as any of his Brethren remained they were bound to marry his Wife and preserve their Brother's Memory Or else solemnly renounce her to their great infamy and disgrace This was so well known that there is nothing in the Law that enjoyns any new solemn Contract in such a Case Because the first Husband being dead she and the next Brother were Man and Wife without any further Agreement by Virtue of the Original Law Until he renounced her Yet by the Constitutions afterwards made by their Elders it was ordained that he should espouse and endow her solemnly before Witnesses As Mr. Selden shows in his Vxor Hebr. Lib. I. cap. 12. and Lib. II. cap. 2. and 10. But Judah thought Selah was too young to perform this Contract and therefore desired her to stay till he was grown up And to abide in her own Father's House rather than in his that Selah might not think of Marriage too soon For he said Lest peradventure he die also This some make an Argument that he never intended to give her his Son But it is more agreeable to verse 24 and 26. to think that according to the Custom of those Days he could not refuse it And therefore he thought it was their youthful Folly which made his two other Sons perish Which made him resolve to keep this till he had more Discretion and was better instructed in his Duty Or if we imagine their Sin was known to none but Tamar the meaning may be that he thought their marrying too young was the cause of their death And therefore he determined to keep this only remaining Son till he was of a riper Age. Ver. 12. In process of time In the Hebrew the words are The Days were multiplied i. e. after some Years To Timnath A Town not far from Adullam it is probable for it was also within the Lot of the Tribe of Judah Josh XV. 57. He went up to Timnath Some have made a difficulty about this Phrase For Sampson is said to have gone down to Timnath Judg. XIV 5. But they should have considered as Bochart observes P. I. Hierozoic L. III. cap. 4. that these were two different Places one called Timnah the other Timnathah This in the Tribe of Judah the other in the Tribe of Dan. To this they went up because it was in a mountainous Country To the other they went down because it was in a Valley To his Sheep-shearers It was the Custom at such times to make a Feast as we do now and to invite their Kindred and Friends to it as he doth his Friend Hirah which appears sufficiently from the Story of Absalom 2 Sam. XIII 23. For in those Countries where they had vast Flocks Sheep-shearing was a kind of Harvest Which made that time to be observed with such Joy as there used to be in Harvest Whence David's Servants said to Nabal that they were come to him on a good Day for he was shearing Sheep 1 Sam. XXV 8. Accordingly Judah having finished the time of mourning for his Wife went to recreate himself with his Friends at this Festival Season Ver. 14. She put off her Widows Garments In which it seems such Persons continued till they were married to the next Brother But she at this time laid them aside that he might not have the least suspicion she was the Person whom he courted Covered her with a Veil As all Women did in the Eastern Countries when they went abroad And there are Examples of it also in the Western Parts of the World as Mr. Selden at large shows in his Vxor Hebraica L. III. cap. 17. Where he produces several Passages out of the Alcoran requiring this Wrapt her self Muffled her Face with it as we speak that she might not be known And sat in an open place Where two Ways met as the Hebrew words seem to import Unless we take it for a proper Name as it is in the Margin of our Bibles Either way it signifies in a Publick Place where every Body might see her It is commonly noted That there was so much Modesty left in those ancient Days that Harlots both
the other and seemed to import a great Change in their Condition Which made such a deep Impression upon them that they were solicitous to know the meaning Ver. 8. We have dreamed a Dream and there is no Interpreter of it i. e. Here in Prison we have not the opportunity of getting them interpreted If they had been at liberty there were Men in those Countries who pretended to the Skill of Interpreting Dreams Which for the most part were not to be regarded but some Dreams carried such lively representations in them and so suitable to their present Condition and made likewise so great a Commotion in their Spirits that they could not but attend to them Nay think God had sent them and therefore desire to know the meaning of them Thus we find Achilles advising Agamemnon in Homer's Iliad I. to consult with the Interpreters of their Gods for what Offence they had sent the Plague among them saying To what Priest or to what Prophet shall we go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or to what vender of Dreams For even Dreams come from Jupiter Do not Interpretations belong to God Who can show the meaning of Dreams but he that sent them viz God This shows that God did sometime admonish other Nations as we saw XX. 6. XXXI 24. as well as the Jews by Dreams Until they forgot as Dr. Jackson judiciously speaks that Interpretations were from God and laboured to find out an art of Interpreting Then they either ceased or were so mixed with delusions that they could not be discerned Or if their Events were in some sort foreseen yet Men being ignorant of God's Providence commonly made choice of such means for their avoidance as brought upon them the Events which they feared Book I. on the Creed chap. 9. Ver. 12. The three Branches are three Days i. e. Signifie three Days So he understood their meaning to be rather than Months or Years because of their sudden budding blossoming knitting and ripening of the Grapes verse 10. Ver. 13. Shall lift up thy Head i. e. Advance thee or as it is in the Margin reckon thee number thee among his Servants as the Phrase is used Exod. XXXI 12. For there being a Roll or Catalogue of all the Officers of the Court with their several Salaries they were all called over on some certain Day it should seem by verse 20. before the King's Birth-Day and summoned to give their Attendance And then such as the King was offended withal were struck out and punished according to their deserts or pardoned and graciously restored to their Places This Exposition best agrees with the Event verse 20. where the Heads of both these Officers are said to be lifted up Though one of them only was advanced to his former Station Ver. 14. But think on me when it shall be well with thee c. When my Prediction is come to pass I ask no other Reward of thee but that thou wilt be an Instrument of delivering me from my imprisonment Joseph was not only grown expert in interpreting Dreams which he was not before he came into Egypt XXXVII 6 c. but fully assured he knew the right meaning of them as appears by this Passage And such kind of Predictions by Dreams were frequent in ancient Times among the Heathen as well as among the Hebrews Though in after Ages they grew rare in both For as Dr. Jackson admirably