Sanctuary Eli 18 with a Sacrifice and a Song The year of his birth is not determinable Eli 19 Eli 20 no not so much as whether it were in the Judgeship of Eli though it be undoubted Eli 21 that it was in his Priest-hood Eli's sons commit theft and adultery in Eli 22 the very Sanctuary they ravin from the men that came to sacrifice and they Eli 23 ravish the women that * * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 2. 22. Women that had some office and attendance at the Tabernacle As Num. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to do the Sanctuary service Anna was such a woman Luke 2. 37. waited on the Sanctuary and so they cause the Ordinances Eli 24 of the Lord to be abhorred Under such example is Samuel educated Eli 25 Eli 26 yet falleth not under that taint A Prophet sharply reproveth Eli for not reproving Eli 27 his sons This Prophet the Jews held to be Elkanah himself and say Eli 28 that he was one of the eight and forty Prophets that prophesied to Israel In Chap. Eli 29 2. Vers. 11. it is said that Elkanah returned to Ramoth to his own house and yet Eli 30 verse 20. it is said that Eli blessed Elkanah which is to be understood that Eli 31 he had done so from Samuels first dedication and so did as oft as he came to Eli 32 Shiloh Samuel himself becomes a Prophet first against Elies house and then Eli 33 afterward to all Israel Chap. 3. 1. Impiety had exceedingly banished Prophesie Eli 34 Eli 35 in these times amongst them but now the Lord begins to restore it for prediction Eli 36 of ruine and then for direction of reformation Urim and Thummim Eli 37 were ere long to be lost from the Priests with the loss of the Ark Eli 38 and God pours the Spirit of Prophesie upon a Levite to supply that Eli 39 want CHAP. IV. World 2909 Eli 40 THE Ark first touched and taken with the hands of uncircumcised ones The two sons of Eli come to fatal ends at this last service of the Ark as the two sons of Aaron Nadab and Abihu did at the first Eli himself dieth the very death of an unredeemed Ass Exod. 13. 13. Shiloh laid waste Jer. 7. 14. and the birthright lost from Joseph and Ephraim Psal. 78. 60. c. The Tabernacle had been at Shiloh 340 years and somewhat more The Idol of Dan hath now out-lived it Judg. 18. 31. Ah poor Israel World 2910 Eli 1 Here begin the forty years of Samuel and Saul mentioned Act. 13. 20 21. He gave them Judges after a manner four hundred and fifty years that is the years of the oppressors also reckoned in the Judges 299. the oppressors 111. and Eli 40. until Samuel the Prophet And afterward they desired a King and God gave them Saul by the space of forty years that is to the expiration of forty years from Elies death the last of the Judges CHAP. V. VI. THE Ark is all the spring and summer of this year in the land of the Philistims For its sake the Lord smiteth Dagon the god of their Corn and destroyeth the harvest of their Corn as it grew on the ground with an army of Mice He striketh the people with Emerods in their hinder parts Psal. 78. 66. and bringeth a shameful soreness on them in a contrary part and in a contrary nature to the honourable soreness of Circumcision They restore the Ark again with strange presents with abundance of golden Mice Et cum quinque anis vel podicibus aureis quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Two Kine knew their owner as Esa. 1. 3. Hophni and Phineas knew him not The Bethshemites though Priests yet slain by the Lord for too much boldness with the Ark. CHAP. VII Vers. 1. And the first half of the second Samuel 2 THE Ark setled in Kirjath-jearim the City of the woods to this the Samuel 3 Psalmist speaketh Psal. 132. 6. We heard of it at Ephratah or at Shiloh Samuel 4 in Ephraim we found it in the fields of the wood or at Kirjath-jearim there an Samuel 5 Eleazar looketh to it when both the line of Eleazar and Ithamar are out of Samuel 6 that service And it came to pass while the Ark abode in Kirjath-jearim the time Samuel 7 Samuel 8 was long for it was twenty years This is not to be understood for the whole Samuel 9 time that it was there for it was above six and forty years there before David Samuel 10 fetched it up 2 Sam. 6. namely thirty nine years of Samuel and Saul and Samuel 11 seven David born in the tenth year of Samuel years of Davids reign in Hebron but it is to be thus understood and construed Samuel 12 that the Ark was twenty years in Kirjath-jearim before the people of Israel Samuel 13 minded it or looked after it but they followed and adhered to their former Samuel 14 Idolatries and corruptions and therefore it is said by Samuel afterward vers 3. Samuel 15 Samuel 16 If you do return unto the Lord put away the strange gods Ashteroth from among Samuel 17 you c. Their Idolatry and prophaneness was so deep rooted having been so Samuel 18 long and so customary with them that neither the loss of the Ark nor the Samuel 19 slaughter of Israel had wrought upon them but that twenty years together Samuel 20 they are lost to the Ark though the Ark were not then lost to them CHAP. VII Vers. 2. The latter half of it * * * The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be translated not And but Then they lamented Then all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord and so to the end of the 7 Chapter and Chapter 8. all World 2930 Samuel 21 A Spirit of repentance and conversion cometh generally upon all the people a matter and a time as remarkable as almost any we read of in Scripture one only parallel to it and that is in Acts 2. and 3. at the great conversion there There were to that time these sums of years four hundred ninety years from hence to the beginning of the Captivity seventy years of the Captivity and four hundred ninety years from the end of the Captivity thither The seventy of the Captivity are the midst of years Hab. 3. 2. And Samuel according to this chain is the first of the Prophets Acts 4. 24. Samuel 22 Israel is baptized from their Idols Samuel though no Priest yet by special They drew water and poured it before the Lord Chap. 7. 6 To be understood of their washing themselves from their idols as Gen. 35. 2. Exod. 19. 14. Samuel 23 warrant sacrificeth by Prayer destroyeth the Philistims with thunder Chap. 2. Samuel 24 20. Psal. 99. 6. they were subdued in that very place where they had subdued Samuel 25 Israel and taken the Ark one and twenty years before Samuel rideth in circuit Samuel 26 and judgeth Israel Judah recovereth
had seen the figure and pattern of a glorious Tabernacle so now in this second forty days fast he desireth to have a sight of the glory of God On the thirtieth day of the month A◠he goeth up again with the two Tables and beginneth another forty days fast and seeth the Lord and heareth him proclaim himself by most glorious attributes and receiveth some commands from him On the tenth day of the month Tisri he cometh down with the glad tydings that all is well betwixt God and Israel with the renewed Tables in his hand and with commission to set about making the Tabernacle CHAP. XXXV XXXVI XXXVII XXXVIII XXXIX XL. World 2515 Moses 82 Redemption from Egypt 2 AND so do Israel fall about that work which by the first day of the month Abib the first month of the next year is finished and it begun to be erected when it is set up the cloud of glory filleth it and God taketh up his seat upon the Ark in figure of his dwelling amongst men in Christ. The Book of LEVITICUS OUT of the Tabernacle newly erected God giveth ordinances for it and first concerning Sacrifice to represent Christs death as the Tabernacle it self did represent his body The whole time of the story of Leviticus is but one moneth namely the first month of the second year of their deliverance and not altogether so much neither for the very first beginning of the month was taken up in the erecting of the Tabernacle of which the story is in Exod. 40. CHAP. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII RUles given for all manner of sacrifices This is the first Oracle given from off the Mercy-seat There is the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first word of the Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 written less then all his fellows and it seemeth by such a writing to hint and intimate that though this were a glorious Oracle yet was it small in comparison of what was to come when God would speak to his people by his own Son whom the Ark Mercy-seat and Oracle did represent CHAP. VIII IX THE seven days of the consecration of Aaron and his sons follow after the time of the setting up of the Tabernacle and were not coincident or concurrent with that time as the Jews very generally but very groundlesly do apprehend as Seder Olam Tanchum ex R. Joseph Baal Turim Ab Ezra R. Sol and others For 1. this command for their consecration is given out of the Tabernacle now erected as well as the rules for sacrifice were And 2. they abide the seven days in the Tabernacle Chap. 8. 33. and the very first day of the seven the congregation were gathered to the door vers 3 4. which undeniably shew that it was finished and set up when these seven days of consecration began CHAP. X. THE death of Nadab and Abihu was on the very first day that the service of the Altar began namely on that eighth day after the seven of the consecration when Aaron and his sons offered sacrifices for themselves and the people This appeareth plainly by comparing the third and fifteenth Verses of the ninth Chapter with the sixteenth Verse of this tenth Chapter and thus the service of the Sanctuary by an accident began with Death and Judgment NUMBERS IX to Ver. 15. AFter the end of the tenth Chapter of Leviticus in the proper order of story are the first fourteen Verses of the ninth Chapter of Numbers to be taken in which treat concerning the Passover For the Tabernacle being reared on the very first day of the second year of their coming out of Egypt namely on the first day of Nisan these orders and rules concerning Sacrifices and the Priests consecration were given and the eight days of Priests consecration and Sacrifices were accomplished before the fourteenth day of that month came when the Passover was to be kept by an old command given the last year in Egypt and by a second command now given in the wilderness so that this order and method is clear Now the reason why this story of this second Passover is not only not laid in its proper place in this Book of Leviticus but also out of its proper place in the Book of Numbers for the Book beginneth its story with the beginning of the second month but this story of the Passover belongeth to the first month The reason I say of this dislocation is because Moses his chief aim in that place is to shew and relate the new dispensation or command for a Passover in the second month which was a matter of very great moment For the translation of that feast a month beyond its proper time did the rather inforce the significancy of things future then of things past as rather recording the death of Christ to come then their delivery from Egypt when it hit not on that very night This story therefore of the Passover transferred to the second month upon some occasions being the matter that Moses chiefly aimed at and respected in that relation and history he hath set it in his proper place for so is that where it lies in the Book of Numbers and intending and aiming at the mention of that he hath also brought in the mention of the right Passover or that of the first month as it was necessary he should to shew the occasion of the other LEVITICUS XI XII XIII XIV XV. AFter the rules for things clean and fit for sacrifice the Lord cometh to give rules for things clean and fit to eat and clean and fit to touch for this was the tripartite distinction of clean or unclean in the Law Every thing that was unclean to touch was unclean to eat but every thing that was unclean to eat was not unclean to touch every thing that was unclean to eat was unclean to sacrifice but every thing that was unclean to sacrifice was not unclean to eat for many things might be eaten which might not be sacrificed and many things might be touched which might not be eaten And under the Law about clean and unclean there is exceeding much of the doctrine of sin and renovation touched considerable in very many particulars 1. By the Law of Moses nothing was unclean to be touched while it was alive but only man A man in Leprosie unclean to be touched Lev. 13. and a woman in her separation Lev. 12. but Dogs Swine Worms c. not unclean to be touched till they be dead Lev. 11. 31. 2. By the Law of Moses uncleanness had several degrees and Leprosie was the greatest There was uncleanness for a day as by touching a dead beast for a week as by touching a dead man for a month as a woman after Child-birth and for a year or more as Leprosie 3. Every Priest had equal priviledge and calling to judge of the Leprosie as well as the the high Priest 4. The Priests that were judges of Leprosie could not be tainted
his seed to Molech or useth Sorcery or profaneth the Sabbath or eateth holy things in his uncleanness or that cometh into the Sanctuary he being unclean or that eateth fat or blood or what is left of the sacrifice or any sacrificed thing not offered in season or that killeth or offereth up a sacrifice out of the Court or that eateth leaven at the Passover or that eateth ought on the day of Expiation or doth any work on it or that makes oil or incense like the holy or that anoints with holy oil that delayeth the Passover or Circumcision for which there are affirmative precepts All these if done wilfully are liable to cutting off and if done ignorantly then to the fixed sin-offering and if it be unknown whether he did it or no then to a suspensive trespass-offering but only he that defiles the Sanctuary and its holy things for he is bound to an ascending or descending offering Now that we may the better understand what Death by the hand of Heaven and Cutting off mean we are first to take notice that neither of them was any penalty inflicted by the hand or sentence of man but both of them do import a liableness to the wrath and vengeance of the Lord in their several kinds And the Jews do ever account Cutting off to be the higher and more eminent degree of Divine vengeance As to spare more evidences of this which might be given copiously this passage of Maymonides is sufficient and it is remarkable when he saith f f f Maym. in Biath Mikdash per. 4. Is it possible for a Priest that serveth in his uncleanness to stay so little in the Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As that he should be guilty of death by the hand of Heaven only and not guilty of cutting off He had had those words but a little before which were cited even now An unclean person that serveth in the Sanctuary profaneth his Service and is guilty of death by the hand of Heaven although he stay not there and then he comes on and is it possible saith he that he should stay so little as to be guilty only of death by the hand of Heaven and not to be guilty of cutting off Apparently shewing that cutting off was the deeper degree and die of guilt and vengeance by the hand of God and Divine indignation By Death by the hand of Heaven in their sense therefore is to be apprehended some such a sodain avengeful stroke as the Lord shewed upon Nadab and Abihu or Ananias and Saphira to take them away And this may the better be collected by two passages usual in the Rabbins about this matter First In that they give up the offence of the Priests drinking wine before they went to serve which is held to have been the offence of Nadab and Abihu g g g â—â—â— per. 1. to death by the hand of Heaven which argues that they mean such a kind of stroke as they two had And secondly In that wheresoever the Law enjoyneth Aaron and his sons and the people about the affairs of the Sanctuary they shall or they shall not do thus or thus lest they die they interpret this of death by the hand of Heaven But what to understand by Cutting off is not so readily agreed among them h h h Kimchi in Esay â—8 Kimchi alledgeth it as the opinion of their Doctors That Dying before fifty years old is death by cutting off Compare Joh. 8. 57. i i i R. Sol. in Gâ—â— 17. Rabbi Solomon saith It is to die childless and to die before his time Baal Aruch giveth this distinction between Cutting off and Death by the hand of Heaven that k k k Arâ—â—h in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cutting off is of himself and of his children but Death by the hand of Heaven is of himself but not of his children But mean it which of these you will or all these together or which may have good probability to conceive a liableness to cutting off from the life of the world to come both this and Death by the Hand of Heaven were held by that Nation with whom the phrases were so much in use to mean not any censure or punishment inflicted by man but an impending vengeance of God and a continual danger and possibility when indignation should seize upon him that was faln under these gilts Anathema Maran Atha one under a curse whensoever the Lord shall come to inflict it as Joh. 3. 18 36. SECT III. Penalties inflicted upon unclean persons found in the Temple Whipping and the Rebels beating IT was not a small awe that this might work in the hearts of the people towards their restraining from going into the Sanctuary in their uncleanness to have this impressed and inculcated upon them as it was continually that such a venture did hazard them both body and soul and brought them ipso facto into Gods dreadful displeasure and into undoubted danger of accrewing judgment But did they let the offender thus alone that had offended as if he was fallen under the guilt of death by the Hand of Heaven or under the guilt of cutting off that they had no more to do with him but leave him to the justice of God and to judgment when it should fall upon him Many a wretch would make sleight of this matter and because sentence upon his evil work was not executed speedily his heart would be fully set in him to do so again as Eccles. 8. 11. Therefore they let not the Delinquent so escape but as he had fallen under the wrath of God so they also brought him under a penalty by the hand of man And this penalty was twofold either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whipping by the appointment of the Judges or mawling and beating by the people 1. There was the penalty of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whipping or scourging upon the censure of the Judges according to the Law Deut. 25. 2. Where he was to receive forty stripes but their Tradition brought it to forty save one 2 Cor. 11. 24. And the reason of this was because they would make a hedge to the Law and whereas that commands that they should not give to a Delinquent that was whipt above forty stripes lest their brother should seem vile unto them they abated one of forty to make sure to keep within compass The measure and manner of their whipping is largely described in the Treatise Maccoth thus in their own words a a a Maccoth per. 3. How many stripes do they give him saith the Mishueh there Why forty lacking one As it is said by a certain number forty stripes that is a number near to forty Rabbi Judah saith he is beaten with full forty and where hath he the odd one above thirty nine Between his shoulders They allot him not stripes but so as they might be triplicated They allot him to receive forty he hath had some of them
that she was a witch I have therefore cited these passages not only that it may be shewn that there were women Pharisees and so that the name is not taken from interpreting or expounding but that it may be observed also what kind of women for the most part embrace Phariseism namely Widows and Maids under the vail of Sanctity and Devotion hiding and practising all manner of wickedness And so much we gain of the history of the Pharisees while we are tracing the etymology of the word II. That the Pharisees therefore were so called from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying Separation is more commonly asserted and more truly and the thing it self as well as the word speaks it so that by a word more known to us you might rightly call the Pharisees Separatists but in what sense has need of more narrow enquiry The differences of the Jewish people are to be disposed here into divers ranks and first we will begin with the Women 1. It were an infinite task to search particularly how their Canons indulged shall I say or prescribed the Woman a freedom from very many rites in which a great part of the Jewish religion was placed How numberless are the times that that occurs in the Talmudic Pandect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d d d d d d Berac cap. 3 hal 3. Women servants and children are not bound to these things e e e e e e Hieros Kiddush fol. 61. 3. Women servants and children are not bound to recite their Phylacteries nor to wear them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Passovers of Women are at their own Will And not to dwell upon things that are obvious let this one serve instead of many f f f f f f Bab. Sotah fol. 21. 2. A certain Matron asked R. Eleazar Why when Aaron sinned in making the Golden Calf the people are punished with a threefold death He answered Let not a Woman be learned beyond her distaff Hirâ—anus his son said unto him Because no answer is given her in one word out of the Law She will withdraw from us three hundred tenth Cori yearly To whom he replied Let them rather go and be burnt than the words of the Law be delivered to Women From hence it appears that the Women that embraced Pharisaism did it of their own free will and vow not by command which the Men Pharisees also did 2. Pass we from the Women to the Men and first to the lowest degrees of Men in the distinction relating to Religion namely to them whom they ordinarily called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illiterate and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The people of the Earth or the Plebeians Of them thus the Gemara in Sotah newly cited g g g g g g Fol. 22. 1. One reads the Scriptures and recites the Mishna and yet he waits not upon the Scholars of the Wise-men what of him R. Eleazar saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is one of the people of the earth R. Samuel bar Nachmani saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold this is an illiterate man R. Jannai saith behold this is a Cuthean R. Achabar Jacob saith behold This is a Magician And a little after Who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people of the Earth R. Meir saith He that recites not his Phylacteries morning and evening with his prayers But the Wise men say He whosoever he be that lays not up his Phylacteries Ben Azzai saith He who hath not a fringe on his garment R. Jochanan ben Joseph saith He that instructs not his sons in the doctrine of the Law Others say He who although he read the Scriptures and repeats the Traditions yet attends not on the Scholars of the Wise men this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people of the Earth or the Plebeian Does he read the Scriptures and not repeat the Tradition Behold this man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illiterate The Gloss upon the place speaks thus The people of the Earth are they of whom there is suspicion of Tenths and cleanness that is lest they tithe not rightly nor take care aright concerning cleansings And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the illiterate person is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more vile or inferior than the people of the Earth Compare that John VII 49. The people that knoweth not the Law is cursed The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Collegians or Associates and Scholars of the Wise men were opposed to these Vulgar persons Under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scholars of the Wise men are comprehended all that were learned and studious under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Religious as well learned as unlearned There were some of the learned whom they commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Collegians of the Rabbins who as yet were Candidates and not preferred to the publick office of teaching or judging The thing may be illustrated by one Example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h h h h h h Hieros Sanhedr fol. 18. 3. Do the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Collegians enter in to appoint the New Moon R. Hoshaia said When I was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Collegian R. Samuel ben R. Isaac led me in to the appointment of the New Moon but I knew not whether I were of the number or no. And a little after Do the Collegians or Fellows go in to intercalate the year Let us learn this from the example of Rabban Gamaliel who said Let the seven Seniors meet me in the Chamber But eight entred Who came in hither saith he without leave I answered Samuel the little In this sense the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Collegue differs nothing from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Scholar of a Wise man in that both signifie a Student and a Learned man But the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Collegue hath a wider sense denoting all such who have more professedly devoted themselves to Religion and have professed a more devout Life and Rule than the common people whether they were learned or unlearned whether of the Sect of the Pharisees or of the Sadduces or some other Hence you have mention of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i i i i i i Bab. Berac fol. 44. 2. a religious Samaritan and of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k k k k k k Ioma fol. 8. 2. a religious Baker And the phrase seems to be drawn from Psal. CXIX 63. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am a companion of all those that fear thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They take upon them the habit of Religion See the Babylonian Talmud in l l l l l l Fol. 7. 1. Avodah Zarah in the Gloss. That distinction also is worthy of consideration of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m m m m m m Hieros Bava Bâ—thra fol. 17. 1 The greater and the less Religious Yet the word seems sometimes to be appropriated to the Pharisees as being
discourses that there was such places opinions customs practices publick and private in that time For the Jewish Writers who then lived or not long after and others from them make mention of these matters of fact they report to us such usages and rites among themselves they relate and discuss such opinions and controversies Their stile and phrase is perfectly the same with that of the Evangelists nay much of the matter too such as Proverbs Parables Similitudes Now what confirms or weakens the credit of an History in some particulars doth it in all the rest for the oftner any one relates things truly or falsly the more probable it is he may do so again Were it not in our own Tongue I should think it almost superfluous to give but an instance or two out of many of our own observation there being so great a number already produced by our Author and other Learned Men to commend and encourage this study How like to that of our Saviour in his Sermon on the mount Matth. VI. 25. and Luke XII 22. Therefore take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink c. is that in the Babylonian Talmud in the Gemara of the Treatise Sota fol. 48. col 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 'T was a saying of Rabbi Eliezer the elder That whosoever having one morsel in his basket enquires what he shall eat on the morrow he is no other than one of little faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This same saying is quoted by our Author in his Horae Heb. but at the second hand out of R. Abuhabb's Preface to Menorath Hammaor And again T. B. kidd in Misn. Misn. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Shall the Beasts and the Fowles be fed without solicitous care and trouble and shall not I who am created to serve my Master and Maker Again Matth. X. 35 36. Our Saviour tells his Disciples That he was come to set a man at variance against his father c. We meet with the very same Tradition almost in the same words T. B. cap. 9. mis. 15. The citation is too long to be all recited It begins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this purpose That about the time of the Messias impudence should abound c. and then a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The son shall revile and ill treat his father the daughter shall rise up against her mother and the daughter in law against the mother in law and a mans foes shall be they of his own houshold R. Judah tells the same story in T. B. Sanhed fol. 97. Col. 1. Although these unwonted things seem to be spoken by these Rabbins not as the consequents or effects but as the immediate precedents of the Messias coming Some of the most notable parables of our Saviour in the Gospels we meet with them the very same or very like with some few alterations in their Talmuds That of the rich glutton Luke XVI in T. B. Gem. Berac That of the Labourers in the Vineyard Matth. XX. in T. H. Gem. Berac That of the Marriage feast and the wise and foolish Virgins T. B. Gem. Schab 153. These translated by Cunrade Otho are already cited by Sheringh In his Preface to Codex Joma The last of which is loosely and ill rendred with additions and omissions for the better explication and accommodation of it to the Text of the Evangelist Furthermore how exactly true doth that reproach of our Saviour to the Scribes and Pharisees appear Matth. XXIII 3. from their own disputes and decisions in T. B. Maas Misn. cap. 4. Mis. 5. our Saviour pronounceth a wo against them for their greater care and accuracy in paying Tythe of Mint Annise and Cummin than in Judgment Mercy and Faith Their great Doctors and Wise Men in the place cited make it an important question whether Annise which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should give Tythe of its seeds leaves stalks or sprouts altogether as I suppose R. Eliezer was of opinion that it ought but the Wise Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who always carry it judged that nothing was to be Tithed in its leaves and seeds but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nasturtium Eruca which some English cresses and rocket Scores of places might be here set down which have not been taken notice of by other Authors nor was it worth their while always to do it unless very briefly to indicate such a custom or phrase and the places in their Authors where for curiosity or exercise they may be found And to keep my self within the bounds of a Preface I will here together just note many places in the Talmuds where there is mention made of our Jesus that the learners or learned may consult them at their leisure Most of them are to be found scatteringly in Buxt Lex Talmud only we must observe that partly out of ignorance partly out of malice they have mixed many fooleries and falsities with what is true In T. B. Sanh Gem. 43. 1. It is delivered as a Tradition that Jesus was hanged upon a Cross the day before the Passover because he had enchanted seduced and drawn away the people that it being proclaimed three days for some person to appear in his behalf to testifie his innocence there was none found to do it that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 regno propinquus i. e. either of the Royal Family or in favour with some Courtier that there was five of his Disciples the names except one agree not with ours who pleaded they were not to be put to death Again in the same Treatise fol. 101. 2. and in Sot 47. 1. they say Jesus used enchantments and sorceries and they tell a story of his going into Aegypt with one Joshua son of Perachiah and that he was excommunicated by R. Symeon The rest of the places are T. B. Avod Zar. 17. 1. and in those which speak of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Apostate By whom Buxtorf and others think they covertly mean Jesus As T. B. Sanhedr 67. 1. Schab 104. 2. and T. H. Sanhed cap. 7. about the end It were easie to fill many sheets more under this head but these are abundantly sufficient for instances of this second use of Talmudical and Rabbinical skill The Reader also in perusing this Volume will find a multitude of passages and observations to this purpose and particularly Chap. 9 10. Of the Temple Service and Sect. 77. Of the Harmony of the New Testament To these ought to be added the known benefit and advantage of the interpretation of many places of the Old Testament concerning the Messias the rendring more probable even to Christians and the establishment of many Christian Dogms against the Jews denied by some or many or almost all the later of them from Authors and Writers of greatest Authority in their account As to this last point against the the Jews it matters not so much of what Authority they
it might induce him to do so Though indeed I think more generally it was his kindness for such Authors and his setled opinion of the Authentickness of every point and tittle of our modern Masoretical Copies of the Old Testament As p. 86. He observes that the Hebrew Text hath divinely omitted a letter in one word viz. the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth something as all Translations render it and written it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying a blott to brand Gehazi for his villany in running after Naaman and desiring something from him in his Master Elisha's Name 2 Kings V. 20. As the observation is taken from R. Salomon in his Commentaries upon that place an Author much given to such Talmudical phansies so it is also founded upon a mistake For it is not written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Copies which our Polyglotte Bibles followed and in Athias edition all that I had at present to consult besides Buxtorfes Bibles with the Rabbinical Commentaries Here indeed it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the reason of which is I suppose the Masora's marginal note upon that word which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Aleph in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is wanting according to the Commentary or explication of R. Salomon Jarchi It seems therefore only to be so written in the Copy which that Rabbi used and those who were pleased to follow him Besides that the word which signifies a blot is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and even this last is sometimes written with an Epenthetical Aleph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But enough of this trifle Such also is his conjecture pag. 129. concerning the reason of the transposition of the Hebrew letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Alphabetical Chapters of the Lamentations or rather of the verses which begin with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being set before those which begin with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew Alphabet is before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The reason may be saith our Author to hint the Seventy years desolation of Jerusalem because the Hebrew letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stands for the number Seventy If it were to denote any such thing it might as well have hinted Eighty years as Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being the Numeral letter for Eighty Besides the Syriack and Arabick Versions there have retained their usual and natural order His note upon the extraordinary and unparalled punctation of the Hebrew words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To us and to our children belong the revealed things Deut. XXIX 29. With points over every one of those letters nay with eleven points according to the Masora I say this is of the same nature It is saith he to give warning against curiosity in prying into Gods secrets and that we should content our selves with his revealed will But it is far more probable or certain that these things were the casual mistakes or crotchets of some transcribers His style also is often less proper sometimes Grammatically defective which is to be attributed to his perpetual converse with the Talmudists Rabbins and other Oriental Languages whose Genius is so extreamly different from that of the Western and to the want of reading Authors in our own Tongue being sufficiently employed with his own thoughts and compositions and sometimes perhaps to the singularity of his notions It may be observed also that he often differs much from many or all other Chronologers As in the time of Christs birth the time from Christs Baptism to his Death the two terms of Daniels seventy weeks or four hundred and ninety years In his account from the Flood to Abraham's Birth he differs sixty years from the generality of computists and that upon a different interpretation of Gen. XI 26. and proof that Abraham was not Terahs eldest son From whence it necessarily follows that where he agrees with others in the intermediate intervals as from Abraham's birth to the Promise to their going out of Aegypt to the building and destruction of the Temple c. he must assign these to different years of the World viz. sixty later than usual perhaps in some points he may have as good reason and proof as others of which let the Reader judge for I intend not in this place to dispute or decide any Chronological controversies which are numerous often operose and of little moment T is pity he finished not his Harmony upon the Evangelists and added not a fourth part or perhaps as many as are Printed But it may be the Bulk of them and the time they would take up to perform them as the rest are done he having by him other collections and designs might make him unwilling to go on He might also suppose that some other hand in time might add the rest in the like method So likewise his Commentaries on the Acts are imperfect they go no further than Chap. IX and the year of Christ 45. whereas the whole story reacheth to about the year of Christ 60. In the last place according to promise it is to be advised that all is not so well Printed as might be desired some numbers are not so accurately placed over against other As pag. 81. numb 24. of Baasha And pag. 81. The first of Jehoash should have been set two lines higher against the 15th of Jehoahaz Sometimes a Column and Name at the head of it is needless As pag. 49. Ahimelech Sometimes the Name in the top of the Column mistaken as pag. 50. Jair for Tolah and pag. 83. Ahab for Jehosaphat But such small things as these as they could not be easily prevented so they may easily be remedied by any one who will make use of the Chronology And as for other Errata's I hope they are not worth the pains of collecting or else are such as will be at first sight mended by an intelligent Reader The sheets being carefully corrected by a Reverend and worthy friend of mine in London of long study and great skill in this kind of Learning when I by the undeserved favour of my Superiours was called to an Honourable employment out of my own Country To conclude all As I doubt not but the serious and intelligent Reader in the perusal of this Volume will see abundant reason highly to esteem the great and profitable labours of the Pious and Learned Author so I hope he will be pleased kindly to accept my little care and pains in publishing it with decency and advantage and thereby endeavouring to contribute some small assistance to the study and understanding of the Holy Scriptures and consequently the Advancement of Piety together with the most useful knowledge in the World G. B. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE OF THE REVEREND and most LEARNED John Lightfoot D. D. THE exemplary Vertue and Industry of good Men hath
A Table of the years from the birth of Christ to the Fall of Ierusalem XIII The Iewish Christian Roman History Anno Christi XXXVI XIV The Chronology and History of Dioclesian Constantine and Constantius Indeed some of these were only Notes and Memoranda for his own private use but several of them undoubtedly were intended to have seen the Light at one time or other but that he found the Press so loth to receive things of that nature and so he cast them by some only begun and as it were in Design all of them imperfect but One. IX Encomiums given him by Learned Men. ALL these Labours of his published and unpublished and those deep notions in the way of his Learning that he communicated by Letters or in Conversation raised high and Venerable opinions of him amongst the best and most knowing Men. It would be endless to recount what large Testimonials and Commendations they have given him Some we have read already Let us hear a few more Your Name saith Dr. Castel is indeed a sweet Odour poured out into all Nations who are all bound to pray heartily for you your health welfare prosperity longevity And again Nemini notus quin te humani generis aestimet delicias nemini ignotus cui non absconditus maximus sub Coelo Thesaurus And if you will once more in another Letter Chaldea whose antient glory and multiplicity of Sciences are by the wheels of Nature in the long decurse of time rolled into Munden Which you Sir a right Trismegistus for Christian Jewish and Ethnic literature will make to after ages more illustrious than either Babylon or Athens were of old Another namely Mr. Samuel Clark speaks thus Your own great worth is sufficient to preserve your memory verdant with me or any other that hath any sense of Learning or Goodness Mr. Bernard does violence to the Doctors modesty in these words I know your self and Doctor Pocok to be the very Pillars of Sacred Learning like the Monuments of Seth in a corrupt and vain age God add I beseech him yet to your years and health so advantageous to his Church And for forainers besides what we have heard from them already take the Value they had for him by the words of one of them named before viz. Johannes Henricus Otto He was a Learned young Man of Bern who it seems had travailed into France and other places for his improvement and at last came into England and being at Oxon sends a Letter to our Doctor wherein apologizing for his address he tells him That the fame of his Piety and singular Learning had so spred it self over the World that there was no Scholar who loved him not in his mind and was not ambitious of his friendship Plurimi sunt qui nondum meruerunt a te cognosci qui tamen inter alias Gentes famam nominis tui exceperunt post praeclarorum scriptorum tuorum lectionem in cultum tui venerabundi iverunt But especially he assures him all studious of Hebrew do applaud him And instanceth in Turretius junior at Geneva Justellus Tormentinus Tenevottus Capellanus Ferrandus at Paris Toignard at Orleans not to speak any thing saith he of mine own Country and Germany also whose Names this Letter would scarcely contain Abundance more I might produce both of our own Country-Men and Strangers but he stands not in need 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Letters of Commendation X. Concerning his love to and endeavours of promoting Oriental Learning THERE was no Man under the Sun our Author more reverenced and honoured than Buxtorph Professor of Divinity and Hebrew in Basil and the reason was because next to his piety he had been so instrumental by his published Labours in furthering the knowledge of Jewish Learning to which from his Youth the Doctor had a strong and almost natural inclination and it continued with him to the end of his Life When Dr. Buxtorph had writ a Letter to him by the Hands of one who had formerly been his Scholar our good Man received both Letter and Bearer with the highest resentments of joy and complacency for the sake of the Reverend Professor And when he had signified in a Letter to our Doctor that by reason of age and infirmities growing upon him and finding himself greatly to decline in strength of body and mind he must lay aside all thought of publishing any thing more this our Doctor took heavily to heart and lamented in a Letter he sent him For by him he acknowleged himself to have arrived to what skill he had in his Rabbinical Learning and from the grateful sense he had of this arose a vast love and reverence for him Placet saith he Honoratissimo Domino de peritia mea in Talmudicis loqui quae siqua est quam scio quam sit exigua tota tibi ipsi referenda est incomparabili Parenti tuo c. It pleaseth you most honoured Sir to speak of my skill in the Talmudists which if it be any and how small it is I well know is wholly owing to you and to your incomparable Father Plowing with your Oxen using your Lexicons I have sowed and if any crop comes of it it is yours And what Christian is there I pray who reads over the Talmudick Writings that ows not the same tribute So much is the whole Christian World endebted to the great name of Buxtorph And then he professes to him he could not read it without tears when he told him that by reason of the weaknesses and indispositions of old age he must promise the World no more of his Writings This was in the later end of the year 1663. And indeed the death of that Learned Professor happened not long after namely in the beginning of September the year after For whom the Magistrates of Basil had such a great esteem that before the Fathers death they chose his very young Son to succeed him in the Hebrew Professorship as in his other of Divinity Dr. Zwinger descended of that famous Man of his name was also elected And one of the last respects Dr. Lightfoot could pay the memory of that great Man he wrote an Epicedium upon him and got Sir Tho. Brograve to write another in some of the Oriental Languages and so also did Dr. Castel which were sent to the Friends of the deceased And when not long after the young Professor came into England he received a most kind and obliging reception from our Doctor as well for his Father as for his own sake It was his love of this Learning and his great desires to see it more Studied that made him so great a friend to Dr. Castel under his ruinating and destructive Undertaking as he himself truly called it and under that which was the bitterest pill of all for him to swallow namely the scornful reproaches of his pains that he met with from some as if they were of little or no use This had quite broke his almost
he Noah and his sons at their going forth of the Ark but with this difference in the last That whereas Adam in innocency had rule over the creatures with amity and love sin did now put such a difference that Noah must have it with fear and dread And whereas he had restrained Adam from eating of flesh and consined his diet to the fruit of the ground he inlargeth Noah to feed upon beasts and alloweth them for the sustentation of his life for he had been the preserver of theirs This was that that his father Lamech had foretold by the spirit of prophecy when he was born namely That he should comfort them concerning their labour and toil which they had when they might eat nothing but the fruits of the ground which cost them hard labour in the tillage and culture to get them but Noah should be a comfort in reference to this because to him and in him to all the world God would give liberty to eat flesh But with the flesh God permitteth him not to eat the blood partly for avoiding of cruelty and partly because blood was to be atonement for sin And this prohibition of eating blood to Noah now and afterward renewed to Israel was because of that custom which God foresaw would grow and which in the time of Israel was grown common of eating flesh raw as appeareth 1 Sam. 14. 32. And by the prohibition of eating the Paschal Lamb so Exod. 12. 9. This very law of not eating the flesh with the blood confuteth the Doctrine of Transubstantiation or the eating of the very flesh and blood of Christ to all the world The Rain-bow which naturally is a sign of rain is sacramentally made a sign of no more destruction by it The drunkenness of Noah was at some good space after the flood but the very time uncertain for Canaan who was not born of some years after they came out of the Ark is then active and of capacity and is doomed to slavery and subjection his land bequeathed to Sem and the calling of the Gentiles prophecied of The death of Noah is mentioned in the end of this Chapter because Moses would totally conclude his story but as it may be seen in the insuing Table he died not till within two years of Abrahams birth CHAP. X. SEventy heads of Nations grown from the three sons of Noah by the time of confusion of Tongues These became not seventy several languages then though they were so many Nations for it is undoubted that divers Nations joyned in one language as Ashur Arphaxad and Aram in the Chaldee and the most if not all the sons of Canaan in one Tongue When the most High divided the Nations their inheritance when he separated the sons of Adam he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel Deut. 32. 8. With this 10 of Genesis read 1 Chron. 1. from Vers. 5. to Vers. 24. CHAP. XI HEathenism beginneth at Babel when the Hebrew Tongue is lost to all the world but only to one family in that Tongue alone was God preached and the doctrine of salvation published and when that is lost Religion is lost with it and all the earth become strangers to God and closed up in blindness and superstition and in this estate did it continue for the space of 2203. years till the gift of Tongues at Sion began to recure the confusion of Tongues at Babel and the Heathens thereby were so far brought into the true Religion that even Babel it self was among those that knew the Lord Psal. 87. 4. and a Church there elect as well as the Jews 1 Pet. 5. 13. The second Age of the World From the Flood to the Promise given to Abraham The ten Fathers after the Flood Flood World Noah Sem 2 1658 602 100 Arphaxad born 37 1693 637 135 35 Shelah born 67 1723 667 165 65 30 Eber born 101 1757 701 199 99 64 34 Peleg born Languages confounded about the time of his birth 131 1787 731 229 129 94 64 30 Reu born 163 1819 763 261 161 126 96 62 32 Serug born 193 1849 793 291 191 156 126 92 62 30 Nahor born 222 1878 822 320 220 185 155 121 91 59 29 Terah born 292 1948 892 390 290 255 225 191 161 129 99 70 Haran born 340 1996 940 438 338 303 273 239 209 177 147 118 48 Peleg dieth 341 1997 941 439 339 304 274 Â 210 178 148 119 49 1 Nahor dieth 350 2006 950 448 348 313 283 Â 219 187 Â 138 58 10 9 Noah dieth 352 2008 Â 450 350 315 285 Â 221 189 Â 130 60 12 11 2 Abraham born 370 2026 Â 468 368 333 303 Â 239 207 Â 148 Â 30 29 20 18 Reu dieth 393 2049 Â 491 391 356 326 Â Â 230 Â 171 Â Â 52 43 41 23 Serug dieth 427 2083 Â 525 425 390 360 Â Â Â Â 205 Â Â 86 77 75 57 34 Tera dieth Gen. 11. 32. The Promise given to Abraham Gen. 12. 1. With this latter part of the eleventh of Genesis read 1 Chron. 1. Vers. 24 25 26 27. Sem in the very front of the generations of the new world standeth without mention of father or mother beginning of days or end of life as Heb. 7. 3. The age of man was shortned at the confusion of Babel for Peleg and those born after him live not above half the time of those born before He dieth the first of all this line to shew Gods dislike of that rebellion which befell in the year of his birth Nahor dieth the next year after him having lived a shorter life then he to shew the like displeasure against the Idolatry which was begun in that line also Terah at seventy years old hath his son Haran and Abraham is born to him when he is an hundred and thirty this appeareth by casting Abrams age when he departs out of Haran to go for Canaan after his fathers death Men frame intricacies and doubts to themselves here where the Text is plain if it be not wrested God in Ur of the Caldees calleth Abram out of his Idolatry and out of that Idolatrous Country where he had caught it to leave his Country and kindred and to go for a Land that he would shew him Acts 7. 2. Abram leaveth his Idolatry and imbraceth this call and so also doth his father Terah and therefore the conduct of the journy is ascribed to him for honours sake Gen. 11. 31. and they depart from Ur and go to Haran and there they dwell and there at last Terah dieth After his death God giveth Abram another call to leave his Countrey kindred and fathers house too now and to follow him whither he calls him and so he did and he was seventy and five years old when he departs from Haran Now taking seventy and five out of two hundred and five years of Terah at which age he died it is
172 Ismael 86 Isaac 72 Iacob 12 their proper time it is most usual in Scripture thus Abrah 173 Ismael 87 Isaac 73 Iacob 13 to do in reckoning up mens ages as Genesis 5. and Abrah 174 Ismael 88 Isaac 74 Iacob 14 11. c. ABRAHAM dieth here read Gen. 25. vers 7 8 9 10. Isaac is of the very same age when Abraham dieth that Abraham was when the Promise came to him viz. seventy five years old The Promise now is come upon Isaac EBER dieth read Gen. 11. 17. He was the longest liver born since the Flood the father of the Hebrews and denominator of the Hebrew Tongue Religion staid in his family when all the world lost it beside and he liveth to see it gloriously setled in the families of Abraham and Isaac CHAP. XXVI THE time that Esau sold his birth-right and that Isaac went Ismael 98 Isaac 84 Iacob 24 to Gerar are both undated but it seemeth by Ismael 99 Isaac 85 Iacob 25 the Text that they were near together and that the famine Ismael 100 Isaac 86 Iacob 26 that caused Esau to part with his birth-right caused Isaac Ismael 101 Isaac 87 Iacob 27 to depart out of his own residence to go elsewhere to seek Ismael 102 Isaac 88 Iacob 28 for sustenance It appeareth that there was great scarcity of Ismael 103 Isaac 89 Iacob 29 victuals when Jacob is brought to his lentil pottage and Ismael 104 Isaac 90 Iacob 30 when Esau if he got not some of these pottage is like to Ismael 105 Isaac 91 Iacob 31 famish Many precious things were wrapped up in the Ismael 106 Isaac 92 Iacob 32 birth-right as the Priority the Promise the Priest-hood Ismael 107 Isaac 93 Iacob 33 and excellent priviledges and Esau for a mess of pottage Ismael 108 Isaac 94 Iacob 34 despiseth them all Compare this with Adams losing his Ismael 109 Isaac 95 Iacob 35 own and his posterities happiness for a morsel of meat Ismael 110 Isaac 96 Iacob 36 Isaac as his father had done denyeth his wife A Philistim Ismael 111 Isaac 97 Iacob 37 King sheweth here more conscience then he he prospereth Ismael 112 Isaac 98 Iacob 38 exceedingly in the land of the Philistims to the envy of the Ismael 113 Isaac 99 Iacob 39 inhabitants there World 2208 Ismael 114 Isaac 100 Iacob 40 ESAU marrieth Canaanitish wives a vexation to his Ismael 115 Isaac 101 Iacob 41 holy parents for this his impious Polygamy he is called a fornicator Ismael 116 Isaac 102 Iacob 42 Heb. 12. 16. for Polygamy is called fornication Ismael 117 Isaac 103 Iacob 43 or whoredom Hos. 4. 11. and upon this it seemeth that the Holy Ismael 118 Isaac 104 Iacob 44 Ghost giveth one of his wives the name of Adah the wife Ismael 119 Isaac 105 Iacob 45 of the first Polygamist in the world see Gen. 36. 2. and Gen. Ismael 120 Isaac 106 Iacob 46 4. 19. Esau here lay under a double offence namely for Polygamy Ismael 121 Isaac 107 Iacob 47 and for marrying in the stock of cursed Canaan Ismael 122 Isaac 108 Iacob 48 Polygamy in the men of the holy generation as Jacob David Ismael 123 Isaac 109 Iacob 49 and Solomon c. was of a more tolerable nature and Ismael 124 Isaac 110 Iacob 50 of more dispensableness because they sought to multiply Ismael 125 Isaac 111 Iacob 51 the holy seed which Esau was out of capacity to do Ismael 126 Isaac 112 Iacob 52 Was not Esau Jacobs brother saith the Lord Yet I loved Ismael 127 Isaac 113 Iacob 53 Jacob and hated Esau Mal. 1. ver 2 3. What shall we say then Ismael 128 Isaac 114 Iacob 54 Is there unrighteousness with God God forbid For he saith Ismael 129 Isaac 115 Iacob 55 to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I Ismael 130 Isaac 116 Iacob 56 will have compassion on whom I will have compassion Rom. 9. Ismael 131 Isaac 117 Iacob 57 14 15. Both the Prophet and the Apostle do rather take Ismael 132 Isaac 118 Iacob 58 their example for election and reprobation in Jacob and Ismael 133 Isaac 119 Iacob 59 Esau then in Cain and Abel at the beginning of the old Ismael 134 Isaac 120 Iacob 60 world or in Sem and Ham in the beginning of the new Ismael 135 Isaac 121 Iacob 61 partly because the free acting and disposing of God is the Ismael 136 Isaac 122 Iacob 62 better shewed in the contrary disposal of these two that were known to be born at one birth and partly because in Jacob there began to be a distinguished people from all the world and the foundation of a distinct visible Church laid and partly since both were born of parents under the Promise that the spiritual and temporal vertue of the Promise might be differenced ISMAEL dieth 137 years old here read Gen. 25. from verse 12. to verse 19. and 1 Chron. 1. verse 28 29 30 31. There may be some argument that he was saved though once he persecuted World 2231 Ismael 137 Isaac 123 Iacob 63 and mocked and was expelled Abrahams house as Abrahams Isaac 124 Iacob 64 prayer for him and Gods promise towards him Gen. 17. 18 20. Isaac 125 Iacob 65 the reckoning of his age and using the very same expression of his Isaac 126 Iacob 66 death as are used of Abrahams Esau going to marry in his stock Isaac 127 Iacob 67 when his Canaanitish matches displeased his parents c. But howsoever Isaac 128 Iacob 68 it was with Ismael himself in matter of piety it is certain his Isaac 129 Iacob 69 posterity grew impious and were constant enemies to Israel they Isaac 130 Iacob 70 and the rest of the seed of Abraham by Keturah lived together in Isaac 131 Iacob 71 Arabiah and were brethren in evil The Turks are held by some to Isaac 132 Iacob 72 be of the seed of Ismael and their using Circumcision is used as an Isaac 133 Iacob 73 argument to confirm it but that may speak them as well if not rather Isaac 134 Iacob 74 the off-spring of the Jews captivated into the Northern parts Isaac 135 Iacob 75 of the world by Assyria and Babylon and now increased into these Isaac 136 Iacob 76 vast multitudes and poured out toward the western parts CHAP. XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX World 2245 Isaac 137 Iacob 77 ISAAC is now come to that age at which his brother Ismael died 14 years ago namely 137 and it is not improbable that the thought of his death at that age puts Isaac in mind of his own end and he accordingly disposeth towards it by conveying of the blessing and setling it upon one of his sons his sending Esau to hunt for venision that he might eat of his savoury meat and his soul might bless him was not because meat or drink would conduce for that spiritual purpose but he puts him to this that he might know whether he should bless him or no for his missing of venison
Joseph was sold and some after the story of the thirty ninth Chapter that Judah requital for his sale for he had the chief hand in it might be shewed assoon as his selling of him is related Judah was married before Joseph was sold and Er and Onan were also born before as was observed erewhile therefore the first words of the Chapter At that time are not to be referred to the next words going before in the preceding Chapter concerning Josephs sale to Potiphar but are of a more large extent as that Phrase and the Phrase In those days are oft in Scripture It linketh Josephs selling and Judahs miscarriages very well together that it might be shewed how he was punished in his children that had been so unnatural to a brother and Josephs not sinning with his Mistress and Judahs sinning with his daughter-in-law do help to set off one another towards such an observation The four eldest sons of Jacob fell under foul guilt and so repentance and mercy are taught and shewed in their conversion CHAP. XL. World 2287 Isaac 179 Iacob Ioseph 28 JOSEPH expoundeth his two fellow prisoners dreams and like the two theeves with Christ the one is saved and the other condemned One of these when Joseph said to him Remember me when it shall be well with thee forgat him but one of those when he said to Christ Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom was not forgotten Thus as the telling of two dreams had brought Joseph into misery so this expounding of two dreams will prove in time a forwarder of his delivery as yet the Butler fills and drinks wine in bowles but is not grieved for the affliction of Joseph as Am. 6. 6. World 2288 Isaac 180 Iacob 120 Ioseph 29 ISAAC dieth and Jacob and Esau are friends and bury him read Chap. 35. ver 28 29. and ruminate upon how Esau is changed from what he said Chap. 27. 41. CHAP. XLI Iacob 121 Ioseph 30 JOSEPH expoundeth Pharaohs dream compare Dan. 2. Seven Iacob 122 Ioseph 31 Iacob 123 Ioseph 32 years famine begin Joseph treasureth up corn hath Manasseh Iacob 124 Ioseph 33 and Ephraim born to him within these years of an Egyptian Lady Iacob 125 Ioseph 34 Iacob 126 Ioseph 35 How looks his wretched Mistress upon him now if she be alive Towards Iacob 127 Ioseph 36 the latter end of the seven years famine or thereabout Pharez Iacob 128 Ioseph 37 hath HEZRON born to him CHAP. XLII World 2289 Iacob 129 Ioseph 38 THE first year of famine Josephs brethren bow to him for corn as their sheaves of corn had done to him in his dream CHAP. XLIII XLIV XLV XLVI XLVII to Vers. 13. World 2290 Iacob 130 Ioseph 39 THE second year of famine Benjamin is brought by his brethren World 2291 into Egypt he is now the father of ten children The feasting of Josephs brethren was the better to pretend the stealing of a silver bowle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 44. 5. for which Joseph would make a very narrow search 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for such a man as he that was in so high a place could make a very strict inquiry ver 15. Jacob goeth down into Egypt with seventy souls himself and Joseph and his two sons being counted in the number The Septuagint have added five more viz. Machir Gilead Shutelah Tahan Eden from 1 Chron. 7. 14 20. c. Followed by Saint Luke Acts 7. 14. Jacob and Joseph after thirteen years distance met Jacob presented before Pharaoh and the King asks no other question then about his age It was news in Egypt to see so old a man Jacob is now 130 years old and now just the half of the 430 between the Promise and delivery out of Egypt are passed see Exod. 12. 40. Gal. 3. 17. They had been taken up in these parcels five and twenty years after Abrahams coming into the land before the birth of Isaac sixty years of Isaacs age until the birth of Jacob and now Jacob is an hundred and thirty the sum of all 215. And now to the coming out of Egypt we must count 215 more and that count must lead us on thither CHAP. XLVII from ver 13. to the end and CHAP. XLVIII World 2299 Iacob 131 Ioseph 40 Years of the Promise 216 THE third year of famine Iacob 132 Ioseph 41 Years of the Promise 217 The fourth year of famine Iacob 133 Ioseph 42 Years of the Promise 218 The fifth year of famine Iacob 134 Ioseph 43 Years of the Promise 219 The sixth year of famine Iacob 135 Ioseph 44 Years of the Promise 220 The seventh year of famine Joseph buyeth all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh He feedeth Ioseph 67 Years of the Promise 243 his father and family seventeen years before Iacob 136 Ioseph 45 Years of the Promise 221 his fathers death Iacob 137 Ioseph 46 Years of the Promise 222 as his father had nourished him seventeen years before his sale The Iacob 138 Ioseph 47 Years of the Promise 223 children of Israel grow numerous and into multitudes even before Iacob 139 Ioseph 48 Years of the Promise 224 Jacobs death he adopted Josephs two sons for tribes he bestoweth Iacob 140 Ioseph 49 Years of the Promise 225 the portion of land upon Joseph that he had first bought of the Shechemites Iacob 141 Ioseph 50 Years of the Promise 226 Chap. 33. and was after put to recover it out of the hand Iacob 142 Ioseph 51 Years of the Promise 227 of the Amorite with his sword and bow who had usurped it and Iacob 143 Ioseph 52 Years of the Promise 228 seized upon it in his absence after his departure thence to Bethel and Iacob 144 Ioseph 53 Years of the Promise 229 Hebron He sweareth Joseph to bury him in the land of Canaan Iacob 145 Ioseph 54 Years of the Promise 230 with his fathers Abraham and Isaac Thus is the birth-right clearly Iacob 146 Ioseph 55 Years of the Promise 231 passed upon Joseph when his two sons are taken by Jacob as Simeon and Levi and when the land is bestowed on him for inheritance CHAP. XLIX L. World 2315 Iacob 147 Ioseph 56 Years of the Promise 232 JACOB dieth having first blessed all his sons even every one Ioseph 57 Years of the Promise 233 of them A blessing is to be found in his passages to Reuben Ioseph 58 Years of the Promise 234 Simeon and Levi of whom he speaketh the bitterest things His Ioseph 59 Years of the Promise 235 words throughout concern the future events and occurrences of the Ioseph 60 Years of the Promise 236 tribes most especially for he professeth to tell them what shall befall Ioseph 61 Years of the Promise 237 them in the last days Ioseph 62 Years of the Promise 238 That Reuben should have Jether seeth vejether gnaz a remnant of Ioseph 63 Years of the Promise 239 dignity and a remnant of strength for he was to lead the field in the wars of Ioseph 64 Years of the
Promise 240 Canaan and was to be victorious against the Hagarens see Ioseph 65 Years of the Promise 241 Jos. 4. 12. and 1 Chron. 5. 10. He was unstable as water in affecting the Ioseph 66 Years of the Promise 242 Priest-hood and refusing the land Numb 16. 1 2. and 32. 1. but his father adviseth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Al tother let not unstability remain Ioseph 68 Years of the Promise 244 in him Ioseph 69 Years of the Promise 245 That the scattering of Simeon and Levi among the rest of the Ioseph 70 Years of the Promise 246 tribes should be for the benefit of themselves and of others Ioseph 71 Years of the Promise 247 That Judah should be Prince and should be victorious that Shiloh Ioseph 72 Years of the Promise 248 should descend of him and that either the Scepter or Law-giver Ioseph 73 Years of the Promise 249 should continue in that tribe till his coming That Judahs habitation Ioseph 74 Years of the Promise 250 should be a country of vines so as to tie asses or colts to them and Ioseph 75 Years of the Promise 251 not to be nice of spoiling them they should be so abundant that Ioseph 76 Years of the Promise 252 he should sowse his garments in wine with treading the wine-presses Ioseph 77 Years of the Promise 253 c. Ioseph 78 Years of the Promise 254 That Zebulon should trade at Sea on both hands in the Ocean and Ioseph 79 Years of the Promise 255 the Sea of Galilee Ioseph 80 Years of the Promise 256 That Issachar should be burdned with two Kingdoms of Phenicia Ioseph 81 Years of the Promise 257 and Samaria on either hand him yet love of ease should make Ioseph 82 Years of the Promise 258 him bear and become tributary Ioseph 83 Years of the Promise 259 Ioseph 84 Years of the Promise 260 That Dan in Samson shall bite the heels of the Philistims house Ioseph 85 Years of the Promise 261 and overthrow so many thousand riders and that makes Jacob to Ioseph 86 Years of the Promise 262 look at the delivery by Christ in the like manner who should destroy Ioseph 87 Years of the Promise 263 Ioseph 88 Years of the Promise 264 Samson-like by dying Ioseph 89 Years of the Promise 265 That Gad should be hard set with the Hagarites but he and his Ioseph 90 Years of the Promise 266 friends should overcom them at last Ioseph 91 Years of the Promise 267 Ioseph 92 Years of the Promise 268 That Ashur should abound in corn and provision and Naphtali in Ioseph 93 Years of the Promise 269 venison and in him should begin the Gospel Ioseph 94 Years of the Promise 270 Ioseph 95 Years of the Promise 271 That Josephs sons should grow by Jacobs well unto a Kingdom Ioseph 96 Years of the Promise 272 and that his daughters should go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even to the enemy to repair Ioseph 97 Years of the Promise 273 Ioseph 98 Years of the Promise 274 the hostile tribe of Benjamin which otherwise had decayed for Ioseph 99 Years of the Promise 275 want of wives as Judg. 21. Ioseph 100 Years of the Promise 276 Ioseph 101 Years of the Promise 277 That Benjamin should be ravenous and devour the prey to themselves Ioseph 102 Years of the Promise 278 in the morning of their estate in the great slaughter of Gibeah and in stealing them wives but should divide the spoil for the good of the other tribes in the evening of their first estate by Mordecai and in the evening of their second estate by Paul Ioseph 103 Years of the Promise 279 The Apostle in Heb. 11. 21. mentioneth only Jacobs blessing the two Ioseph 104 Years of the Promise 280 Ioseph 105 Years of the Promise 281 sons of Joseph because born out of his family in a forain land yet Ioseph 106 Years of the Promise 282 Ioseph 107 Years of the Promise 283 by faith adopted by Jacob for his own children the Apostle there Ioseph 108 Years of the Promise 284 follows the LXX that in their unprickt Bibles read Matteh a rod for Ioseph 109 Years of the Promise 285 Mittah a bed World 2369 Ioseph 110 Years of the Promise 286 JOSEPH dieth 110 years old having lived to see Ephrams children Years of the Promise 287 to the third generation that is to the third generation from Ephraim or fourth from Joseph and to this the great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 50. ver 23. seemeth to point to teach us to construe this to the greatest extent namely to the third from Ephraim as the like is expressed of Manasseh 1 CHRON. VII ver 21 22 23. Years of the Promise 288 EPHRAIM at Josephs death could not be less then threescore and Years of the Promise 289 fiteen years old and therefore that passage concerning his sons being Years of the Promise 290 slain by the men of Gath seemeth to have been not very long after Years of the Promise 291 Josephs death if not before unless we will conceive Ephraim to Years of the Promise 292 have begotten children after that at a very great age Zabad his son Years of the Promise 293 and Shutelah and Ezer and Elead his grandchildren probably enough Years of the Promise 294 that third generation of Ephraim meant Gen. 50. 25. were the men so Years of the Promise 295 unhappily slain by the men of Gath that were born in the land that is Years of the Promise 296 men born in Egypt but now resident in Gath and who came down to Years of the Promise 297 take away these Ephraimites cattel and slew them as they stood in defence Years of the Promise 298 and retention of them for so should I rather translate the verse Years of the Promise 299 Years of the Promise 300 and men of Gath who were born in the land slew them for they came down Years of the Promise 301 to take away their cattel so as to make the men of Gath the plunderers Years of the Promise 302 Years of the Promise 303 rather then the sons of Ephraim Ephraim their father upon the sad occurrence Years of the Promise 304 Years of the Promise 305 mourneth many days but afterward goeth in to his wife and Years of the Promise 306 giveth him that name because it went ill at that time with his house Years of the Promise 307 Israel by this time is grown to a vast multitude in Egypt The Book of EXODUS CHAP. I. World 2391 Years of the Promise 308 ABout this time Levi dieth having lived 137 years Exod. 6. 16. Years of the Promise 309 Years of the Promise 310 It is like that he lived longest of all the tribes and that because Years of the Promise 311 only his age and the age of Joseph are mentioned of all Years of the Promise 312 the rest it seemeth that the one died the soonest and the Years of the Promise 313 Years of the Promise
them to be humbled some for their fathers guilt some for their own and some for both and to acknowledge that their being alive till now and their liberty to enter into the Land was a free and a great mercy for their own and their fathers faults might justly have caused it to have been otherwise with them 2. They had imitated their fathers rebellion to the utmost in their murmuring at Kadesh at their last coming up thither and in the matter of Baal Peor and therefore he might very well personate them by their fathers when their fathers faults were so legible and easie to be seen in them 4. He reckoneth not their second journy to Kadesh by name but slips by it Chap. 2. 1 4. Nor mentions their long wanderings for seven and thirty years together between Kadesh and Kadesh but only under this expression We compassed mount Seir many days Chap. 2. 1. because in that rehearsal he mainly insisteth but upon these two heads Gods decree against them that had first murmured at Kadesh and how that was made good upon them and Gods promise of bringing their children into the land and how that was made good upon them therefore when he hath largely related both the decree and the promise he hastens to shew the accomplishment of both 5. In rehearsing the Ten Commandments he proposeth a reason of the Sabbaths ordaining differing from that in Exodus there it was because God rested on the seventh day here it is because of their delivery out of Egypt and so here it respecteth the Jewish Sabbath more properly there the Sabbath in its pure morality and perpetuity And here is a figure of what is now come to pass in our Sabbath celebrated in memorial of Redemption as well as of Creation In the fifth Commandment in this his rehearsal there is an addition or two more then there is in it in Exod. 20. and the letter Teth is brought in twice which in the twentieth of Exodus was only wanting of all the letters 6. In Chap. 10. ver 6. 7 8. there is a strange and remarkable transposition and a matter that affordeth a double scruple 1. In that after the mention of the golden Calf in Chap. 9. and of the renewing of the Tables Chap. 10. which occurred in the first year after their coming out of Egypt he bringeth in their departing from Beeroth to Mosera where Aaron died which was in the fortieth year after now the reason of this is because he would shew Gods reconciliation to Aaron and his reconciliation to the people to Aaron in that though he had deserved death suddenly with the rest of the people that died for the sin of the golden Calf yet the Lord had mercy on him and spared him and he died not till forty years after and to the people because that for all that transgression yet the Lord brought them through that wilderness to a land of rivers of waters But 2. there is yet a greater doubt lies in these words then this for in Numb 33. the peoples march is set down to be from Moseroth to Bene Jahaan ver 31. and here it is said to be from Beeroth of Bene Jaahan to Moseroth there it is said Aaron died at mount Hor but here it is said He died at Moseroth now there were World 2553 Moses 120 Redemption from Egypt 40 seven several incampings between Moseroth and mount Hor Numb 33. 31 32 c. Now the answer to this must arise from this consideration that in those stations mentioned Numb 33. From Moseroth to Bene Jaahan to Horhagidgad c. they were marching towards Kadesh before their fortieth year and so they went from Moseroth to Bene Jaahan But in these stations Deut. 10. 6. they are marching from Kadish in their fortieth year by some of that way that they came thither and so they must now go from Bene Jaahan to Moseroth And 2. how Moseroth and mount Hor Gudgodah and Horhagidgad were but the * * * As Horeb and Sinai were though they be counted two several incampings of Israel Exod. 17. 1 6. and 19. 1. compared same place and Country and how though Israel were now going back from Kadish yet hit in the very same journies that they went in when they were coming thither as to Gudgodah or Horhagidgad to Jotbathah or Jotbath requires a discourse Geographical by it self which is the next thing that was promised in the Preface to the first part of the Harmony of the Evangelists and with some part of that work by Gods permission and his good hand upon the Work-man shall come forth 7. It cannot pass the Eye of him that readeth the Text in the Original but he must observe it how in Chap. 29. ver 29. the Holy Ghost hath pointed one clause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To us and to our Children belong the revealed things after an extraordinary and unparalleld manner to give warning against curiosity in prying into Gods secrets and that we should content our selves with his revealed will 8. Moses in blessing of the Tribes Chap. 33. nameth them not according to their seniority but in another order Reuben is set first though he had lost the birth-right to shew his repentance and that he died not * * * So the Chaldee renders ver 6. Let Reuben live and not die the second death the second death Simeon is omitted because of his cruelty to Sichem and Joseph and therefore he the fittest to be left out when there were twelve Tribes beside Judah is placed before Levi for the Kingdoms dignity above the Priest-hood Christ being promised a King of that Tribe Benjamin is set before Joseph for the dignity of Jerusalem above Samaria c. 9. The last Chapter of the Book was written by some other then Moses for it relateth his death and how he was buried by the Lord that is by Michael Jude 9. or Christ who was to bury Moses Ceremonies The Book of JOSHUA THIS Book containeth a history of the seventeen years of the rule of Joshua which though they be not expresly named by this sum in clear words yet are they to be collected to be so many from that gross sum of four hundred and eighty years from the delivery out of Egypt to the laying of the foundation of solomons Temple mentioned 1 Kings 6. 1. for the Scripture hath parcelled out that sum into these particulars forty years of the people in the wilderness two hundred ninety and nine years of the Judges forty years of Eli forty of Samuel and Saul forty of David and four of Solomon to the Temples founding in all four hundred sixty three and therefore the seventeen years that must make up the sum four hundred and eighty must needs be concluded to have been the time of the rule of Joshua CHAP. I. World 2554 Ioshua 1 JOSHUA of Joseph succeedeth Moses the seventh from Ephraim 1 Chron. 7. 25. and in him first appeared Josephs birth-right 1 Chron. 5. 1. and
a man not to be certainly pointed out either who he was or when he lived and therefore that Chapter must necessarily be taken up where it lies because it is not possible to find out where else to lay it 5. The last Chapter is some part of it Batshebaes words to Solomon and some part of it Solomons words in her commendation and in commendation of all women like her And the former part which are her words might very well be laid in her Story and in Solomons minority namely after vers 25. of 2 Sam. 12. but yet it is very properly laid here where it is because the words of Solomon in commendation of such women as she were delivered when he delivered his other Doctrines and Proverbs and so the occasion that drew out those words is fitly joyned to the time of the words themselves Solomon is called Lemuel by his Mother as alluding or tuning to Shemuel or Samuel a Son of his mothers vows as Solomon is here averred by his mother to be of hers She giveth him many excellent Lessons in his tender years toward the making him a good man and a good King for which when he comes to mature years he highly commends and extols a good woman such a one as his mother was in an Acrostick or Alphabetical Oration The Song of SOLOMON or The CANTICLES AFTER the building of the Summer House in the Forrest of Lebanon Solomon pens the Book of the Canticles as appeareth by these passages in it Chap. 4. 8. Come with me from Lebanon my Spouse with me from Lebanon And Chap. 7. 4. Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon c. Upon his bringing up Pharaohs Daughter to the house that he had prepared for her 1 King 9. 24. he seemeth to have made this Song For though the best and the most proper aim of it was at higher matters then an earthly marriage yet doth he make his marriage with Pharaohs Daughter a type of that sublime and spiritual marriage betwixt Christ and his Church Pharaohs Daughter was a Heathen and a stranger natively to the Church of Israel and withal she was a Black-moor as being an African as Cant. 1. 4 5. alludeth to it and so she was the kindlier type of what Solomon intended in all particulars CHAP. X. 2 CHRON. IX From beginning to vers 29. Solomon 31 THE Queen of Sheba cometh to hear the wisdom of Solomon and so Solomon 32 condemneth the Generation of the Jews that despised the wisdom of the Solomon 33 Father Matth. 12. 42. Solomon as is probable is yet flourishing in State Power Solomon 34 and Religion And is a Prince of admirable Peace at Salem a figure of the Solomon 35 King of Righteousness and the King of Peace CHAP. XI From beginning to vers 41. Solomon 36 IN his old age Solomon is drawn away by his Idolatrous Wives to forget Solomon 37 God The wisest and the happiest man like Adam undone by women Solomon 38 Hereupon his prosperity and his happiness began to change The Book of ECCLESIASTES AFTER his great fall Solomon recovereth again by repentance and writeth this Book of Ecclesiastes as his penitential dirge for that his folly He calleth himself in it Koheleth or the Gathering-Soul either recollecting it self or by admonition gathering others that go astray after vanity He sheweth in it that all things on this side Heaven are but vanity and he had found it so by sad experience and so the Kingdom promised to David which was to be everlasting must not be expected to be of this world as Joh. 18. 36. 1 KING XI Vers. 41 42 43. And 2 CHRON. IX Vers. 29 30 31. THE Book of Chronicles omitteth to mention the fall of Solomon as he had omitted the fall of David World 3029 Solomon 39 Solomon dieth having reigned forty years as his father David had done and Solomon 40 having had a great fall in his time as his father David had had yet like him is recovered pardoned and saved Kingdom of JUDAH 1 KINGS XII from beginning Division 1 to Vers. 25. World 3030 Rehoboam 1 Ieroboam 1 REHOBOAM through his folly and tyranny looseth the people by threatning them with a heavy yoke Christ seeketh to regain them by promissing a light one Matth. 11. 29 30. Shechem once the stage of blood Gen. 34. is now the scene of this unhappy division Rehoboam was now one and forty years old 2 Chron. 12. 13. yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 childish and simple 2 Chron. 13. 7. but of an haughty and oppressive spirit and so proveth himself a very fool Eccles. 2. 19. though he were the son of so wise a Father Kingdom of ISRAEL 2 CHRON. X. all And XI Division 1 to Verse 5. World 3030 Rehoboam 1 Ieroboam 1 JEROBOAM of Ephraim draweth ten Tribes from the house of David from the Temple that stood near it and from the promise of Christ that was affixed to it And this suddain rent of Solomons Kingdom did plainly teach that the King and Kingdom promised to David was not of this world but of another which King and Kingdom the revolting Tribes have now forsaken and by forsaking have lost Christ have lost Religion and have lost themselves And here is a kind of an Antichristian faction now risen in the world before Christs appearing The very foundation of this revolt of the Tribes was laid in the blood of Adoram Rehoboam seeketh to reduce the people with a strong hand whom with a gentle he would not retain PSAL. II. WITH the Story of the Apostacy of the ten Tribes read the second Psalm which was prophetically made by David Act. 4. 25. upon this revolt and rebellion and this is the first aim and intent of it though in a second and more full it hits upon the greater rebellion which this but typified and that is Judahs despising and crucifying the Lord of life being indeed exhibited as Israel despiseth him here being promised And as the Psalmist had touched in the first Psalm upon the fall of Adam who miscarried by walking in the counsel of the ungodly the Serpent and the seduced woman and had shewed a way how to withstand and escape such counsellings namely by meditation and delight in the Law of the Lord. So doth he in this Psalm touch upon the fall of the ten Tribes and how they miscarried by casting away the cords of obligation which God had tied them in to the throne of David and he giveth admonition to them to be wiser and adviseth both them and the generation that put the Lord to death and all ages to come To kiss the Son by a loving and submissive obedience as 1 Sam. 10. 1. and so to escape the wrath to come Matth. 3. when the Lords anger should be kindled and destroy the people that had been his destroyers 2 CHRON. XI From ver 5. to the end of the Chapter REhoboam fortifieth divers Cities Rehoboam 2 Ieroboam 2 Division 2 in Judah and Benjamin Rehoboam 3
Ieroboam 3 Division 3 and Garrisoneth them He entertaineth the Priests and Levites that out-ran Idolatry for Jeroboam had expelled them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from having their liberty to go up to Jerusalem in the courses and from exercising their functions in the several Cities of their abode ver 14. Three years do Rehoboam and his people of Judah well and uprightly and walk in the ways of David and Solomon vers 17. Observe the ways of Solomon to be paralleld with the ways of David and the ways of David and Solomon commended as patterns of holy walking and this very place and passage may resolve that Solomon was no more finally cast away for his Idolatry then David was finally cast away for his Adultery and Murder Rehoboams Marriages are reckoned here where the text is speaking of his establishment and prosperity and so it would conclude all the particulars of that before it fall to the story of his declining but the most of his Marriages were made before he came to the Kingdom even in the life-time of his father Solomon and he followed the humour of his father very much in desiring many wives His son Abijam reigned but three years after his seventeen and yet is he the father of eight and thirty Children which makes it more then probable that he was born before his father was King 2 Chron. 13. 21. One of Rehoboams wives is said to be Maholah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jeremoth the son of David written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 possibly Tamar the Daughter of Absalom she called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because she was left his only Child his three Sons being dead 2 Sam. 14. 27. 18. 18. and he called Jeremoth partly to intimate his lifting up in pride when he rebelled against his father and his lifting up in the Oak where he took his end and partly to distinguish him from another Absalom whose daughter also Rehoboam married which was called Maachah 1 KING XII From vers 25. to the end of the Chapter Rehoboam 2 Ieroboam 2 Division 2 JEroboam in a hellish policy setteth up Idols in Bethel Rehoboam 3 Ieroboam 3 Division 3 and Dan to keep Israel from Jerusalem least they should revolt to the house of David And he ordaineth a feast of Tabernacles in the eighth month like that at Jerusalem in the seventh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the people went after one of his calves to Dan v. 30. for ere long Abijah the King of Judah had recovered Bethel 2 Chron. 13. 19. 2 CHRON. XII All the Chapter REHOBOAM and Judah World 3033 Rehoboam 4 Ieroboam 4 Division 4 become wicked Shishak World 3034 Rehoboam 5 Ieroboam 5 Division 5 plundereth Jerusalem It may be Rehoboam 6 Ieroboam 6 Division 6 his quarrel was in reference to Rehoboam 7 Ieroboam 7 Division 7 Pharaohs Daughter Solomons Rehoboam 8 Ieroboam 8 Division 8 wife She belike was either his Rehoboam 9 Ieroboam 9 Division 9 Daughter or Sister and if she Rehoboam 10 Ieroboam 10 Division 10 had a Son it is wonder he reigned Rehoboam 11 Ieroboam 11 Division 11 not Rehoboams mother was Naamah Rehoboam 12 Ieroboam 12 Division 12 an Ammonitesse it may be Rehoboam 13 Ieroboam 13 Division 13 she was a young Lady that David Rehoboam 14 Ieroboam 14 Division 14 brought away when he took Rehoboam 15 Ieroboam 15 Division 15 Rabbah For golden Shields Rehoboam Rehoboam 16 Ieroboam 16 Division 16 maketh shields of brass Rehoboam 17 Ieroboam 17 Division 17 Rehoboam dieth 1 KINGS XIII all And XIV all A Double miracle wrought Rehoboam 4 Ieroboam 4 Division 4 at Bethel the Altar rent World 3034 Rehoboam 5 Ieroboam 5 Division 5 and the Idol Shepheards arm Rehoboam 6 Ieroboam 6 Division 6 clean dried up as Zech. 11. 17. Rehoboam 7 Ieroboam 7 Division 7 yet his eyes darkned that he will Rehoboam 8 Ieroboam 8 Division 8 see nothing A false Prophet to Rehoboam 9 Ieroboam 9 Division 9 uphold the Idolatry findeth a Rehoboam 10 Ieroboam 10 Division 10 trick to undo the true Prophet Rehoboam 11 Ieroboam 11 Division 11 that had spoken against it Rehoboam 12 Ieroboam 12 Division 12 God giveth up the true Phrophet to a Rehoboam 13 Ieroboam 13 Division 13 Lion for disgracing his message Rehoboam 14 Ieroboam 14 Division 14 And maketh the false Prophet Rehoboam 15 Ieroboam 15 Division 15 prophesie truly of the ruine of Rehoboam 16 Ieroboam 16 Division 16 those Idolaters Jeroboam looseth Rehoboam 17 Ieroboam 17 Division 17 his best Son Ahijah yet none of these strange and fearful occurrences avail with him to reduce or reverse him from his Idolatry the time of the renting of the Altar at Bethel is uncertain but it was not presently after the building of it for there were now divers high places set up in Samaria as well as in Bethel 1 King 13. 32. Nor is the time of Abijahs death determinable If Shechem and Tirzah were not one and the same Town it appeareth that Jeroboam had removed his Court when his son dieth from where it was when he first erected his Idols Compare 1 King 12. 25. with Chap. 14. 17. and so it may argue that there was some space between There are continual and bitter wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their time though Shemaiah had parted them at the first offer of a battel after the division 1 KING XV. From beginning to ver 9. ABIJAH reigneth wickedly World 3047 Abijah 1 Ieroboam 18 Division 18 three years he fighteth Abijah 2 Ieroboam 10 Division 19 with Jeroboam and slayeth 500000 men the greatest slaughter that ever was at one field in any Story Abijah is also called Abijam and his Mother is called both Maachah and Michah and his Grandfather by his Mothers side is called Absalom and Uriel Such changes of names are frequent in Scripture and sometime so altered by the Holy Ghost purposely to hint something to us concerning the Person and sometimes so â—…red by the people among whom such persons lived they giving them some common name answerable to some qualification or action that they saw in them or in reference to their family or some person of their family from which they descended The Book of Chronicles layeth no wickedness to the charge of this King that we have in hand and therefore sticketh not to joyn Jah the name of God to his name but the Book of Kings that chargeth him with the wickedness of his Fathers ways doth him not that honour in his name but hath changed Jah into Jam. His mother that was named Micah or Michaiah when she cometh to be Queen may be conceived to have her name changed and she is named after the first Mother of a renowned family in that Tribe from whence she descended 1 Chron. 8. 29. She was of Gibeah the City of Saul and it is very probable of the kinred of Saul and therefore her
the house of Rimmon the Lord pardon thy servant for this thing for so should the words be rendred as craving pardon for Idolatry past and not begging leave to be Idolatrous for the time to come Gehazies covetousness brings upon him Naamans Leprosie the Text hath divinely omitted a letter in one word that it might the more brand him with a blot for this his villany I will run after Naaman saith he and will take of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a blot instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 somewhat ver 20. The third year Elisha maketh Iron to swim preventeth the Syrians ambushments and striketh those with blindness that were sent to catch him and bringeth them into the middest of Samaria and there feasteth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 6. 23. So the bands of Syria came no more as yet into the land of Israel for so the very next verse teacheth that it should be translated for it relateth that after this Benhadad gathered all his Host and besieged Samaria So is the like passage to be rendred 2 King 24. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the King of Aegypt came no more as yet or at that time out of his Land for in Jer. 37. 5. The King of Aegypt is a foot with his Army and abroad again The fourth year Jehoshaphat dieth Edom rebelleth and shaketh off Judahs yoke which David had laid upon them Till Jorams time there was no King in Edom of absolute power and rule but a Deputy under the Kings of Judah was King 1 King 22. 47. but now Edom revolteth from under the hand of Judah and made a King over themselves 2 King 8. 20. Then Libnah revolteth also Joram goeth against them and by night smiteth their Squadrons which were pitched about him to give him battel the next morning The fifth year Samaria is besieged by Benhadad and the famine becomes so great in the City that women eat their own Children as Deut. 28. 53. 56. and men women and children eat Doves dung All the fault is laid upon Elisha and he must be beheaded but he foretelleth a suddain and wonderful delivery and a strange and miraculous plenty which accordingly came to pass An unbelieving Prince is trod to death The sixth year Philistims and Arabians oppress Joram King of Judah and captive his wives and children leaving him only one son behind Here he is met with for the murder of his own Brethren The seventh year Joram is fallen into the sad disease of his bowels 2 Chron. 21. 19. And it came to pass after the end of two years his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness for he shewed no bowels to his brethren This year the famine endeth at Harvest and at that Harvest the Shunamites child dieth and is recovered by Elisha his death and reviving is related instantly after the Story of his birth though when he died he was able to follow the reapers because his Story might be related together and not long after his Mother goeth to the King to beg and petition to be setled in her estate again and there she finds leprous Gehazi with him The first verse of Chapter 8. should chronically be translated as of the time past Now Elisha had spoken to the woman c. ver 2. And the woman had risen and done after the saying of the man of God c. This year Elisha is at Damaseus Benhadad sick Hazael stifles him with a wet cloth and reigns in his stead 2 CHRON. XXII to ver 10. 2 KING VIII 25. to the end World 3117 Iehoram 8 Iehoram 12 Division 88 AHAZIAH the son of Joram reigneth and dieth this year by the sword of Jehu 2 King 8. 26. In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab King of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram King of Judah begin to reign Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign and he reigned one year in Jerusalem and his mothers name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri King of Israel And 2 King 9. 29. In the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab began Ahaziah to raign over Judah 2 Chron. 22. 2. Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign c. Here the Reader seeth two plain and visible differences the one about the age of Ahaziah and the other about the time when he began to reign The same Book of Kings saith he began to raign in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab and he began to raign in the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab Now the reconciling of this difference is easie when it is observed that Joram the son of Ahab reigned one whole year in the life time of his father and eleven years afterward And so one Text calleth his last year his twelfth that is of his whole raign and another Text calleth it his eleventh that is of his sole reign after his fathers death But the other difference is both the more visible and the more difficult for the Book of Kings saith Ahaziah was but two and twenty years old when he began to raign and the Book of Chronicles saith he was two and forty and so this latter reckoning maketh him two years older then his father for his father began to raign when he was two and thirty years old and and reigned eight years and so died being forty 2 King 8. 17. Now for the reconciling of this scruple the Original helpeth us which in our translation is not visible The Original meaneth thus Ahaziah was the son of the two and forty years namely of the house of Omri of whose seed he was by the mothers side and he walked in the ways of that house and came to ruine at the same time with it This the Text directed us to look after when it calleth his mother the daughter of Omri which was indeed the daughter of Ahab Now these forty two years are easily reckoned by any that will count back in the Chronicle to the second of Omri Such another reckoning there is about Jechoniah or Jehojachin 2 King 24. 8. Jehojachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign But 2 Chron. 36. 9. Jehojachin was the son of the eight years That is his beginning of reign fell in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar and of Judahs first captivity as shall be shewed there World 3117 Iehoram 8 Iehoram 12 Division 88 JORAM King of Israel fighteth at Ramoth Gilead is wounded comes to be healed of his wounds at Jezreel and is there slain by Jehu Ahaziah had been with Joram at Ramoth and is slain with Joram at Jezreel 2 CHRON. XXII vers 10 11 12. and 2 KING XI ver 1 2 3. World 3118 Athaliah 1 Iehu 1 Division 89 ATHALIAH destroyeth Athaliah 2 Iehu 2 Division 90 the rest of the Seed Royal Athaliah 3 Iehu 3 Division 91 that were left besides the forty Athaliah 4 Iehu 4 Division 92 two slain by Jehu she her Athaliah 5