speaks in the Place before-named the increase of Wickedness in the World multiplicity of Business solicitude of Mind about worldly Affairs and Mens too much depending on Politick Devices to accomplish their Ends caused the defect of true Dreams and of other Divine Admonitions for the welfare of Mankind Ver. 15. I was stolen Carried away by Violence without the knowledge of my Father and sold for a Slave His Brethren in selling him committed that Crime which the Latins call Plagium For Qui hominem liberum vendit plagiarius est Out of the Land of the Hebrews Some Men would have it thought that these words were added by Joshua or some other after Moses his time Because Canaan was not called the Land of the Hebrews in his days much less in Joseph's But they should have considered that Joseph doth not call all the Land of Canaan by this Name but only that part of it where Abraham Isaac and Jacob had very long lived viz. about Hebron There Abraham who was the first that is called an Hebrew setled with his Family when he came out of Chaldaea XIII 17 18. There Isaac dwelt also XXXV 27. and Jacob XXXVII 1 14. where it is said indeed they were strangers or sojourners in this Country But they were Strangers of great Note and Name as Jacobus Altingius hath well observed who were treated as Princes XXIII 6. lived by their own Laws made Leagues not only with private Men but with Cities and with Kings XXI 22 23. XXVI 28. XXXIV 6. and the Fame of them could not but be spread abroad both by the Victory which Abraham got in a Battle over several Kings and by the sacking of Shechem which the Neighbours durst not revenge All which might well make that part of the Country wherein they had resided for three Generations be called the Land of the Hebrews Where they were at first planted by the Consent of the Natives who were confederate with Abraham XIV 13. That they should put me into the Dungeon Into which he was thrown at the first as a great Malefactor For this was the lowest and darkest place in the Prison being under Ground So the Hebrew word commonly signifies a Pit either with or without Water in it And thence this part of a Prison Which Bochartus well translates cryptam subterraneam and sometimes signifies a Grave Psalm XXVIII 1. Hierozoic P. I. Lib. III. cap. 4. Ver. 16. The chief Baker saw the Interpretation was good It was well the chief Butler propounded his Dream first which had a good signification For if this Man had spoken first the other it is likely would not have proposed his Dream Three white Baskets Or as we now speak three Wicker Baskets and as the Margin hath it the Twigs so twisted that they were full of holes as ours many times are wrought Ver. 17. In the uppermost Basket They were set one upon another In the lowermost of which we may suppose was Bread in the middlemost Pies and in the highest the finer sort of Pastes of all sorts Bisket Tarts c. Ver. 19. Lift up thy Head The same Phrase which was used of the other verse 13. but with this addition from off thee To signifie that his Name should be called for another purpose that he might not only have his Name struck out of the Roll but his Head struck off from his Body Though there is no necessity so to understand it but only simply that he should lose his life And shall hang thee on a tree They that fansie his Head was first cut off will have
our Asses Ver. 19. They came near to the Steward c. They desired to speak with him before they entred into the House That they might set themselves right in his Opinion Ver. 20. We came at the first time to buy Food And we paid for it what was demanded Ver. 21. When we came to the Inn c. There we found that very Money to a Farthing in our Sack 's Mouth c. Ver. 22. We cannot tell who put our Money c. We are ignorant how it came there but suppose it was by some mistake And therefore have brought it again with new Money for another Purchase Ver. 23. Peace be to you Trouble not your selves about that Matter Your God and the God of your Fathers c. This Steward had learnt of Joseph the knowledge of the True God To whose Kindness he bids them ascribe this Event And he brought Simeon out unto them Unbound as free as themselves Ver. 24. Gave them Water Ordered Water to be brought as the Custom was to wash their Feet See XVIII 4. Ver. 26. Bowed themselves to the ground Here again was Joseph's Dream fulfilled See XLII 6. Ver. 28. Thy servant our Father c. Here they made a Reverence to him in the Name of their Father Whereby that part of the Dream XXXVII 9 10. which concerned him was also fulfilled And they speak likewise of him in an humble Style signifying his inferiority to Joseph Ver. 29. Saw his Brother Benjamin He had seen him before verse 16. but did not think fit to take notice of him at the first Or perhaps was then full of business when they presented themselves at their first appearance and had not leisure to speak with them till Dinner-time God be gracious unto thee my Son He blessed him as Superiors were wont to do those below them Whom they called their Sons with respect to themselves as Fathers of the Country Ver. 30. His Bowels did yern He felt a great commotion within himself which he was not able to keep from breaking out And therefore he made haste out of the Room where they were as if some other business called him away Ver. 31. Set on Bread Set the Dinner upon the Table Ver. 32. And they set on for him by himself c. There seems to have been three Tables One where he sat alone in State Another where his Brethren sat And a third where the great Men of Egypt were entertained For the Egyptians might not eat Bread with the Hebrews c. Because the Hebrews saith Jonathan did eat those Beasts which the Egyptians worshipped And to the same purpose writes Onkelos In which regard the Egyptians were as scrupulous to eat with a Grecian in after-times as now with an Hebrew So Bochart observes out of Athenaeus L. VII Deipnos where Anaxandrides a Comedian jeers the Egyptians for worshipping an Eel as a Great God whom we saith he think to be most excellent Meat And out of Herodotus who in his Euterpe cap. 41. saith no Egyptian Man or Woman would kiss the Mouth of a Greek nor make use of a Knife a Spit or a Pot belonging to them nor take a bit of Beef cut with a Greek's Knife See Bochart's Hierozoic P. I. Lib. II. cap. 53. And Dr. Spencer de Rit Hebr. p. 125. But though it appear by such Passages that in the time of Herodotus and other fore-named Writers several Animals were held so Sacred among the Egyptians that they would not eat them yet it may well be questioned whether it were so in the Days of Joseph For there is not the least sign of it in this Story much less of their worshipping such Creatures The worship of the famous Ox called Apis being a much later Invention as many learned Men have demonstrated And some of them having given probable Reasons that Joseph himself was the Person at first represented by that Figure under the Name of Ab i. e. Father of his Country See Ger. Vossius L. I. de Idol cap. 29. Therefore it is most likely that this Abhorrence is to be resolved only into the very different Manners of the Hebrews from the Egyptians Particularly at their Meals in the way of dressing their Meat or in their eating For we know some of the Jews themselves afterwards scrupled to eat with those who had unwashen Hands and several Nations have avoided such Familiarity with others merely on the account of their different Customs Of which the Egyptians were exceeding tenacious as Herodotus himself informs us particularly in their eating For he concludes his Discourse about their Feasts with this Observation in his Book before-mention'd cap. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Using their own Country Customs they receive no other And in the Ninety first Chapter of the same Book he saith that as they would use no Greek Customs so to speak all in a word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Neither would they use the Customs of any other Men in the World whatsoever Nay one Part of Egypt differed extreamly from another For in the Theban Province they abstained from Sheep and sacrificed Goats but in the Mendesian quite contrary they abstained from Goats and sacrificed Sheep As he tells us in his Euterpe cap. 42. And the wisest of them were so nicely Superstitious that some of them thought it unlawful to eat of the Head of any living Creature others of the Shoulder-blade others of the Feet others of some like part So Sextus Empiricus tells us Lib. III. Pyrrh Hypot cap. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Upon which score I do not know but such kind of People might be so whimsical as to refuse to eat with one another Ver. 33. They sat before him For that was the Custom before the way of lying upon Beds was invented See XXVII 19. XXXVII 25. And the Men marvelled one at another That they should be so exactly disposed according to the order of their Birth And so kindly treated by one that had lately used them very roughly Ver. 34. And he took and sent messes c. Ordered those that waited to take and carry Messes from his own Table unto theirs For such was the ancient Custom for great Men to honour such as were in their Favour by sending Dishes to them which were first served up to themselves From whence they were called MISSA Messes things sent The ancient way of eating also is to be observed which was not like ours As appears by Plutarch in his Sympos Lib. II. Q. ult where he disputes which was the better Custom to eat out of one common Dish or every one to have a Dish to himself As the manner was in old time When all the Meat being set on the Table the Master of the Feast distributed to every one their Portion Benjamin's Mess was five times as much c. He had five Dishes to their one Which was intended as a peculiar Respect to him Or as others understand it there was five times as much
this a third time that they might see he did not think so much on their Unkindness as on God's great Goodness And therefore be confident he would not remember what they had done to him but what God had done for them all Hath made a Father unto Pharaoh Given me the Authority of a Father with him So that he Honours me and doth nothing without my Advice and Counsel And there was very good Reason for it his Wisdom being so great and experienced Vt non ab homine sed a Deo responsa dari viderentur as Trogus an ancient Historian among the Heathen observes that his Answers seemed not to be given by a Man but by God Which made him Regi percharum very dear to the King as the same Author relates Who tells also the Story of his being sold by his Brethren who envied his excellent Wit See Justin Lib. XXXVI cap. 2. Lord of all his House The principal Person in his Court. And Ruler throughout all the Land of Egypt Chief Governor of the whole Country In which were several Provinces which had distinct Governors who were all under the Government of Joseph Ver. 10. Thou shalt dwell in the Land of Goshen This was that part of the lower Egypt which lay next to Arabia and Palestine abounding with fair Pastures Being watred by many Streams from the Nile Certain it is it lay next to Canaan for Jacob went directly thither when he came into Egypt and staid there till Joseph came to him XLVI 28. And thou shalt be near unto me Therefore the Royal City where Joseph resided that he might be always near to Pharaoh was at this time in the lower Egypt at Zoan Psalm LXXVIII 43. which other Authors call Tanis Which was situated not far from that Mouth of Nile which Plutarch calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that part of Egypt is called the higher where Nile runs only in one Stream That the lower where it divides into many and from its triangular Form is called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the Eastern Part of which or very near it toward the Red Sea was this Country called the Land of Goshen This argues the great Authority of Joseph that he makes such Promises as these before he had askt the Consent of Pharaoh Ver. 12. And behold your Eyes see c. You cannot but be convinced by the Lineaments you see in my Face and by the Language which I speak and by all the things which I have related concerning the state of our Family that indeed it is your Brother Joseph who speaks to you Or more simply you have it not by Hear-say which might deceive you but are Eye-witnesses that I am alive and say these things to you Ver. 13. Tell my Father of all my glory Of the great Honour which is done me in Egypt Ver. 15. His Brethren talked with him After their fright was over and he had so affectionately embraced them they conversed freely and familiarly with him Acknowledging it 's likely their Crime and acquainting him with what had passed in their Family since they committed it Ver. 16. And the fame thereof c. All the Court rang as we speak with the News of Joseph's Brethren being come and that they were to fetch their Father and settle in Egypt For Joseph it appears by the next Verse went and acquainted Pharaoh with his Desire And it pleased Pharaoh well and his Servants No wonder that Pharaoh who had raised Joseph so high was pleased to be kind to his Father and Family And the Court follows the Pleasure of the King Ver. 17. Pharaoh said unto Joseph c. This no doubt was the Answer Pharaoh made to Joseph's Petition Wherein he grants him not only what he askt but all conducing to it Ver. 18. I will give you the good of the Land c. The richest Part of the Country which produces the noblest Fruits Ver. 19. Now thou art commanded Now that thou hast my Warrant for it go about it presently Ver. 20. Regard not your stuff If there be not Waggons enough to bring all your Stuff do not matter it you shall have better here But the Vulgar seems to take it in a quite contrary Sence as if he had said Leave nothing behind you but bring all you have with you if you think good Though whatsoever the Land of Egypt affords is all yours All the good of the Land of Egypt c. You shall not want when you come hither if it be to be had in Egypt Ver. 21. Gave them