Iehu 5 Division 93 self reigned six years she had Athaliah 6 Iehu 6 Division 94 sons of her own by some other man whom she desireth to promote 2 Chron. 24. 7. 2 KINGS IX to vers 30. World 3118 Athaliah 1 Iehu 1 Division 89 JEHU the son of Jehoshaphat Athaliah 2 Iehu 2 Division 90 anointed for the destruction Athaliah 3 Iehu 3 Division 91 of Ahabs house reigneth twenty Athaliah 4 Iehu 4 Division 92 eight years He is anointed Athaliah 5 Iehu 5 Division 93 by Elisha's servant at Elisha's appointment Athaliah 6 Iehu 6 Division 94 read Chap. 9. ver 4. that So the young man even the servant of the Prophet went c. He is anointed at Ramoth Gilead where Ahab had received his death and Jehoram his son lately some wounds He slayeth Jehoram with his own hand and causeth the death of Ahaziah King of Judah also This man is sometime called Jeho-achaz with part of the name Jehovah set before his name as 2 Chron. 21. 17. 25. 17. sometime Achaz-jahu with part of that name Jehovah set after as 2 Chron. 22. 2. and sometime Azariah 2 Chron. 22. 6. The relation of the manner of his death in the Books of Kings and Chronicles is exceeding different and accordingly the understanding of it exceeding difficult 2 King 9. 27. it is said that when Ahaziah saw the death of Jehoram King of Israel he fled by the way of the garden and Jehu followed after him and said Smite him also in the Chariot in the going up to Gur which is beside Ibleam and he fled to Megiddo and died there But in 2 Chron. 22. 8 9. it is said That when Jehu was executing Judgment upon the house of Ahab and found the Princes of Judah even the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah that ministred to Ahaziah he slew them And he sought Ahaziah and they caught him for he was hid in Samaria and brought him to Jehu and slew him Now the current of the Story at large is thus Jehu slayeth Joram in the field of Jezreel as Ahaziah and Joram were together Ahaziah seeing this flees and gets into Samariah and hides himself there Jehu marcheth to Jezreel and maketh Jezabel Dogs meat From thence he sendeth to Samaria for the heads of Ahabs children and posterity which are brought him by night and shewed by him to the people in the morning Then he marcheth to Samaria and by the way slayeth Ahaziahs kinsmen forty two men findeth Jehonadab the father of the Rechabites Coming into Samaria he maketh search for Ahaziah they find him hid bring him to Jehu he commands to carry him up towards Gur by Ibleam and there to slay him it may be his father Joram had slain his brethren there as Ahab had done Naboth in Jezreel they do so smite him there in his Chariot and his Charioter driveth away to Megiddo before he dies The Story in the Book of Kings is taken up short and laid with the Story of the death of Jehoram that the end of both the Kings may be taken up together but the Book of Chronicles shews the order 2 KING XI from vers 4. to end and 12. 1 2 3. 2 CHRON. XXIII XXIV to ver 4. World 3124 Ioash 1 Iehu 7 Division 95 JOASH anointed by his Ioash 2 Iehu 8 Division 96 Uncle Jehojada and reigneth Ioash 3 Iehu 9 Division 97 forty years Good Jehojada Ioash 4 Iehu 10 Division 98 bringeth him to the Crown Ioash 5 Iehu 11 Division 99 and the people into Covenant Ioash 6 Iehu 12 Division 100 c. The Priests and Levites Ioash 7 Iehu 13 Division 101 had the chief hand in the Coronation Ioash 8 Iehu 14 Division 102 They are thus distinguished Ioash 9 Iehu 15 Division 103 2 King 11. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioash 10 Iehu 16 Division 104 for so it is written Meajoth Ioash 11 Iehu 17 Division 105 Captains of hundreds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioash 12 Iehu 18 Division 106 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Priests and Levites Ioash 13 Iehu 19 Division 107 The Priests called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrews give it because they were the chief or of the higher rank and the Levites called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or men of the Ioash 14 Iehu 20 Division 108 guard because they were the Ioash 15 Iehu 21 Division 109 Warders in the Temple Joash Ioash 16 Iehu 22 Division 110 hath two wives of Jehojada's Ioash 17 Iehu 23 Division 111 providing for him Jezabel the Ioash 18 Iehu 24 Division 112 wife of Ahab and Athaliah the Ioash 19 Iehu 25 Division 113 wife of Joram had caused all Ioash 20 Iehu 26 Division 114 this mischief in Israel and Judah Ioash 21 Iehu 27 Division 115 and therefore the good High Priest provideth that this King World 3145 Ioash 22 Iehu 28 Division 116 miscarry not by such a match 2 KING X. from vers 30. to end World 3124 Ioash 1 Iehu 7 Division 95 JEHU followed the Ioash 2 Iehu 8 Division 96 Idolatry of Jeroboam the golden Ioash 3 Iehu 9 Division 97 Calves though he had destroyed Ioash 4 Iehu 10 Division 98 Baal the Idol of Ahab Hazael Ioash 5 Iehu 11 Division 99 cuts Israel short beyond Ioash 6 Iehu 12 Division 100 Jordan and destroyeth the Reubenites Ioash 7 Iehu 13 Division 101 Gadites and Manassites Ioash 8 Iehu 14 Division 102 there Elisha with tears had Ioash 9 Iehu 15 Division 103 told what mischief and misery Ioash 10 Iehu 16 Division 104 he should work to Israel which Ioash 11 Iehu 17 Division 105 he now beginneth to act and Ioash 12 Iehu 18 Division 106 goeth on to perfect in the days Ioash 13 Iehu 19 Division 107 of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu Jehu hath a promise of his sons sitting on his throne even to the fourth generation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioash 14 Iehu 20 Division 108 Omries house had stood four Ioash 15 Iehu 21 Division 109 successions Omri Ahab Ahaziah Ioash 16 Iehu 22 Division 110 and Joram The four Ioash 17 Iehu 23 Division 111 successions of Jehues sons were Ioash 18 Iehu 24 Division 112 Jehoahaz Jehoash Jeroboam and Ioash 19 Iehu 25 Division 113 Zachariah But between the Ioash 20 Iehu 26 Division 114 reign of Jeroboam and Zachariah Ioash 21 Iehu 27 Division 115 there was a long interregnum or space between as we shall observe when we come there World 3145 Ioash 22 Iehu 28 Division 116 Jehu dieth 2 KING XII from vers 4. to end And 2 CHRON. XXIV from vers 4. to end And 2 KING XIV 1 2. World 3146 Ioash 23 Jehoahaz 1 Division 117 JOASH taketh course for the Ioash 24 Jehoahaz 2 Division 118 repairing of the Temple Ioash 25 Jehoahaz 3 Division 119 and he keepeth close to Religion Ioash 26 Jehoahaz 4 Division 120 all the time that Jehojada Ioash 27 Jehoahaz 5 Division 121 lived but when he was dead Ioash 28
Jehoahaz 6 Division 122 he forgetteth God and forsaketh Ioash 29 Jehoahaz 7 Division 123 his Temple and he and Ioash 30 Jehoahaz 8 Division 124 Judah betake themselves to Ioash 31 Jehoahaz 9 Division 125 open Idolatry for which wrath Ioash 32 Jehoahaz 10 Division 126 cometh upon them And to Ioash 33 Jehoahaz 11 Division 127 make their measure full they slay Zachariah a Priest and Prophet between the Temple and the Altar Ioash 34 Jehoahaz 12 Division 128 Zachariah stoned in the Temple Ioash 35 Ioash 36 Ioash 37 Jehoahaz 13 Jehoahaz 14 Jehoahaz 15 Division 129 Division 130 Division 131 Hazael invadeth Judah World 3163 Ioash 38 Amaziah 1 Jehoahaz 16 Iehoash 1 Division 132 Amaziah reigneth twenty Ioash 39 Amaziah 2 Jehoahaz 17 Iehoash 2 Division 133 nine years 2 King 14. 1 2. World 3163 Ioash 40 Amaziah 3 Iehoash 3 Iehoash 4 Division 134 Joash sâ—ain by his servants Here it is apparent that Amaziah reigned three years before his fathers death and the reason was because of his fathers sore diseasedness which made him unable to manage the Kingdom 2 Chron. 24. 25. Jehoash also reigned three years before his fathers death for he grew valiant and victorious against the Syrians and thereupon he is made Viceroy in his fathers life time 2 KING XIII all World 3146 Ioash 23 Jehoahaz 1 Division 117 JEHOAHAZ the son of Ioash 24 Jehoahaz 2 Division 118 Jehu reigned 17 years and Ioash 25 Jehoahaz 3 Division 119 doth wickedly following Jeroboams Ioash 26 Jehoahaz 4 Division 120 Calves Hazael oppresseth Ioash 27 Jehoahaz 5 Division 121 Israel and continueth that Ioash 28 Jehoahaz 6 Division 122 misery that he had begun in the Ioash 29 Jehoahaz 7 Division 123 time of Jehu He had invaded Ioash 30 Jehoahaz 8 Division 124 and destroyed Israel beyond Ioash 31 Jehoahaz 9 Division 125 Jordan And threshed Gilead with Ioash 32 Jehoahaz 10 Division 126 threshing instruments of iron as Ioash 33 Jehoahaz 11 Division 127 Amos 1. 3. and now he cometh on this side Jordan and falleth upon Israel there and taketh Gath of the Philistims and setteth Ioash 34 Jehoahaz 12 Division 128 himself against Jerusalem Ioash 35 Jehoahaz 13 Division 129 He is hired by King Joash with the Ioash 36 Jehoahaz 14 Division 130 dedicate things of the Temple Ioash 37 Jehoahaz 15 Division 131 to depart but yet he doth Joash no small mischief World 3163 Ioash 38 Amaziah 1 Jehoahaz 16 Iehoash 1 Division 132 Jehoash reigneth 16 years Ioash 39 Amaziah 2 Jehoahaz 17 Iehoash 2 Division 133 2 King 13. 10. and proveth a World 3163 Ioash 40 Amaziah 3 Iehoash 3 Division 134 deliverer and Saviour against Iehoash 4 Syria for this is he that is spoken of in 2 King 13. 5. 2 KING XIV from ver 3. to ver 19. 2 CHRON. XXV to ver 27. Amaziah 4 Iehoash 5 Division 135 AMAZIAH slayeth the Amaziah 5 Iehoash 6 Division 136 murderers of his father Amaziah 6 Iehoash 7 Division 137 hireth 100000 of Israel against Amaziah 7 Iehoash 8 Division 138 Edom they dismissed plunder Amaziah 8 Iehoash 9 Division 139 Judah and slay 3000 men Amaziah 9 Iehoash 10 Division 140 2 Chron. 25. 13. Amaziah conquereth Amaziah 10 Iehoash 11 Division 141 Edom but is overcome Amaziah 11 Iehoash 12 Division 142 by their Idols He is miserably Amaziah 12 Iehoash 13 Division 143 beaten by Jehoash King of Israel Amaziah 13 Iehoash 14 Division 144 and Jerusalem plundered and a Amaziah 14 Iehoash 15 Division 145 great deal of the wall of it Amaziah 15 Iehoash 16 Division 146 broken down namely on that side of the City that looked towards Samaria World 3176 Amaziah 16 Ierob 1 Ierob 2 Division 147 AMAZIAH liveth fifteen Amaziah 17 Ierob 3 Division 148 years current after Jehoash Amaziah 18 Ierob 4 Division 149 his death 2 Chron. 25. 25. Amaziah 19 Ierob 5 Division 150 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amaziah 20 Ierob 6 Division 151 2 Chron. 25. 27. And from the Amaziah 21 Ierob 7 Division 152 time that he departed from the Amaziah 22 Ierob 8 Division 153 Lord the hearts of his Subjects Amaziah 23 Ierob 9 Division 154 departed from him and they Amaziah 24 Ierob 10 Division 155 began to conspire against him Amaziah 25 Ierob 11 Division 156 and the conspiracy grew so Amaziah 26 Ierob 12 Division 157 strong that they forced him at last to flee from Jerusalem to Lachish for his safety this was but a little before his death for it seemeth Amaziah 4 Iehoash 5 Division 135 IN the time of Jehoash his Amaziah 5 Iehoash 6 Division 136 reign Elisha dieth and his Amaziah 6 Iehoash 7 Division 137 dead bones raise a dead man Amaziah 7 Iehoash 8 Division 138 Hazael the King of Syria dieth Amaziah 8 Iehoash 9 Division 139 also in the time of Jehoash Amaziah 9 Iehoash 10 Division 140 and Benhadad his Son reigneth Amaziah 10 Iehoash 11 Division 141 in his stead Him Jehoash beateth Amaziah 11 Iehoash 12 Division 142 three times and restoreth Amaziah 12 Iehoash 13 Division 143 Cities to Israel which he had Amaziah 13 Iehoash 14 Division 144 taken from them in the time of Amaziah 14 Iehoash 15 Division 145 Jehoachaz when he had sorely Amaziah 15 Iehoash 16 Division 146 conquered both without and within Jordan 2 KING XIV ver 23 24 25 26 27. World 3176 Amaziah 16 Ierob 1 Ierob 2 Division 147 JEROBOAM reigneth Amaziah 17 Ierob 3 Division 148 41 years and walketh Amaziah 18 Ierob 4 Division 149 in the Idolatry of Jeroboam Amaziah 19 Ierob 5 Division 150 in the first yet is he victorious Amaziah 20 Ierob 6 Division 151 exceedingly and prosecutes Amaziah 21 Ierob 7 Division 152 his father Joash his Amaziah 22 Ierob 8 Division 153 wars and victories with very Amaziah 23 Ierob 9 Division 154 good success For the Lord Amaziah 24 Ierob 10 Division 155 pittied Israel and would not Amaziah 25 Ierob 11 Division 156 yet destroy them Jeroboam Amaziah 26 Ierob 12 Division 157 restoreth all the land of the two Tribes and half Tribe beyond Jordan which Hazael had taken in the time of 2 KING XIV ver 19 20. 2 Chron. 25. 27 28. Amaziah 27 Ierob 13 Division 158 by the Text that they sent Amaziah 28 Ierob 14 Division 159 presently after him thither to â—lay World 3189 Amaziah 29 Ierob 15 Division 160 him Amaziah is slain at Lachish Amaziah 1 Ierob 16 Division 161 At his death his son and heir Amaziah 2 Ierob 17 Division 162 apparent Uzziah or Azariah is Amaziah 3 Ierob 18 Division 163 but four years old for he is Amaziah 4 Ierob 19 Division 164 but sixteen in Jeroboams twenty Amaziah 5 Ierob 20 Division 165 seventh 2 King 15. 1 2. Amaziah 6 Amaziah 7 Ierob 21 Division 166 therefore the throne is empty Amaziah 8 Ierob 22 Division 167 eleven years and the rule is Amaziah 9 Ierob 23 Division 168 managed by some as
Potectors Amaziah 10 Ierob 24 Division 169 whilst Uzziah is in his Amaziah 11 Ierob 25 Ierob 26 Division 170 Division 171 minority 2 KING 14 ver 23. to 29. Amaziah 27 Ierob 13 Division 158 Jehu even from the entring Amaziah 28 Ierob 14 Division 159 in of Hamath on the North World 3189 Amaziah 29 Ierob 15 Division 160 to the Sea of the plain or Amaziah 1 Ierob 16 Division 161 the dead Sea South He also Amaziah 2 Ierob 17 Division 162 restoreth Hamath it self Amaziah 3 Ierob 18 Division 163 and Damascus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amaziah 4 Ierob 19 Division 164 to Judah in Israel Amaziah 5 Ierob 20 Division 165 2 King 14. 28. David had Amaziah 6 Amaziah 7 Ierob 21 Division 166 conquered them and they Amaziah 8 Ierob 22 Division 167 being now revolted he rerecovers Amaziah 9 Ierob 23 Division 168 them to Israel in Amaziah 10 Ierob 24 Division 169 Judahs title as fitter to Amaziah 11 Ierob 25 Division 170 be subject to the Seed of Ierob 26 Division 171 Israel then to Syria Judah was not able to recover his own right for they had lately been subject to Jeroboams father and he had sacked Jerusalem and done with it what pleased and now Jeroboam his son being a far more potent King and Judah continuing still in its wickedness as having never recovered strength since Jehoash conquered Amaziah and pulled down Jerusalem wall and withal there being now no King on the throne of Judah this Jeroboam when he had recovered the two Tribes and half beyond Jordan from Syria in the right of the Kingdom of Samaria he also recovers Hamath and Damascus to himself and Israel in the right and title of Judah Judah being now exceeding much in his power since his father had so miserably brought them under Of these Victories over the Syrians Jonah the Prophet prophesied who lived in these times but his journey to Niniveh was not as yet but some space hereafter as shall be observed anon 2 KINGS XIV ver 21 22 15. ver 1 2 3 4. World 3201 Uzziah 1 Ieroboam 27 Division 172 UZZIAH crowned he Uzziah 2 Ieroboam 28 Division 173 is also called Azariah Uzziah 3 Ieroboam 29 Division 174 both the names sounding to Uzziah 4 Ieroboam 30 Division 175 the same sence the one The Uzziah 5 Ieroboam 31 Division 176 Lord is my strength the other Uzziah 6 Ieroboam 32 Division 177 The Lord is my help as 2 Chron. Uzziah 7 Ieroboam 33 Division 178 26. 7. Uzziah 8 Hereabout was the time that Uzziah 9 Ieroboam 34 Division 179 Hosea and Joel began to prophesie Uzziah 10 Ieroboam 35 Division 180 and presently after Amos Uzziah 11 Ieroboam 36 Division 181 also beginneth Uzziah 12 Ieroboam 37 Division 182 There had been Prophets before Uzziah 13 Ieroboam 38 Division 183 this time continually but Uzziah 14 Ieroboam 39 Division 184 none left their Prophesies behind Uzziah 14 Ieroboam 40 Division 185 in writing but now ariseth a company of Prophets World 3215 Uzziah 15 Ieroboam 41 Division 186 that do 2 CHRON. XXVI ver 1 2 3 4. 2 KING XIV ver 29. World 3201 Uzziah 1 Ieroboam 27 Division 172 IN the twenty and seventh Uzziah 2 Ieroboam 28 Division 173 year of Jeroboam began Uzziah 3 Ieroboam 29 Division 174 Azaâ—iah to reign two and Uzziah 4 Ieroboam 30 Division 175 fifty years He built Elath or Eloth Uzziah 5 Ieroboam 31 Division 176 in the Country of Edom Deut. Uzziah 6 Ieroboam 32 Division 177 2. 8. 2 Chron. 17. And restored Uzziah 6 Ieroboam 32 Division 177 it to Judah after that the King Uzziah 7 Ieroboam 33 Division 178 Amaziah slept with his fathers Uzziah 8 Uzziah 9 Ieroboam 34 Division 179 that is even in those eleven Uzziah 10 Ieroboam 35 Division 180 years before his Coronation Uzziah 11 Ieroboam 36 Division 181 whilst he was yet in his minority Uzziah 12 Ieroboam 37 Division 182 Uzziah 13 Ieroboam 38 Division 183 A fearful Earthquake happens Uzziah 14 Ieroboam 39 Division 184 before the death of Jeroboam Uzziah 14 Ieroboam 40 Division 185 and Amos fore-tells it two years before it comes and foretells World 3215 Uzziah 15 Ieroboam 41 Division 186 of Jeroboams death by the sword Amos 7. The order and time of these former PROPHETS THE Murder of Zacharias the son of Barachias or Jehoiada was the first ruine of Judah and the beginning of their first rejection For when they slew that Prophet and Priest of the Lord in the Court of the Temple and besides the Altar they plainly shewed how they despised and rejected the Lord and his Temple Priest-hood and Prophesie From that time did their state decay and was mouldring towards ruine and that from thence forward fell into sad diseases as well as King Joash did that commanded the Murder This Hosea toucheth upon as the very Apex of their wickedness when they so brake out as that blood touched blood Hos 4. 2. the blood of the Sacrificer was mingled with the blood of the Sacrifice as Luke 13. 1. And the very Apex of their incorrigibleness in that they proved a people that strove with the Priest Hos. 4. 4. And this wicked act of theirs our Saviour makes as the very period and Catastrophe of their State and Kingdom Matth. 23. 35. How they declined from that time both in Religion Joash and Amaziah and the people with them becoming open Idolaters and in the State by the oppression of Syria and of Joash is so apparent in the Story that he that runneth may read and he that readeth not the cause with these effects readeth not all that may be read But more especially in these times that we have in hand in the latter times of Jeroboam the Lord spake indignation from Heaven in more sensible and more singular and terrible manner in three dreadful judgments the like to which neither they nor their fathers had seen nor heard and the sight and feeling of which when it did not avail with them for their conversion and bettering the Lord hath a company of Prophets that are continually telling them of worse judgments namely of final subversion to come upon them The first of these fearful judgments was an earthquake so terrible that it brought them to their wits ends and put them to flee for their lives but they knew not whether Ye shall flee as they fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah Zech. 14. 5. This was as the beginning of their desolation and the shaking of the earth was as a sign unto them that their State and Kingdom should ere long be shaken Amos prophecied of this two years before it came Amos 1. 1. and that the Lord would roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem as did Joel also some time before Joel 2. to 11. This earthquake was in the days of Jeroboam as well as in the days of Uzziah for so Amos sheweth
from any other 1. Because just now was the middle time betwixt the revolt of the ten Tribes and the burning of the Temple which whole sum and space was three hundred ninety years so summed Ezek. 4. 5. and so shall the Reader see by them when we come there If any will strictly have these sixty five years reckoned from the time of Esays uttering the Prophesie in the time of Ahaz we shall lend them a conjecture hereafter AFter the death of Jeroboam World 3216 Uzziah 16 the Throne of Israel Division 187 Uzziah 17 Interregnum 1 was empty twenty two Division 188 Uzziah 18 Interregnum 2 years for Zachariah the son Division 189 Uzziah 19 Interregnum 3 and next successor of Jeroboam Division 190 Uzziah 20 Interregnum 4 beginneth not to reign till the Division 191 Uzziah 21 Interregnum 5 thirty eight year of Uzziah Division 192 Uzziah 22 Interregnum 6 2 King 15. 8. The reason of this Division 193 may be supposed to be partly World 3223 Uzziah 23 Interregnum 7 Interregnum 8 sedition and disturbance in the Division 194 State for when a King doth reign he is presently slain 2 King 15. 10. and partly the bitterness of the Plagues which had begun in Jeroboams time ESAY I. 2. The people of Jerusalem much more of Samaria were now become so abominable that they are as Sodome and Gomorrah vers 10. full laden with iniquity vers 4. nothing amended by the sad judgment past vers 5. and therefore now determinately given up vers 7. 24. And Heaven and Earth called to witness these things as they were called to witness when these things were foretold Deut. 32. so that this is a proper place to count the ruine of the ten Tribes when it was a time of fixing the ruine of Jerusalem 2 CHRON. XXVI VI. VII VIII World 3224 Uzziah 24 UZZIAH overcometh the Division 195 Uzziah 25 Philistims and dismantleth Division 196 Uzziah 26 their chief Garrisons of Interregnum 9 Interregnum 10 Division 197 Uzziah 27 Gath Jabueh and Ashdod Interregnum 11 Division 198 Uzziah 28 and buildeth Cities and Garrisons Interregnum 12 Division 199 Uzziah 29 of his own in the midst of Interregnum 13 Division 200 Uzziah 30 them He subdueth the Ammonites Interregnum 14 Division 201 Uzziah 31 and some Arabians and Interregnum 15 Division 202 Uzziah 32 here some part of the Prophesie Interregnum 16 Division 203 Uzziah 33 of Amos against the Philistims Interregnum 17 Division 204 Uzziah 34 and Ammon beginneth to Interregnum 18 Division 205 Uzziah 35 take place Amos 1. 8. 13. but Interregnum 19 Division 206 Uzziah 36 to be accomplished in a more Interregnum 20 Division 207 World 3237 Uzziah 37 compleat desolation by the Assyrians Interregnum 21 Division 208 and Babilonian afterward Interregnum 22 the waters of a great flood that swept down all before them as Esay 8. 8. World 3224 Uzziah 24 THE vacancy still continueth Division 195 Uzziah 25 in the Kingdom of Division 196 Uzziah 26 Uzziah 27 Israel Interregnum 9 Interregnum 10 Division 197 Division 198 Uzziah 28 Interregnum 11 ESAY II III IV. Division 199 Uzziah 29 Uzziah 30 Interregnum 12 Interregnum 13 Esay the Evangelist is a Prophet Division 200 Division 201 Uzziah 31 Interregnum 14 at Jerusalem He foretelleth Division 202 Uzziah 32 Interregnum 15 Interregnum 16 the beginning of the Gospel Division 203 Uzziah 33 Interregnum 17 in the last days of Jerusalem Division 204 Uzziah 34 Interregnum 18 and the conflux of people Division 205 Uzziah 35 Interregnum 19 to that light of the Lord Division 206 Uzziah 36 Interregnum 20 and to that Law that should Division 207 World 3237 Uzziah 37 come from Sion as a Law of Division 208 Interregnum 21 old had done from Sinai that Interregnum 22 there should be no longer that quarrelling that had been by all Nations against the Jews because of their Religion for now Religion should be imbraced by all Nations that mens reliance upon their own righteousness should be abolished and the doctrine of Repentance take place That Christ the Branch shall be glorious and the members of the new Jerusalem holy but the people of the times of his Prophesying so abominable that he prayeth against them Chap. 2. 9. as Elias had done against the ten Tribes 1 King 19. 14. and threatneth sore destruction and judgments both upon men and women Thus was it with the people in manners though it were so prosperous with Uzziah for Victories the Lord intended to try Judah with kindnesses still as he had done Israel in the days of Jeroboam the second He fore-saw the issue he would leave them without excuse and had something yet to do for the glorifying of his Name and his Ordinances before he would deliver his people into his enemies hand 2 CHRON. XXVI from vers 9. to vers 16. World 3238 Uzziah 38 UZZIAH keepeth up Division 209 Zechariah 1 an Army of 307500. Builds Towers and Forts and maketh warlike Engines and groweth exceeding strong and feared of the Kings round about him ESAY V. Shallum 1 World 3239 Uzz. 39 Shallum 40 ALthough the Prophet Esay Menahem 1 Division 210 Uzz. 41 prophesied almost thirty Menahem 2 Division 211 Uzz. 42 years in the time of Uzziah Menahem 3 Division 212 Uzz. 43 yet have we no more but the Menahem 4 Division 213 Uzz. 44 five first Chapters left of all his Menahem 5 Division 214 Uzz. 45 Prophesies in so long a space Menahem 6 Division 215 Uzz. 46 and of those we have not the Menahem 7 Division 216 Uzz. 47 certain years neither but must Menahem 8 Division 217 take them up at conjecture Menahem 9 Division 218 In this fifth Chapter he singeth a Song for Christ his beloved concerning his beloveds Vineyard as they used to â—â—ng at their Vintages but it is a dolefull ditty concerning the unfruitfulness and wilde Grapes World 3248 Uzz. 48 of the Vineyard of Israel after Menahem 10 Division 219 so much husbandry Some of those sour Grapes he reckons up under several woes after his Song From this place Christ useth the parable of the Vineyard and the Jews from hence do soon understand it Matth. 21. 34 45. 2 KING XV. ver 5. to ver 23. World 3238 Uzziah 38 ZECHARIAH the son Division 209 Zechariah 1 of Jeroboam reigneth six months and is slain and here endeth Jehues house and here Hosea's Prophesie taketh place Hosea 1. 4 5. Shallum 1 SHALLUM reigneth a moneth having slain Zechariah Uzz. 39 World 3239 Uzz. 40 MENAHEM slayeth him Menahem 1 Division 210 Uzz. 41 Menahem 2 and reigneth ten years he rippeth Division 211 Uzz. 42 Menahem 3 up the woman with child Division 212 Uzz. 43 Menahem 4 of Tiphsah Ammon like Amos Division 213 Uzz. 44 Menahem 5 1. 13. Menahem doth evil in Division 214 Uzz. 45 Menahem 6 the sight of the Lord following Division 215 Uzz. 46 Menahem 7 Jeroboams Idolatry He is Division 216 Uzz. 47 Menahem
8 invaded by Pull King of Assyria Division 217 Menahem 9 now is Syria fading and Assyria Division 218 rising but he hireth Pull with 1000 Talents of silver to be on his side and to strengthen him in his Kingdom This sum he raiseth again by Tak of 60000 rich men at fifty shekels a man World 3248 Uzz. 48 Menahem 10 Menahem dieth Ephraim by Division 219 him is brought in a reliance and resting upon Assyria which they continue into their own undoing Hosea taxeth them for this again and again Hos. 5. 13. 7. 11. 8. 9. and foretelleth that therefore the Assyrian shall be their King Hos. 11. 5. and that they shall eat unclean things in the Land of Assyria Hos. 9. 3. UZZIAHS victories and Division 220 World 3249 Uzz. 49 magnificence in time Pekahiah 1 Division 221 World 3250 Uzz. 50 make him proud Pekahiah 2 Division 222 Uzz. 51 Pekah 1 Division 223 2 KINGS XV. Vers. 23 24 25 26 27. THIS year Israels Throne Division 220 World 3249 Uzz. 49 Pekahiah 1 is empty Pekahiah reigneth Division 221 World 3250 Uzz. 50 Pekahiah 2 two years and is slain by Division 222 Pekah the son of Remaliah Uzz. 51 Pekah 1 Pekah the Son of Remaliah Division 223 reigneth twenty years 2 CHRON. XXVI from vers 16. to the end of the Chapter And 2 KING XV. vers 5 6 7. World 3252 Uzz. 52 UZZIAH is this year struck with Leprosie and this year dieth The Holy Ghost hath given a close intimation that Uzziah's Leprosie befell him in the last year of his reign and not before 2 King 15. 50. where it is said that Hosea slew Pekah in the twentieth year of Jotham upon which arise these two scruples 1. How Jothams twentieth year can be spoken of when he reigned but sixteen 2 King 15. 33. this shall be looked after when we come thither And 2. how can Pekahs twentieth year be called the twentieth of Jotham when Pekah began to raign a year before him and so Pekahs twentieth is but Jothams nineteenth Answ. Why here is the hint that the Holy Ghost giveth of the time of Uzziahs being struck Leprous namely in the last year of his raign for here by this very expression is shewed that Jotham reigned in the last year of his fathers life and the Text plainly expresseth the occasion because the Lord smote the King with Leprosie so that he was a Leper unto the day of his death and Jotham the Kings son was over the House judging the people of the Land ESAY VI. IN the year that King Uzziah died Esay seeth the glory of Christ in the Temple John 12. 41. filling the Temple with smoak in sign of the burning of it and Angels called Seraphim that is Burning ones because of the firing of the Temple which was there foretold do proclaim the Trinity to be Holy Holy Holy yet had the Jews so unholily behaved themselves toward it that they are deemed to blindness and obduration till they be utterly destroyed 2 CHRON. XXVII all 2 KING XV. from ver 32. to the end World 3253 Iotham 1 Pekah 2 Division 224 JOTHAM reigneth and Iotham 2 Pekah 3 Division 225 doth uprightly and prospereth Iotham 3 Pekah 4 Division 226 buildeth the Gate between Iotham 4 Pekah 5 Division 227 the Kings house and the Iotham 5 Pekah 6 Division 228 Temple and buildeth many Iotham 6 Pekah 7 Division 229 forts in the Country subdueth Iotham 7 Pekah 8 Division 230 Ammon as his father had done Iotham 8 Pekah 9 Division 231 bringeth them under a great Iotham 9 Pekah 10 Division 232 Tribute and executeth some Iotham 10 Pekah 11 Division 233 more of Amos his Prophesie Iotham 11 Pekah 12 Division 234 against them He was Son to Iotham 12 Pekah 13 Division 235 JERUSASH the daughter Iotham 13 Pekah 14 Division 236 of Zadok the High Priest This Iotham 14 Pekah 15 Division 237 it may be made Uzziah the Iotham 15 Pekah 16 Division 238 more forward to assail the Priests Office because he had married the High Priests daughter but Jotham though so much of the Priests Seed yet did not attempt the like 2 KING XV. vers 28. 29. 1 CHRON. V. all World 3253 Iotham 1 Pekah 2 Division 224 PEKAH seemeth to have Iotham 2 Pekah 3 Division 225 been a Gileadite and Pekahiah Iotham 3 Pekah 4 Division 226 a Gadite Pekah with fifty Iotham 4 Pekah 5 Division 227 Gileadites slayeth him in the Iotham 5 Pekah 6 Division 228 Palace at Samaria and reigneth Iotham 6 Pekah 7 Division 229 wickedly after him He proveth Iotham 7 Pekah 8 Division 230 a very sore scourge to Judah Iotham 8 Pekah 9 Division 231 before he dieth In these Iotham 9 Pekah 10 Division 232 times even in the days of Jotham Iotham 10 Pekah 11 Division 233 there was an account taken Iotham 11 Pekah 12 Division 234 of the families of Reuben Iotham 12 Pekah 13 Division 235 Gad and half Manasseh the Iotham 13 Pekah 14 Division 236 inhabitants beyond Jordan Iotham 14 Pekah 15 Division 237 1 Chron. 5. 17. and so had Iotham 15 Pekah 16 Division 238 there been in the days of Jeroboam the second then at their restoring by Jeroboam out of the hands of Hamath and Syria and now at their arming against the Assyrian under whose hand they fall in the time of Pekah and are never again restored to Israel MICAH I. II. IN the reign of Jotham beginneth Micah to Prophesie and mourneth sadly for the ten Tribes Captivity which now drew near and for the misery of Jerusalem which was not far off He was a Prophet in the days of Jotham Ahaz and Hezechiah and it is more proper to conceive that the subject and matter of his whole Book was the tenor of his prophesying in every one of their times then it is easie to tell what Chapters of his Book were delivered in every one of those Kings time The conclusion of the third Chapter is allotted to the times of Hezekiah Jer. 26. 18. and there may the whole Chapter be laid and all the rest that follow it and there shall we take them in Micah was a Prophet of Mareshah in the Tribe of Judah bordering upon the Philistims Josh. 15. 44. 2 Chron. 14. 19. He beginneth his Prophesie with the very same words that Michaiah had concluded his to Ahab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 King 22. 28. in a strange Syntax and construction Hearken ye people all of them his Prophesie is in some places very obscure and very terrible and in some very plain and comfortable He speaketh glorious things of Christ and his Kingdom and nameth the Town where he should be born and useth the very words of Esay who was now alive to express the conflux to the Kingdom of Christ under the Gospel and his power in it and the peace that should be under it 2 KING XVI ver 1 2 3 4. 2 CHRON. XXVIII ver 1 2 3 4. World 3268 Iotham 16 Ahaz 1 Pekah
captive saith in his seventh year they were three thousand and twenty three Jews and in his eighteenth three thousand and thirty two from Jerusalem in which if the Reader ruminate well upon the matter he will find a great deal of difficulty For 1. He never mentioneth in this reckoning either the Captivity in the fourth of Jehoiakim which was the first Captivity not the Captivity of Jechoniah in which the most people were carried away And. 2. There is no mention else-where of Nebuchad-nezzars carrying away into captivity from Jerusalem either in his seventh year or in his eighteenth but of his doing so in his eighth there is mention 2 King 24. 12. and in his nineteenth Jer. 25. 12. Now for answer 1. To the First The Prophet doth not here speak simply of the persons that were captived but of persons that were captived and put to death for that was the very tenour of his speech in the verse immediately before And for the confirming of this it is observable that in these two verses he mentioneth only the Captives that were caused by an open Rebellion Jehoiakims and Zedekiahs and upon those followed slaughter upon cold blood but in the fourth of Jehoiakim when Daniel and his fellows were captived and when Jechoniah was captived with 18000 more there was no such slaughter because there was no such rebellion And by this very consideration we may learn what was the end of Jehoiakim against whom Jeremy threatned the burial of an Ass although the Scripture hath not clearly expressed it else-where To the second we have given some piece of an answer before more fully now Nebuchad-nezzars first year was properly in Jehoiakims third for then is the first news you hear of him Dan. 1. 1. but withal his first year is counted with Jehoiakims fourth in which the seventy years Captivity began for then he had captived Jerusalem and according to these two reckonings the Scripture reckons sometime by the first as Nebuchad-nezzars first year properly some-time by the second as being his first year over Israel and of the seventy of Captivity after which matter the Scripture looketh with special notice Now Jehoiakims Captivity was in Nebuchad-nezzars eighth according to the first date but it is said to be in his seventh according to the second and the rather because Jechoniah was captived the same year and so the one is distinguished from the other And so Zedeliahs captivity was in Nebuchadnezzars nineteenth according to the first date and propriety but said here to be in the eighteenth according to the second and the rather to include in the number of the captived and slain those whom Nebuchad-nezzar caught of the Jews when he marched away from the siege of Jerusalem the year before when the King of Egypt raised it for then it is not imaginable but he caught some and how he would deal with them they being in open rebellion we may well suppose JEREMY XL. from vers 7. to the end And XLI all 2 KING XXV vers 22 23 24 25. THE dispersed Captains and Companies that had fled for their safety up and down for fear of the Chaldean Army do ralley and come together to Gedaliah the Governour for protection Jeremy amongst these reckoneth Jonathan and the Sons of Ephai the Netophathite which the Book of Kings omitteth either for that these were slain with Gedaliah by Ismael as Jer. 41. 3. and never came to Egypt whither the Book of Kings and Jeremy bringeth those rallied Captives and People after Gedaliahs death Or that Jonathan came as an inferiour to Johanan his brother and that these sons of Ephai the Netophathite came under the colours of Seraiah the Netophathite and so the Book of Kings reckons only the Colonels or chief Commanders In the seventh Month Ismael some younger brother of the Royal blood and ten Nobles of the Court envying Gedaliahs promotion do traiterously murder him This was a very solemn month in it self for the Feast of Trumpets expiation and Tabernacles that should have been in it and in this month of old had Salomon kept the dedication of the Temple and sent the people home with joyful hearts afterwards but how is the matter altered now Ismael also killeth seventy Samaritan Proselites such as were coming to the Feast of Tabernacles and casteth them into a trench that Asa had made to be a stop betwixt the Samaritans and himself then made to keep off Samaritans enemies to their Religion now filled with Samaritans friends to it The little dealing that the Jews had with the Samaritans and the flying about of the Chaldean Troopers had made such interception of intelligence that these poor men knew not of the firing of the Temple though it were in the fifth month till they be upon the way towards it and then understanding of it they rent their clothes c. JEREMY XLII XLIII And 2 KING XXV vers 26. THE Captains and people upon the death of Gedaliah go into Egypt though they had promised to be ruled by the voice of the Lord and though the Lord had flatly forbidden them to go thither and so had done of old that they should never return to Egypt Poor Jeremy is carried along with them and when he comes there he prophesieth both against Egypt and them World 3421 Captivity 20 The Jews are now setled in Egypt and in time they fall to a common and open Idolatry for which Jeremy reproveth them and threatneth them very sore In vers 9. he seemeth to give a close touch upon the Idolatry of Salomons wives the first original of Idolatry to the Kings of Judah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wickednesses of the Kings of Judah and the wickednesses of his wives which indeed may be well construed of every one of their wives But the quaintness of the phrase seemeth to hint some such a particular thing and it may the rather be so understood because he is here taxing the present Idolatry of the Jews wives in Egypt and ripping up the sore to the very head which indeed was first those wives of Solomon Observe in vers 25. how the Hebrew Syntax seemeth to twit these mens base uxoriousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 using the Verb in the feminine Gender though he speak to the men Now in the 45 Chap. of this Book of Jeremy vers 1. It is said that Baruch had written these words in a Book at the mouth of Jeremy in the fourth year of Jehoiakim what these very last words mentioned before But this is very unlikely for these last speeches appear to be uttered upon emergency the meaning of it therefore is that Jeremy in the fourth of Jehoiakim had uttered Prophesies to this purpose that Jerusalem should be destroyed and the Land left desolate and the people captived and mischief and misery following them which is cleered to be accomplished in the story of these Chapters and therefore this 45 Chapter is laid here though the story
from the time of Onias who built there a great Temple and an Altar and all the men of Egypt went thither c. And there was a great Congregation there double to the number of those that came out of Egypt Fol. 14. Of this Temple built by Onias in Egypt Josephus maketh mention Antiq. lib. 13. cap. 6. And the Talmud in Menachoth cap. 13. So that Christ being sent into Egypt was sent among his own Nation who had filled that Country The time that he was in Egypt was not above three or four months so soon the Lord smote Herod for his butchery of the Innocent Children and murtherous intent against the Lord of Life Joseph and Mary being called out of Egypt after Herods death intend for Judaea again thinking to go to Bethlehem but the fear of Archelaus and the warning of an Angel directs them into Galilee They knew not but that Christ was to be educated in Bethlehem as he was to be born there therefore they kept him there till he was two years old and durst not take him thence till fear and the warrant of an Angel dismisseth them into Egypt And when they come again from thence they can think of no other place but Bethlehem again till the like fear and warrant send them into Galilee There is none of the Evangelists that recordeth any thing concerning Christ CHRIST III from the time of his return out of Egypt till he come to be twelve years CHRIST IV old which was for the space of these years For the better understanding CHRIST V of which times let us take up some few passages in Josephus CHRIST VI Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 10. Herod saith he reigned 34 years from the time that CHRIST VII Antigonus was taken away and 37 years from the time that he was first declared CHRIST VIII King by the Romans CHRIST IX And again in the same Book cap. 15. In the tenth year of the reign of Archelaus CHRIST X the People not enduring his cruelty and tyranny they accused Archelaus to CHRIST XI Caesar and he banished him to Vienna And a little after Cyrenius was sent by Caesar to tax Syria and to confiscate Archelaus his Goods And lib. 18. cap. 1. Coponius was also sent with Cyrenius to be Governour of Judea And ibid. cap. 5. Coponius returning to Rome Marcus Ambibuchus becometh his Successor in that Government And after him succeeded Annius Rufus in whose time died Caesar Augustus the second Emperor of the Romans Now when Augustus died Christ was fourteen years old as appeareth from this that he was 29 years old compleat and beginning to be thirty in the fifteenth year of Tiberius the Emperor next succeeding Luke 3. 1 2. Reckon then these times that Josephus hath mentioned between the death of Herod and the death of Augustus namely the ten years of Archelaus and after them the Government of Coponius and after him Ambibuchus and after him Rufus and it will necessarily follow that when Herod slew Bethlehem Children Christ being then two years old it was the very last year of his Reign SECTION VIII LUKE Chap. II. from Ver. 40. to the end of the Chapter World 3939 Rome 765 Augustus 42 CHRIST XII Archelaus 10 CHRIST at twelve years old sheweth his Wisdom among the Doctors At the same Age had Solomon shewed his Wisdom in deciding the Controversie between the two Harlots Ignat. Martyr in Epist. ad Magnos IT is very easie to see the subsequence of this Section to that preceeding since there is nothing recorded by any of the Evangelists concerning Christ from his infancy till he began to be thirty years old but only this Story of his shewing his Wisdom at twelve years old among the Doctors of some of the three Sanhedrins that sate at the Temple for there sate one of 23 Judges in the East Gate of the Mountain of the House called the Gate Shushan Another of 23 in the Gate of Nicanor or the East Gate of the Court of Israel And the great Sanhedrin of 71 Judges that sate in the Room Gazith not far from the Altar Though Herod had slain the Sanhedrin as is related by Josephus and divers others yet was not that Court nor the judiciary thereof utterly extinguisht but revived again and continued till many years after the destruction of the City His Story about this matter is briefly thus given by the Babylon Talmud in Bava Bathra fol. 3. facie 2. Herod was a servant of the Asmonean Family he set his Eyes upon a Girl of it One day the man heard a voice from Heaven Bath Kol which said Any servant that rebelleth this year shall prosper He riseth up and slayeth all his Masters but left that Girl c. And whereas it is said Thou shalt set a King over thee from among thy brethren which as the gloss there tells us their Rabbies understood of the chiefest of thy brethren he rose up and slew all the great ones only he left Baba ben Bota to take counsel of him The gloss upon this again tells us That he slew not utterly all the great ones for he left Hillel and the Sons of Betirah remaining and Josephus relateth also that he spared Shammai to which Abraham Zaccuth addeth that Menahem and 80 gallant Men of the chief of the Nation were gone over to his service and to attend upon him So that these of themselves and by ordination of others did soon repair that breach that his Sword had made in the Sanhedrin he not resisting its erection again when he had now taken away the Men of his displeasure Hillel was President and sat so forty years and died by the Jews computation applied to the Christian account much about this twelfth year of Christ. For they say that he lived an hundred and twenty years the last forty of which he spent in the Presidency of the Sanhedrin entring upon that dignity an hundred years before the destruction of the City Menahem was at first Vicepresident with him but upon his going away to Herods service Shammai came in his room and now two as eminent and learned men sat in those two Chairs as ever had done since the first birth of traditions Hillel himself was so deserving a man that whereas in the vacancy of the Presidentship by the death of Shemaiah and Abtalion R. Judah and R. Jeshua the Sons of Betirah might have taken the Chairs they preferred Hillel as the worthier person Talm. Jerus in Pessachin fol. 33. col 1. He bred many eminent Scholars to the number of fourscore the most renowned of which by name were Jonathan ben Uzziel the Chaldee Paraphrast and Rabban Jocanan ben Zaccai both probably alive at this year of Christ and a good while after The latter was undoubtedly so for he lived to see the destruction of the City and Temple and sat President in the Sanhedrin at Jabneh afterwards And till that time also lived the Sons of Betirah mentioned before Shammai was little inferior to Hillel