Waggons And Horses no doubt to draw them with which Egypt abounded Ver. 22. To each Man changes of Raiment Two Vests or Robes as St. Hierom translates it Otherwise there would not have been a change These were part of the ancient Riches as much as Money Ver. 23. After this manner The Hebrew word Cezoth signifies according to that which he had given to Benjamin i. e. Money and several changes of Raiment Besides what follows ten Asses laden with the good things of Egypt c. Bread and Meat i. e. All manner of Provision Ver. 24. See that ye fall not out c. About what you have formerly done to me or any thing else that I have said to you But when you reflect upon your selling me adore the Providence of God which by that means brought about your Happiness and mine Ver. 26. His Heart fainted At the mention of Joseph's Name he fell into a swoon Being fully persuaded he was dead and giving no Credit to what they said of his being alive Ver. 27. And they told him all the words of Joseph When he was come to himself they related all that had passed between them and Joseph How great a Man he was and how desirous to see him c. verse 13. And when he saw the Waggons Had not only heard their Relation but saw also those Carriages which no doubt were splendid and suitable to Joseph's Quality that were come to bring him into Egypt he lookt upon them as a sufficient confirmation of the good News The Spirit of Jacob revived Which Bochart translates Pristino vigori restutus est he was restored to his former Vigor Not only recovered perfectly from his fainting Fit but raised to a greater Liveliness than he had felt since the loss of Joseph Ver. 28. It is enough c. I wish for no more but to live to see him and then I shall be content to die CHAP. XLVI Ver. 1. CAme to Beersheba Which was in his way from Hebron where he now lived XXXV 27. into Egypt Lying in the most Southerly Parts of Canaan near that Wilderness through which the Israelites went when they came from Egypt And offered sacrifice Recommended himself and his Family unto God's Protection in his Journey to Egypt and unto his Preservation when he came there And he the rather called upon God in this Place because both his Father and Grand-Father had found Favour with
whence he thinks came the name of PECVNIA for Money and PECVLIVM for Riches à pecoribus from Cattle because the Ancients had no other Possessions Et adhuc apud quasdam gentes unum hoc reperitur divitiarum genus And to this Day saith he there is no other Riches to be found among some Nations Which is still true of the Abyssines especially of the Beklenses as Ludolphus assures us L. I. Hist Aethiop cap 10. § 8. and Comment in Histor L. IV. cap. 4. n. 13. Ver. 4. To sojourn in the Land are we come We do not desire to settle but only to sojourn here during the Famine For the Famine is sore in the Land of Canaan It was an high Country in comparison with Egypt and the Grass sooner burnt up there than in Goshen Which being a very low Country they found some Pasture in it for their Flocks and therefore beseech him to suffer them to dwell there For as St. Austin observes from those that knew the Country there was more Grass in the Marishes and Fenny parts of Egypt when the Nile did not overflow enough to make plenty of Corn. Quest CLX in Gen. Ver. 6. The Land of Egypt is before thee It is all in thy Power dispose of them as thou pleasest Any Man of activity Vigorous and industrious and that understands his business Make them Rulers over my Cattle Such as Doeg was to Saul 1 Sam. XXI 7. And those great Officers mentioned 1 Chron. XXVII 29 30 31. were to King David For the Eastern Kings raised part of their Revenue from Cattle and so did the Egyptian it appears by this place who had some prime Officers to oversee the lower sort of Shepherds This shows that all Shepherds were not an abomination to the Egyptians but only those of other neighbouring Nations the Arabians Phoenicians and Aethiopians who were either an ill sort of People or forbidden by the Laws of Egypt which abounded with Cattle to Traffick with them there Ver. 7. Jacob blessed Pharaoh Gave him Thanks for his Favour and prayed for his Health and Safety For that 's the Blessing of an Inferior to a Superior Thus Naaman prays Elisha Take a Blessing of thy Servant i. e. an acknowledgment of my Obligations to thee Ver. 9. Pilgrimage So good Men are wont to call their Life though they never stir from their native Soil Looking upon it as a Passage not a Settlement But Jacob had reason to call his Life so more literally Having been tossed from place to place ever since he went from his Father's House into Mesopotamia and returned from thence into Canaan Where he dwelt a while at Succoth and then at Shechem and after that removed to Bethel and so to Hebron unto his Father Isaac from whence he was now come into Egypt Few and evil have been the Days c. They had been few in comparison with his Fore-fathers and evil because full of Labour and Care Grief and Sorrow upon many occasions Ver. 10. Jacob blessed Pharaoh At meeting and at parting such Salutations were usual See Verse 7. Ver. 11. In the Land of Rameses In that part of Goshen which in the days of Moses was called Rameses from the Name of the City which the Hebrews built there for Pharaoh Unless perhaps the City was called so from the Country of Rameses wherein it stood Ver. 12. And Joseph nourished his Father c. Though there was some Pasture in this Country for their Cattle yet not Food enough for themselves which Joseph therefore took care to supply them withal According to their Families According as their Children were more or fewer so he proportioned their allowance Ver. 13. There was no Bread in all the Land This was the third Year of the Famine XLV 6. in which all the Corn which Men had stored up in their several Families was wholly spent Ver. 14. And Joseph gathered up all the Money c. As long as the Egyptians had any Money left they bought Corn of Joseph Which supported them all the third and it is probable the fourth and fifth Year of the Famine And Joseph brought the Money into Pharaoh's House Into the Treasury which he filled and not his own Coffers as Philo observes Ver. 15. And when Money failed This we may probably conceive was in the sixth Year of the Famine When they were forced to sell their Cattle for Food Ver. 18. They came the second Year i. e. The next Year after the sale of their Cattle which was the last of the Famine as appears from the next Verse Ver. 19. Wherefore should we die we and our Land The Land is said to die as Bochart observes in the beginning of his Hierozoicon cùm inculta jacet desolata when it lies untill'd and desolate As he shows by examples out of some Poets We and our Land will be Servants unto Pharaoh We that were Free will become the King's Bond-men And our Land which was our own we will hold of him And give us Seed c. This shows it was now the last Year of the Famine They desiring Corn not merely for Food but also to Sow in hopes to have a Crop the next Year For Joseph had told them there should be but seven Years of Famine And it is likely Nilus had now begun to overflow the Country as formerly which confirmed his word Ver. 20. And Joseph bought all the Land of Egypt for Pharaoh So the whole Country became the King 's Demesne in which no Man had any Propriety but himself Ver. 21. As for the People he removed them to Cities Remote from those wherein they had formerly dwelt Under the word Cities is comprehended all the Villages about them From one end of the borders of Egypt c. Transplanted them into far distant Parts of the Country from whence he brought others in like manner into their places That they might in time forget the Dominion they formerly had in the Lands they had sold and that there might be no Combination afterward to regain them The old Owners being separated far one from another Ver. 22. Only the Land of the Priests bought he not This is commonly noted as a great piece of Religion in Joseph that he took not away the Land of those who were God's Ministers Though engaged it 's thought in Superstitious if not Idolatrous Services for that the word Cohanim here signifies Priests not Princes as sometimes it doth the ancient Versions generally agree But it is plain they were in no necessity to sell their Lands having their Diet continually from the King Which is given as the reason in the following part of this Verse why he did not buy them This therefore is rather to be observed that the Priests had anciently some Publick Lands allotted to them for the support of their Dignity For both Herodotus and Diodorus tell us they had a Publick Maintenance as Vossius observes Lib. I. de Idolol cap. 29. The Priesthood being confined to certain
laid his Hands across So that the Right Hand lay upon the Head of Ephraim who was next to his Left c. Ver. 15. He blessed Joseph In the Blessing he bestowed on his Children All my life long The Hebrew word Mehodi signifies à die quo ego sum as Bochart interprets it Hierozoic P. I. Lib. II. c. 14. ever since I had a being Ver. 16. The Angel which redeemed me Who by God's Order and as his Minister preserved me in all the Dangers wherein I have been Many of the ancient Fathers as Athanasius L. IV. contra Arianos Cyril upon this place Procopius Gazaeus c. understand hereby an increated Angel viz. The Second Person of the blessed Trinity But the Discourse is not concerning the sending of the Son of God in our Flesh to redeem Mankind but only concerning the Preservation and Prosperity of one Man and therefore I do not know whether it be safe to call him an Angel i. e. a Minister or Messenger lest we detract from his Divinity For in conferring Blessings he is not a Messenger or Minister but a principal Cause together with the Father They are the words of that famous Divine Georg. Calixtus who follows St. Chrysostom who takes this Angel to be one properly so called And thence proves the heavenly Ministers take care of Pious People And so doth St. Basil in no less than three places of his Works Which show it was his setled Opinion But it did not enter into their Thoughts that Jacob here pray'd to an Angel but only wisht these Children might have the Angelical Protection by the special Favour of God to them For it is just such an Expression as that of David to a contrary purpose Psalm XXXV 6. Let the Angel of the Lord persecute them Where no Body will say he prays to an Angel though his words are exactly like these of Jacob. And let my Name be named on them Here he plainly adopts them to be his Children as he said before he would verse 5. For to be called by one's Name which is the same with having his Name named on them is as much as to be one's Children For thus they that are said to be called by God's Name became his peculiar People Therefore Tostatus well interprets it Sint duo Capita tribuum inter Filios Jacob Let them be the Heads of two Tribes among the Sons of Jacob. But none so plainly as David Chytraeus whose words are these Vera simplicissima sententia haec est Isti pueri à me adoptati c. The true and most simple Sence is These Youths Manasseh and Ephraim who are adopted by me shall not hereafter be called the Sons of Joseph but my Sons And be Heirs and in the division of the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan receive an equal Portion with my Sons Grow into a multitude The Hebrew word as Onkelos interprets it signifies increase like Fishes as we also in the Margin translate it which are the most fruitful of all Creatures as Authors commonly observe See Bochart P. I. Lib. I. cap. 6. Hierozoic Ver. 19. His younger Brother shall be greater than he His Family multiplied faster according to the signification of his Name As appears from Numb I. 33 35. And the Kingdom was afterward established in him and all the ten Tribes called by the Name of Ephraim Shall become a multitude of Nations In the Hebrew the words are fulness of Nations i. e. of Families As much as to say his Seed shall replenish the Country with numerous Families For that which replenishes the Earth is called the fulness of the Earth Psalm XXIV 1. and that which replenishes the Sea the fulness of the Sea Psalm XCVI 11. Isai XLII 10. See L. de Dieu Ver. 20. And he blessed them that day He concluded with a solemn Benediction upon them both And when he pronounced it worshipped God as the Apostle tells us Hebr. XI 21. leaning upon the top of his Staff Whereby he was supported from falling of which he would have been in danger when he bowed if he had not leaned on it In thee shall Israel bless When my Posterity would wish all Happiness to others they shall use this form of Speech God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh Which continues they say among the Jews to this Day Ver. 21. Bring you again into the Land of your Fathers Where your Fathers sojourned and which God bestowed upon them in reversion Ver. 22. Which I took out of the Hand of the Amorite c. He doth not mean the City of Shechem which his Sons took unjustly and cruelly and not from the Amorites but the Hivites without his knowledge and contrary to his will But that piece of Land which he bought of Hamor the Father of Shechem Gen. XXXIII 19. compared with St. John IV. 5. Which seems to be the reason why Joseph was himself here buried in his own Ground given him by his Father Josh XXIV 32. and not in the Cave of Machpelah The only difficulty is how he could say that he took this Land from the Amorite by his Sword and by his Bow which comprehend all warlike Instruments when he bought it for an hundred Pieces of Silver of Hamor the Hivite It is to be supposed therefore that he took it i. e. recovered it from the Amorites who had seized on it after his removal to another part of Canaan and would not restore it but constrain'd him to drive them out by force We read nothing indeed in the foregoing History either of their invading his Possession or his expelling them thence But the Scripture relates many things to have been done without mentioning the circumstances of Time and Place as Bochartus observes And among