about to judge in such a matter The Woman was espoused and not yet married as see Deut. 22. 24. for their Judicials punished him that lay with an espoused maid with stoning Sanhedr per. 7. halac 4. but him that lay with a married wife with strangling Ibid. per 11. halac 1. Christs words at ver 25. I am even the same that I said to you from the beginning refer to his open and manifest asserting himself for the Messiah a year and a half ago before the Sanhedrin Joh. 5. Their words to him ver 57. Thou art not yet fifty years old mean Thou art not yet come within the compass of old age no not to the first skirts of it for fifty years was the beginning of superannuation to the Levites at the Temple Numb 4. and the Jews had a common opinion that whosoever died before fifty or at least fifty two died untimely and as it were by cutting off SECTION LX. LUKE Chap. X. from Ver. 17. to the end of the Chapter And Chap. XI and XII and XIII to Ver. 23. THe observing of the beginning and end of this Section will cleer the subsequence of this to the preceding and the order of all the stories comprehended in it It begins with the seventy Disciples returning from the imployment upon which their Master had sent them Now that they returned to him at Jerusalem whither he was gone to the Feast of Tabernacles appears by this that after they are come up to him he is in Bethany in the house of Mary and Martha Luke 10. 38 39. The Section ends with this relation And he went through the Cities and Villages teaching and journeying towards Jerusalem Luke 13. 22. So that in Chap. 10. 17. he is at Jerusalem having come thither to the Feast of Tabernacles And in Chap. 13. 22. He hath been abroad and is now travelling up to Jerusalem again to the Feast of Dedication Therefore this whole Section is the story of his actions from the one Feast to the other Chap. X. Upon the Disciples relating that the Devils were subject to them in his Name he answers I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning Which referreth partly to his death shortly to be by which Satan was overthrown and partly if Heaven mean the Church of the Jews and the state of Religion there as it means not seldome to the power of the Gospel this very year and forward among them casting him out With these words of Christ and the consideration of the time they refer to we may fitly compare several places which give and receive light mutually with it As Matth. 12. 45. where Satan cast out of this nation returns again 1 Cor. 6. 3. Rev. 12. 9. Rev. 20. 1 2. c. Unto a Lawyer Christ defineth who is a Neighbour by the Parable of the wounded man and the good Samaritan vastly differing from the Doctrine of the Pharisees in that case Take these two or three assertions of their own Schools for some illustration of this Parable 1. They accounted none under the term Brother but an Israelite by blood and none under the term Neighbour but those that were come into their Religion Aruch in voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By using the word Neighbour are excluded all the Heathen Maym. in Retseah per. 2. An Israelite that slayeth a stranger sojourning among them is not to be put to death by the Sanhedrin for it because it is said If a man come presumptuously upon his Neighbour By which it is apparent they accounted not such a one a Neighbour 2. They have this bloody and desperate tenet Hereticks that is Israelites that follow Idolatry or such as commit provoking transgressions as to eat a carcass or to wear linseye woolsey for provocation this is an Heretick And Epicurians which are such Israelites as deny the Law and Prophets it is commanded that a man kill them if he have power i◠his hand to kill them and he may boldly kill them with the sword but if he cannot he shall subtilly come about them till he can compass their death As if he see one of them fallen into a well and there was a ladder in the well before let him take it up and say I must needs use it to fetch my Son from the top of the House and then I will bring it thee again But Heathens betwixt whom and us there is no war as also the feeders of small Cattle in Israel and such like we may not compass their death but it is forbidden to deliver them if they be in danger of death Observe this As if one see one of them fall into the Sea he shall not fetch him up for it is said Thou shalt not stand up against the blood of thy Neighbour But such a one is not thy Neighbour 3. Of all other people in the World they abhorred Samaritans as appeareth by John 4. 9. 8. 43. and by exceeding many expressions to that purpose in their own writings and therefore our Savious urging for cleer and free charity in this Parable exemplifieth in a Samaritan the unlikeliest man in the world to do any charitable office for a Jew and he a Neighbour though so remote in blood religion and converse Christ is at Bethany ver 30. in the house of Mary and Martha Martha was an usual Womans name in the Nation Joshua the Son of Gamla married Martha the Daughter of Baithus Juchas fol. 57. Abba the Son of Martha Id. fol. 72. and Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isaac bar Shemuel bar Martha Jerus in Shab fol. 3. col 4. c. And now let the Reader cast his eye back from hence and calculate when or how it was that Christ came so acquainted with this family and he will find no time or occasion so likely as when the Woman-sinner washed his feet Luke 7. which we proved there was Mary the sister of Lazarus who was also called Magdalen Chap. XI ver 2. The Lords prayer rehearsed Christ had taught it almost a year and a half ago in his Sermon in the Mount and now being desired to teach them to pray he gives the same again They that deny this for a form of prayer to be used either know not or considered not what kind of prayers the eminent men among the Jews taught them John had taught his to pray after the same manner and use of the Nation and Christ being desired to teach the Disciples as John had taught his rehearseth this form which he had given before They that again deny this Prayer is to be used by any but real Saints because as they say none but such can call God Our Father either know not or consider not how usual this compellation was among the Nation in their devotions and Christ speaketh constantly according to the common and most usual language of the Country At ver 14. and forward there is a story of casting out a Devil so like that in Sect. 35. the Jews
Christ from beyond Jordan into Judea again He staies two days after he had received the message in the same place where the messenger found him and in the story of this Section he is set forward And being now upon his last journey to Jerusalem he foretelleth to his Disciples what should become of him there They followed him with fear and amazement before foreseeing that he went upon his own danger and yet when he had spoken the thing out to them at the full they understood him not SECTION LXVIII MATTH Chap. XX. from Ver. 20. to Ver. 29. MARK Chap. X. from Ver. 35. to Ver. 46. The request of Zebedees sons They are told of their Martyrdom THe order is plain of it self and yet the connexion is somewhat strange for in the last words before Christ had foretold of his death yet the Sons of Zebedee here desire to sit on his right hand and left in his Kingdom Galatius resolves it thus Discipuli in errore aliquando fuerunt credentes Christum illico post resurrectionem terreni regni sceptro potiturum unde quidam eorum super caeteros primatum ambientes c. The Disciples sometimes were mistaken conceiving that Christ presently after his resurrection should obtain the scepter of an earthly Kingdom whereupon some of them ambitious of priority above the rest desired to sit on his right hand and left c. lib. 4. cap. 1. It is true indeed that the Jewish Nation and the Disciples with them erred in judging about Messias his Kingdom Act. 1. but they erred as far also about Messias his Resurrection till experience had informed them better Therefore it cannot well be imagined that the Wife and Sons of Zebedee thought of Christs Resurrection in this their request but conceived of his temporal Kingdom according to the notions of the rest of the Nation about it What therefore our Saviour had spoken instantly before of his being scourged crucified killed and Rising again they understood in some figurative sense or other but the Evangelists plainly tell us they understood it not in the sense that he spake it It may be his naming these two The sons of thunder gave them some blind incouragement to such a request Christ foretels his own death and their suffering Martyrdom under the title of Baptism in which sense the Apostle also useth the word 1 Cor. 15. 29. The Jewish baptizings or dippings in their purifications was a very sharp piece of Religion when in frost and snow and wind and weather they must over head and ears in cold water from which the phrase was used to signifie death and the bitterest sufferings The Jerusalem Gemarists do tell us that the Women of Galilee grew barren by reason of the cold in their purifyings R. Aha in the name of Tanchum bar R. Chaia saith In the days of R. Joshua ben Levi they sought to abolish this dipping because of the women of Galilee which were made barren by reason of the cold R. Joshua ben Levi saith Do ye seek to abolish a thing that fenceth Israel from transgression c. Beracoth fol. 6. col 3. SECTION LXIX LUKE Chap. XVIII Ver. 35. to the end MATTH Chap. XX. from Ver. 29. to the end MARK Chap. X. from Ver. 46. to the end Blind healed CHRIST in his journey from beyond Jordan to Bethany for the raising of Lazarus passeth through Jericho and he healeth one blind man as he entreth into Jericho of which Luke speaketh and another as he goeth out of which the other two Matthew indeed speaketh of two healed as he came out of Jericho comprehending it may be the story of him that was healed on the other side of the Town and this together in one story for briefness sake Or if there were two healed on this side of the Town Mark only mentions one because he rather aimeth at shewing of the manner or kind of the miracle then at the number as we have observed the like before at Sect. 39. SECTION LXX LUKE Chap. XIX from the beginning to Ver. 29. Zaccheus a Publican converted THe order lies plain in ver 1. Christ was passed through Jericho before he met with Zaccheus c. Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai hath made the name Zaccai or Zaccheus renowned in Jewish writings his Father Zaccai might very well be now alive and for any difference of the times might well enough be the Zaccheus before us but that some other circumstances do contradict it Whosoever this man was it is observable that though his name Zaccheus speak him a Jew yet Christ reputes him not a Child of Abraham till he believe ver 19. Ver. 11. They thought that the Kingdom of Heaven should immediately appear Observe this this they had learned from Dan. 9. where the time is so punctually determined that they that looked for the consolation of Israel could not but observe it and they that observed could not but see it now accomplished SECTION LXXI JOHN Chap. XI from Ver. 17. to the end of the Chapter Lazarus raised Caiaphas Prophecieth NOw is Christ come up to Bethany Whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by Talm. Bab. Pasachin fol. 53. facie 1. where they speak of the figs of Bethhene and the dates of Tubni be the same with this Bethany we shall not dispute here Both a Town and some space of ground about it was called by this name Bethany As he had staied in the place where he was when he heard of Lazarus sickness purposely that he might die before he came to him that God might be the more glorified by his raising ver 15. so did he make sure to stay long enough after he was dead before he came that the glory might be the more He had been four days dead ver 39. Compare with this these sayings of the Jews Maym. in Gerushin per. ult If one look upon a dead man within three days after his death he may know him but after three days his visage is changed Jerus in Moed Katon fol. 82. col 2. Three days the Soul flies about the body as if thinking to return to it but after it sees the visage of the countenance changed it leaves it and gets it gone Upon the miracle wrought the Jews seek to kill Jesus and Lazarus both whereupon Jesus goeth to a City called Ephraim ver 54. Talm. Bab. in Menachoth fol. 85. fac 1. Juchne and Mamre Jannes and Jambres said to Moses Dost thou bring straw to Ephraim Gloss. Ibi. Juchne and Mamre were the chief Sorcerers of Egypt they when Moses began to do miracles thought he had done them by magick they said Dost thou bring straw to Ephraim Ephraim was a place that exceedingly aboundeth with corn and darest thou bring Corn thither meaning Dost thou bring Sorceries into Egypt that abounds so with Sorceries Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephraim was a City in the Land of Israel where there was abundance of Corn. Where is the chiefest provision for Offerings The chiefest
to shew that they had the man sure whom he so much desired to be secured and to take his grave advice what further to do with him He was brought bound to him and so bound he sends him to Caiaphas His Arraignment before the Sanhedrin At Caiaphas his house was the Sanhedrin now assembled Whether we take this for his lodgings in the Temple or his house in the City it is not much material Peter follows thither and by another Disciple that was acquainted there he is helped into the Hall and sits with the Servants by the fire The Chief-Priest and Elders were busie to find out Witnesses that might accuse him and though many false Witnesses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Talmudick language come in yet all will not do for it was not possible to touch him of any offence He all this while standing silent Isa. 37. 7. Caiaphas adjures him to tell whether he were the Christ or no he confesseth it and withal tells them that the time should come that they should find the truth of this by experience when he should shew his power and vengeance in his judgment against them and their City coming in clouds c. This confession and words they account blasphemy and that they might have the surer impression of so construing them Caiaphas rent his garments and by that action would as it were force them to agree with him that it was so when his garments had paid so dear for the confirming of it Their custom and reason of renting their clothes upon the hearing of blasphemy is handled in Jerus in Sanhedr fol. 25. col 1. 2. and in Maym. in Avrdah Zarah per. 2. where those two Canons being observed Every one that hears Gods Name blasphemed is bound to rent his garments And the Judges hearing blasphemy must stand upon their feet and must rent their clothes and may not sew them up again It will cause us to observe something in it that the Highpriest only rent his clothes and not the rest of the Bench with him Which though they did not yet they vote with him that it was blasphemy and therefore he was guilty of death which had it been executed must have been by stoning Sanhedr per. 7. halac 4. And now they begin to spit on him to buâ—â—et him and abuse him Peters denial Here Peter first denies him for being challenged as he sate by the fire by the damsel porter for one of his company he denies it and shrinks away into the porch and then the first Cock crew Luke saith that the maid came to him as he sate by the fire Matthew and Mark that he was now beneath in the Palace and without in the Palace meaning beneath or without from that place or room where the Bench sate Betwixt this first denial and the second there was but a little while Luke 22. 55. In the space between the Highpriest is questioning Jesus of his Disciples and Doctrine and because he answers Ask them that have heard me c. an officious Officer smites him as if he had not answered with reverence enough Peter this while was in the porch where he was when the Cock crew after his first denial and there another maid sees him and brings him to the company that stood by the fire and challenges him for one of his Disciples and now he denies with an oath And about an hour after Luke 22. 59. which space of time the Bench took up in examining Christ about his Disciples and Doctrine a kinsman of Malchus challengeth him and tells the company he saw him with Jesus in the Garden and he pleading the contrary is discovered to all the company to be a Galilean by his Dialect but he denies with execrations and presently the second Cock crew And Jesus looking back upon him he remembers what he had done and goes out and weeps bitterly And so presently after the second Cock the Bench riseth and leaveth Jesus in the hands of their Officers by whom he is taunted stricken and shamefully used His being delivered up to the Roman power In the morning the Sanhedrin met formally in their own Council chamber and again question Jesus brought there before them and they resolved to put him to death Whether he were the Messias or no he giveth the same answer as before that though they would not believe him if he told them he was which was the truth yet the time was coming when they should find it true They question him again Art thou the Son of God which he not denying they judge him a blasphemer again and deserving to die and so deliver him up to the secular power It is observable in both these questionings of him upon this point both in the night and now in the morning how convertible terms the Son of God and the Son of man are made In the night they question him Art thou the Son of God He answers Ye shall see the Son of man c. Mat. 26. 63 64. And now in the morning again he saith Ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and they reply Art thou then the Son of God Luke 22. 69 70. Iudas his Recantation and Ruine Judas unquiet in mind for what he had done in betraying attends the trials and waits the issue and when he now saw that he was condemned by the Bench to be delivered up to the Heathen power he steps in and offers his money again and confesseth he had betrayed innocent blood and this probably as Christ stood by Having received a surly answer again from them he flings down his money in the Temple where they sat Gazith or Hhanoth it is not seasonable to question here and departing is snatched by the devil who was bodily in him into the air and there strangled and flung down headlong to the earth and all his bowels burst out With the thirty pieces of silver his wages of iniquity the Priests consult to buy the Potters field And here a quotation of Matthew hath troubled Expositors so far that divers have denied the purity of the Text. His words are these Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the Prophet And they took the thirty pieces of silver c. Matth. 27. 9. Whereas those words are not to be found in Jeremy at all but in Zechary they are found Zech. 11. 13. Now Matthew speaks according to an ordinary manner of speaking used among the Jews and by them would easily and without cavil be understood though he cited a text of Zechary under the name of Jeremy For the illustration of which matter we must first produce a record of their own The Babylon Talmud in Bava Bathra fol. 14. facie 2. is discoursing concerning the order in which the Books of the Old Testament were ordered and ranked of old And first they shew that there was this general division of it into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law the Prophets and the Hagiographa By
their emissaries every where abroad that to the utmost in them cried down the Gospel preached against it went about to confute it and blasphemed it and Christ that gave it Of this there is testimony abundant in the New Testament and in the Jews own Writings And 3. they were exceeding many of them skilled in Magick and by that did many strange things by such false miracles seeking to outface and vilifie the Divine miracles done by Christ and his Apostles and striving to confirm their own doctrines which opposed the Gospel by backing them with such strange and wondrous actings Juchasin speaks of Abba Chelchia and Chamin and Chamina Ben Dusa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men skilled in miracles fol. 20. And the Jerus Talmud speaks of their inchantings and magical tricks in Shabb. fol. 8. col 2. 3. Sanhedr fol. 25. col 4. nay even of their charming in the name of Jos◠Shabb. fol. 14. col 4. Paul miraculously strikes Elymas blind and inlightens Sergius Paulus with the light of the Gospel This was at Paphos where old superstition dreamed of the blind God Cupid Doting Elymas grope for thy fellow The first miracle wrought among the Gentiles is striking a perverse Jew blind which thing may very well become an Allegory From Paphos they go to Perga in Pamphilia and there John departs from them and returns to Jerusalem but what was the occasion is hard to conjecture Whether it were that he heard of Peters trouble and danger that he had been in at Jerusalem and desired to see him for that he had some special interest and familiarity with Peter may be collected from 1 Pet. 5. 14. and in that Peter was so well acquainted at his mothers house Act. 12. 12 c. Or whether in regard of this his relation to Peter the Minister of the Circumcision he made it nice to go among the Gentiles into the thickest of which he saw they were coming every day more then other For at Paphos where they had last been was a Temple of Venus and at Perga where they now are was a Temple of Diana Strab. lib. 14. Pomp. Mela. lib. 1. cap. 14. Or whatsoever the matter was his departure was so unwarrantable that it made a breach betwixt him and Paul for the present nay it occasioned a breach betwixt Paul and Barnabas afterward And so we leave him in his journy to Jerusalem whither when he came he staied there till Paul and Barnabas came thither again CHRIST XLIV CLAUDIUS IV ACTS CHAP. XII from Ver. 20. to Ver. 24. HERODS death was in the beginning of this year the fourth of Claudius or near unto it according as Josephus helpeth us to compute who testifieth that the third year of his reign was compleated a little before his death Vid. Antiq. lib. 19. cap. 7. He left behind him a son of seventeen years old in regard of whose minority and thereby unfitness to reign Claudius sent Cuspius Fadus to Govern his Kingdom His daughters were Berenice sixteen years old married to Herod King of Chalcis her fathers brother And Mariam ten years old and Drusilla six who afterward married Felix CHRIST XLV CHRIST XLVI CHRIST XLVII CHRIST XLVIII CHRIST XLIX CLAUDIUS V CLAUDIUS VI CLAUDIUS VII CLAUDIUS VIII CLAUDIUS IX ACTS CHAP. XIII from Ver. 14. to the end of the Chapter And CHAP. XIV AT the fifteenth Chapter we have some fasmess of the time viz. in what year the Council at Jerusalem as it is commonly called did occur which certainty we have not of the times of the occurrences henceforward thitherto so that since we cannot determinately point any passage to its proper year we must cast them in gross under this gross sum of years and distribute them to their proper seasons by the best conjecture we can From Perga in Pamphilia Paul and Barnabas come to Antioch in Pisidia and on the Sabbath day going into the Synagogue are invited by the Rulers of the Synagogue after the reading of the Law and Prophets to speak a word of exhortation to the people But how could the Rulers know that they were men fit to teach It may be answered By former converse with them in the City and it is very like that the Rulers themselves had drunk in some affection to the Gospel by converse with them which made them so ready to urge them to preach For it is not imaginable that this was the first time that they had seen them not that they came to Town that very day but that they had had some converse before Paul preacheth and the Synagogue broke up and the Jews gone out the Gentiles desired that the same words might be preached to them in the week between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely on the second and fifth days of the week following which were Synagogue days on which they met in the Synagogues as on the Sabbath day And which days their Traditions said were appointed for that purpose by Ezra Talm. in Bava Kamah per 7. R. Sol. and Nissim in Chetubboth per. 1. in Alphes Their preaching on those days had so wrought that on the next Sabbath almost all the City was gathered together to hear the word and many of the Gentiles receive it but the Jews stirred up some female unbelieving proselytes against them and some of the chief of the City so that they drave them out of those coasts and they shaking off the dust of their feet against them go to Iconium This Ceremony injoyned them by their Master Matth. 10. 14. was not so much for any great business put in the thing it self as that even from a tenet of their own they might shew how they were to be reputed of It was their own Maxime That the dust of a Heathen Country or City did defile or make a person unclean Tosaphta ad Kelim per. 1. hath this saying In three things Syria was like unto any Heathen Land The dust of it made a person unclean as the dust of any other Heathen Country did c. So that their shaking off the dust of their feet against them was to shew that they reputed them and their City as Heathenish ACTS CHAP. XIV AT Iconium they continue long and with good effect but at last they are in danger of stoning and thereupon they slip away to Lystra and Derbe Cities of Lycaonia and to the region that lieth round about That region Strabo describeth lib. 12. where among other particulars he tels that Derbe lay coasting upon Isauria and in his time was under the dominion of Amyntas At Lystra or Derbe Paul converteth Lois and Eunice and Timothy and as some will tell you here or at Iconium he converteth Tecla For healing a Creeple they are first accounted Gods but presently by perswasion of some Jews Paul is stoned but being reputed dead recovereth miraculously From thence they go to Derbe and return to Lystra Iconium and Antioch and ordain Elders in those Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 24. is unproperly
no small induction to him of the writing of this Epistle and sheweth the desperate danger of it Chap. 6. 4 5 c. and Chap. 10. 26 27 c. In which his touching of it we may see how far some had gone in the Gospel and yet so miserably far fallen from it as that some of them had had the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost and yet now sinned willingly and wilfully against it In describing their guilt one of his passages that he useth is but harshly applied by some Chap. 10. 29. Hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing when they say that this horrid Apostate wretch that treads Christ under foot was once sanctified by the blood of Christ whereas the words mean Christs being sanctified by the blood of the Covenant according to the same sense that Christ is said to be brought again from the dead by the blood of the Covenant in this same Epistle Chap. 13. 20. And the Apostle doth set forth the horrid impiety of accounting the blood of the Covenant a common thing by this because even the Son of God himself was sanctified by it or set apart as Mediator And so should I understand the words He hath trodden under-foot that Son of God and counted the blood of the Covenant by which he the Son of God was sanctified an unholy thing He magnifieth faith against those works that they stood upon and sought to be justified by and sheweth that this was the all in all with all the holy men both before the Law and under it When he gives them caution Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau c. Chap. 12. 16. he doth not only speak according to the common tenet of the Nation that Esau was a fornicator as see Targ. Jerus in Gen. 25. but he seemeth to have his eye upon the Nicolaitan doctrine that was now rise that taught fornication to which he seemeth also to refer in those words Chap. 13. 4. Marriage is honourable c. And now henceforward you have no more story of this Apostle what became of him after the writing of this Epistle it is impossible to find out by any light that the Scripture holdeth out in this matter The two last verses but one of this Epistle trace him as far forward as we can any way else see him and that is but a little way neither Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty with whom if he come shortly I will see you By which words these things may be conjectured 1. That after his inlargement out of bonds he left Rome and preached in Italy He mentioneth in his Epistle to the Romans his desire and intent to go preach in Spain Rom. 15. 24. but that was so long ago that he had now found some just cause so much time intervening to steer his course another way For 2. It appears that when he wrote this Epistle to the Hebrews he intended very shortly to set for Judea if so be he sent the Epistle to the Jews of Judea as hath been shewed most probable he did So that trace him in his intentions and hopes and you find him purposing to go to Philippi Phil. 2. 23 24. Nay yet further to Colosse Philem. ver 22. Nay yet further into Judea It is like that the Apostacy and wavering that he heard of in the Eastern Churches shewed him more need to hasten thither then to go westward 3. He waited a little to see whether Timothy now inlarged would come to him in that place of Italy where he now was which if he did he intended to bring him along with him but whether they met and travelled together or what further became of either of them we shall not go about to trace lest seeking after them we lose our selves CHRIST LXIII NERO. IX IT hath been observed before how probable it is that Albinus came into the Government of Judea in Festus room in this ninth year of Nero. And if so then was James the Apostle who was called James the less martyred this year Josephus gives the story of this Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 8. Caesar saith he understanding the death of Festus sendeth Albinus governour into Iudea And the King Agrippa put Ioseph from the High-priesthood and conferred it upon Ananus the son of Ananus Now this Ananus junior was extreme bold and daring and he was of the sect of the Saduces which in judging are most cruel of any of the Iews Ananus therefore being such a one and thinking he had got a sit opportunity because Festus was dead and Albinus was not yet come he gets together a Council and bringing before it Iames the brother of Iesus who was called Christ and some others as transgressors he delivered them up to be stoned But those in the City that were more moderate and best skilled in the Laws took this ill and sent to the King privately beseeching him to charge Ananus that he should do so no more And some of them met Albinus as he came from Alexandria and shewed him how it was not lawful for Ananus to call a Council without his consent Whereupon he writeth a threatning Letter to Ananus And King Agrippa for this fact put him from the Highpriesthood when he had held it but three months and placed Iesus the son of Damneas in his room THE EPISTLE OF JAMES Although therefore the certain time of his writing this Epistle cannot be discovered yet since he died in the year that we are upon we may not unproperly look upon it as written not very long before his death And that the rather because by an expression or two he intimates the vengeance of Jerusalem drawing very near Chap. 5. 8 9. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh and Behold the Judge standeth before the door He being the Apostle residentiary of the Circumcision in Judea could not but of all others be chiefly in the eyes of those that maliced the Gospel there and the Ministers of it So it could not but be in his eye to observe those tokens growing on apace that his Master had spoken of as the forerunners and forewarners of that destruction coming False Prophets Iniquity abounding Love waxing cold betraying and undoing one another that he could not but very surely conclude that the Judge and judgment was not far from the door Among other things that our Saviour foretelleth should precede that destruction this was one Matth. 24. 14. This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all Nations and then shall the end come And so did the Gospel reach all the twelve Tribes as well as other Nations even the ten Tribes as well as the other two Therefore James a Minister of the Circumcision doth properly direct this Epistle to all the twelve Tribes scattered abroad The whole Nation was at this time some at the
three chests full of tattared Phylacteries containing three bushels every chest Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel saith there were 500 Schools and to the least there belonged 500 Scholars and they said If the enemy should come against us we could prick out their eyes with our pens But when it came to it they folded them all up in their books and burnt them and there was not one of them left but only I. Not that he reckons himself in the number of the children for he was now well in years but that none of all that great University was left but himself And yet besides the eminent men that we have named there were R. Meir a great speaker in the Talmud but most commonly against the common vote R. Simeon ben Jochai and Eleazar his son the first Authors of the book Zohar R. Nathan the Author of Avoth R. Josi Galileus and his son Eliezer R. Jochanan ben Nuri. Ben Nanas R. Joshua ben Korcha R. Eliezer ben Chasma and why should we reckon more when Berishith Rabba makes this Summa Totalis on Gen. 25. That R. Akibah had 24000 disciples Of some decretals made at Usha you may read Jerus in Rosh hashan fol. 58. col 3. Chetub fol. 28. col 3. In these times of Hadrian which we are yet upon Aquila the Proselyte was in being and in repute In Jerus Chagig fol. 77. col 1 he is introduced discoursing with Hadrian about the universe being supported by a Spirit In Megil fol. 71. col 3. It is said that Aquila the Proselyte interpreted the Law before R. Eliezer and R. Joshua and they highly commended him for it and said Thou art fairer then the children of men By which it may be conjectured what a translation this was when these men so extolled it The Jerusalem Gemarists do cite his version Megil fol. 73. col 2. Succah fol. 53. col 4. Joma fol. 41. col 1. and several other places Rabban Simeon now President sate about thirty years namely from about the sixt or eighth of Hadrian to the fifteenth or sixteenth or thereabout of Antoninus Pius the honour and power of that Bench growing low and in the wane every day more then other This Rabban Simeon you have a great spokesman in the Talmud his grandfather of the same name that died with Jerusalem is seldom introduced speaking there Once you have him swearing by the Temple Cherithuth per. 1. halac 7. SECTION VII The Sanhedrin at Bethshaarain Tsipporis and Tiberias R. Iudah President UPON the death of Rabban Simeon his son Rabbi Judah succeeded him a man of note equal with if not above any named before him he bare not the title of Rabban as his Ancestors had done for five generations before him yet had he those appellations that dignified him equal with it he was called sometimes eminently Rabbi and no more sometime R. Judah the holy sometimes our holy Rabbi sometime R. Judah the Prince and oft in the Jerus Talmud R. Judan Vid. Jerus Sanhedr fol. 30. col 1. where it speaks of all his Titles There are innumerable stories of him we shall only pick up those that are most pertinent to our present subject Juchasin fol. 2. tells us that he was with the Seventy of the Sanhedrin in Bethshaaraim Tsipporis and Tiberias and Tilerias was the tenth and last flitting that the Sanhedrin had How long in Bethshaaraim is uncertain and little is mentioned of that place but Tsipporis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is famous It was the greatest City of Galilee Joseph de Bell. lib. 3. cap. 3. a place planted in a fruitful situation for sixteen miles about it saith Talm. Jerus was a Land flowing with milk and honey Biccurim fol. 64. col 2. Rabbi Judah sate here seventeen years and he applied that to himself Jacob lived in the Land of Egypt seventeen years and Judah lived in Tsipporis seventeen years There are these two memorable stories of this place That a Butcher cousened the Jews here with carcases and beasts torn and made them eat them nay he made them eat dogs flesh Jerus Trumoth fol. 45. col 3. And divers of Tsipporis were glad to wear patches on their faces to dissigure them that they might not be known when inquisition was made after them Id. Jevamoth fol. 15. col 3. and Sotah fol. 23. col 3. The numerous passages about the Doctors and disputes and Scholastick actions in this place would be too tedious to mention though with the briefest touch we could From Tsipporis the Sanhedrin removed to Tiberias upon the brink of the lake of Genesaret This was about eight or nine miles from Tsipporis Id. Sanlied fol. 21. col 1. the Jews hold it to be the same with Rakkath in Josh. 19. 35. Megil fol. 70. col 1. And that Chammath there mentioned also was a place that joyned to it Erubhin fol. 23. col 4. so called from the hot bathes there Bab. Megil fol. 6. 1. How long Rabbi sate here is uncertain Their Records do make him exceedingly in favour with Antoninus the Emperour but whether Pius or Philosophus they name not it is generally held to be Pius whethersoever it was there are abundance of discourses 'twixt R. Judah and him dispersed in their Writings and they stick not to tell you that he became a Proselyte and when the Proselytes of righteousness shall come in the world to come Antoninus shall come in the head of them Jerus Megil fol. 74. col 1. Antoninus Philosophus or Marcus Aurelius was the likelier to converse with Scholars R. Judah outlived them both and Commodus also Two famous things as that Nation reputed it did this man in his time First he gathered up and compiled into one Volume all the traditional Law that had run from hand to hand to his time the Mishuah that we have now in our hands which is the Jews great pandect according to which they live He saw their state wane daily more and more and though they had now many Learned Schools yet their Cabbala or great stock of traditions he thought might fail and be lost now the Sanhedrin failed therefore he thought to make sure work and committed it to writing that it might be preserved to the Nation and so he helped to rule them And a second thing that he did was that he took care that there should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scribes and Teachers of the Traditions in all the Cities in the Land of Israel Jerus Chagigah fol. 76. col 3. In the same Tract fol. 77. col it is reported of him that at six portions of the Scripture when he came to read them he wept He compiled the Mishnah about the year of Christ 190 in the later end of the reign of Commodus or as some compute in the year of Christ 220 an hundred and fifty years after the destruction of Jerusalem SECTION VIII The Schools and Learned after the death of Rabbi Iudah BESIDES the places where the Sanhedrin had sitten which yet
his Son two years Chap. 15. 25. yet that Nadab began to reign in the second year of Asa which was in the one and twentieth year of Jeroboam and so Nadabs two years fall within the sum of his fathers two and twenty Now the reason of this accounting is this It is said in 2 Chron. 13. 20. that the Lord stroke Jeroboam and he died that is with some ill and languishing disease that he could not administer nor rule the Kingdom therefore was he forced to substitute his son Nadab in his life time and in one and the same year both Father and Son died Secondly It is said that Baasha began to reign in the third year of Asa 1 King 13. 28. and reigned four and twenty years ver 33. then it followeth that he died in the six and twentieth year of Asa as the Text reckoneth the years current 1 Kings 16. 8. And yet in the six and thirtieth year of Asa Baasha came up and made war against Judah 2 Chron. 16. 1. So that this war will seem to be made by him nine or ten years after he is dead But the resolution of this from the original is easie For that Text in the Chronicles meaneth not that Baasha made war against Judah in the six and thirtieth year of Asaes reign but in the six and thirtieth year of Asaes kingdom that is six and thirty years from the division of the Tribes under Rehoboam For Rehoboam reigned seventeen years Abijam his son three years and in the sixteenth year of Asa was this war made thirty six years in all from the first division The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore should there be rendred the Kingdom and not the Reign and the thing were clear Now the Text dateth this war not from the time of Asaes reign but from the time of the division of the Tribes because that though they were divided hitherto in regard of their Kings yet not totally in regard of their converse and affection for some of the revolted ones affected still the house of David but Baasha to make the division sure buildeth Ramah that none might go in or out to Asa King of Judah and this was as a second division and therefore the Text reckoneth from the first Thirdly It is said 1 King 16. 23. that in the one and thirtieth year of Asa King of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel twelve years six years reigned he in Tirzah And yet in vers 29. it is said that In the eight and thirtieth year of Asa began Ahab the son of Omri to reign Now how can there possibly be twelve years reign betwixt Asaes thirty first and thirty eight Answer Omri began to reign as soon as ever he had slain Zimri which was in the twenty seventh of Asa but he was not sole and entire King till his thirty first For Tibni his competitor and corrival for the Crown held him in agitation and wars till Asaes thirty first And then was he overcome and Omri acknowledged absolute King by Tibnies souldiers and so from thence forward he reigned sole King in Tirzah But yet the doubt remaineth how Omri beginning his monarchy in the thirty first of Asa and ending it in his thirty eight can be said to have reigned but six years whereas it was eight current Answer The six compleat years only are reckoned for the thirty first of Asa was even ending when Tibni was conquered and the thirty eight but newly begun when Omri died Such another kind of reckoning may be observed in casting up the age of Abraham and Ismael at their Circumcision compared with the age of Abraham at Ismaels death Fourthly The beginning of the reign of Joram the son of Jehoshaphat hath three dates The first in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat his father compare 2 Kings 22. 51. and 2 King 1. 17. and 2 King 3. 1. The second in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab 2 King 8. 16. This was in the two and twentieth year of his father Jehoshaphat And the third at his father Jehoshaphats death 2 Chron. 21. 1. Now the resolution of this Ambiguity is thus The first time he was made Viceroy when his father went out of the Land for the recovery of Ramoth Gilead and because Ahab the King of Israel went with him Ahaziah his son is made Viceroy in that Kingdom also The second time he was Viceroy again in his Father Jehoshaphats absence upon his voyage into Moab with Jehoram 2 King 3. and from this time doth the Text date the fixed beginning of his reign as is plain 2 King 8. 17. 2 Chron. 21. 20. For Jehoshaphat after this time was little at home but abroad either in his own Land perambulating it to reduce the people to true Religion or in Moab to reduce that to subjection 2 Chron. 19. 20. Fifthly But a greater doubt meeteth you by far when you come to cast up the times of his son Ahaziah For whereas Joram was thirty and two years old when he began to reign and reigned eight years in Jerusalem 2 King 6. 17. 2 Chron. 21. 20. and so died when he was forty years old and instantly the inhabitants of Jerusalem set Ahaziah upon his throne who was his youngest son yet was this Ahaziah forty two years old when he began to reign 2 Chron. 22. 1. and so will prove to be two years older then his father Answer The book of Chronicles in this place meaneth not that Ahaziah was so old when he began to reign for the book of Kings telleth plainly that he was but two and twenty 2 King 8. 26. but these two and forty years have relation to another thing namely to the kingdom of the house of Omri and not to the age of Ahaziah For count from the beginning of the reign of Omri and you find Ahaziah to enter his reign in the two and fortieth year from thence as he will readily see that shall make such a Chronical Table as is mentioned The Original words therefore Ben arbaguim ushethajim shanah are not to be translated as they be Ahaziah was two and forty years old but Ahaziah was the son of the two and forty years as Seder Olam hath acutely observed long ago Now the reason why his reign is thus dated differently from all others the Kings of Judah is because he in a kind was an impe of the house of Omri for Athaliah his mother was Ahabs daughter 2 King 8. 18. And she both perverted her husband Joram and brought up this her son Ahaziah in the Idolatry of the house of Ahab therefore is not Ahaziah fit to be reckoned by the line of the Kings of Judah but by the house of Omri and Ahab see the Evangelist Matthew setting a special mark upon the house of Joram at the notes on Matth. 1. 8. Sixthly There is yet one scruple more arising concerning the beginning of the reign of this Ahaziah For the same book of Kings saith that he began to
reign in the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab 2 King 8. 25. and in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab 2 Kings 9. 29. Answer The resolution of this doubt will be easie to him that hath such a Chronical Table as we have spoken of before his eyes For there will he see that Jehoram reigned one year before his Father Ahabs death For in the twentieth year of Ahab which was the seventeenth of Jehoshaphat did Ahaziah the son of Ahab begin to reign 1 King 22. 51. being made Viceroy when his Father went to Ramoth Gilead He reigning but that year Jehoram his son was Viceroy or began to rule in his stead the next year namely in Ahabs one and twentieth Ahab in his two and twentieth died and so Jehoram became absolute and intire King and reigned so eleven years so that his reign hath a double reckoning he reigned as Viceroy twelve years but as intire King but eleven 7. Amaziah began to reign in the second year of Joash King of Israel 2 King 14. 1. this was the eight and thirtieth year of his father Joash King of Judah three years current before his death And the reason was because his father had cast himself into so much misery and mischief through his Apostasie and murder of Zacharias 2 King 12. 17 18. 2 Chron. 24. 23 24 25. that he was become unfit and unable to manage the Kingdom 8. Uzziah or Azariah the son of this Amaziah being but sixteen years of age in the seven and twentieth year of the reign of Jeroboam the second 2 King 15. 1 2. it appeareth that he was but four years old at his fathers death Therefore was the Throne empty for eleven years and the rule managed by some as Protectors in the Kings minority 9. There is also an interregnum or vacancy of twenty two years in the Kingdom of Israel between Jeroboam the second and Zachariah whereof what the reason should be is not easie to determine whether through wars from abroad which Jeroboam might have provoked against his house by the conquest of Hamath and Damascus 2 King 14. 28. or through war at home as appeareth by the end of Zachariah 2 King 15. 10. or through what else it was it is uncertain but most sure it was that the Throne was so long without a King since Jeroboam beginning to reign in the fifteenth year of Amaziah and reigning forty one years 1 King 14. 23. died in the fifteenth of Uzziah and Zechariah began not to Reign till the eight and thirtieth 2 Kings 15. 8. 10. Hoshea is said to slay Pekah in the twentieth year of Jotham the Son of Uzziah 2 King 15. 30. whereas Jotham reigned but sixteen years in all 2 King 15. 33. But the reason of this accounting is because of the wickedness of Ahaz in whose reign this occurrence was and the Holy Ghost chuseth rather to reckon by holy Jotham in the dust then by wicked Ahaz alive For in the slaughter of Pekah the Lord avenged upon Pekah the blood-shed and misery he had caused in Judah for he had slain of the men thereof 120000 in one day 2 Chron. 28. 6. Now Ahaz had caused this wrath upon the people in withdrawing them from the ways of the Lord therefore when the Lord avengeth this injury of his people upon Pekah the time of it is computed from Jotham who was holy and upright and not from Ahaz who had caused the mischief 11. There is a scruple of no small difficulty about the reckoning of this twentieth year of Jotham if it once be spied out And that is this If Pekah began to reign in the two and fiftieth or last year of Uzziah and reigned twenty years as 2 King 15. 27. and if Jotham began to reign in the second year of Pekah 2 King 15. 33. then certainly the twentieth year of Pekah the year when Hoshea slew him was but the nineteenth year of Jotham and not the twentieth Answer In this very difficulty hath the Text fixed the time of Uzziahs becoming Leprous which else-where is not determined and it sheweth that it was in the last year of his reign when he assayed to offer incense in the Temple and was struck with the Leprosie a disease with which the Priests who were to be the Judges of it could not be touched nor infected and his son Jotham was over the house judging the land 2 King 15. 5. till the day of his death Now that last year of Uzziah is counted for the first of Jotham in this reckoning that we have in hand and although he began to reign as absolute and sole King in the second year of the Reign of Pekah yet began he to reign as Viceroy in the diseasedness of his father the year before 12. It is said Hoshea the son of Elab began to reign in the twelfth year of Ahaz 2 King 17. 1. whereas he had slain Pekah in the fourth of Ahaz or the twentieth of Jotham which sheweth that he obtained not the Crown immediately upon Pekahs death but was seven or eight years before he could settle it quietly upon his head It is like that Ahaz in this time did disquiet Israel when his potent enemy Pekah was dead in revenge of that slaughter that he had made in Judah and that he kept Hoshea out of the Throne and for this is called the King of Israel 2 Chron. 28. 19. as well as for walking in the ways of those Kings 13. It is said that Hezekiah began to reign in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elab 2 King 18. 1. Now Hoshea beginning in the twelfth of Ahaz 2 King 17. 1. it is apparent that Hezekiah began in the fourteenth and so reigned two or three years with his father Ahaz who reigned sixteen years 2 King 16. 2. The reason of this was because of the wickedness of Ahaz and because of the miseries and intanglements that his wickedness had brought him into as a Chron. 28. 16 17 18 and Chap. 29. 7 8 9. And this sheweth the zeal of Hezekiah in the work of Reformation the more in that he assayed and perfected it so much in the very time of his wicked Father 14. But yet there ariseth another doubt in the computation of the times of Hezekiah parallel with the times of Hoshea For whereas he began to reign in the third year of Hoshea as is clear before then the seventh year of Hoshea should be counted his fifth year and yet it is called but his fourth 2 King 18 9. Answer The beginning of Hezekiahs reign is of a double date He began indeed to be Viceroy and to bear the rule in the third of Hoshea which was the 14th year of his father Ahaz but the time of that year was but short that he was in the royalty and he did but little or nothing of note that year but the next year which was the fifteenth of Ahaz and the fourth of Hoshea on the very first day of
hill Luke 4. 29. Nazaret in the Arabick Tongue signifieth Help in the Hebr. a Branch by which name our Saviour is called Esa. 11. 1. Vers. 27. To a Virgin Rabbi Oshua the Son of Levi said Israel was comforted in a Virgin as saith Jeremy The Lord â—roateth a new thing in the earth A Virgin shall compass a Man Jer. 31. 21. Beresh Rabb See also Lyra and Gloss. intenlin in loc Vers. 28. Highly favoured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is used by the Greek Scholiast in Psal. 18. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the word from which it is derived in Ephes. 1. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. which let the indifferent Reader view and judge of the propriety of our English translation here in comparison of the vulgar Latine The Virgin had obtained the highest earthly favour that ever mortal did or must do to be the mother of the Redeemer and the Holy Ghost useth a singular word to express so much Superstition is ever too officious but it hath shewed it self more so to the Virgin Mary then to any other For as it hath deified her now she is in Heaven so hath it magnified her in all her actions while she was upon the earth So that no relation or story that concerneth her but it hath strained it to the utmost extremity to wring out of it her praises though very often to a senseless and too often to a blasphemous issue As in this story of the annuntiation there is not a word nor tittle that it thinketh will with all its shaping serve for such a purpose but it taketh advantage to patch up her Encomions where there is no use nor need nor indeed any truth of and in such a thing This word that is under hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bears the bell that ringeth lowdest with them to such a tune For having translated it in their vulgar Latine Gratia plena or full of grace they hence infer that she had all the seven gifts of the Spirit and all the Theological and moral vertues and such a fulness of the graces of the Holy Ghost as none ever had the like Whereas first The use of Scripture is when it speaketh of fulness of grace to express it by another phrase as Joh. 1. 14. Act. 6. 5. c. Secondly The Angel himself explaineth this word in the sense of our translation for favour received and not for grace inherent Vers. 30. Thou hast found favour with God Thirdly And so doth the Virgin her self also descant upon the same thing throughout her Song Fourthly Joseph her husband suspected her for an adultress Matth. 1. 18. which he could never have done if he had ever seen so infinite fulness of grace in her as the Romanists have spied and he was the likelier to have espied it of the two Fifthly Compare her with other renowned women and what difference but only this great favour of being the mother of the Messias They had the spirit of Prophesie as well as she they had the spirit of sanctification as well as she and she no more immunity from sin and death then they Sixthly She was one of the number of those that would have taken off Christ from preaching Mark 3. and this argued not such a fulness of grace Seventhly See Jansenius one of their own side expounding this word according to our reading of it in loc The Lord is with thee Many understand this of the Incarnation it self or of the Lords being in her womb Whereas first This is to take a common manner of speech out of the common manner of interpreting it Secondly The Lord was not at this very instant come in that manner into her womb But the words only mean the Lords being with her in regard of that favour and respect which he was about to shew her as Judg. 6. 12. And this among other things sheweth how senseless Popery is in its Ave Maries using these words for a Prayer and if occasion serve for it for a charm As first Turning a Salutation into a Prayer Secondly In fitting these words of an Angel that was sent and that spake them upon a special message to the mouth of every person and for every occasion Thirdly In applying these words to her now she is in Heaven which suited with her only while she was upon Earth As first to say full of grace to her that is full of glory And secondly to say The Lord is with thee to her that is with the Lord. Blessed art thou among women Not above but among them See Gen. 30. 13. Judg. 5. 24. Vers. 29. And when she saw him So readeth the Syrian Arabick and generally all other translations but only the vulgar Latin that swarving as it is to be suspected wilfully from the truth of the Original that hereby there might be the greater plea and colour for the Virgins familiarity with Angels Whereas indeed apparition of Angels till this very occasion to Zachary and the Virgin was either exceeding rare or just none at all What manner of salutation c. Judge how Superstition straineth the Text to the Virgin Maries praises when it infers from hence that she had never been saluted by a man in all her life before An opinion and gloss not worth the examining Vers. 31. Behold thou shalt conceive c. From Esa. 7. 14. the Angel giveth her to understand that she is the Virgin spoken of in that place and of her apprehension of this ariseth her question Vers. 4. And shalt call his Name This followeth the same Prophesie still and is one of the significations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it hath more then one For first it denoteth the third person feminine as Deut. 31. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so it is to be taken in that Prophesie And she shall call his Name Immanuel Secondly It betokeneth also the second person as the Chaldee the Lxx and the other two Greek translations render it and the Angel here And thou shalt call Thirdly It is also applied to the third person plural as in the Greek Matth. 1. 23. and in the Chaldee Esa. 60. 18. Jesus The same with Jehoshua in Hebrew as Act. 7. 45. Heb. 4. 8. and Joshua in Chaldee Ezra 2. 2. These were two renowned ones before the one whereof brought the people into Canaan after the death of Moses and the other that brought them thither out of Babel and so were both lively figures of our Jesus that bringeth his people to the heavenly Canaan Vers. 32. The Son of the Highest From 2 Sam. 7. 14. as it is explained Heb. 1. 5. the Angel now draweth the Virgin to remember that glorious promise made to David as the words following concerning an eternal Throne and Kingdom do evince and upon the rumination upon that to reflect upon her self and to consider that she was of the seed of David and so he leadeth her on by degrees to believe and
maintained upon the foundation or because she was a Prophetess and so lodged in some of the buildings or chambers belonging to the Temple For so might women do as 2 Chron. 22. 11 12. SECTION VII S. MATTHEW CHAP. II. Christ at two years old is visited and honoured by the Wisemen The Children of Bethlehem murthered Herod dyeth soon after Christ returneth out of Egypt NOw when Iesus was born in Bethlehem of a a a a a a Vulg. of Juda and this is conceived by Jerom to be the better reading because it is so written ver 6. But in this verse the Evangelist telleth it was in Bethlehem of Judea to distinguish it from Bethlehem in Galilee Joh. 19. 15. and in ver 6. he saith it was in the land of Judah to distinguish it from the lot of Benjamin Judea in the days of Herod the King behold there came b b b b b b Wisemen Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word is reserved by the Syr. Arab. Ital. and generally by all Latines the French readeth it Sages in the sense of our English Wisemen from the East to Jerusalem 2. Saying where is he that is born King of the Jews For we have seen his Star in the East and are come to worship him 3. When Herod the King had heard these things he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him 4. And when he had gathered all the chief Priests and c c c c c c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the LXX Exod. 5. 6. Joh. 1. 10. 2 Sam. 8. 17. Jer. 36. 10. Ezr. 4. 8. and 7. 12. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deut. 1. 15. Scribes of the people together he demanded of them where Christ should be born 5. They said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea For thus it is written by the Prophet 6. And thou Bethlehem d d d d d d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as John 1. 4. the Preposition is understood in the Land of Juda art not the e e e e e e the LXX in Mic. 5. use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of smalness of number but Matthew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of smalness of bulk or dignity least among the Princes of Juda for out of thee shall come a Governour that shall rule my people Israel 7. Then Herod when he had privily called the Wisemen enquired diligently of them what time the Star appeared 8. And he sent them to f f f f f f Bethlehem distant from Jerusalem 35 furlongs Just. Matt. Apol. 2. Four miles and almost an half Bethlehem and said Go and search diligently for the young child and when ye have found him bring me word again that I may come and worship him also 9. When they had heard the King they departed and lo the Star which they saw in the East went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was 10. When they saw the Star they rejoyced with g g g g g g As 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa. 61. 10. exceeding great joy 11. And when they were come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his Mother and fell down and worshipped him and when they had opened their treasures they presented unto him gifts h h h h h h Gold and Frankincense they shall bring in Merchandize and also for a present to the King Messias and for the house of the Lord D. Kim◠on Esa. 60. 6. Gold and Frankincense and Myrrhe 12. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod they departed into their own Country another away 13. And when they were departed behold the Angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream saying Arise and take the young child and his Mother and flee into Egypt and be thou there until I bring thee word for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy him 14. When he arose he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt 15. And was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet saying Out of Egypt have I called my Son 16. Then Herod when he saw that he was mocked of the Wisemen was exceeding wroth and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the Coasts thereof from two years old and under according to the time he had diligently inquired of the Wisemen 17. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremie the Prophet saying 18. In i i i i i i Rama was the birth place of Samuel 1 Sam. 1. 19. c. Rama was there a voice heard lamentation and weeping and great mourning Rachel mourning for her children and would not be comforted because they are not 19. But when Herod was dead behold an Angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20. Saying Arise and take the young child and his mother and go into the Land of Israel for k k k k k k Compare Exod. 4. 19. they are dead which sought the young childs life 21. And he arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the Land of Israel 22. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his Father Herod he was afraid to go thither notwithstanding being warned of God in a dream he turned aside into the parts of Galilee 23. And he came and dwelt in a City calleth Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophets He shall be called a Nazarite Reason of the Order TO confirm and prove the Order of this Section and Story requireth some labour because of an opinion ancient and current among men that crosseth the laying of it in this place It hath been generally held and believed almost of every one that the Wisemen came to Christ when he was but thirteen days old and it is written in red Letters in the Kalendar as if it were a golden truth by the title of Epiphany at the sixth of January An opinion which if it were as true as it is common it were readily known where to place this Story of the Wisemens coming namely between the Circumcision of our Saviour and his Presentation in the Temple betwixt Ver. 21 and 22 of Luke 2. But upon serious and impartial examination of this opinion these rubs and unliklehoods lie in the way and make it as incredible for the improbability as it seemeth venerable for its antiquity First to omit the length of their journey from their own Country to Bethlehem their preparation for so long a journy before they set out and their stay at Jerusalem by the way for I cannot think that all that passed there while they were there was done in an instant Secondly how utterly improbable it is that after all this hubbub at Jerusalem upon the Wisemens
some machination against himself he had now shut up in prison and intended him presently for the execution but that his sickness whereof he died seizing on him gave some more space to the imprisoned and some hopes and possibilities of escaping His disease was all these mixed together an inward burning and exulceration an insatiable greediness and devouring the Chollick the Gout and Dropsie his loins and secrets crawling with lice and a stink about him not to be indured These wringings and tortures of his body meeting with the peevishness of old age for he was now seventy and with the natural cruelty which always had been in him made him murderously minded above all measure insomuch that he put to death divers that had taken down a golden Eagle which he had set up about the Temple And when he grew near to his end and saw himself ready to die he slew his Son Antipater and caused great multitudes of the Nobility and People to be closed up in a sure place giving command to slay them as soon as he was dead for by that means he said he should have the Jews truly and really to sorrow at his death Vid. Joseph Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 8 9 10. and de Bel. lib. 1. cap. 21. Vers. 20. For they are dead that sought the young childs life The like saying is to Moses Exod. 4. 19. where the word they may be understood of Pharaoh and his servants which jointly sought his life for the Egyptians sake whom he had slain and were now all dead and worn out in the fourty years of his being in Midian But here it is true indeed that the seeking of the childs life may well be applied to Herods Servants as well as himself but that all they died with him or about the time of his death who in flattery or favour or obedience to him had promoted the slaughter at Bethlehem and had sought the childs life I know not upon what ground it should be conceived I should therefore by the they in this place understand Herod and his Son Antipater jointly together For if it be well considered how mischievous this Antipater was against his own Brethren and how he wrought their ruine and misery for fear they should get betwixt him and the throne yea how he sought the destruction of his own Father because he thought he kept him out of the Throne too long it may very well be believed that he would bloodily stir against this new King of the Jews that the wisemen spake of for fear of interception of the Crown as well as his Father He died but five days before his fathers death as it was touched before out of Josephus and thus God brought this bloodliness of the Father and the Son and the rest of their cruelties to an end and upon their own heads at once and in a manner together and thus may the words of the Angel be very fairly understood Take the child and return to the Land of Israel for Herod and Antipater are dead that sought his life Ver. 22. Archelaus did reign in Iudea in the room of his Father Herod Herod had first named Antipater for his Successor in the Throne of Judea but upon detection of his conspiracy against him he altered his mind and his will and nominated Antipas and changing his mind yet again he named Archelaus and he succeeded him a man not likely to prosper in a Throne that was so bebloodied His conclusion was that in the tenth year of his reign he was accused by the Nobles of Judea and Samaria to Augustus banished to Vienna and his estate confiscate Jos. Ant. lib. 17. cap. 15. Ver. 23. He shall be called a Nazarene From Isa. 11. 1. where the Messias is called by the title Nezer which indifferently signifieth A branch and the City Nazaret one and the same word denoting Christ and the place where he should be born SECTION VIII S. LUKE CHAP. II. Christ sheweth his wisdom at twelve years old Ver. 40. AND a a a a a a Compare Exod. 2. 10. 1 Sam. 2. 26. Jud. 16. 24. the Child grew and waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him 41. Now his Parents went to Ierusalem b b b b b b Exod. 23. 15. 17. every year at the Feast of the Passover 42. And when he was twelve years old they went up to Ierusalem after the custom of the Feast 43. And when they had fulfilled the days as they returned the Child Iesus tarried behind in Ierusalem and Ioseph and his mother knew not of it 44. But they supposing him to have been in the company went a days journey and they sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance 45. And when they found him not they turned back again to Ierusalem seeking him 46. And it came to pass that after three days they found him in the Temple sitting in the middest of the Doctors both hearing them and asking them questions 47. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers 48. And when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said unto him Son why hast thou thus dealt with us Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing 49. And he said unto them How is it that ye sought me Wist ye not that I must * * * * * * Or In my Fathers house be about my Fathers business 50. And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them 51. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart 52. And Iesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and men Reason of the Order THE Order of this Section dependeth so clearly upon the proper Order of that preceding that that being made good to lie where it doth as in the proper place the subsequence of this to it can nothing at all be doubted of For whereas all the Evangelists have unanimously passed over in silence all those years of Christs minority which intervened or passed between his return out of Egypt and this passage of his at twelve years old there is nothing possible to be found in the Gospels that can come between to interpose this order and connexion The carriage and demeanour of our Saviour in the time between is only briefly comprised in the first verse of this portion And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him Harmony and Explanation Ver. 40. And the child grew c. TWO years Old he was when he went into Egypt and there he aboad in his Exile a very small time it may be some two or three months about such a space as Moses had been hid in Egypt in his Fathers house from the fury of Pharaoh When he returned to Nazareth his Mothers City being now about two years and a quarter old he
many other places of the like nature wherein the Holy Ghost having penned a thing in one place doth by variety of words and sense inlarge and expound himself in another And the same divine authority and Majesty doth he also use in the New Testament both in parallel places in it self and in citations in it from the Old So that this difference in hand betwixt My face in Malachy and thy face in Mark is not contradictory or crossing one another but explicatory or one explaining another and both together do result to the greater mystery For Christ is the face or presence of the Father and so is he plainly called Exod. 33. 14. and in Christ the Father came and revealed himself among men and the words in both places both in the Prophet and in the Evangelist are to be taken for the words of the Father in the one spoken of the Son and in the other to him In Malachy thus Behold I send my Messenger before me to prepare the way before my face that is before the Son as he is in his own nature the very brightness of the glory of the Father and the express image of his person Heb. 1. 3. and in Mark thus to prepare the way before thy face that is before thee O Son when thou comest to undertake the work of Redemption and to publish the Gospel And this change of persons in Grammatical construction is usual in the Hebrews Eloquence and Rhetorique as 1 Sam. 2. 23. My heart rejoyceth in the Lord I rejoyce in thy salvation There is none holy as the Lord for there is none beside thee c. Zech. 12. 10. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him and 14. 5. The Lord my God shall come and all the Saints with thee Luke 3. ver 1. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. This Tiberius was the third Emperor of the Romans the son of Livia the wife of Augustus and by him adopted into the family of the Caesars and to the Empire A man of such subtilty cruelty avarice and bestiality that for all or indeed for any of these few stories can shew his parallel And as if in this very beginning of the Gospel he were produced of such a constitution to teach us what to look for from that cruel and abominable City in all ages and successions Now Tiberius his fifteenth was the year of the world 3957. And the time of the year that John began to Baptize in it was about Easter or the vernal Equinox as may be concluded from the time of the Baptism of our Saviour For if Jesus were baptized in Tisri or September as is cleared hereafter he being then but just entring upon his thirtieth year as the Law required Numb 4. And if John being six months elder then our Saviour as it is plain he was did enter his Ministry at the very same age according to the same Law it readily follows that the time mentioned was the time when he began to Preach It was indeed Tiberius his fifteenth when John began to baptize but it may very well be questioned whether it were so when our Saviour was baptized by him For the exact beginning of every year of Tiberius his reign was from the fourteenth of the Kalends of September or the eighteenth of August at what time Augustus died Sueton. in Aug. cap. 100. That fifteenth of the Emperor therefore in the Spring time of which John began to baptize was expired before September when our Saviour was baptized and so his baptism is to be reputed in the year of the world 3958. which was then but newly begun and in the sixteenth year of Tiberius but newly begun neither unless you will reckon the year of the Emperor as the Romans did the year of the Consuls from January to January But this we will not controvert nor cross the common and constant opinion of all times that holdeth our Saviour to have been baptized in Tiberius his fifteenth §. Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea Here is called Procurator Judeae by Tacitus Annal. lib. 15. and hath this brand set upon him by Egisippus that he was Vir nequam parvi faciens mendacium De excid Jerus l. 2. c. 5. A wicked man and one that made little conscience of a lie from which unconscionable disposition those words of his What is truth Joh. 18. 38. seem to proceed in scorn of truth and derision of it He succeeded Gratus in the government of Judea managed it with a great deal of troublesomness and vexation to the nation and at last was put out of his rule by Vitellius and sent to Rome to answer for his misdemeanours Joseph Antiq lib. 18. c. 3. 4 5. Philo in legatione §. Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee This was Antipas the son of Herod the great and called also Herod after his Father a man that after a long and wicked misdemeanour in his place was at last banished by Caius upon the accusation of his Nephew Herod Agrippa and Herodias his incestuous mate with him as shall be shewed in a more proper place §. Tetrarch Some tying themselves too strictly to the signification of the Greek word understand by Tetrarch him that governeth the fourth part of a Kingdom for the Original word includeth four and accordingly have concluded that the Kingdom of Herod the great was divided by Augustus after his death into four parts and given to his four sons Archelaus in whose room they say succeeded Pontius Pilate Herod Antipas Philip and Lysanias In this strictness hath the Syrian Translator taken the word rendring it thus Herod being the fourth Ruler in Galilee and Philip the fourth ruler in Iturea And the Arabick thus Herod being head over a fourth part even Galilee and so in the rest But if the opinion be narrowly examined these absurdities will be found in it First It maketh a Tetrarchy to be nothing else but exactly the fourth part of a Kingdom whereas Pliny lib. 5. cap. 18. speaketh of Tetrarchies that were like Kingdoms and compacted into Kingdoms and he nameth Trachonitis for one His words are these Intercurrunt cinguntque has Uerbes Tetrarchiae regnorum instar singulae in regna contribuuntur Trachonitis Paneas in qua Caesarea cum supradicto fonte Abila And in chap. 23. he saith Caelosyria had seventeen Tetrarchies Tetrarchias in regna descriptas barbaris nominibus decem septem Secondly It divideth Herods kingdom into four parts whereas it was parted only into three to his three Sons Joseph Ant. lib. 17. Thirdly It maketh Lysanias to be Herods son which he was not at all A Tetrarch therefore seemeth rather to be one that was in the fourth rank or degree of excellency and government in the Roman Empire the Emperor that was Lord of all the Empire being the first the Proconsul that governed a Province the second a King the third and a Tetrarch the fourth So Mishueh and Shalish in the Hebrew
miracle of his birth his adoration by the Wisemen his wisdom at 12 years old the voice from heaven and his saftety among wild beasts at this time shew that impossible But concluding the thing it self to be so he argueth from it to perswade Christ to act as the Son of God and to do things miraculously And the If in his speech is not so much of doubting as of assurance as the If in those words of Lamech If Cain shall be avenged seventy fold and he forceth it as the consequence upon a thing undoubted Seeing thou art the Son of God as the voice from heaven did proclaim thee it is very agreable to thy so being that thou shouldst exert thy divine power and command these stones into bread for the satisfying thy hunger And so in the other temptation that carryeth the same front Seing thou art the Son of God it is very fit thou shouldest act according thereunto and not go down the stairs as men do but cast thy self headlong and shew thy power In both which temptations though a close perswasive to distrust Gods provision for him in the wilderness to rely too much upon second causes and to presume without warrant upon a promise be included yet Satans main bent and aim is to move him to act according to the dictate and direction of the Devil And as he had perswaded Eve from the commandement of God to follow his advice so would he fain do Christ from that work and injuction which God had laid upon him for the Ministery and for mans redemption to do things tending nothing at all to that purpose but rather to vain-glory and self-exalting and the Devil had had enough if he could have moved the Redeemer to have acted any thing upon his instigation Ignatius Martyr Hilary and others of old and Beza Chemnitius some others of late suppose that Satan knew not yet the mystery of the incarnation no more than the Disciples did till after the resurrection but that he proposeth this if thou be the Son of God as doubting of the truth of the thing and seeking to be resolved in it nay that by the phrase the Son of God is to be understood and was so in Satans apprehension only a very holy and an extraordinary qualified man as whereas the Centurion calls Christ the Son of God Mat. 27. 4. Luke expresseth it only a righteous man Luke 23. 47. Answer 1. It is most true indeed that the mystery of the Incarnation is a mystery most high and deep and which created understandings cannot fadome and that the Disciples were exceedingly ignorant of it till more than flesh and blood revealed it to them but yet for all this the Angels good and bad might know the truth of the thing though they could not reach the mystery of it and the Disciples have some light of it before though they had the more perfect understanding of it after the resurrection as see Mat. 16. 16. The Devil was not ignorant of the Angels proclaiming him Christ the Lord or Jehovah Luke 1. 16 17. 2. 11. of an Angels and Gods proclaiming him The Son of God Luke 1. 35. 3. 22. Of the Prophets calling him Jehovah Jer. 23. 6. And the mighty God and Father of Eternity Esay 9. 6. and an hundred such expressions as these which could not but put him past all questoning who it was with whom he dealt 2. It is true indeed that the Church and people of God are called his Sons but it will be hard to find this applyed to any one particular person or single man in all the Scripture That in 2 Sam. 7. 14. Psalm 89. 28 27. is readily known to be spoken of Christ and that in Luke 3. 38. we have explained before 3. It is likewise true that whereas the Centurion in Matthew is brought in saying This was the Son of God Luke hath brought him saying This was a righteous or just man but must it therefore follow that he took him not for the Son of God but that he called him so only because he was a holy man In very many of the Evangelists various expressions we are not always to take the one to mean the other but we must take them both in their proper sense to make up the full sense as will fall to be observed in divers places And so is it to be done here The Centurion and his company upon the sight of the wonders that attend our Saviours death concluded that not only he was a most holy man but some rose higher and sure say they He was the Son of God Compare and examine the places Now the daring impudence of the Devil thus to assault and assail him whom he knew to be the Son of God will be the less wondrous and strange if we consider joyntly with his pride desperate wickedness and malice the ground that he might think he had to undertake such an attempt as this to go about to foil him who his own heart told him was the Son of God And that was from those words of God in the garden to him when upon the denunciation upon him that the seed of the woman should break his head yet God tells him withall That he should bruise his heel Hence did his impudence take its rise to do and dare what he did and dared at this time and the having this very passage in ones eye and consideration upon the reading of this story of the temptation will help exceedingly to clear inlighten and explain it For whereas two main scruples may arise about this temptation besides this that we have in hand of the Devils daring to assault Christ thus namely how chance it was now and not before and why it is said by Luke after these temptations that the Devil departed from him for a season the consideration of this thing doth give so much satisfaction to both these doubts For 1. it is indeed some matter of wonder that Christ should live to thirty years and the Devil never attempt to tempt him of long a time but should now come to assail him when he had a testimony from heaven that he was the Son of God and when he had the fulness of the Spirit in him above measure which were greater disadvantages to Satan than ever but the reason was because that now Christ was offered to the Duell in an apparent manner which he never had been before to try that mastery with the Devil about breaking and brusing head and heel and the Devil having an assurance that he should bruise his heel undertakes the combate and dares be thus impudent And 2. when he saw that he could not prevail with him this way to bruise him namely by temptation he departs from him for a season till he can find an opportunity for another way to do it namely by open and actual persecution Sect. Command that these stones be made bread To change the form of a Creature is the greatest miracle as
Heaven fol. 66. So that in these mens Dictionary The phrase of The Kingdom of Heaven did signifie mainly the height zeal and strictness of their devotions joined with punctual Ceremoniousness and Phylactery rites Zohar shall be our Lexicon for conclusion What is the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven saith he But as they put a yoke upon an Ox at first to produce by him benefit to the world and if he take not the yoke upon him he is unserviceable so also it behoveth a man to take upon him the yoke at first and afterward to serve with it in every thing that is needful and if he take not the yoke upon him he cannot be serviceable As it is said Serve the Lord in fear what meaneth in fear Why what is written The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom And this is the Kingdom of Heaven Zohar in Levit. fol. 53. But in the language of the Jews in the Gospel and in some of their writers elsewhere also The Kingdom of Heaven signifieth the days of the Messias and the glorious times and their Religion and condition that they expected would be then When he should restore the Kingdom of the house of David to its old glory and build the Temple and bring home all the dispersed of Israel and Israel should be at rest from the Kingdom of wickedness to study the Law and the Commandments without disquieture Maym. in Melachim per. 11. and in Teshubah per. 9. See these places and passages expounding plainly the phrase of the days of Messias both in the construction of the Jews and also of Christ and the Gospel it self John Baptist preached saying The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Matth. 3. 2. So did Christ Matth. 4. 17. and so he bad his Disciples to do Matth. 10. 17. by which was meant no other thing but the time was near when the Son of man should be revealed for so our Saviour himself doth interpret it Matth. 16. 23. Luke 16. 16. The Law and the Prophets were till John but from that time forward the Kingdom of God was preached which John himself expounded thus That Christ should be manifest to Israel therefore came I baptizing with water Joh. 1. 31. Luke 17. 20 21. The Pharisees asked him when the Kingdom of God should come And Jesus answered the Kingdom of God is among you Which in the next verse after is uttered by The days of the Son of man Luke 9. 27. There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God which Matthew utters till they see the Son of man come in his Kingdom Mark 16. 28. Matth. 21. 31. Publicans and Harlots go into the Kingdom of God before you and the next verse gives this reason because they believed not John from whom the Kingdom of God began to be preached and by whom the Messiah was pointed out Matth. 21. 43. The Kingdom of God shall be taken from you And the reason is given in the verse before because they refused the corner stone when he was among them to which the gloss is agreeable that R. Solomon maketh on Jer. 13. 17. My soul shall weep in secret for your pride that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven which shall be given to Idols or to the Idolatrous Heathen And of the days and revealing of the Messias which the Nation so much looked after are those passages to be understood Luke 23. 52. Joseph of Arimathea waited for the Kingdom of God and Luke 19. 11. They thought that the Kingdom of God should shortly appear Sutable to which the Chaldee Paraphrast interprets those words Say to the Cities of Judah Behold your God Esay 40. 9. Say to the Cities of Judah The Kingdom of your God is revealed and Esay 53. 11. They shall see the Kingdom of their Messias Now although our Saviour and the Evangelists and Apostles did use the Phrase The Kingdom of God or of Heaven for the days and affairs under the Messias as well as the Jews yet in the exposition of the things of those days they do as far differ as may be For 1. The Jews looked upon the appearance and days of the Messias as things of incomparable earthly pomp royalty and gorgeousness therefore they called it the Kingdom because they expected the restoring of the earthly glory of Davids throne Act. 1. 6. Luke 24. 21. Mark 20. 20. and The Kingdom of Heavon because they imagined they should be acquitted from under the power of an earthly Kingdom For their wise men held that there should be no difference betwixt this world and the days of Messias but only the oppression of the Kingdoms Talm. in Sanhed per. 10. Maym. in Teshubah per. 9. But Christ professeth that his coming is not with observation Luke 17. 20. that his Kingdom is not of this world Joh. 18. 36. That the Kingdom of Heaven is of the poor Luke 6. 20. and to be received as by little children Mark 10. 15. c. 2. They fancied a change in matters of Religion in the time of the Messiah but all for the greater and higher pomp of Ceremonies and formal worship that the solemn Festivals Sacrifices Sprinklings observations of carnal rites should be in a higher force and esteem than ever yet that their study and practise of the Law according to such a carnal manner should be incomparable both for zeal and diligence And that there should be a punctual exactness in all formalities about meats and drinks converse and worship But the Gospel tells that no coming into the Kingdom of Heaven unless their righteousness exceed this Pharisaical righteousness Matth. 5. 20. That the worship of God was to be in the spirit Joh. 4. 23 24. And that the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. 3. They conceited that the happiness of the days of the Messias shall be appropriated only to them of that Nation and that the Heathens should have no share nor interest in that felicity But the Gospel tells that there should come from East and West and North and South and sit down in the Kingdom of God Luke 13. 29. And that that Kingdom should be taken from them who took themselves only to be the children of the Kingdom and should be given to another Nation Mark 21. 43. 8. 11 12. The meaning therefore of this expression The Kingdom of God or Heaven which is so exceeding frequent in the New Testament in the Gospel acceptation is to this extent 1. It signifieth the revealing or appearing of Christ as is apparent by the places cited before not so much his first appearing in humane flesh or when he was born as his revealing coming and appearing in the demonstration of his power and of his being the Son of God And in reference to this matter the Kingdom of Heaven or of God is dated by