other Instances gives that in XXXVI 24. where Ana is said to have met with the Emims so he understands it in the Wilderness Of which encounter we find no mention in any other place See his Hierozoic P. II. L. IV. cap. 13. And as I take it we have a plainer Instance in the place a little before mentioned Hebr. XI 21. where the Apostle says Jacob when he was a dying blessed both the Sons of Joseph and worshipped leaning upon the top of his Staff Of which there is not a word in this History but only of his Blessing them verse 20. There are those who with St. Hierom understand by Sword and Bow his Money Which he calls by those warlike Names to signifie this was the only Instrument he used to acquire any thing Just as the Romans when they would signifie they had got any thing without any other help but their own Industry alone say they obtained it Proprio Marte using a similitude from Military Expences and Labours If this do not seem harsh it is not hard to give an account why he calls those Amorites who before were called Hivites For Amorites seems to have been the general Name of all the seven Nations of Canaan they being the Chief
it is evident was so near to Judah that they were reputed the very same Whence it is that Mordecai who was of the Tribe of Benjamin is called Isch Jehudi a Jew in Esther II. 5. because that Tribe was comprehended under Judah from the time that the rest rent themselves from the House of David When Jeroboam also set up the meanest of the People for Priests who were not of the Tribe of Levi 1 King XII 33. This made the Levites fly to Judah and become one with them And therefore the Maccabees were in effect Jews who held the chief Authority among them till Antigonus was driven out and killed by Herod Who was an Edomite set over them by the Romans From between his Feet The common Interpretation every Body knows which is of his Seed or Posterity But Ludolphus instead of Raglau Feet would have us read Daglau Banners according to the Samaritan Copy Which is well confuted by the fore-named Wagenseil p. 269. of the fore-named Book Where he translates these words thus Even to the last end of that State For so the People at the Feet signifies Exod. XI 8. 2 Kings III. 9. those that bring up the Rear as we now speak And so some ancient Interpreters in the Talmud he shows expound it here of the last Posterity of Judah and the times when their Commonwealth was coming to a conclusion Vntil Shiloh come Let the original of this word Shiloh be what it will which some translate to be sent others his Son or Child or his Seed others Quiet Peaceable Pacifick Prosperous and consequently Renowned August to whom Gifts or Offerings shall be made as R. Solomon takes it others whose is viz. the Kingdom the Messiah or Christ is certainly hereby meant As all the three Targum's agree and the Talmud in the Title Sanhedrim cap. XI and Baal-Hatturim Bereschit-Rabba and many other ancient and modern Jews I will mention only the words of R. Bechai who confesses It is right to understand this Verse of the Messiah the last Redeemer Which is meant when it saith till Shilo come i. e. his Son proceeding from his Seed And the reason why the word beno is not used in this Prophecy but Shilo is because he would emphatically express a Son who should be brought forth of his Mother's Womb after the manner of all those that are born of a Woman Of this Interpretation they are so convinced that to evade the Argument we urge from hence to prove the Messiah is come they have invented a great many Tales of the Power they have still in some remote Parts of the World There is a Book written on purpose called The Voice of glad Tidings wherein they labour to prove they have a Kingdom still remaining Which if it should be granted signifies nothing for this Prophecy is concerning their Government in their own Country the Land of Canaan As they themselves very well know which makes them so desirous to return thither again that the Hand of Judah may be upon the Neck of his Enemies and he may go up from the prey like a Lion and tie his Ass to the Vine and wash his Garments in Wine c. as the words are in the rest of this Prophecy And whatsoever some of them are pleased to say concerning their Power no Body knows where they are sometimes in a contrary humour For in the Gemara Sanhedrim they say Cap. XI § 32. There shall not be the least Magistrate in Israel when the Messiah comes Vnto him shall the gathering of the People be So this Clause is expounded by Abarbinel himself whose words are The People of the Nations shall be gathered to worship him i. e. the Messiah See L' Empereur in Jacchiad p. 164. and Codex Middoth p. 106 107. Wagenseil indeed thinks the most literal Interpretation to be this To him shall be the Obedience of the People Which is the Interpretation of Onkelos and the Hierusalem Paraphrast Kimchi also Lib. Radic so expounds it The People shall obey him taking upon them to observe what he shall command them And in Prov. XXX 17. which is the only place besides this where this word Jikkah is found it seems to signifie Obedience See Confut. Carm. R. Lipmanni p. 295. where Wagenseil after the examination of every particular word in this Verse thus summs up the Sence of it in this Paraphrase That Royal Power and Authority which shall be established in the Posterity of Judah shall not be taken from them or at least they shall not be destitute of Rulers and Governors no not when they are in their declining Condition Vntil the coming of the Messiah But when he is come there shall be no difference between the Jews and other Nations Who shall all be obedient unto the Messiah And after that the Posterity of Judah shall have neither King nor Ruler of their own But the whole Commonwealth of Judah shall quite lose all Form and never recover it again The Truth of this Exposition appears exactly from their History Of which it will be useful here to give an account For from David to the Captivity of Babylon they held the Scepter for five whole Ages and more as I observed above After which when seventy Years were finished in that Captivity they lived by their own Laws in their own Country But had no absolute Authority of their own independent upon others nor ever enjoyed a full Liberty For they were at first under the Persian Monarchs Afterwards upon the Conquest made by Alexander under the Greeks And then under the Kings of Asia Minor and Egypt till the Roman Yoke was imposed upon them Yet all this time while they were under the Empire of others they enjoyed Governors or Rulers of their own Who administred their Affairs under those Monarchs The first was Zerobabel called the Captain or Prince of Judah Haggai I. 1. After him Ezra and Nehemiah And before them it is likely there were some others as Jos Scaliger gathers from Nehem. V. 15. After the death of Nehemiah the Government came into the Hands of the High-Priests as appears from Josephus L. XI cap. 8. where he shows how Jaddus the High-Priest met Alexander in his Expedition against Persia Which Power was confirmed in that Order by the Maccabees as we commonly call them It began in Mattathias and was continued in his Sons The third of which Simon raised it to such a Splendor that he looked like a Prince as the Reader may see it described in 1 Maccab. XIV From whence his Grand-Child Aristobulus seems to have taken occasion to affect the Name of King Though he had but the Shadow of that Power Yet his Posterity kept that Name to the time of Herod Who stript them of all their Power and destroyed their Family After his death the Kingdom was divided by Augustus into Tetrarchies Archelaus being made Tetrarch of Judaea and the rest of the Country divided between Philip and Antipas But Archelaus misbehaving himself he