it through the want of them which would be very improper or would cause a repetition of them there which would not be very proper Harmony and Explanation Vers. 18. And many other things he Preached c. WHosoever shall read the latter part of the former Section and this verse together as a continued Narration he will see how fitly and closely they joyn together and he is to take this as an Epiphonema to the whole story of Johns Ministery that besides those particular speeches of his mentioned by the Evangelists he preached many other things and used divers exhortations to the people whilest he was abroad and at liberty which he was not very long after that occurrence mentioned in the former Section Vers. 19. But Herod the Tetrarch being reproved for Herodias c. Because we are fallen upon a strange and most unlawful match in Herod the greats family will the reader have the patience before he come to look on this particular act of Herod the Tetrarch his marrying his brothers wife to take a view a little of old Herods whole family and divers strange marriages in it as they may be picked up in several places in Josephus and to acquaint himself in brief with the pedegree of that stock which may be some light for the understanding both of this and of some other places in the New Testament which relate to the story of that house We will begin with Antipater Herods Father the first of the Family that came to honour This Antipater being an Edomite had by his wife Cyprus an Arabian these four sons Phasaelus Herod Joseph Pheroras and one daughter named Salome Joseph Antiq. lib. 14. cap. 12. Herod the second son of Antipater commonly called Herod the Great the King of the Jews Luke 1. 5. the murderer of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem Joseph Antiq. l. 14. cap. 17. Juchasin fol. 19. and murderer of the children at Bethlehem Matth. 2. and of his own children as we shall see anon had nine wives and by seven of them he had children Joseph de bell lib. 1. cap. 18. 1. He married Doris a woman of Jerusalem before he was King and by her he had a son called Antipater but this wife he put away after he came to the Kingdom that he might marry another Ibid. cap. 17. and this his first born son Antipater he caused to be slain but five days before his own death Id. Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 10. 2. His second wife was Mariam or Mary the beautiful the daughter of Alexander the son of Aristobulus and of Alexandra the daughter of Hyrcanus Antiq. 15. cap. 2. by her he had three sons Alexander and Aristobulus Antiq. 16. cap. 8. and Herod de bell 1. 18. which Herod died young at Rome whither he was set forth for his education And he had also by her two daughters Salampsio and Cyprus Antiq. lib. 18. cap. 7. His wife Mariam he slew upon the accusation of his sister Salome and some suspition and discontent Antiq. 15. cap. 11. Her two sons that lived he married thus Aristobulus to Bernice the daughter of Salome his own Sister by whom he had three sons Herod Agrippa he that is called Herod Act. 12. and Aristobulus and two daughters Herodias and Mariam this Herodias is she that we have here in hand Alexander he married to Glaphyra the daughter of Archelaus a forain King and by her he had two sons Tigranes and Alexander De bell 1. cap. 18. These two sons of Mariam Aristobulus and Alexander their Father caused to be slain as well as he had slain their Mother Antiq. 16. cap. 17. But his two daughters he married to their near kinsman Salampsio to Phasaelus her nephew and Cyprus to Antipater her cousen german the son of Salome Herods sister Antiq. lib. 18. cap. 7. 3. A third wife he had which was called Malthace a Samaritan and by her he had two sons Antipas and Archelaus and one daughter called Olympias De Bell. lib. 1. cap. 18. Archelaus is he of whom there is mention Matth. 2. Antipas is that Herod that we have in hand Archelaus married Glaphyra his brother Alexanders widow Ant. lib. 17. c. 15. Olympias was married to her Fathers own Nephew Joseph De bell lib. 1. cap. 18. 4. His fourth wife Cleopatra of Jerusalem bare him Herod and Philip. Ibid. Antiq. 17. cap. 1. this Philip was Herodias her husband till Herod his brother took her from him not this Herod born of the same mother but Antipas the son of Malthace who was also called Herod as was said before 5. He had another wife called Pallas by whom he had a son called Phasaelus Ibid. and this Phasaelus had a son of his own name to whom Salampsio was married mentioned before 6. A sixth wife Phaedra bare him a daughter called Roxana Ibid. 7. And a seventh called Helpis bare him a daughter named Salome Ibid. And two wives besides these he had which bare him no children whose names Josephus hath not mentioned but hath left this mark upon the matches that the one of those wives was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both his neeces or his very near kindred Ibid. And to look a little further into the stock Salampsio his daughter had by Phasaelus his Grandchild three sons and two daughters Antipater Herod Alexander Alexandra and Cyprus Alexandra married to a Cypriot but died childless Cyprus was married to Agrippa the son of Aristobulus the son of Mariam this was that Herod in Act. 12. by whom she had two sons Agrippa and Drusus and three daughters Bernice Mariam and Drusilla Act. 18. cap. 7. Such marriages as these were in old Herods family the father of this Herod that we have in discourse And now let us look upon the marriage that we have before us between Herod and Herodias 1. Herodias was neece both to Philip and Herod both to her former husband and her latter for she was daughter to their brother Aristobulus whom their father had slain as was said before Josephus must here be corrected by the Evangelist for he saith Herodias was the wife of Herod Herod the Tetrarchs brother but not by the same mother Antiq. lib. 18. cap. 7. There was indeed a Herod which was Philips brother of the same mother Cleopatra but this Herod the Tetrarch called also Antipas was the son of Malthace 2. He might not have married his brothers wife though he had been dead he having had seed by her for so is it very generally held that Herodias daughter that daunced off John Baptists head was the daughter of Philip. If brethren dwell together as heirs to one possession and one of them die and have no child then her husbands brother shall go in unto her c. Deut. 25. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if her husband leave either son or daughter or sons son or sons daughter or daughters daughter behind him as R. Sol. explains it then might not he marry
not otherwise enter into familiar converse and communication 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For they might not use any commerce nor any converse with a person excommunicate as the Samaritans were to the Jews but only so much as for the providing of meat Maym. in Talm. torah per. 7. And therefore though the article in the Greek be not expressed yet it seemeth that in the sense that it is to be understood and that the Disciples marvailed that he would fall into discourse with a woman that was a Samaritan which was strange to the woman her self vers 9. the woman yet no man said What seekest thou Or why talkest thou with her 28. The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the City and saith to the men 29. Come see a man which hath told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ. 30. Then they went out of the City and came unto him 31. In the mean while his Disciples prayed him saying Master eat 32. But he said unto them I have to eat that ye know not of 33. Therefore said the Disciples one to another hath any man brought him ought to eat 34. Iesus saith unto them My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work 35. Say ye not there are yet four months and then cometh harvest Behold I say unto you lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest 36. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto eternal life that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoyce together 37. And herein is that saying true One soweth and another reapeth 38. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour other men laboured and ye are entred into their labours 39. And many of the Samaritans of that City believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified He told me all that ever I did 40. So when the Samaritans were come unto him they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode there two days 41. And many more believed because of his own words 42. And said unto the woman Now we believe not because of thy saying for we have heard him our selves and know that this is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the world 43. Now after two days he departed thence and went into Galilee 44. For Iesus himself testified that a Prophet hath no honour in his own country 45. Then when he was come into Galilee the Galileans received him having seen all things that he did at Hierusalem at the feast for they also went unto the feast 46. So Iesus came again into Cana of Galilee where he made the water wine And there was a certain Nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum 47. When he heard that Iesus was come out of Iudea into Galilee he went unto him and besought him that he would come down and heal his son for he was at the point of death 48. Then said Iesus unto him Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe 49. The Nobleman saith unto him Sir come down ere my child die 50. Iesus saith unto him Go thy way thy son liveth And the man believed the word that Iesus had spoken unto him and he went his way 51. And as he was now going down his servants met him and told him saying Thy son liveth 52. Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend and they said unto him Yesterday at the seventh hour the Fever left him 53. So the Father knew that it was at the same hour in which Iesus said unto him Thy son liveth and himself believed and his whole house 54. This is again the second miracle that Iesus did when he was come out of Iudea into Galilee Reason of the Order ABOUT the proper time place and order of this story of Christ and the Samaritan woman there is some difficulty and diversity of opinion None questioning whether it do naturally follow the story of the third Chapter but some doubting whether this journey of our Saviour into Galilee was after Johns imprisonment yea or no but conceiving it rather to have been before and supposing that this voyage is not the same with that in Matth. 4. 12. Mark 1. 14. where it is said that when Jesus heard that John was cast into prison he departed into Galilee but it was before that and before John was committed unto prison Ammonius among the Ancients appeareth to be of this opinion and Grotius among the modern to mention no more But Augustine Jansenius Alapide Chemnitius and divers others do rank this story and voiage after Johns shutting up and that immediately after old Tatianus only hath placed it a good while after and so have undoubtingly made this journey into Galilee and that in Mat. 4. 12. but one and the same And indeed if the story and time of it be precisely weighed it will not only be clear that this journey into Galilee is the very same mentioned by Matthew and Mark in the places cited but it will also give some illustration to that story in them and shew the occasion and proceeding of that his journey For 1. Whereas those two Evangelists have laid Christs journey into Galilee upon Johns imprisonment the very next thing to the story of his Temptation John hath told us of a journey thither betwixt the temptation and Johns commitment and that Christ continued there in Galilee some space Now to imagine another journey thither again and that a twelvemonth after the former and this also before John be imprisoned will make that place in Matthew and Mark exceeding hard if not impossible to be understood 2. If this voiage in John and that in them be not the same and both after Johns imprisonment in what time and place will it be possible to bring that story in those two Evangelists into being Let it be supposed as some will have it that John was yet abroad and not yet imprisoned when Jesus undertaketh this journey into Galilee well this Chapter bringeth him to Galilee and the next to Jerusalem again and then when and where and how shall we take in Johns imprisonment after It is true that there are that have found a place to thrust it in but we will not spend time in that dispute let but the present section and the subsequent till the next Passover be seriously observed and I suppose there will be evidence sufficient by their very contexture to clear this order 2. The words of John that relate the occasion of Christs journey into Galilee compared with the words of Matthew and Mark speak but the very same thing though the terms and expressions do somewhat differ Those two Evangelists say the one of them That when John was put in prison the other That when Jesus heard he was put in prison he departed into Galilee And what can the words of John when the Lord
his birth and education could not but acknowledge what he spake and gave testimony to his words they were so gracious And this makes them wonder comparing his present powerful and divine discourse with his mean and homely education and to be amazed among themselves and to say Is not this the son of Joseph as Mark 6. 2 3. Vers. 23. Ye will surely say to me this Proverb c. He taketh occasion of these words from their present wonderment and questioning among themselves about him As if he had spoken out to them thus at large Ye look upon me as Josephs son as one that was bred and brought up among you and therefore ye will be ready to urge me with the sense of that Proverb Physician heal thy self and expect that I should do some miracles here in mine own Town as I have done in other places nay rather in this Town than in others because of my relation to it § Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum Jansenius from this passage concludeth that this Sermon of Christ in the Synagogue of Nazareth was not of a great while after his coming into Galilee but that he had first passed and preached through Galilee because as yet according to the order in which we have laid the story there is but one miracle mentioned that he had done at Capernaum which was the recovering of the Rulers son Now that miracle was enough to have occasioned these words though he had done no more But Capernaum was Christs very common residence upon all occasions and it is like he had done divers miracles there though they be not mentioned for when he came from Samaria the Text relateth that he avoideth his own Town of Nazereth because he knew that there he should find but cold intertainment and little honour but that he went into some other parts of Galilee and the Galileans whither he went received him having seen all that he did at Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover John 4. 44 45. Now Capernaum was as likely a place whether he would betake himself and where he would stay if he stayed in any City as any other Vers. 25. When the Heaven was shut up three years and six months This sum lyeth very obscure in the Text of the Book of Kings for there it is only said that Elias said there shall not be dew nor rain these years 1 Kings 17. 2. And that after many days in the third year Eliah shewed himself to Ahab and there was rain c. 1 Kings 18. 1 And it were not strange that Christ the Lord of time did for all the difficulty of the Text determine it but it seemeth by his speech to these Nazarites that it was a reckoning and sum commonly known and received of them And so when the Apostle James useth the same account James 5. 17. it is likely that he speaketh it to the Jews as a thing acknowledged and confessed But how to pick it up in the Book of Kings is very intricate to him that shall go about it Yet thus far we may go 1. That it was a year after the drought began before the Brook Cerith dried up for it is said that at the end of days the Brook dried now for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Days to be used for to signifie a year examples might be given exceeding copiously 2. Those words in the third year God said to Eliah Go shew thy self to Ahab and I will send rain cannot be understood of the third year of drought for this his coming to Ahab was not in the third year but after it for he had told him there should be no rain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these three years at the least as the learned in the Hebrew tongue will easily observe out of the number of the word which is not dual but plural And therefore the third year is to be referred to Elias sojourning with the Sareptane widow He had been one year by Cherith and above two years at Sarepta and after many days in the third year he shews himself to Ahab and there were rains Now how to bring these many days to half a year is still a scruple how to fix it or to go any whit near thereunto unless it be by casting the times of the year when the drought began and when it ended and there might be very probable reasons produced to shew that it began in Autum and ended in the Spring which two times were their most constant times of rains Joel 2. But truth hath spoken it here and it is not to be disputed but only thus much is spoken to it because it seemeth that he speaketh it to the Jews here as men consenting and agreeing in the thing already The Rabbins do quaintly descant upon the last verse of 1 King 16. where there is mention of Hiels building Jericho and losing his two sons in the work according to the word of Joshua and the first verse of Chap. 17. where Eliah foretels the restraint of rain thus Ahab and Eliah say they went to comfort Hiel for the death of his sons Ahab said to Elijah it may be the word of the servant Joshua is performed but the word of the Master Moses will not be performed who saith Ye will turn away and serve other Gods and the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up heaven that there be no rain c. Thereupon Elias swore and said As the Lord liveth before whom I stand there shall be no rain This number and term of time of three years six months just half the time of the famine in Egypt is very famous and renowned in Scripture as hath been observed before But in nothing more renowned then this that it was the term of Christs Ministery from his Baptism to his death he opening Heaven for three years and six months and raining down the Divine dew of the Gospel as Elias had shut Heaven so long and there was no rain at all Vers. 28. And all they in the Synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath c. Here is such another change of affection in these Nazarites one while giving testimony to the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth and presently ready to murder him for his words as there was in the men of Lycaonia Act. 14. who one while would worship Paul and Barnabas for Gods and immediately stone them with stones The matter that gave such offence in these words of Christ to his Countrymen was double 1. Because he so plainly taught and hinted the calling of the Gentiles and refusing of the Jews as was to be seen in the double instance that he alledged that Elias should harbour no where with any Israelite but should be recommended by God to a heathen widow for so were the Sareptanes being of Sidon and that not one Israelite leper should ever be healed but Naaman a Heathen Syrian should be This doctrine about
some apprehend it but that we find not the Evangelist speaking of the Sabbath but in the proper sense By Sabbath therefore in these words is to be understood the Sabbatism of the day as well as the very day it self and on the same day was the Sabbath 10. The Iews therefore said unto him that was cured It is the Sabbath day it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed 11. He answered them He that made me whole the same said unto me Take up thy bed and walk 12. Then asked they him What man is that which said unto thee Take up thy bed and walk 13. And he that was healed wist not who it was for Iesus f f f f f f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word by some Expositors is made of a questionable derivation whether from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The latter is the more undoubted both as better suiting with the sense of the place and having also its parallel in the Old Testament as 2 King 23. 16. And as Josiah turned himself he saw the graves c. The Septuaginâ— have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. So Jesus when he had done his cure upon the man turned himself away and was gone Having picked out this long diseased man to do his work upon and not minding in his wisdom to heal any more nor to be observed by the multitude more than he must needs What brought the concourse together in this place is somewhat hard to find Jerusalem was now full of people it being the Passover and whether these cloisters were full of the poorer sort that had come up to the feast and could not find better accomodation of lodging for themselves who can tell whether they were not built for such a purpose or whether the multitude had followed Jesus thither or gathered thither upon the report of the maâ—s recovering be it left to those to think upon that desire to be resolved of it had conveyed himself away a multitude being in that place 14. Afterward Iesus findeth him in the Temple and said unto him Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee 15. The man departed and told the g g g g g g The Jews that is the Sanhedrin or the Rulers for so it is very common with the Evangelists especially with this to mean by that expression as Chap. 1. 19. The Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem Chap. 7. 1. The Jews sought to kill him Chap. 9. 22. The Jews had agreed to put out of the Synagogue c. Chap. 18. 12. The Officers of the Jews took Jesus vers 14. Now Caiaphas was he that gave Counsel to the Jews c. So that Christ is here convented before the Sanhedrin although the Evangelist hath not expressed so much totidem verbis and is put to answer for his life about the violation of the Sabbath which they laid to his charge upon what he had done and commanded to the man that he had recovered Iews that it was Iesus which had made him whole 16. And therefore did the Iews persecute Iesus and sought to slay him because he had done those things on the Sabbath day 17. But Iesus answered them My Father worketh hitherto and I work 18. Therefore the Iews sought the more to kill him not only because he had broken the Sabbath but said also that God was his Father making himself equal with God 19. Then answered Iesus and said unto them Verily verily I say unto you The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do for what things soever he doth those also doth the Son likewise 20. For the Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things that himself doth and he will shew him greater works than these that ye may marvail 21. For as the Father raised up the dead and quickneth them even so the Son quickneth whom he will 22. For the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son 23. That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him 24. Verily verily I say unto you He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life 25. Verily verily I say unto you The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live 26. For as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself 27. And hath given him authority to execute judgment also h h h h h h Some divide this seven and twentieth verse and joyn the latter part of it because he is the Son of man to the verse following and read it in this sense and juncture Because he is the Son of man Marvail not at this that is Marvail not at this that I speak although ye see me to be a man c. And thus readeth the Syriack and Chrysostome and some that follow him And Chrysostome the rather upon this ground because Paulus Samosatenus abused the verse pointed as we have it to the denial of the Godhead of Christ making this argument upon it If authority to execute judgment was given to Christ because he was the son of man then had he not this power of himself as God To which Chrysostome gave this answer If the Father gave authority of judging unto the Son upon this ground and reason because he was man then by the same reason all men should have the same authority for they are men likewise And so it appeareth that he was strained to point the verse as he did joyning that clause Because he is the Son of man to the verse following that he might avoid the dint of the Hereticks argument which had been more fairely fenced against and without straining the Text had the term The Son of man been cautelously interpreted and the dispensations of the Father to the Son as he was the Messias observed As for the pointing that we follow joyning the clause Because he is the Son of man to the words preceding and not to those that follow it is plainly cleared and asserted by the very sense and construction of the place it self And with all it hath this consent and concurrence of antiquity Augustinus eam distinctionem sequitur quam ille Chrysost. Samosateno tribuit they are the words of Beza ut plane appareat Latinam Ecclesiam semper ita legisse Consentiunt veteres omnes Graeci codices quos vidimus Cyrillus quoque non aliter distinguit To which I may add Nec aliter distinguit Arabs for the Arabick pointeth also as we do because he is the son of man 28. Marvail not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are
Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son This is but the same in sense and substance with those many places of Scripture where the Lord setteth up Christ as King and Lord of all things as Psal. 2. 7 8. c. Psal. 89. 27. Esay 9. 6 7. Heb. 1. 2 6. c. Dan. 7. 13 14. Esay 42. 1 2. c. Jer. 3. 9. Mat. 28. 18. Rev. 16. 19. c. It pleased the infinite wisdom of God to use this most divine and mysterious dispensation that the Son of God should become the Son of man and this God-man the Lord Christ should be set up the head of all Principality and power Col. 2. 9. and King and Ruler and Judge of all things And this dispensation the Scripture ascribeth to divers reasons 1. To Christs natural and essential interest as I may express it for he was the only begotten of the Father and so necessarily the heir of all things Heb. 1. 2. 2. To Gods love of the Son because he laid down his life for mans redemption Joh. 10. 17. Philip. 2. 8 9. He became obedient to the death c. Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him 3. To Gods willingness and contrival that man should have the utmost means of the knowledge and for the honouring of God that was possible namely by revealing his Son in humane flesh yet in the highest evidence of Divine power Matth. 21. 37. Heb. 1. 1. When men for all the means that he had used for the bringing of them to the knowledge of himself yet would not know God nor worship him as God but doted after Gods that were visible the Lord sends his own Son in visible shape and in visible demonstration of his Divinity in that he raised himself from the dead Rom. 1. 4. and setteth him up as Lord of all things to be worshipped as God blessed for ever and in and through him the Father to be worshipped who sent him 4. The Scripture holdeth out Christ as the arm of the Lord Esay 53. 1. 40. 10. the Combatant and Champion against Satan and all the Lords enemies Gen. 3. 15. Revel 19. 11. c. And the Lord hath set him up to reign till all these enemies be put under his feet 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. 5. God hath given him authority to execute judgment Because he is the Son of Man John 5. 27. which we shall speak to when we come to that verse Vers. 23. That all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father The great design of the blessed Trinity was to reveal it self the eternal God-head to be worshipped Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity In the times of the Old Testament the Father was worshipped and acknoweledged dispensing indeed his administrations by the Son the Angel of the Covenant and the Arm of the Lord but himself more especially owned as the Fountain and Original of all Divine dispensations as Psal. 2. 6. c. Exod. 23. 20 21. Prov. 8. 22. Esai 42. 1. c. Under the New Testament the Son was visibly exalted and set up as the Lord to whom every knee should bow and every tongue confess in that he gave the Gospel as the Father had done the Law subdued Satan triumphed over death ascended visibly by his own power into heaven and did as visibly pour out and send down the Holy Ghost which he had promised That as all men had honoured the Father under the Old Testament so all men should equally honour the Son under the New The Arian in denying the God-head of Christ and his coequality with the Father is not only injurious to his person but also contradicteth the highest and greatest design of heaven for Christs exalting And the Jews Turks and whosoever take upon them to honour God and acknowledge not Christ their undertaking is but vain since they honour not the Son whom he hath set up and exalted over all Vers. 24. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me These words and those in the verses following have their rise from verse 21. and lie in connexion with the sense of those words and are in explanation of them There he had said that As the father raised the dead so the Son quickneth whom he will and in these verses he speaketh to that point and in this verse he sheweth how he quickneth spiritually and in the following how he quickneth bodily and both his assertions he setteth on with this asseveration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The matter of this verse seemeth to be taken from those words in Esay 55. 3. Incline your ear and come unto me Hear and your soul shall live Upon which last words Aben Ezra giveth this gloss It meaneth that the soul abideth though the body dye or it meaneth that the Messias shall revive those that turn to the Law of God And so likewise do other Jews confess there that those words and the context before do speak of the teaching of the Messias Our Saviour in the verses before had pleaded his equal acting as he was Messias with God the Father as he shewed himself in the administration of the Old Testament that as the Father raised the dead by Prophets then so he quickened whom he pleased and as the Father had judged so now he had committed all Judgment unto him and here he cometh on with a third parallel and that is that as the Father had given the Law or the Word of the Old Testament so he should give the Gospel the Word of the New And as it was life to hearken to the Work of the Father Deut. 30. 15. 20. so he that heareth his Word hath life everlasting c. He was the Word of the Father that came out of his bosom to reveal him Joh. 1. 18. He was the great Teacher promised and expected Deut. 18. 15. Acts 3. 23. and sealed and proclaimed Matth. 17. 5. 1 Pet. 1. 17. He was to be the destroyer of the works of Satan the hearkning to whose word had been mans confusion and therefore it would not only be their piety to hearken to him who revealed the Father nor would it be only sutable to their expectation who looked for the great Teacher and were resolved to be taught by him but it would be eternal life and everlasting healing to the Soul against those wounds that hearkning to the words of the Tempter had made in it Now in that he saith And believeth on him that sent me 1. He doth most properly center the ultimate fixing and resting of belief in God the Father For as from him as from the fountain do flow all those things that are the objects of Faith in its living and moving namely free Grace the gift of Christ the way of redemption the gracious promises c. So unto him as to that Fountain doth Faith betake its self in its final repose and resting namely to God in Christ as 2 Cor. 5. 19. and he
doth hereby more clearly open that mystery of God in Christ than if he had spoken only of believing himself or only of believing the Father 2. There are some that conceive that he speaketh of believing him that sent him rather than of believing him himself that by this humble reference of all to God he might make his speech more accceptable to the hearers 3. Compare this passage with Exod. 20. 19. and Deut. 18. 16 17 18. His expression of passing from death to life seemeth to refer either to the doom upon Adams not hearkening to the voice of God thou shalt die the death or to the codition under which every man is left by the Law namely under a curse from which hearkning to the voice of the Gospel is deliverance Or it may be it is spoken in some parallel to the case of the man healed for he by hearkening to the Word of Christ received health of body so whosoever heareth his Word obtains life of the Soul And thus doth Christ still make good the word that he had spoken to the man for a dispensation with the Sabbath and argueth that he might do such a thing because he was to give the Law and Word of the New Testament as the Father had done of the Old and sheweth that though violation of the Sabbath deserved and had been punished with death yet obedience to his Word and Command was discharge and a passing from death to life Vers. 25. The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voyce of the Son of God c. 1. These words are most generally understood as aiming at those dead that Christ raised by his voyce or word to life again as saying to Jairus daughter Talitha Kumi to the widdows son of Naim Young man arise and to Lazarus Lazarus come forth And being taken in such a relation the connexion of them to the words going immediately before lyeth thus Christ had spoken there of his spiritual reviving whosoever should believe his Word and here he either produceth a proof and evidence of what he had there spoken or else alledgeth it as another wonder and virtue of his power that by his voyce he would raise those that were bodily deceased And he ascribeth this reviving to the hearing of his voyce partly because he had ascribed the spiritual reviving to the hearing of his Word and partly to distinguish his rasing of those dead from the raising of those that were revived under the Old Testament for they were not raised by a word but by other applications 1 King 17. 21. 2 King 4. 34. 13. 21. 2. It was the opinion of the Jews that there should be a resurrection in the days of Messias The Chaldee Paraphrast glosseth Hos. 6. 2. thus He will revive us in the days of consolation Luke 2. 25. which are to come in the day of the Resurrection of the dead And Hos. 14. 8. thus They shall be gathered out of their captivity they shall sit under the shadow of their Messias and the dead shall revive and good shall be multiplyed on the Earth And Esay 49. 9. I give thee for a Covenant to the people to raise the righteous that lye in the dust And Kimchi on Esay 26. 19. The Holy blessed God will raise the dead at the time of deliverance And in Jer. 23. 20. In that he saith Ye shall consider it and not They shall consider it it intimateth the Resurrection of the dead in the days of the Messias And on Ezek. 37. It may be God shewed Ezekiel the vision of the dead bones reviving to signifie to him that he would raise the dead of Israel at the time of deliverance that they also might see the deliverance Ab. Ezr. in Dan. 12. 2. The righteous that dyed in the captivity shall revive when the Redeemer cometh c. And this was so far the opinion of the Nation that they understood the term The World to come of the state of glory and yet of the days of Messias as shall be shewed when we meet with that phrase Now there was a Resurrection in the days of the Messias accordingly not only of those three that have been named but also of divers Saints whose graves were opened and bodies arose Mat. 27. 52. And if the words that we have in hand be applyed to the raising of dead in a bodily sense they may most properly be pointed to that Resurrection which was so parellel to the expectation of the Jews and Christ asscribing such a matter to himself doth prove himself to be the Messias even they and their own opinion being Judges 3. But the raising of the dead is taken in Scripture also in a borrowed sense namely for the reviving and quickning of those that were dead in trespasses and sins c. as Ephes. 2. 1. And that sense doth seem more agreeable to this place because our Saviour in the verse before doth apparently speak of such spiritual reviving The calling in of the Gentiles to the Gospel is called a Resurrection in divers places of the Scripture as Esa. 26. 19. Thy dead men shall live together with my Body they shall rise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the Earth shall cast out her dead What dead these are that were to rise with Christs body from the dead is not so much intimated in that passage of the Evangelist The bodies of divers Saints arose Matth. 27. 52. as in that saying of our Saviour There shall no sign be given them but the sign of Jonah the Prophet By which he doth not only signifie his own death and Resurrection but he doth also gall the Jews with an intimation of the calling of the Gentiles upon his Resurrection as the Ninivites were called upon Jonahs Resurrection out of the grave of the Whales belly And that dew of his that should inliven men as the dew doth herbs is the dew of the Doctrine of the Gospel as Deut. 32. 2. And so likewise Hos. 6. 2. speaketh to the very same tenor of Christs raising the dead in a spiritual sense upon his own Resurrection which was on the third day And so is the Resurrection in Ezek. 37. plainly expounded in that very chapter to be in a spiritual sense and so the Apostle construes it Rom. 11. 15. Amd the calling of the Gentiles is styled the first Resurrection Rev. 20. 5. c. That Christ meaneth the dead and the raising of the dead in this sense in this place might be argued upon these observations 1. Because throughout his speech hitherto and some steps further the scope of his discourse is namely to prove his all powerful rule and disposal of the affairs under the Gospel equal to what the Father had under the Law of which the calling of the Gentiles was one of the most eminent and remarkable 2. Because as was said before his very last words preceding were of passing
by any of Sems sons was now past because of the late conquest but only of Aram the youngest who had no chalengers or children in the war of him was Eliezer descended who was Abrahams chief servant and whereas the title by Sems resignation was to descend to Abram and his heirs Eleazer was like to be next if Abram had no child of his own When this jealousie somewhat troubleth Abram God removeth it by the promise of a Son of his own Loyns and by a Covenant with sacrifice even of all manner of creatures that were to be sacrificed CHAP. XVI Abram assured of a son of his own body but not whether by Sarah or not taketh Hagar to compass the promise she wearied out by Sarai's strictness is travailing to her own Country Aegypt and by the way hath a vision of the Angel of the Covenant which was strange to her to have visions out of Abrams house therefore she called the Name of the Lord that spake unto her Thou art the God of vision for she said Did I here also look after a vision in a place so far distant from Abrams family And the well also where he spake unto her was called The well of the lively one of vision CHAP. XVII Circumcision instituted in Hebron and about the time of Easter the place and time of the year where and when the Baptist was born who was to bring in Baptism instead of Circumcision Abram and Sarah upon Circumcision saith Rabbi Menahem were as new creatures and therefore also must they have new names CHAP. XVIII The three Persons in the Trinity in the shape of three men appear to Abraham and dine with him and eat the First flesh that is mentioned eaten in all the Scripture Abraham beggeth for Sodom till he thought he had been gotten within the compass of righteous ones in Lots family and then he ceaseth CHAP. XIX The Son and the Holy Ghost come into Sodome to destroy it and now they are called Angels because they were sent by the Father Lots wife is struck dead with lightning and stiffened and fixed in the place where she stood and of a salt and brackish smell and therefore called a pillar of salt Sodom destroyed by a strange fire and the memorial of so great a Judgment preserved to this day by as strange a water Jordan before that time had an issue further but from that time it pleased God to stop it and to lay that valley up on a fatal pool Lot had two Daughters at the least that perished in the fire and brimstone as well as he had two that escaped It is observable how soon after the institution of Circumcision those Cities came to destruction which so hideously abused that member wherein the Covenant for the land was sealed CHAP. XX. XXI Abraham flitteth into the Land of the Philistims that Isaac might be born out of the Land of Canaan properly so called for the greater mystery to his birth God himself cometh in visible form as chap. 18. Sarah hath once a greater measure of the Spirit of Prophesie than Abraham namely in the matter of casting out the bond woman and her son There is good probability of Ismaels salvation Abraham consecrateth a grove at Beersheba that he might have hallowed wood for his sacrificing fires as well as holy fire for his sacrifices CHAP. XXII Abraham passed through ten temptations and the sacrificing of his son the last and greatest CHAP. XXIII When Rebeceahs son is risen in the last Chapter Sarah sets in this The first foot of Land and all the Land that Abraham hath in Canaan in possession is only a place of burial God by this very thing drawing him and his to look after the spiritual part of the promise CHAP. XXV At what time Abraham married Keturah is uncertain the Text hath laid it after Isaacs marriage because it was fit that all the actions of Abraham which any whit concerned the promise should be handled first and together before the other which either did not at all or did it the less But that Abraham was married to this woman long before Isaacs marriage or Sarahs death is probable upon these conjectures 1. He that held it strange to have a son at an hundred years old it is not like he would marry at an hundred and forty 2. In chap. 24. 36. when the servant is to make the match for Isaac he saith that Abraham had given all his estate to Isaac which had been unnecessary to mention had he had no more children but Ismael who was gone from his house long before Abrahams disposing of his sons into the East Countries or Arabia was not upon usurpation but upon just claim by conquest chap. 14. All these Countries were of the Land of Canaan and of the promise and therefore are circumcised ones seated in them instead of Canaanites When the Text hath recited these sons of Abraham and their settlement it bringeth him and Ismael to their graves Not that they died before the birth of Jacob and Esau as the Text hath laid it for Abraham lived till they were fifteen years old and Ismael till they were at their climacterical year of sixty three but now hath Moses no more to say of them and therefore he concludeth their story at once Esau born all hairy over like a Kid but of a reddish colour and therefore they called him Esau Factus made and perfected already as having both his beard and pubes as soon as he was born In a sore year of famine in the Land Esau selleth his birth-right for want of meat CHAP. XXVI The famine that had caused him to part with his birth-right causeth Isaac his father to part out of the Land of Canaan The Philistims Africans by descent Gen. 10. 14. and tawny like them do soon espy the beauty of Rebeccah a white woman CHAP. XXVII Isaac being arrived at the age of one hundred and thirty seven years at what age Ismael his brother had died by his example beginneth to think of his own death and to dispose himself for that He sendeth Esau to hunt for venison for a trial whether he should bless him or no for missing of venison before he had lost his birth-right and if he miss to day as he did then it would be a sure sign that he must lose the blessing And so though Isaac had passed away the main blessing at unawars yet when Esau cometh home sped of a prey he seeth that it was the will of God he should have some blessing and so blessed him also Esaus garments in which Jacob obtained the blessing were the garments of the Priesthood which belonged to the first born CHAP. XXIX XXX Jacob stronger than three men and rolleth away the stone from the wells mouth alone which they could not do with all their strength united he is deceived by Laban by a suborned person and imbraced Leah thinking he had imbraced Rahel as he deceived his father by a suborned person
here to Moses the first Prophet of the Church of Israel it also descended to a succession of Prophets in that Congregation from time to time But with this excellent gift it was also given Moses himself to know and so likewise them that did succeed that they had this double power not from themselves but from another Moses his stammering tongue taught himself and them so much for Prophesie and his leprous hand taught so much for Miracles This succession of Prophets began from Samuel and ended in the death of Christ Acts 3. 24. Not that there were not Prophets betwixt Moses and Samuel but because they were not expressed by name as also because vision in that space of time was exceeding rare 1 Sam. 3. 1. Now from the beginning of the rule of Samuel to the beginning of the captivity in Babel were four hundred and ninety years and from the end of that captivity to the end of Christs life upon earth were four hundred and ninety years more The seventy years of captivity between which were the seventh part of either of these two Numbers that lay on either side are called by Habbakkuk The midst of years namely from the beginning of Prophesie in Samuel to the sealing of Prophesie in the death of Christ. Revive thy work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make known Then was it justly to be feared that the spirit of Prophesie would quite have ceased from Israel when they were captived among the Heathen This made the Prophet to pray so earnestly that God would preserve alive or revive his work of Miracles in the midst of years and in those times of captivity that he would make known things to come by that gift of Prophesie And he was heard in what he prayed for and his supplication took effect in the most prophetick and powerful Spirit of Daniel The Jews had an old Maxim That after the death of Zachary Malachy and those last Prophets the Spirit of God departed from Israel and went up So that from thence forward prediction of future things and working of miracles were rarities among them To this aimed the answer of those holy ones Act. 19. 2. We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost Not that they doubted of such a person in the Trinity but that whereas they had learned in their Schools that the Holy Ghost departed away after the death of Malachy they had never yet heard whether he was restored again in his gifts of Prophesie and Miracles till now or no. SECTION VII The two first miracles Exod. 4. 1. THE turning of Moses rod into a Serpent did utterly disclaim any power of the Devil in these wonders which he was to work which power only the Magicians wrought by For as a Serpent was the fittest Embleme of the Devil as Gen. 3. and Revel 12. 9. 80 was it a sign that Moses did not these Miracles by the power of the Devil but had a power over and beyond him when he can thus deal with the Serpent at his pleasure as to make his rod a Serpent and the Serpent a rod as he seeth good Yet it is worth the observing that he is commanded to take it by the tail vers 9. for to meddle with the Serpents head belonged not to Moses but to Christ that spake to him out of the bush as Gen. 3. 15. His rod at Sinai is said to be turned into Nahash a common and ordinary Snake or Serpent but when he casts it down before Pharaoh it becometh Tannin Chap. 7. 10. a Serpent of the greatest dimensions be like a Crocodile which beast the Egyptians adored and to whose jaws they had exposed the poor Hebrew Infants in the River 2. His Leprous hand disclaimed also any power of Moses his own in these wonders which he wrought for it was not possible that so great things should be done by that impure and unclean hand but by a greater 3. Both of these Miracles which were the first that were done by any Prophet in the world did more specially refer to the Miracles of that great Prophet that should come into the world by whose power these Miracles were done by Moses at this time For as it belonged to him only to cast out the power of the Devil out of the soul and to heal the soul of the leprosie of sin so was it reserved for him first to cast out the Devil out of the body and to heal the leprosie of the body For though the Prophets from Moses to Christ had the gift of doing Miracles and performed wonders many of them in an high degree yet could never any of them or any other cast out a Devil or heal a Leper till the great Prophet came Elisha indeed directed Naaman how he should be healed but he neither touched him nor came out to him at all that he might shew that it was not his power but such cures were reserved for Christ to come SECTION VIII Moses in danger of death because of distrust Exod. 4. 24. THE fault of Moses that brought him into this danger was not the uncircumcision of his Son as it is commonly held for that had been dispensable withal in him as it was with thousands afterwards of the Israelites in the Wilderness but his fault was grievous diffidence and distrust For this is that that makes him so much so oft and so earnestly to decline so glorious and honourable a message as the Lord would send him on and this was that that brought him into this danger of death when he was even going on this message Observe therefore his evasions and how they sound exceeding hollow and empty of belief First Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh Chap. 3. 11. This the Lord answereth I will be with thee and this my appearing to thee may be an undoubted token to thee that I have sent thee vers 12. Secondly But who shall I say hath sent me For forty years ago they refused me saying Who made thee a Prince and a Ruler over us Chap. 4. 1. This scruple the Lord removeth by giving him the power of miracles Thirdly But I am not eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken to me for though I may work miracles upon others yet is not this wrought upon my self that I speak any whit better than I did before This receiveth this answer I will be with thy mouth vers 10. 11 12. Fourthly But I pray thee send by that hand that thou wilt send or stretch out vers 13. for thou saidst to me I will stretch out mine hand and smite Egypt c. Chap. 3. 20. Now therefore I pray thee stretch out this hand of thine for the hand of man is not able to perform it At this the Lords anger was kindled against him and that deservedly For in this he denied the mystery of the Redemption which was to be wrought by a man the God-head going along with him Now it
had joyned to them and came out with them On the second day of the month and of their arrival there Moses goeth up into the mountain being called up by the Lord vers 3. and when he cometh down telleth the people the words of the Lord vers 5. If ye will hear my voyce indeed and keep my Covenant ye shall be my peculiar people To which the people even before they know what the Commandments of the Lord would be do promise to obey and hearken not by rash undertaking to perform they knew not what as some have been bold to tax them nor yet presuming upon their own ability to keep the Law as others have concluded upon them but having been trained up from their infancy and instructed in the doctrine of Faith they piously conclude when God cometh to give them a Law and to make a covenant with them that God would not cross himself in the Doctrine of salvation but that the Law that he would now give them should be a Law conducing and leading to Faith still a Schoolmaster to Christ and not an extinguisher of the doctrine of Salvation by him On the third day of the month Moses goeth up into the mountain again vers 9. and is charged to sanctifie the people which accordingly is done on that day and on the fourth and fifth and on the sixth day in the morning the ten Commandements are given SECTION XXVI The Iews Tenet concerning the Law Talm. in Maccoth Rab. Abhuhahh Ner. 1. THE whole Law say they was given to Moses in six hundred and thirteen precepts David in the fifteenth Psalm bringeth them all within the compass of eleven 1. To walk uprightly 2. To work righteousness 3. To speak truth in the heart 4. Not to slander 5. Not to wrong a Neighbour 6. Not to entertain or raise an ill report 7. To vilisie a reprobate 8. To honour them that fear the Lord. 9. That altereth not his oath 10. Not to lend to usury 11. Not to take bribes against the Innocent The Prophet Isaiah brings these to six in Chap. 33. 15. 1. To walk justly 2. To speak righteously 3. To refuse gain of oppression 4. To shake hands from taking bribes 5. To stop the ears from hearing of blood 6. To shut the eyes from seeing of evil Micha reduceth all to three Chap. 6. 8. 1. To do justly 2. To love mercy 3. To walk humbly with God Isaiah again to two Chap. 56. 1. 1. Keep judgment 2. Do justice Amos to one Chap. 5. 4. Seek me Habakkuk also brings all to one Chap. 2. 4. The just by his Faith shall live Thus the Jews witness against themselves while they conclude that Faith is the sum of the Law and yet they stand altogether upon works A Testimony from Jews exceedingly remarkable SECTION XXVII Articles of a believing Iews Creed collected out of Moses Law 1. I believe that salvation is by Faith not by Works WHEN the Talmudick Jews make such a confession as is mentioned instantly before wherein they reduce all the tenor and marrow of the Law under this one doctrine of living by Faith Hab. 2. 4. The just by his Faith shall live it is no woader if the more ancient and more holy Jews under the Law looked for salvation not by their own merits and works but only by Faith This fundamental point of Religion they might readily learn by these two things 1. From the impossibility of their keeping the Law which their consciences could not but convince them of by their disability to hear it and by their daily carriage 2. In that they saw the holiest of their men and the holiest of their services to receive sanctitie not from themselves but from another So they saw that the Priest who was or should be at least the holiest man among them was sanctified by his garments and that the sacrifices were sanctified by the Altar From these premises they could not but conclude that no man nor his best service could be accepted as holy in it self but must be sanctified by another 2. I beleive that there is no salvation without reconciliation with God and no reconciliation without satisfaction The first part of this Article is so plain that nature might teach it and so might it the latter also and laying hereto Moses his lex talionis eye for eye tooth for tooth it made it doubtless 3. I believe that satisfaction shall once be made This they might see by their daily sacrifice aiming at a time when there should full satisfaction be made which these poor things could not do No less did their Jubilec year intimate when men in debt and bondage were quitted The very time of the year when the Jubilee year began calling all Israel to think of a Jubilee from sin and Satans bondage into which mankind fell at the same time of the year 4. I believe that satisfaction for sin shall be made by a man This is answerable to reason that as a man sinned so a man should satifie but Moses's Law about redemption of Land by a kinsman taught Israel to expect that one that should be akin in the flesh to mankind should redeem for him morgaged heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew is both a kinsman and a Redeemer 5. I believe that he shall be more than a man This they learned from the common service about the Tabernacle wherein the high Priest a man as fully hallowed and sanctified as man could be for his outward function yet did he offer and offer again for the people and himself and yet they were unclean still This read a Lecture to every ones apprehension that a meer man could not do the deed of satisfaction but he must be more 6. I believe the redeemer must also be God as well as man The disability of beasts to make satisfaction they saw by their dying in sacrifice one after another and yet mans conscience cleansed never the better The unability of man we saw before The next then that is likely to do this work are Angels But them Israel saw in the Tabernacle curtains spectators only and not actors in the time and work of reconciliation From hence they might gather that it must be God dwelling with man in one person as the cloud the glory of God never parted from the Ark. 7. I believe that mans Redeemer shall die to make satisfaction This they saw from their continued bloody sacrifices and from the covenants made and all things purged by blood This the heedless man-slayer might take heed of and see that as by the death of the high Priest he was restored to liberty so should mankind be by the death of the highest Priest to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God Their delivery from Egypt by the death of a Lamb taught them no less 8. I believe that he shall not die for his own sins but for mans Every Sacrifice read this Lecture when the most harmless of beasts and birds were offered
love of the people that as he was the first of all the Emperors so in a manner was he the last that shewed such mildness goodness and nobleness either to people or City Tyberius succeeded him his Wives son by nature and his by adoption a man as incomparably evil unworthy and cruel as Augustus had been glorious noble and humane And if that were true which some supposed and believed That Augustus had nominated Tiberius for his Successor that his own worth might be the better set off by the others wickedness and that he might be the better spoken of because the other was so odious this his last action was more to his dishonour than all his former and howsoever Tiberius might do him honour by his miscarriage yet did he do himself dishonour in Tyberius This wretch whose Story we are now to follow was as his own Tutor used to define him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A lump of clay mingled with blood and that clay and blood mingled with as much mischievousness as it was almost possible for humane nature to contain A dissembler he was beyond all parallels and comparisons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Dion He had a disposition most single to himself For he never made shew to what he desired and he never spake as he thought what he desired he denied what he hated he pretended to he shewed anger where he loved best he pretended love where he hated most he looked sullenly on his friends chearfully on his enemies was fair spoken to those he meant to punish was most severe towards those he thought to pardon And it was his Maxim That a Princes mind must be known to no man for that by its being known many evils and inconveniences do follow but many conveniences by its being dissembled Hence did every man that medled with him come into danger and to understand or not understand his mind was alike perillous And some have been undone for agreeing to his words because they agreed not to his mind and some have been undone for agreeing to his mind because he perceived they had found his mind out And it was a thing of extreme difficulty either to consent to his words or to gainsay them when it was his custom to command one thing and to will another This dissimulation he began withal at his very first entrance to the Empire pretending great unwillingness to take it upon him and when it was urged on him past denial then pretending to take two partners with him as to share in the burden and honour but when Asinius Gallus took him at his word and bad him choose his part he took it so ill that he dogd him for it to the death The same dissimulation he took along with him when he had taken the Empire on him carrying it with all mildness and moderation as if he had been a second Augustus whereas indeed the reason was because Germanicus was alive and most dear in the peoples affection and he feared him lest he should have been preferred before him Yet did his best demeanour bewray what he was within for all his skill in dissembling and at the very best he gave just suspition that he would prove but evil He began his reign with the murder of Agrippa a man once in as high favour with Augustus as himself He went on with the murder of a poor man for a piece of wit For as a corps was carried to its interring this man came to it and whispered in the dead mans ear and being asked by the standers by what he meant he answered that he desired that dead man when he came into the other world to tell Augustus that his Legacies to the people were not yet paid This cost the poor man his life for Tiberius said he should go on that message himself and so he slew him but this got the people their Legacies It would be infinite to reckon up the murders oppressions and miscreancy committed by him in the first seventeen years of his reign or before this year that we have in hand The most remarkable were that he raised Sejanus purposely that he might help to ruine Germanicus and Drusus though they were his own adopted sons and when that was done by Sejanus he ruined Sejanus and all his friends with him We shall have mischief enough from him in those years that we are to follow him in namely from his eighteenth and forward and therefore let the story hasten thither §. 3. The year of Tiberius his reign at our Saviours death This year is determined by common consent of Historians to be his eighteenth and the matter is past all doubt if it were as certain that Christ was Baptized in the fifteenth year of Tiberius as it is certain that John began to baptize For whereas John began to baptize about the vernal Equinox and Christ was not baptized till the Autumnal beginning just then to enter upon his thirtieth year and whereas Tiberius began to reign about the 18 day of August as appeareth by the Roman Historians the fifteenth year of Tiberius in exact accounting was expired some weeks before Christ was baptized And therefore though Luke say that in the fifteenth year of Tiberius John came baptizing Luke 3. 1. yet was it in the sixteenth year of Tiberius as it seemeth before Christ came to his baptism and so should the death of our Saviour fall into Tiberius his nineteenth year But it is not safe to hang the Chronology of all succeeding times upon so small a pin as this therefore according to the universal consent and determination of all Christian writers we will take the eighteenth year of Tiberius to have been the year of Christs death resurrection and ascension and accordingly compute and reckon the times of the succeeding Emperors that we have to go through proportionate or agreeable to this beginning The Roman Consuls for this year that we have in hand were Cn Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus as is obvious to any eye that counteth the years and Consuls in the time of Tiberius §. 4. His lusts and beastiality HE had certain years before this departed out of Rome resolving never to return to it again which indeed he never did though often taking on him to come and drawing very near unto the City The pretence of his departure * * * Sutton in Tiber cap. 39. 40. was the grief that he took on him to take for the death of his two sons Germanicus aâ—d Drusus and the dedication of a Capitol at Capua and a Temple at Nola but the reasons indeed were partly in disdain of the authority of his mother Livia partly to avoid the dangers of the City * * * Tacit. Annal. lib. 6. partly to outrun the shame of his evil actions and partly that in the retiredness of the Country he might be the more freely wicked as not restrained by the publick shame This last he made good by his badness if such a thing
with age So surely were men accused of whatsoever they had spoken in the open streets or at feasts as others could make hast to prevent and accuse them for guilty some for their own refuge more as infected with contagion and a sickness So Tacitus Seneca also utters his complaint of these doleful times and alledgeth one example of De benef lib. 3◠cap. 26. these accusations which at once sheweth the baseness of them and the frequency In the times of Tiberius Caesar saith he there was a frequent and almost common madness of accusing which more tormented the gowned City than all their civil wars had done before Now the words of drunkards were catched at and the harmlesness of jesters Nothing was safe every occasion of being cruel gave content Nor was there any expecting of what would be the event of those that were accused for they had all one and the same Paulus the Praetorian was at a certain supper or feast having the picture of Tiberius graven in the stone of his Ring which something stood forth I should do but very foolishly if I should pump for words to tell that he took the Chamberpot which thing Maro one of the spies of those times took speedy notice of But a servant of his for whom the trap was prepared took off his Ring when he was drunk And when Maro took witness of the guests that Caesars Image was laid to a filthy base thing and was ready to subscribe the charge the servant shewed the Ring upon his own finger Exceeding many do the Roman Histories mention and nominate that came to fatal ends or heavy dooms under the bloodiness of this inquisition but many and many omitted saith Tacitus and not named by the Roman writers either because they were cloyed with multitude of examples or lest as what they suffered was much and grievous to themselves so likewise might it be unto the Reader §. 7. Desperate boldness and discreet In these so dangerous times of the City and raging humors of the Emperor it cannot be omitted for the strangeness of it how two men came off Marcus Terentius by a resolute bravery before the Senate and Lucius Sejanus by a desperate scoff and mocking of the Emperor In the sports and feasts of Flora this Sejanus being Pretor had caused all things to be Dion lib. 58. performed by baldheaded men and by no other and this he did because Tiberius was baldheaded himself And to make up the scorn to the full at night when the company was to depart he caused five thousand boys with their heads shaven bare to carry Links A venerable antiquity for shaven crowns and Torches to light them away And yet Tiberius would take no notice of all this though he knew it well enough either because he would not second his own derision by taking it to heart or because he intended to revenge this scorn at some other time under some other title or because by this toleration he would animate more to be saucy with him to their own confusion But far more brave because far more necessary and discreet was the courage of Terentius who had the sober and well guided valour not to thrust himself into danger but to bring him out He was accused of dependence upon Sejanus and of complying with him and he denied not the accusation but strengthned it and came off better by extremity of confession than others could do with the utmost of excusing I loved said he and honoured Sejanus because Tiberius loved him and did him honour So that if he did well I did not amiss and if the Emperor that knoweth all things exactly were deceived it is no wonder if I were deceived with him It is not for us to regard or search for what cause the Emperor promoteth such a man to him belongeth the property of that judgment to us the glory of obsequiousness His treasons against the Commonwealth and plots against the Emperors life let them bear the punishment they have deserved but as for friendship and observance the same end will acquit Tiberius and us c. And in this strain and boldness proceeded he on still driving on his affections to Sejanus thorow Sejanus to the Emperor that he led the accusation the same way to light upon him also insomuch that in an instant his accusers had changed place with him for they were accused and he discharged §. 8. Other Occurrences of this year But Tiberius his humour was too strong to be stopped with such Rhetorick in behalf of any more though this prevailed for Terentius himself For presently come accusatory letters against Sex Vestilius as a libeller against C. Caesar who to avoid death by the hand of some other man would prevent it with his own and so cut his veins but tying them up again and repenting his fact he sent a supplicatory petition to the Emperor that he might live of which receiving but a comfortless answer he let them open to bleed again Afterward followed the accusation of Annius Pollio Apius Silanus Scaurus Mamercus Sabinus Calvisius Vitia the mother of Fusius Geminius late Consul put to death for nothing but for bewailing the death of her own son Vescularius and Marinus executed in Capreae And Geminius and Celsus came to such fatal ends towards the end of the year In this year there was a book of the Sibyls offered to the Senate but he that offered it was sharply checked by the Emperor for his pains Some scarsity of provision oppressed the City and plenty of mocks upon the stage jerked the Emperor but course was taken ere long for the remedy of both and for the latter sooner than the former Scribonianus his place of Consulship was often changed according to Tiberius his wavering pleasure the politician craftily shaking and unsetling that ancient government that his new one of Monarchy might sit the faster Flaccus Avilius was made Governor of Egypt an Iberian by birth as may be collected from Dion and a future scourge of the Jews as will appear hereafter Rubrius Fabatus when he saw the City in so desperate an estate betook himself to fall to the Parthians but was apprehended by the way and yet escaped punishment being forgotten rather than forgiven §. 9. Tiberius perplexed Among all the troubles of that City that hath been ever the troubler of the world that befel her this year when she slew the Prince of quietness and peace it may not be amiss to look a little upon the disquietness of him himself within himself that caused this disquiet to her and imbrewed her so oft in her own blood And this we may do by the Anatomy that Tacitus hath read upon his intrals spying the thoughts of his heart through the words of a letter that he wrote in behalf of Cotta Messalinus an old favorite of his the letter bearing the date of this year as appeareth by the same Tacitus and the words this tenour as is attested both by him and
his friends to a most miserable and intolerable imprisonment and being solicited and earnestly sued unto that he might be speedily executed and put out of his misery he flatly denyed it saying That he was not grown friends with him yet Such was the penance that he put poor Gallus to a life far worse than a present death for he ought him more spite and torture than a suddain execution The miserable man being imprisoned and straitly looked to not so much for fear of his escape by flight as of his escape by death was denyed the sight and conference of any one whosoever but him only that brought him his pitiful dyet which served only to prolong his wretched life and not to comfort it and he was forced to take it for he must by no means be suffered to dy Thus lived if it may be called a life a man that had been of the honourablest rank and office in the City lingring and wishing for death or rather dying for three years together and now at last he findeth the means to famish himself and to finish his miserable bondage with as miserable an end to the sore displeasure of the Emperour for that he had escaped him and not come to publick execution Such an end also chose Nerva one of his near friends and familiars but not like the other because of miseries past or present but because of fear and foresight of such to come His way that he took to dispatch himself of his life was by total abstinence and refusal of food which when Tiberius perceived was his intent he sits down by him desires to know his reason and begs with all earnestness of him that he would desist from such a design For what scandal saith he will it be to me to have one of my nearest friends to end his own life and no cause given why he should so die But Nerva satisfied him not either in answer or in act but persisted in his pining of himself and so dyed § 6. The miserable ends of Agrippina and Drusus To such like ends came also Agrippina and Drusus the Wife and Son of Germanicus and Mother and Brother of Caius the next Emperour that should succeed These two the Daughter in law and Grandchild of Tiberius himself had about four years ago been brought into question by his unkind and inhuman accusation and into hold and custody until this time It was the common opinion that the cursed instigation of Sejanus whom the Emperour had raised purposely for the ruine of Germanicus his house had set such an accusation on foot and made the man to be so cruel towards his own family but when the two accursed ones had miserably survived the wicked Sejanus and yet nothing was remitted of their prosecution then opinion learned to lay the fault where it deserved even on the cruelty and spite of Tiberius himself Drusus is adjudged by him to die by famine and miserable and woeful wretch that he was he sustaineth his life for nine days together by eating the flocks out of his bed being brought to that lamentable and unheard of dyet through extremity of hunger Here at last was an end of Drusus his misery but so was there not of Tiberius his cruelty towards him for he denyed the dead body burial in a fitting place he reviled and disgraced the memory of him with hideous and feigned scandals and criminations and shamed not to publish in the open Senate what words had passed from the pining man against Tiberius himself when in agony through hunger he craved meat and was denyed it Oh what a sight and hearing was this to the eyes and ears of the Roman people to behold him that was a child of their darling and delight Germanicus to be thus barbarously and inhumanely brought to his end and to hear his own Grandfather confess the action and and not dissemble it Agrippina the woeful Mother might dolefully conjecture what would become of her self by this fatal and terrible end of the poor Prince her Son And it was not long but she tasted of the very same cup both of the same kind of death and of the same kind of disgracing after For being pined after the same manner that it might be coloured that she did it of her self a death very unfitting the greatest Princess then alive she was afterward slandered by Tiberius for adultery with Gallus that died so lately and that she caused her own death for grief of his She and her Son were denyed burial befitting their degree but hid in some obscure place where no one knew which was no little distast and discontentment to the people The Tyrant thought it a special cause of boasting and extolling his own goodness that she had not been strangled nor dyed the death of common base offenders And since it was her fortune to die on the very same day that Sejanus had done two years before viz. Octob. 17. it must be recorded as of special observation and great thanks given for the matter and an annual sacrifice instituted to Jupiter on that day Caius her Son and Brother to poor Drusus took all this very well or at least seemed so to do partly glad to be shut of any one that was likely to have any colour or likelyhood of corrivality with him in his future reign and partly being brought up in such a School of dissimulation and grown so perfect a Scholar there that he wanted little of Tiberius This year he married Claudia the daughter of M. Silanus a man that would have advised him to good if he would have hearkned but afterward he matched with a mate and stock more fitting his evil nature Ennia the Wife of Macro but for advantage resigned by her Husband Macro to the adulterating of Caius and then to his marriage § 7. Other Massacres The death of Agrippina drew on Plancina's a Woman that never accorded with her in any thing but in Tiberius his displeasure and in a fatal and miserable end This Plancina in the universal mourning of the state for the loss of Germanicus rejoyced at it and made that her sport which was the common sorrow of all the State How poor Agrippina relished this being deprived of so rare a Husband can hardly be thought of without joyning with her in her just and mournfull indignation Tiberius having a spleen at the woman for some other respect had now a fair colour to hide his revenge under to call her to account and that with some applause But here his revenge is got into a strait for if he should put her to death it may be it would be some content to Agrippina and therefore not to pleasure her so much he will not pleasure the other so much neither as with present death but keepeth her in lingring custody till Agrippina be gone and then must she follow but her resoluteness preventeth the Executioner and to escape anothers she dieth by her own hand Let us make up the heap
superstition backed by ease and love of Holy-days and grown into credit and intertainment by credulity and custom As unconstant to it self for time as her Sex is of whom it is divulged for there is so great difference about the time when this great wonder was done that it is no wonder if it be suspected to have been done at no time at all We will leave to rake into it till we come to find it in its place and rubrick in Eusebius who is the most likely man to follow and for the present we will divert the Readers eyes to a matter of far more truth and likelihood Phraates a King of Parthia of old had given Vonones his eldest son for an Hostage to Augustus and Augustus upon the request of the Parthians afterward had given him again unto them for their King At the first he was well accepted and well affected by them and among them as he had been desired by them but afterward he was disliked and displaced by Artabanus whom they had called in for their King in his stead This Artabanus having been kept in awe by Germanicus whilest he lived and having been a good while ago quitted and delivered of that awe by Germanicus his death and having at this present a fit opportunity for the seisure of the Kingdom of Armenia by the death of Artaxias their King he taketh upon him to place Arsaces his own eldest son in that Throne demanding withal some Treasures that Vonones had left in Syria and Cilicia and challenging the Royalty of Persia and Macedon and the old possessions of Cyrus and Alexander This was a proud scorn and defiance to the Romans and such as was not possible for their victoriousness to digest nor safe for him to offer but that he was imboldned to it by considering the Emperors old age But Sinnaces and Abdus and other Nobles of Parthia not trusting their lives and liberties to the rashness of Artabanus come secretly to Rome and commit the matter to Tiberius He upon their request and glad of opportunity to correct the insolencies of Artabanus giveth them Phraates another son of Phraates their old King who also lay for an Hostage at Rome and dispatcheth him away for his fathers Throne and the Nobles with him And thus is Artabanus in a fair way of an equal retaliation to lose his own Kingdom as he had usurped another mans As they were thus travailing homeward with this design and plot in their minds and hands Artabanus having intelligence of the matter counterplotteth again and fairly inviting Abdus under pretence of great amity to a banquet preventeth his future designs by poison and stops the haste of Sinnaces by dissimulation and gifts Phraates the new elected King the more to ingratiate himself to his Countrymen by complying with them in their manners forsaketh the Roman garb customs and diet to which he had been so long inured and betaketh himself to the Parthian which being too uncouth and hard for him especially upon a change so suddain it cost him his life as he was in Syria But this unexpected accident caused not Tiberius to forelet or neglect the opportunity so fairly begun but to follow it the more earnestly For choosing Tiridates a man of the same blood and an enemy to Artabanus he investeth him in the same right and challenge to the Parthian Crown and sendeth him away for it Writing letters withal to Mithradates the King of Iberia to invade Armenia that the distress and strait of Arsaces there might draw Artabanus thither to his relief and give Tiridates the more easie access to his Country For the better securing of Mithradates to this imployment he maketh him and his brother Pharasmenes friends between whom there had been some feud before and inciteth them both to the same service This they accordingly perform and breaking into Armenia they shortly make the King away by bribing of his servants and take the City Artaxata with their Army Artabanus upon these tidings sendeth away Orodes his other son to relieve and to revenge But Pharasmanes having joyned the Albanes and Sarmatians to his party and he and the Iberians by this union being masters of the passages they pour in Sarmatians into Armenia by multitudes through the straits of the Caspian mountains and deny passage to any that would aid the Parthian So that Orodes cometh up to Pharasmanes but can go no further and they both lie in the field so close together that Pharasmanes biddeth him battel at his own trenches which being stoutly and strangely fought between so many Nations and so differently barbarous it fortuned that the two Princes met in the heat of the sight and Pharasmanes wounded Orodes through the Helmet but could not second his blow himself being born away by his horse beyond his reach and the other was suddainly succoured and sheltered by his guard The rumor of this wound of the King by dispersion grew to a certain report of his death and that by as certain an apprehension grew to the loss of the Parthians day Nor was the rumor altogether mistaken for the wound though it were not so sodainly yet was it so surely deadly that it brought him to his end Now it is time for Artabanus to look and stir about him when he hath lost his two sons and when his two Kingdoms are near upon losing He mustereth and picketh up all the Forces his Dominions could afford and those no more neither if they were enough than the present necessity and forlorn estate of himself and Kingdoms did require What would have been the issue and where the storm of this cloud and shower of these preparations would have lighted Vitellius gave not leave and time to be determined for raising all the Legions of Syria and thereabout for Tiberius upon these troubles had made him ruler of all the East he pretended an invasion of Mesopotamia But Artabanus suspecting whither that war might bend indeed and his discontented subjects upon this conceit of the assistance of the Romans daring to shew their revolt against him which they durst not before he was forced to flee with some forlorn company into Scythia hoping that his absence might remove the hatred of the Parthians which we shall see hereafter came accordingly to pass and Vitellius without any blow struck maketh Tiridates King in his stead §. 2. Tiberius still cruel and shameless He was now got to Antium so near the City that in a day or nights space he could have or give a return to any letters For all his age which the Parthian King had despised and for all the troubles that he had caused yet remitted he nothing of his wonted rigour and savageness The Sâ—ianians were as eagerly hunted after as ever and it was no escape nor help to the accused though the crimes objected were either obsolete or feigned This caused Fulcinius Trio for that he would not stay for the formal accusations which he perceived were coming against him
at last he did which put him out of office There was a certain Impostor Joseph Ant. l. 18 c. 5. See how Egesippus relateth this story De excid Hieros l. 1. c. 5. among the Samaritans Simon Magus as like as any that would perswade the people that in mount Gerizim he could shew them holy vessels which Moses had hid and laid up there with his own hand The credulous vulgar meet by multitudes at a certain Village called Tirathaba intending when their company was full to go see these sacred reliques But Pilate before-hand takes the passages with his Horse and Foot and falling upon those that were thus assembled some he slew others he took captive and the rest fled Of those that he captived he caused the noblest and most principal to be put to death For this fact the chief men of Samaria accuse him to Vitellius who commands him to Rome there to answer before the Emperor what should be objected against him and in his stead he made Marcellus a friend of his own the Governor of Judea but before Pilate came to Rome Tiberius was dead Yet hath Eusebius put off the testimony that Pilate is said to have given to Tiberius concerning the death and resurrection of Christ and concerning the wonders wrought by him till the next year following A relation doubtful in it self but more than doubtful in the issue For first though it be granted that Pilate bare witness to the works and wonders done by Christ and gave testimony to his Resurrection which yet to believe requireth a better evidence than I can find any Yet secondly the Epistle that is pretended for this his certificate by * * * In Anacephal in Biblioth Patr. Tom. 7. Hegesippus cannot be that original one that Tertullian and out of him Eusebius do mention because it is indorsed to Claudius and not to Tiberius Thirdly though both these were confessed and agreed unto that Pilate wrote a Letter to Tiberius to such a purpose and that this was the Letter or some other that Tertullian had seen yet can I never find the Emperor of so good a nature and respective a disposition as to give the desert of goodness its due be it never so eminent and conspicuous or be it in what kind soever Fourthly and lastly that which maketh all the rest of the story to be doubted of and which may justly hinder the entertainment of it is what is added in the common relation of the story That Tiberius referring this matter to the Senate with his vote that Christ should be numbred among the Gods and Christianity among their holy things the Senate crossed him in it with flat contrariety because Pilate had written of it to him and not to them Now in the Stories that have been related before concerning the state and affairs of Rome and by other stories that might be produced in other years it is but too miserably evident that the Senate was in too great a fear and slavery to the Tyrant than to dare to affront him so palpably and plainly Pilate after this as * * * Chron. ad annum Chr. 41. Eusebius alledgeth out of the Roman Historians falling into many miseries ended himself with his own hand the common and desperate Roman remedy against distress * * * In Chron. Cassiodorus hath placed his death under the Consulship of Publicola and Nerva And the common report hath given it in that the place was Vienna §. 2. Agrippa his journey to Rome This Agrippa was the son of Aristobulus who died by the cruelty of his father Herod and he was a man that had sufficiently tried the vicissitudes of fortune heretofore but never so much as he is about to do now A good while ago he had lived in Rome and in the familiarity of Drusus the son of Tiberius That great acquaintance caused great expences partly in his own port and pomp and partly in gifts and benificence bestowed upon others When Drusus died then Agrippa's estate is not only dead but his hopes also so that he is forced to flee from Rome into Judea for debt and poverty and thence into a certain Tower in Idumea for shame and discontent His wife Cyprus by sollicitation and suing to Herodias obtaineth Herods favour so far that he was removed to Tiberius made a chief Governor or Officer of the City and allowance given him for his Diet. But this lasted not long ere Herod and he fell out whereupon he removed away and betook himself to Flaccus the then Governor of Syria who had been his old acquaintance at Rome Long he had not continu'd there neither but Aristobulus his brother wrought him out of his favour and abode there From thence he went to Ptolomais intending to have set from thence for Italy but was forced to stay till he had borrowed some monies before Being now furnished and shipped he was again stopped by Herennius Capito the Governor of Jamnia for some money that he ought to the Treasury of Tiberius And what must he do now He must not go till he have paid the sum and when he hath paid it then he cannot go for want of more He taketh on him to obey the arrest while it was day but at might he cut cables and set away for Alexandria There he reneweth his borrowing again of Alexander Alabarcha and obtaineth of him five talents for his viaticum and now this year namely as Josephus noteth it the year before Tiberius his death he setteth away for Italy again This Alabarcha is not the proper Name of any man but the title of men that bare Rule over the Jews in Alexandria For I observe that as Josephus in one place calleth it Alabarcha and Alabarchus so in another he calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fixing it thereby as a title rather to any man that bare such an Office than as a proper name to any man at all And if conjecture may read its denotation and Etymology it seemeth to be compounded of the Arabick Article Al which they fix before all their Nouns and the Egyptian word Abrech which in that language importeth dignity and honour as we have observed elsewhere as may be collected from the proclamation before Joseph Gen. 41. 43. Agrippa being arrived at Puteoli sendeth to the Emperor to Capreae to certifie him of his coming and of his desire to wait upon him there Tiberius giveth him admission and entertainment according to his mind till Letters from Herennius Capito spoiled that chear For the Emperor understanding by them how he had slipped the collar at Jamnia from his Officer and from his own debt he doth flatly forbid him any more access unto him till the money be paid Now is Agrippa in a worse case than ever for there is no paltering with Tiberius though there were with Capito and no shifting from Capreae though he had found such an opportunity at Jamnia Nor is there any such thought to be entertained For now his
her husbands promotion may not unfitly be yoaked the mother of Sex Papinius that made her own lust her sons overthrow Whether this were the Papinius that was the last years Consul or his son or some other of the same name and family it is no great matter worth inquiring but whosoever he was infortunate he was in his mother for she caused his end as she had given him his beginning She being lately divorced from her husband betook herself unto her son whom with flattery and loosness she brought to perpetrate such a thing that he could find no remedy for it when it was done but his own death The consequent argueth that the fault was incest for when he had cast himself from an high place and so ended his life his mother being accused for the occasion was banished the City for ten years till the danger of the slipperiness of her other sons youth was past and over PART II. The JEWISH Story §. 1. Preparations of war against Aretas THE terrible and bitter message of the Emperor to Vitellius against King Aretas must be obeyed though more of necessity than of any zeal of Vitellius in Herods quarrel He therefore raising what forces he accounted fitting for his own safety in the Emperors favour and for his safety with the enemy marcheth toward the seat of the war intending to lead his Army through Judea But he was diverted from this intention by the humble supplication of the Jews to the contrary who took on how contrary it was to their ancient Laws and customs to have any Images and pictures brought into their Country whereof there was great store in the Romans Arms and Banners The gentleness of the General was easily overtreated and commanding his Army another way he himself with Herod and his friends went up to Jerusalem where he offered sacrifice and removed Jonathan from the High-priesthood and placed Theophilus his brother in his stead This was saith Josephus at a feast of the Jews but he named not which and Vitellius having stayed there three days on the fourth receiveth letters concerning Tiberius his death I leave it to be weighed by the Reader whether this festival were the Passover or Pentecost For on the one hand since Tiberius died about the middle of March as the Roman Historians do generally agree it is scarce possible that the Governor of Syria and the Nations of the East should be unacquainted with it till Pentecost which was eight or nine weeks after For all the Empire must as soon as possible be sworn unto the new Prince as Vitellius upon the tidings did swear Judea and so long a time might have bred some unconvenience And yet on the contrary it is very strange that the intelligence of his death should be so quick as to get from Rome to Jerusalem between the middle of March and the middle of the Passover week Vitellius upon the tidings recalleth his Army again and disposeth and billeteth them in the several places where they had wintered for he knew not whether Caius would be of the same mind with Tiberius about the matter of Aretas and Herod you may guess how this news was brooked by the Arabian King and yet was it no other than what he looked for if he believed what he himself spake For hearing of the preparations of Vitellius against him and consulting with Wizards and Augury This Army saith he shall not come into Arabia for some of the Commanders shall die Either he that commandeth the war or he that undertaketh it or he for whom it is undertaken meaning either Tiberius Vitellius or Herod §. 2. An Omen to Agrippa in chains Such another wizardly presage of the Emperors death had Agrippa at Rome as Josephus also relateth who relateth the former For as he stood bound before the Palace leaning dejectedly upon a tree among many others that were prisoners with him an Owl came and sate in that tree to which he leaned which a Germane seeing being one of those that stood there bound he asked who he was that was in the purple and leaned there and understanding who he was he told him of his inlargement promotion to honour and prosperity and that when he should see that bird again he should die within five days after And thus will the credulity of superstition have the very birds to foretel Tiberius his end from the Phenix to the Owl The Roman Story again §. 1. Tiberius near his end TWice only did Tiberius proffer to return to the City after his departure from it but returned never The later time was not very long before his end For being come within the sight of the City upon the Appian rode this prodigy as he took it affrighted him back He had a tame Serpent which coming to feed as he used to do with his own hand he found him eaten up by Pismires upon which ominous accident being advised not to trust himself among the multitude he suddenly retired back to Campany and at Astura he fell sick From thence he removed to Circeii and thence to Misenum carrying out his infirmity so well that he abated not a whit of his former sports banquets and voluptuousness whether for dissimulation or for habitual intemperance or upon Thrasyllus his prediction let who will determine He used to mock at Physick and to scoff at those that being thirty years of age yet would ask other mens counsel what was good or hurtful for their own bodies §. 2. His choise of a successor But weakness at the last gave him warning of his end and put him in mind to think of his successor and when he did so perplexity met with such a thought For whom should he choose The son of Drusus was too young the son of Germanicus was too well beloved and Claudius was too soft should he choose the first or the last it might help to disgrace his judgment should he choose the middle he might chance to disgrace his own memory among the people and for him to look elsewhere was to disgrace the family of the Caesars Thus did he pretend a great deal of care and seriousness for the good of the Commonwealth whereas his main aim and respect was at his own credit and families honour Well something he must pretend to give countenance and credit to his care of the common good In fine his great deliberation concluded in this easie issue namely in a prayer to the Gods to design his successor and in an auspicium of his own hatching that he should be his successor that should come first in to him upon the next morning which proved to be Caius It shewed no great reality nor earnestness for the common good in him at all when so small a thing as this must sway his judgment and such a trifle be the casting voice in a matter of so great a moment His affection was more to young Tiberius his nephew but his policy reflected more upon Caius he had rather Tiberius