by chance Their Fore-father having so long before predicted the very Portion they should inherit Ver. 14. Issachar is a strong Ass As he compared Judah to a Lion because of his Valour so he compares Issachar to an Ass and a strong Ass because he foresaw they would be very patient and unwearied in rustical Labours In which Asses were principally employed in those Countries Couching down between two burdens There are various Opinions about the signification of that word which we translate Burdens But none seem to me so apt as that to express the great strength of an Ass Which lies down with its Load hanging down on both sides Whence a she Ass is called Athon as Bochart observes from the word Ethan which signifies strength Because no Beast of that bigness can carry such heavy Burdens Ver. 15. And he saw that rest was good Or as some will have it their resting place the Country that fell to their share in the Land of Canaan no part of which was more fruitful than some parts of Issachar's Portion Which way soever we take it he seems to foretell they would chuse to follow Husbandry rather than Merchandice as Zebulon did and love Quiet and Peace as Husbandmen do Especially when they live in a rich Soil as this Tribe did For so it follows And the Land that it was pleasant The famous Valley of Jezreel was in this Tribe Whose Border extended as far as Jordan where there was a very pleasant Country Josh XIX 18 22. Bowed his Shoulder to bear Taking any Pains to till the Land and to carry in the Corn with other Fruits of the Earth And became a Servant unto Tribute Submitting to the heaviest Taxes rather than lose their Repose For the preservation of which they were content to give any Money that they might redeem their Services in the Wars or otherways by large Contributions Ver. 16. Dan shall judge his People c. In the word Judge he alludes to the Name of Dan Which signifies Judging i. e. Ruling and Governing A great many follow Onkelos who expounds it thus A Man shall arise out of the Tribe of Dan in whose Days the People shall be delivered c. And accordingly we read that Sampson who was of this Tribe judged Israel twenty Years So the meaning is the Tribe of Dan shall have the Honour to produce a Judge as well as other Tribes But there is this exception to this Interpretation that all the Tribes did not produce Judges And all Israel whom the Judges governed cannot be said to be Dan's People But by his People whom he is said here to judge are properly meant those of his Tribe And therefore Jacob's meaning is that though he were the Son of a Concubine yet his Posterity should be governed by a Head of their own Tribe as the other Tribes of Israel were So by this he took away all distinction between the Sons of his Concubines of whom Dan was the first and those which he had by Leah and Rachel Ver. 17. Dan shall be a Serpent by the way The next words show what kind of Serpent he should be like an Adder in the Path. The Hebrew word Schephiphon some take for a Basilisk others for an Asp or a Viper others a Snake or Adder c. The Vulgar translates it Cerastes which is a kind of Viper And Bochartus in his Hierozoicon P. II. L. III. c. 12. hath confirmed this Translation by showing how well it agrees to the Characters which Authors give of it That it lies in Sand and in the Ruts which Cart-Wheels make in the High-way and so is ready to bite Travellers or their Horses Which is the harder to be avoided because it is of a Sandy Colour so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many tread upon it unawares And Nicander says the Poison of these Serpents is chiefly felt in the Thighs and Hams of those they bite Which perfectly agrees with what Jacob saith in the following words That biteth the Horse-heels so that his rider shall fall backward The Horse not being able to stand when the Venom works in his Legs the Rider must needs fall with him All this some make to be a description of Sampson who led no Armies against his Enemies but overthrew them by Subtilty and Craft But it rather belongs to all the Danites as what was said before to all the Zebulonites and Issacharians who Jacob foresaw would astu potius quam aperto Marte rem gerere manage their Wars rather by Cunning and Craft than by open Hostility as Bochart speaks An Example of which we have in Judg. XVIII 27. Ver. 18. I have waited for thy Salvation O LORD They that referr the foregoing words to Sampson make an easie Interpretation of this Verse Which is That Jacob foreseeing his great Atchievements for the Deliverance of his Children prays that God would upon all Occasions vouchsafe to send such Deliverers unto them from their Oppressors And the Chaldee Paraphrasts make him look beyond such Deliverers unto Christ the great Saviour of the World For these are the words of Onkelos in the Complutensian Edition for they are not to be found in Buxtorf's or Bomberg's I do not wait for the Salvation of Gideon the Son of Joash which is temporal Salvation or of Sampson the Son of Manoah which is also a transitory Salvation but I expect the Redemption of Christ the Son of David c. Jonathan and the Hierusalem Targum say the same And if we take all this Porphecy to belong to the whole Tribe as I believe it doth that doth not exclude such a Sence But Jacob foreseeing the Distresses wherein they would be Josh XIX 47. Judg. I. 34. prays God to help them and deliver them and teach them to look up to him in all their Straits and Necessities And especially to wait for the Messiah Yet after all I think the words may have another meaning which is this Jacob perceiving his approaching death and his Spirits beginning to fail him in the middle of his Speech to his Sons breaks out into this Exclamation which belongs to none of them saying I wait O LORD for a happy Deliverance out of this World into a better Place And then having rested himself a while to recover his Strength he proceeded to bless the rest of his Sons Ver. 19. Gad a Troop shall overcome him Or invade him There is an Allusion in every Word to the Name of Gad Whose Inheritance being in a Frontier Country beyond Jordan was very much exposed to the Incursions of the Ammonites and Moabites and the rest of those envious Neighbours that dwelt in or near Arabia And some think the word Troop hath a great Propriety in it signifying not a just Army but a Party as we speak a Band of Men that came oft-times to rob and spoil But it appears by the Prophet Jeremiah XLIX 1. that the Ammonites sometime possessed themselves of the Country of Gad or at least of some part
not have them mistake it when they went to bury him And that he might show his Title to it if the Inhabitants of Canaan from which he had been absent some Years should dispute the laying his Body there Ver. 33. When Jacob had made an end of commanding his Sons Concerning his Burial which he briefly added to his Prophecy He gathered up his Feet into the Bed The Hebrews think that out of Reverence to God he sat up when he pronounced a Blessing on his Sons His Feet hanging down upon the Ground And indeed it is very probable he endeavoured to put himself into a Posture of Authority at least And therefore sat on his Bed-side while he spake And now the Prophetick Spirit which had raised his Natural Spirits above their ordinary pitch departing from him they presently sunk so much the lower and in a short time he expired Yielded up the Ghost The Hebrews will have it to express an easie death And was gathered to his People To his Ancestors From whence there are some particularly Theodoret who inferr the belief they had in those Days of another Life In society with those who were departed out of this Life For Brutes are never said to be gathered to those of their Kind that died before them CHAP. L. Ver. 1. JOseph fell on his Father's Face He was transported by his Affection to the tenderest Expressions of it Though he was a Man in great Dignity and Authority And kissed him It is likely he first closed his Eyes as God promised he should do XLVI 4. and as the Custom was and then parted from his Body with a Kiss Of which we find many Examples both among Heathen and Christian People But they will not warrant us to say that it was done by every Body for all that I have observed were such near Relations as Joseph was to Jacob. Thus Ovid represents Niobe as kissing her slain Sons and Meleager's Sisters kissing him when he lay dead And Corippus represents Justin the younger falling upon Justinian and weeping and kissing him just as Joseph did here Vt prius ingrediens corpus venerabile vidit Incubuit lachrymans atque oscula frigida carpsit Divini patris Yet Dionys Areopag Cap. VII Eccles Hierarch describing the Funerals of Christians saith the Bishop prayed over the Corps when it was brought into the Church and after Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. both he himself kissed the dead Person and after him all that were present did the same So it seems to have been their taking a solemn leave of the Dead till they met in another World Ver. 2. His Servants the Physicians Great Men anciently among other Servants that waited on them had a Physician And Joseph being Vice-Roy of Egypt may well be supposed to have kept more than one in his Retinue To embalm his Father Of which there was now the greater necessity because his Body was to be carried a great way to its Sepulchre And both Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus tell us there were those in Egypt who professed the Art of Preserving Bodies from Corruption Which it is likely was part of their Physicians Employment For the word Ropheim which we translate Physicians constantly signifies in Scripture such as cure or heal sick Bodies But the LXX here aptly enough translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that prepared and fitted Bodies for their Interment by embalming them as we translate it because this now was their proper business Whence it is that Pliny saith Lib. XI cap. 37. Mos est Aegyptiis cadavera asservare medicata it is the Custom of the Egyptians to preserve dead Bodies ordered by the Physicians Art In which Art they excelled all other People Bodies of their Embalming remaining to this Day and are often brought into these Countries under the Name of Mummy Concerning which a late German Physician Joach Struppius hath written a peculiar Treatise And the Physicians embalmed Israel The fore-named Authors Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus tell us the manner how it was performed and at what Rates There being three several Prices according to the Cost that Men would bestow upon their Friends Upon the First Rank of Funerals they spent a Talent of Silver The Second cost about twenty Pound About the Third they made small Expence as Diodorus expresly tells us L. I. § 2. p. 57. Edit Hen. Steph. And Herodotus in three distinct Chapters shows how they ordered the Bodies of the better middle and meaner sort so as to preserve them and yet with greater or lesser Expence Vid. Euterpe cap. 86 87 88. If things were thus in Joseph's Days it is not to be thought that he would spare any cost but had his Father's Body embalmed in the noblest manner Ver. 3. And forty Days were fulfilled for him That is for his Embalming Which could not be finished in a little time For Diodorus tells us of several Officers who were employed about it one after another And says expresly they spent more than thirty Days in it Which differs something from what is here related But it is likely in future Times when Diodorus lived they might have attained to a greater Perfection in this Art and made their Spices penetrate the whole Body in less than forty Days but more than thirty And Herodotus doth not really differ from this when he saith in the place before-named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they had done these things stuft the Body with Myrrh Cassia and other Spices except Frankincense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they pickled it in Nitre where it lay soaking seventy Days That is thirty Days more till the forty were made up seventy Longer than which neither the Bodies of the better nor the meaner sort were to be salted But after that they were wrapped in fine Linen and Gums to make it stick like glue And so they delivered the Body to the Kindred of the deceased intire as Diodorus writes p. 58. in all its Features the very Hairs of the Eye-lids being preserved There have been some so morose as to censure Joseph for following the perverse Customs as they call them of the Egyptians Who spent too much upon dead Bodies But they should have considered how much more perverse it is not to follow the decent Customs of the Country where we live And that dead Bodies especially of the Faithful are not to be neglected but treated as St. Austin speaks L. I. de Civ Dei cap. 13. as the Organs of the Holy Ghost Which the Ancients he thinks did well to carry to their Funerals officiosâ Pietate And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy Days i. e. All that time they were preparing his Body in the manner before-related for its Funeral Which Herodotus says was just LXX Days He also and Diodorus describe their manner of Mourning and say that they daubed their Heads with Mud as the Jews sprinkled Ashes on their Heads and went about lamenting till the Corps was buried Abstaining from Bathing and from Wine