we come up to the time of our Saviours death and to a wretch that had not a small hand in it Annas or Ananus who had been High-priest four changes before him is said to be High-priest with him Luke 2. 41. JONATHAN the son of Ananus made High-priest by Vitellius in the room of Ibid. c. 6. Cajaphas whom he removed 42. THEOPHILUS the brother of Jonathan upon the removal of Jonathan by Ibid. c. 7. the same Vitellius is made High-priest 43. SIMON called also Kantheras made High-priest by Herod Agrippa Theophilus Lib. 19. c. 5. being removed this was he whose daughter Herod married and who was removed from the High-priesthood so many changes ago 44. JONATHAN the son of Ananus restored by Agrippa again but he desires Ibid. c. 6. that his brother Matthias might be put in the place as a fitter man than himself which was a wonder in the great ambition for the High-priesthood which commonly was afoot 45. MATTHIAS put in the room of Jonathan 46. ALIONEUS or Elioenai placed by Agrippa in the room of removed Matthias Ib. cap. 7. 47. JOSEPHUS the son of Kanei promoted by Herod King of Chalcis Lib. 20. cap. 1 48. JONATHAN slain by an Assassin by the contrival of the Governour Felix Ibid. c. 6. 49. ISMAEL the son of Fabi. Ibid. 50. JOSEPH the son of Simon Ibid. 51. ANANUS the son of Ananus mentioned before This man was a Sadducee Ibid. c. 8. He put to death James the brother of our Lord he is called Ananias a whited wall one whom Paul will not own for High-priest Act. 23. 3 5. 52. JESUS put in by Agrippa King of Chalcis in the room of Ananus this Jesus was Ibid. the son of one Gamaliel 53. MATTHIAS the son of Theophilus And here began the Wars of the Jews Ibid. which at last were their destruction In which time the confusion of the times did breed such confusion and jumbling about the High-priesthood in choosing and counterchoosing and putting in and out according to the pleasure of this or that faction that prevailed that it would be but confused work to go about to give a Catalogue or account of them therefore having led the row of the High-priests thus far as till all order both in Church and State were perished and the dignity and respect of that Order was utterly lost we will supersede with this number that hath been related and pass on to the other ranks of Priests that are before us CHAP. V. The Sagan Katholikin Immarcalin and Gizbarin SECT I. SAGAN THE word Sagan is rare in the Scripture but both the name and the dignity is very commonly known and used in the Hebrew writers It is undoubted that he was next to the High-priest or Vicegerent to him but under what notion he came into this deputation is disputable and a a a Iuchasin fol. 57. Abraham Zaccuth doth purposely dispute it One conjecture about this matter is from that Tradition mentioned in Joma That against the day of expiation when the High-priest was to go into the most Holy place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b b b Ioma per. 1. ab initi◠They appointed another Priest in his stead who might supply the solemn work of that day if any uncleanness did befal the High-priest himself And R. Judah also saith they appointed him another wife lest his own wife should have died because he was enjoyned to atone for himself and for his house that is for his wife Now it is conceived by some that this Priest that was appointed as a reserve if any thing had befallen the High-priest to make him unfit for that work was called the Sagan c c c Ioseph Ant. lib. 17. cap. 8. Josephus giveth one example when the work of the day of Expiation was carried on by such a substitute but this opinion maketh the Sagan useful but for one week in the year whereas it appeareth by the Jewish records that he was in a continual office all the year thorough Some therefore again conjecture that the Sagan was to be he that was to be the next High-priest and in his Sagan-ship was as a Candidate for that Office d d d R. Sol. in Num. 19. So R. Solomon calleth Eleazar the son of Aaron the Sagan And e e e Aruch in Sagan Iuchas ubi sup the Jerusalem Talmud observes that none was High-priest unless he had been Sagan first but there are two arguments that oppose this opinion the first is because the High-priests after the time of Herod especially were so made at the arbitrary disposal of the Governor that it is not imaginable that they ever regarded whether he had been Sagan before or no. And another is because in all the Old Testament where the succession of the High-priesthood was fair and legal and it was still known who should be High-priest next yet there is never mention of the word or of the thing Sagan but only in 2 King 25. 18. and Jer. 52. 24. where is mention of Zephaniah the second Priest and the Chaldee Paraphrast calls him Sagan Now unless he were son to Serajah which I know not who ever held he was in no possibility of the High-priesthood had the Temple scaped the Babylonian fire and desolation For the discovering therefore what the Sagan was and under what notion he came into his Office it is observable that he is most commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sagan of the Priests So the Chaldee in the two places cited titleth Zephaniah So the Talmud in two places in the Treatise Shekalim speaketh of f f f Shekalim per. 3. per. 6. Ananias the Sagan of the Priests and in divers places both in the Talmud and in other Hebrew writers the phrase is used in this conjuncture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sagan of the Priests By the which it seemeth his Office had relation as much if not more to Priests below him as to the High-priest above him and I know not what fitter conception to have of him than this that he was as the High-priests Substitute in his absence to oversee or in his presence to assist in the oversight of the affairs of the Temple and the service of the Priests For although it is true that in some particulars his attendance did especially respect the High-priests person as in three reckoned by g g g Talm. Ierus Ioma per. 3. the Talmud of Jerusalem yet did his Office also relate to the Priests below him and so saith Maymonides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h h h Maym. in Kele Mik per. 4. That all the Priests were under the disposal or command of the Sagan For the High-priest having the chief charge and care of the holy things and that burden and incumbency being of so great a weight he was forced to get an assistance to help him to bear the burden nay sometime the silliness and
of his Knowledge as in the Sacrifices fire and salt were ever joyned 5. The fifth days work was of fishes to play in the Seas and the souls to flie toward Heaven So the fifth step in a new creature is to live and rejoyce in a Sea of troubles and to flie by prayer and contemplation to Heaven 6. On the sixth day God makes man and all these things performed man is a new creature To reckon them altogether then as S. Peter does his golden chain of vertues 2 Pet. 1. Add to your light of Knowledge the firmament of Faith to your Faith Seas of repentant Tears to your Tears the fruitful Trees of good Works to your good Works the hot Sunshine of Zeal to your Zeal the winged souls of Prayer and Contemplation Et ecce omnia facta sunt nova Behold you are become a new Creature As the Bible begins so it ends with a new Creation of a new Heaven and a new Earth and a new Paradise and a new Tree of Life Apoc. 21. unto all which O thou whom my soul loveth say come CHAP. XLVII Of the fall of Adam THE fall of Adam was the death of himself the death of us and the death of Cypriano di valter Christ. At his fall were three offenders three offences and persons offended Three offenders Satan Adam Eve three offences Ignorance weakness and malice three persons offended Father Son and Holy Ghost Eve sinned of Ignorance and so sinned against the Son the God of knowledge and she was forgiven and so S. Paul sinned and was forgiven 1 Tim. 1. 13. Adam sinned of weakness and so sinned against the Father the God of power and he was pardoned and so S. Peter sinned and he was pardoned Matth. 26. But Satan sinned of set malice and so sinned against the Holy Ghost the God of love and he was not forgiven For he that speaketh against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven Mark 3. 29. And in Gods censuring of these three Gen. 3. He questioneth Adam and Evah before he sentenceth because he had mercy for them nay more he promiseth Christ before he inflict punishment but for the Serpent he never questioned because he would shew him no mercy God left Adam to his own free-will and suffered him to fall quia sciebat se c. because he knew how to turn that fall of his to his salvation When Lazarus died Christ was not there that the raising of Lazarus by Christ might be the more glorious So when Adam fell as I may say so God would not be there for he left Adam to his own free-will that the repairing of Adam through Christ might be the more glorious Hereupon one sings O foelix lapsus Unhappy was the fall of Adam since by his fall we all fell but yet happy was that unhappy fall since it must be recured by Christ. Joseph suffered his brother Simeon to go into prison for a while that at last he might bring him out with greater comfort So God suffered Adam to go into Satans Newgate for a while that at last he might bring him out with greater comfort The day thou eatest hereof thou shalt dye there is the prison And the man took and eat there Adam goes into prison The seed of the woman shall break the head of the Serpent there Joseph delivers Simeon out of prison God brings man out of Hell through Christ. Whereupon a Doctor in admiration questions utrum mirabilius homines justos creare an injustos justificare whether is more admirable that God created man righteous or that he justified man when he had made himself unrighteous Whether was more miraculous for God to make man of nothing or to repair him from worse than nothing Wonderful he was in both in his first and his second creation for Justificatio est secunda hominis creatio mans Justification is his new creation CHAP. XLVIII Ophitae Evia SOme Hereticks in Epiphanius think themselves beholden to the Devil for his pains that he took to overthrow Adam for they used to worship a Serpent because say they he brought knowledge into the world Clemens Alexandrinus doth partly think this conceit was got among the Heathens who at their Feasts of Bacchus used to carry a Serpent as it were in procession and to cry Evia Evia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And Evia saith Clemens if it be asperated Hevia it signifies in the Hebrew Tongue a female Serpent Where the good man calls the Chaldec Tongue the Hebrew For in the Hebrew I do not find such a word for a Serpent But all the Chaldee translations of the Bible in the third of Genesis and diverse other places do use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hivia for a Serpent which I take to be the word he means CHAP. XLIX Of the Greek Translation of the fifth of Genesis HOW the Septuagint does add hundreds of years to mens ages before and after the Flood few Scholars but they know This bred the difference of computation of the times while some followed the Hebrew some the Greek Hence came two notorious doubts About Methuselah living after the Flood who died a month or two before And of Sem his death before Abrahams birth who lived as long after Abraham came to Canaan as Abraham was old when he came thither viz. seventy five years And so might well be Melchizedek The Greeks had a great deal of stir where to put Methushelah all the Flood-time for fear of drowning At last some laid him on the top of Noahs Ark and there he was all that watry year The Jews lay Og the Giant there also as the Chaldee Paraphrast upon the fourteenth of Genesis ridiculously observeth Whose words for your fuller sport I will not spare to set down The thirteenth verse be renders thus in Chaldee And Og came who was left of those that died in the Flood for he rode upon the Ark and was as a covering upon it and was nourished with Noahs victuals but he was not preserved for his own sake or merit but that the inhabitants of the world might see the power of the Lord and say Did not the Gyants in old time rebel against the Lord of the world and he destroyed them from the earth yet assoon as these Kings make war behold Og is with them Og saith with himself I will go and shew Abraham Lots case that he is taken prisoner that so he may come to rescue him and may himself fall into their hands He goes and comes to him about the Passover day and finds him making unleavened cakes then he told Abraham the Hebrew c. Thus far the Chaldee of whose conceits here and in one thousand of places more and so of his Nation the Jews I know not whether to say Risum or fletum teneatis amici But to return to my purpose The Greek The Chaldee Paraphrase of Jonathan does also mistake in the age of Mathuselah but I think it only false Printing
is Recorded to have lived in the time of King Jannai called also Alexander the Son of Hyrcanus This Hyrcanus was likewise called Jannai he affected the Kingdom and thereupon the wise men or great ones of that time would have put him from the High Priesthood but he maintained his station by the sword for he slew divers of the wise men which caused Joshua the Son of Perahiah to flee to Alexandria but he was recalled upon the mediation of Simeon ben Shetah 6. Judah the Son of Tabbai President Simeon ben Shetah Vice-President A gallant pair for integrity and justice Were their lives to be written most eminent actions of theirs might be related which are recorded of them as that they hanged fourscore Witches in one day Judged King Jannai the one of them wept daily for an error of Judgment that he had committed and the other preferred the execution of justice before the safety of his own Son This Simeon ben Shetah is he whom we suppose the builder of this Room Gazith that we are surveying 7. Shemaiah President and Abtalion Vice-President These were Kinsmen and of the posterity of Sennacharib but their Mother was an Israelite 8. Hillel President and Shammai Vice-President At first it was Hillel and Menahem but Menahem departed to the service of Herod Hillel was one of the eminentest that ever was among the Jewish Doctors both for birth learning rule and children He was of the seed of David by his Mothers side being of the posterity of Shephatiah the Son of Abital David's Wife He was brought up in Babel from whence he came up to Jerusalem at forty years old and there studied the Law forty years more under Shemaiah and Abtalion and after them he was President of the Sanhedrin forty years more The beginning of his Presidency is generally concluded upon to have been just an hundred years before the Temple was destroyed by which account he began eight and twenty years before our Saviour was born and died when he was about twelve years old He is renowned for his fourscore Scholars one among which was Jonathan ben Uzziel the Chaldee paraphrast c. 9. Rabban Simeon Hillel's Son This man was first dignified with the title Rabban he is supposed to be the Simeon mentioned Luk. II. that took Christ in his Arms and for that it is conceived that he is not of so frequent and honourable mention among the Jewish Writers as others of the same rank with him are they not well relishing his confession of Christ whom they deny He began his Presidentship about the thirtenth year of our Saviours age if the date and account of Hillel's rule mentioned before be current and how long he sate President no one mentions but some assert that his rule was not long The Author of Juchasin relateth that he is never mentioned in the Mishneh or in the Code of the Jews Traditions it may be his embracing Christianity made him cool towards their Traditions so that there is none to Father on him as there are on the other Doctors It is like he was a secret professor of Christ as Nicodemus was and kept both his place and profession 10. Rabban Gamaliel Simeons Son This was he under whom Paul was brought up Act. XXII 3. and see Act. V. 34. He was President of the Council when Christ was arraigned and lived two and twenty years after Onkelos the Targumist of the Law did solemnly celebrate his Funerals He is commonly styled Rabban Gamaliel the old either because he was the first of that name or because he was of a long life Of him they have this saying in the last Chapter of the Treatise Sotah From the time that Rabban Gamaliel the old died the honour of the Law failed and purity and Pharisaism died 11. Rabban Simeon Gamaliel's Son He was slain at the destruction of the Temple and so should his Son also have been had not Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai being in favour with Caesar begged his life And thus have we followed the succession of the Presidents of the Sanhedrin till the Temple and City fell but the Sanhedrin fell not as yet but continued in a flitting and languishing condition for a good space still and had its Presidents till it fell also which were these 12. Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai He was not of the blood of Hillel but he was his Scholar He came to be President upon the death of Rabban Simeon last mentioned his Sanhedrin sate at Jabneh 13. Rabban Gamaliel of Jabneh This was Rabban Simeon's Son whom Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai begged from death of the hands of Caesar at the slaughter of his Father his minority made him unfit for the Presidency when his Father was slain therefore Rabban Jochanan ben Zaccai bare that place and after his death this Rabban Gamaliel succeeded 14. Rabban Simeon the Son of Gamaliel of Jabneh 15. Rabbi Judah the Son of this Rabban Simeon He is eminently called Rabbi and Rabenu haccadosh He collected and compiled the Mishnaioth 16. Rabban Gamaliel the Son of Rabbi Judah Here the title Rabban expired and the Sanhedrin was gone CHAP. XXIII The Draw-Well Room 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 AT the West end of this famous Room Gazith there was the House which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the House or Room of the Draw-Well and the reason of the name was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a a a Mid. per. â— Because there was a Well sunk there with a wheel over it and from thence they fetched up water to serve all the Court. It was not a little water that was used and spent at the Temple for the filling of the Lavers boiling the Offerings washing the Sacrifices nay for washing of the Court and filling Cisterns for the Priests to bath in It was not a small quantity of water that did serve these turns and yet the Temple never wanted but had it always in great abundance The place it self was dry rocky and without water b b b Maym. in Bâ—â—â—h Mikdaâ—h per. 5. but they conveyed their water in pipes thither from a place at some distance where there was a spring head that lay convenient for such a purpose which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fountain Etam Of this the Babylon Talmud discourseth in the place alledged in the Margin and to this purpose c c c Zâ—vachin per. 5. fol. 54. fac 2. The House of the Sanctuary was higher than the Land of Israel and the Land of Israel was higher than other Lands They knew not the like as they produce in the Book of Joshua It is written throughout The border went down and the border went up and the border reached c. But of the Tribe of Benjamin it is written the border went up but it is not written the border went down Learn from hence that this was a place thought â—it to build the Sanctuary in by the Fountain Etam because it was high But they said let
began his Reign by the account of the Book of the Maccabees in the one hundred thirty and seventh year of the Reign of the Seleucian family 1 Mac. I. 10. And in the one hundred forty and third year as both that Book and e e e Jos. Ant. l. 12 c. 6. 1 Mac. I. 21. c. Josephus reckon he came up to Jerusalem being invited thither by a wrethed faction of Onias who was also called Menelaus the High Priest and he taketh the City by their means and slew many of the contrary party and took away many of the Holy things and much spoil and so returned to Antioch This was the beginning of those two thousand and three hundred days mentioned in Dan. VIII 13 14. or the days of desolation when the Host and the Sanctuary were both trodden under Foot Two years and some months after namely in the year one hundred and forty five he cometh up again and under colour of peaceableness obtaining entrance he sacketh Jerusalem plundreth the Temple fireth the fairest buildings of the City pulls down the Walls slayeth even some of those that had invited him taketh many thousands prisoners and setteth a Syrian Garrison for a curb to the City and Temple Here was the beginning of those one thousand two hundred and ninety days mentioned Dan. XII 11. The time that the dayly Sacrifice was taken away and the abomination of desolation was set up which space is called a time times and half a time which was three years and an half and some twelve or thirteen days The mischief that this Tyrant and Persecutor wrought to the Temple Nation and Religion is not expressible how he forbad Circumcision abolished Religion burnt the Books of the Law persecuted the Truth murdred those that professed it and defiled the Sanctuary with all manner of abomination insomuch that the Holy Ghost hath set this character upon those sad times that that was a time of trouble such as was not since they were a Nation even to that same time Dan. XII 1. And here began the Story and Glory of Mattatbias the Father of the Maccabean family who withstood this outrage and villany f f f 1 Mac. II. 70. but died in the next year namely one hundred and forty sixth of the Seleucian Kingdom Judas Maccabeus succeeds him in his zeal and command and prevaileth so gallantly against the Commanders appointed by the Tyrant Apollonius Seron Gorgias and Lysâ—as that in the year one hundred forty eight he and his people return and purifie the Temple erect a new Altar restore the Service and keep the Feast of Dedication for eight days and ordain it for an annual solemnity And from thence even till now saith Josephus we keep that Feast and call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Candlemas if I may so English it naming the Feast as I think from this because such a restauration shone upon us unexpected There is mention of this Feast and it was honoured with Christs presence Joh. X. 22. and what was the manner of its solemnity especially by lighting abundance of Candles at it I have shewed in another place Both Josephus and the Book of Maccabeus make it but exactly three years between the time of Antiochus his defiling of the Altar with abomination and Maccabeus his restoring and purifying it again g g g 1 Mac. I. 54. Jos. ubi sup Only the one of them saith its defiling began on the 15 day of the month Cisleu in the one hundred forty and fifth year of the Seleucian Kingdom and the other saith it began on the five and twentieth day of the same month in the same year but both agree that it was purified on the five and twentieth day of the same month in the year one hundred forty and eight which teacheth us how to distinguish upon that passage of Daniel forementioned in Chap. XII 11. namely that the time the daily Sacrifice was taken away was one thousand two hundred and ninety days or three years and an half and some few days over but the time that the abomination that maketh desolate was set up that is Idols in the Temple and an Idol Altar upon the Lords Altar was but three years Antiochus died in Persia within forty five days after the restoring of the Temple as Dan. XII 12. seemeth to intimate when it pronounceth him blessed that cometh to one thousand three hundred thirty and five days for then he should see the Tyrants death h h h Id. ibid. cap. 15. His son Antiochus Eupator who succeeded him was invited into Judea by some Apostate Jews to come to curb Judas Maccabeus who was besieging the Syrian Garrison that was in Jerusalem He cometh with a mighty power forceth Judas into the Temple and there besiegeth him But being straitned for provisions and hearing of stirrings in his own Kingdom he offereth the besieged honourable conditions upon which they surrender But he entring and seeing the strength of the place and suspecting it might be troublesom to him again he breaketh his Articles and his Oath and putteth down the Wall that incompassed the holy ground down to the ground And thus poor Judas and the Temple are in a worse condition than before for the Antiochian Garrison in Jerusalem that was ready upon all occasions to annoy it is not only not removed but now is the Temple laid naked to their will and fury i i i ibid. This Antiochus put Menelaus the High Priest to death and he rewarded him but justly for calling the Tyrant this Mans Father in and he made Alcimus High Priest in his stead one that was not of the High Priests line at all which made Onias who was next to the High Priesthood indeed to flee into Egypt and thereby the favour Ptolomy Philometor he built a Temple parallel to that at Jerusalem And thus hath Jerusalem Temple two corrivals a Temple on Mount Gerizim in Samaria on the North and a Temple in Egypt on the South Of this Temple built by Onias in Egypt the Talmudical Writers do make frequent and renowned mention They speak in the Treatise k k k Succah per. 5. Succah of a great Synagogue or Sanhedrin here in the time of Alexander the Great in which they say there were seventy golden Chairs and a Congregation belonging to it of double the number of Israelites that came out of Egypt And that Alexander destroyed them to bring upon them the curse denounced by Jeremy against their going down into Egypt Jer. XLIV and the curse due to them for the violation of the command Ye shall return thither to Egypt no more l l l Ios. Ant. lib 13 cap. 6. Iuchas sol 14. Yet would Onias venture to build a Temple here again and that the rather building upon that Prophesie Esay XIX 19. There shall be an Altar to the Lord in the Land of Egypt c. Upon which passage take the Gloss of R. Solomon m m
the Jewish Doctors or some of their Sayings or Determinations but really was either a lye or some of their Magical Tricks p. 253 372. They affirm it supplied the place of Urim and Thummim 485 486 Bathuseans differed from other Hereticks among the Jews yet harmonized with them to oppose the Gospel and Christianity 373 Basilides an Heretick sprung from among the Jews 372 373 Basons What they were and of what use in the Temple 2048 * Bath what sort of measure 545 546 Battlements were to be made on the tops of the Jewish Houses and why 1069 * Beasts at Ephesus what 299 Beating was one sort of Jewish penalty inflicted upon Malefactors 901 902 Beds Men used to ly on them to feast and dine c. 539 Marg. Beelzebub or Belzebub or Belzebul a term taken from the Jewish Writers and what the thing 228 229 105 106 Believers this Title sometimes includes children p. 277 294. A title given to the first Professors of the Gospel 871 Believing gave admission for a whole Houshold unto Baptism the Head thereof being converted p. 294. Believing in Christ is excellently illustrated by being healed and by looking on the brazen Serpent 579 Believing the Gospel how it was above what John the baptist did propose p. 630. Why believing or faith is set after Repentance 630 Ben Cozba Ben Coziba A Pseudo Messias owned by almost all the Jews but destroyed by Titus with all his followers as also the Temple and City of Jerusalem 362 366 367 Ben Saida a blasphemous Name given to our Saviour by the Jewish Writers 228 229 Berenice Niece and Wife to Herod and after his death more familiar with her Brother Agrippa and Titus Vespasian's Son than was for her credit 321 Bethabara supposed to be the place of Israels passage over Jordan but it was rather over against Galilee than Jericho 528 529 Beth Din or The consistory of Priests transacting business in the Temple being the Counsellors thereof 914 Bethany put for the Coast of Bethany it 's not usually understood 252 Bethesday what p. 661 667. Pool of Bethesday whence it received its waters whence it had its excellent vertues 667 668 Beth Midrash or the Jewish Divinity School where their Doctors disputed of the more high and difficult matters of the Law 299 Bethsaida made a City whence it had its name 533 Binding and loosing a phrase most familiar among the Jewish Writers by which they understand their Doctors or Learned Mens teaching what was lawful and permitted or unlawful and prohibited p. 238. In this sence Christ useth it viz. doctrinally to shew what was lawful and unlawful p. 238. And so Peter practised shewing it belonged to Things and not to Persons 847 848 Birthright had many precious things wrapped up in it 15 Bishops one of the Titles of the Gospel Ministers p. 223. Not successors to the Apostles as the Popish Writers hold 787 789 Blasphemy dreadful in Simon Magus 787 Blemishes of the Priests did not exclude them from the Services of the Temple for there were several things they might do there 1093 * Bloud the not eating it expounded by the Jews 293 Bloudy Issue what 232 Bones of all the Patriarchs as well as Joseph's brought out of Egypt and buried at Sichem 781 782 Book of the wars of the Lord what 36 392 Books of Jasir of Gad of Iddo of the wars of the Lord are cited by the Old Testament as not disapproved nor approved above humane 392 Born again what 561 567 570 571 Bowing low at the going out of the Temple what 950 Boyling places within the Temple what and where placed 1092 1093 * Breaking of Bread denotes both ordinary meals and receiving the Sacrament 755 Breast-plate of the High-Priest what 724 905 Breeches of the High Priest what 905 Brethren was a Title given to the first Professors of the Gospel 871 Bridegrooms friend what 585 586 Britain or England Some remarkable things referring to its ancient state p. 328. The Language of it near a thousand years ago what 1017 * Brother offending how to be dealt with 241 Buildings in the Court Wall on the East and South side of the Temple what 1104 * Burning one sort of capital punishment among the Jews how performed 2006 * Burnt Offering or Sacrifice the matter and manner thereof in all its actions as Bringing into the Court Laying on of Hands upon the Head killing of it Fleaing it Sprinkling of the Bloud Lamb to be slain The salting the Parts of the Sacrifice before it was offered How it was laid on the fire 926 to 929 Burnt Offering The Altar of it what p. 1029. * The description of it in Scripture is very concise p. 2029. * How so many Burnt Offerings could be offered on this one Altar in so small a time p. 2029 2030. * Burying Place of Golgotha what 267 C. CABBALAH of the Jews was their unwritten Traditions c. Page 457 458 652 Cabbalists what 998 Cain and Abel were Twins born at the sametime 693 Calf Golden Calf Israels punishment for it 715 Calling of the Gentiles was a thing highly disgusted by the Jews 621 Candlestick Golden Candlestick over the Temple door described with its use p. 1078. * There was also a Golden Candlestick in the room of the holy Place its Magnitude shape and signification 1081 1082. * Called to be called a thing in Scripture is to be the thing so called 399. Marg. Calling of the Jews how p. 375. Not so Universal as some suppose 375 376 377 Calling of the Gentiles p. 314. It was a matter the Jews could never hear of with patience 621 Cana two of the Name where 541 Candlestick of Gold 720 721 Capernaum what Here Christ inhabited p. 530. whence derived and how otherwise called 439. Marg. Captain of the Temple that is of the Garrison which was there what he was 759 1060. * Castor and Pollux 322 Caesar the common Name of the Roman Emperor as Abimelech of the Philistine Kings and Pharaoh of the Egyptians 423. Marg. Cephas Peter's Name given him by Christ which was after of common use whether the same with Cepha what it signifies p. 531. The reason of Christs giving him this Name 532 Cesarea a famous place was also famous for Learned Men. p. 285. There was the Seat of the Roman Court p. 285 286. It was a City of the Jews and Greeks and an University of the Jews 321 Ceremonial Law what and how Christ fulfilled it p. 475 476. How it differs very much from the Grace and Truth of the Gospel p. 500. How far it obliged the Jews as particular Men and as Members of the Congregation of Israel p. 548 549 Chains of Peter in which he lay in Prison are supposed by the Papists to have the vertue to work Miracles to diffuse Grace to provoke to Holiness to heal Diseases to affright the Devil and to defend Christians 886 Chasing-dishes what they were and of what use in the Temple 2049 * Chaldeans took their
had none This Dichotomy is shewed out of the Jewish Writers p. 651 to 658. Jewish Affairs p. 773 825. Their troubles in Alexandria p. 832 834 835 852 853 859. In their own Land p. 856 857. They are again in favour p. 879. Phrases taken from the Jewish Writers are used in the New Testament as Gehenna the World to come Maranatha Raka Jannes and Jambres Beelzebub 1005 1006 Jews a great number were all along in Egypt p. 205. Their Language and Stile is much followed in the New Testament p. 213 214. They had three ways of opposing the Gospel by a Prayer against Hereticks by Emissaries whose business were to cry it down and preach every where against it by the use of Magick in doing strange things exceeding many of them being skilled therein p. 290. They generally every where opposed the Gospel p. 294 295 296 297. Both within and without Judea they were generally Judged by their own Magistracy p. 302. They used to pray only for themselves and their own Nation p. 309. In Babilon in the days of Saint Peter they were grown to so great and distinct a Nation since the time of the Captivity that they had a Prince of their own and three Universities 335. About Christs appearance and especially some little after they were the most unquiet and tumultuous Nation under Heaven p. 337. Besides their common wickedness they had four Additions monstrous and unparalleld p. 337. The cruelty of the Jews was most unparalleld they murdered at one time of Greeks and Romans 460000 Men eating their flesh devouring their Intrals daubing themselves with their Blood and wearing their Skins c. p. 289 366. After this multitude of thousands of Jews were destroyed 400000. Adrian walled a Vineyard sixteen miles about with dead Bodies a Mans height The Brains of three hundred of their Children were found upon one stone p. 368. He destroyed fifty of their strongest Garisons and nine hundred eighty five of their fairest Towns this was sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem 366 367. They had five hundred Schools and in every one five hundred Scholars Rab. Akibah had 24000 Disciples p. 368. They were more mad of their Traditions and Carnal Rites after the fall of Jerusalem than before p. 370 371. They were generally divided among themselves yet all of them opposed Christianity to the utmost when they themselves were in their greatest afflictions p. 371. They deeply engage themselves to stand by the Mishnah and Talmud p. 372. The Talmud of Babilon is their Standard for Rule and Religion to this day 372. Their miserable Estate to this day doteing on Traditions Their own Works for salvation Their being the Children of God that their Messias is to come hating him that is already come up p. 375. They make a part of the remaing Antichrist and are to be destroyed with him c. p. 376. There may be a calling of the Jews but not so universal as some suppose p. 375 376 377. In Galilee and Judea they differed in many things p. 605. Jews put for Sanbedrim or Rulers very common in the Evangelists p. 662 670. Their Admirable Resolution and Courage 773. How their-own Historians differ 774. Their Commotions p. 773 803 818 874 875. Vitellius becomes their friend p. 809. The difference between the Jews and the Gentiles went away when Christ came p. 845 to 847. Several Hereticks sprang from among them as Simon Cerinthius Menander Ebion Basilides c. p. 372 373. Jannes and Jambres a form taken from the Jewish Writers 1005 1006 Jezabel mentioned Apoe 2. 20. might possibly be one that was a Whore to Simon Magus 787 If is sometimes a Note of Assurance and not of Doubting 503 Image of Jelousy what 2017. * Immarcalin were seven in number they carried the Keys of the Gates of the Court and one could not open them without the rest c. 913 914 Imposition of Hands p. 281. This way the Holy Ghost was sometimes given p. 285. This way the Apostles in likelihood never used but to ordain unto some Office in the Church and not for Confirmation 788 Incarnation is a mystery high and deep 504 Incense burning what 945 946 Incense The Altar of Incense what p. 1083. * The way of pounding and compounding it 2012. * Inspiration two Degrees of it viz. to Prophesie and to be Pen Men of Divine Writ John had both these 341 342 Inversion of Words or Names very common in Scripture 84 88 122 Joab his self-deceit in laying hold of the Horns of the Altar with the Reason of it 2033. * Jocanan ben Zaccai Rabban part of his History 2009. * Job was contemporary with Israel in Egypt p. 23. He was an Heathen Man yet so good 1026 John the Baptist when he began to Preach and Baptize p. 208 209. How exceedingly People flocked to his Ministry and Baptism p. 209. His Ministry lasted three years the half of which almost he lay in Prison p. 234. He was born at the same time and place when and where Circumcision was instituted p. 13. Josepbus his Testimony of him p. 592. His excellent Character with what opinion the Jews even the Sanhedrim had of him at first p. 681 682. How he received his Commission for the Ministry and the Institution of the Sacrament of Baptism p. 454. How he performed these 455 John the Evangelist his departure from Paul and Barnabas at Perga the occasion guest at p. 290. He is called The Beloved Disciple c. with the Reason 634 635 John the same with Jochanan frequent in the Old Testament 398. Marg. Jona applied to Peter with emphasis when Prophet Jonah and he are compared together 531 Jonah the Prophet was a Man of Wonders as his History refers to Niniveh 1006 1007 Jordan Israels passage through Jordan was very many miles taking up about all the length of the River that was in Judeah 478 528 Joseph had the Birthright as Rachel's first Born by Jacob's Choice in his life and Gift at his death p. 17 19 21. His Birthright in the division of Canaan is served next after Judah's Royalty 41 Joshua did great things 42 Joshua the son of Perehiah part of his History 2008. * Josi or Joseph ben Joezer part of his History 2008. * Jota or one Title of the Law did not perish 374 Journey taking a Journey in Scripture be it whither it will is commonly called going up and going down p. 423. A Sabbath days Journy what 252 739 to 742 Isaac his birth how he was a Type of Christ. 13 14 Isaiah is called the Evangelist 98 Israelite indeed what 534 Israel's afflictions in Egypt with the Reason of their suffering p. 1024. Israels Camp according to the Chaldee Paraphrast what 1025 1026 Iturea Ituria what Country and whence it had its Name 453 Jubilee Year what resemblance of Christs Redemption p. 619. It was the Jubilee year at Christs birth 243 Judah the son of Tabbai part of his History p. 2008. * Rabbi
Hebron very many things are said by very many men The City was called Hebron that is A Consociation perhaps from the Pairs there buried Abraham Isaac and Jacob and their wives Not a few believe Adam was buried there in like manner some that he was buried once and buried again e e e e e e Idem fol. 5. 1. Adam said say they after my death they will come perhaps and taking my bones will worship them but I will hide my Coffin very deep in the Earth in a Cave within a Cave It is therefore called The Cave Macpelah or the doubled Cave CHAP. L. Of the Cities of Refuge HEBRON the most eminent among them excites us to remember the rest a a a a a a Bab. Maccoth fol. 9. 2. The Rabbines deliver this Moses separated three Cities of refuge beyond Jordan and against them Josua separated three Cities in the land of Canaan And these were placed by one another just as two ranks of Vines are in a Vinyard Hebron in Judea against Bezer in the Wilderness Shechem in Mount Ephraim against Ramoth in Gilead Cadesh in Mount Nephthali against Golan in Basan And these three were so equally disposed that there was so much space from the South coast of the land of Israel to Hebron as there was from Hebron to Schechem and as much from Hebron to Shechem as from Shechem to Cadesh and as much from Shechem to Cadesh as from Cadesh to the North coast of the land b b b b b b Maimon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 8. It was the Sanhedrins business to make the ways to those Cities convenient by enlarging them and by removing every stop against which one might either stumble or dash his foot No hillock or river was allowed to be in the way over which there was not a bridge and the way leading thither was at least two and thirty cubits broad And every double way or in the parting of the ways was written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Refuge Refuge lest he that fled thither might mistake the way c c c c c c Maccoth fol. 11. 1. The Mothers of the high Priest used to feed and cloth those that for murder were shut up in the Cities of Refuge that they might not pray for the death of their sons since the Fugitive was to be restored to his Country and Friends at the death of the high Priest but if he died before in the City of Refuge his bones were to be restored after the death of the high Priest d d d d d d Maimon in the place above The Jews dream that in the days of the Messias three other Cities are to be added to those six which are mentioned in the Holy Scripture and they to be among the Kenites the Kenezites and the Kadmonites Let them dream on e e e e e e Bab. Sanhedr fol. 18. 2. Let him that kills the high Priest by a sudden chance fly to a City of Refuge but let him never return thence Compare these words with the State of the Jews killing Christ. CHAP. LI. Beth-lehem THE Jews are very silent of this City nor do I remember that I have read any thing in them concerning it besides those things which are produced out of the Old Testament this only excepted that the a a a a a a Beracoth fol. 5. 1. Jerusalem Gemarists do confess that the Messias was born there before their times b b b b b b Just. Martyr Apol. 2. pag. 75 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bethlehem is a certain Town in the land of the Jews thirty five furlongs distant from Jerusalem and that toward the South The Father of the Ecclesiastical Annals citing these words of Eusebius c c c c c c Euseb. Eccles. hist. lib. 4. cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. thus renders them in Latine d d d d d d Baron Annal. ad annum Christ. 137. Jam vero cum decimo octavo anno imperii Hadriani bellum juxta urbem Beth-lehem nuncupatam quae erat rerum omnium praesidiis munitissima neque adeo longe a Civitate Hierosolymarum sita vehementius accenderetur c. But now when in the eighteenth year of the Empire of Adrian the war was more vehemently kindled near the Town called Beth-lehem which was very well fortified with all manner of defence nor was seated far from the City of Jerusalem c. The Interpreter of Eusebius renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth-thera not illy however it be not rendered according to the letter Perhaps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crept into the word instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the carelesness of the Coppiers But by what liberty the other should render it Beth-lehem let himself see Eusebius doth certainly treat of the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Betar it is vulgarly written Bitter of the destruction of which the Jews relate very many things with lamentation which certainly is scarcely to be reckoned the same with Bethlehem The same Father of the Annals adds that Beth-lehem from the times of Adrian to the times of Constantine was profaned by the Temple of Adonis for the asserting of which he cites these words of Paulinus Hadrianus supposing that he should destroy the Christian Faith by offering injury to the place in the place of the Passion dedicated the Image of Jupiter and profaned Beth-lehem with the Temple of Adonis As also like words of Hierome yet he confesses the contrary seems to be in Origen against Celsus and that more true For Hadrian had no quarrel with the Christians and Christianity but with the Jews that cursedly rebelled against him CHAP. LII Betar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OF this City there is a deep silence in the Holy Scriptures but a most clamorous noise in the Talmudic Writings It is vulgarly written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Betar and rendred by Christians Bitter or Bither but I find it written in the Jerusalem Talmud pretty often in the same page a a a a a a Hieros Taanith fol. 68. 4. 69. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be read as it seems 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth-Tar and casting away the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thau which is very usual in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be-Tar The House of the Inquirer Wherefore say they was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth-Tar laid waste Because it lighted candles after the destruction of the Temple And why did it light candles Because the Councellors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at Jerusalem dwelt in the midst of the City And when they saw any going up to Jerusalem they said to him We hear of you that you are ambitious to be made a Captain or a Councellor but he answered There is no such thing in my mind We hear of you that you are about to sell your wealth But he answered Nor did this come into my mind Then would one of
Id. Horasoth fol. 48. 3. Councellors and Pagans in Zippor are mentioned And also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u u u u u u Id. Nedarim fol. 38. 4. The sons of Ketzirah or the Harvest of Zippor Zippor was distant from Tiberias as R. Benjamin tells us in his Itinerary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Twenty miles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zipporin with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zain is once writ in the Jerusalem Talmud one would suspect it to be this City x x x x x x Hieros Avod Zarah fol. 41. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When R. Akiba went to Zippor they came to him and asked Are the Jugs of the Gentiles clean A story worthy of consideration if that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zipporin denote ours was R. Akibah in Zippor He died almost forty years before the University was translated thither But Schools haply were there before an University In the Talmud the story of y y y y y y Joma f. 38. 4. Megill f. 72. 1. Ben Elam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Zippor once it is written z z z z z z Horaioth fol. 47. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Zippor is thrice repeated who when the High Priest by reason of some uncleanness contracted on the day of Expiation could not perform the Office of that day he went in and officiated CHAP. LXXXIII Some places bordering upon Zippor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ieshanah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ketsarah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shihin I. IN a a a a a a Kiddushin cap. 4. hal 5. the place noted in the margin discourse is had of the legitimate Mothers of the Priests among other things it is said Let no further enquiry be made If his Father be enrolled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Catalogue of Jeshanah of Zippor The Gloss is There was a neighbour City to Zippor whose name was Jeshanah and it was customary to enrol them who were fit to judge c. So that this Jeshanah seems to be so near to Zippor that the Records of Zippor were laid up there II. b b b b b b Erachin cap. 9. hal 6. Towns fortified from the days of Joshua Old Ketsarah which belongs to Zippor and Chakrah which belongs to Gush Calab and Jodaphath the old Jotopata and Gamala c. The Gloss is Ketsarah is the name of a little City without Zippor Perhaps that which we cited above relates to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sons of Ketzirah or the Harvest of Sippor III. a a a a a a Hieros Nedaâ—im fol. 38. Sometimes a Fire happened in the Court of Josi ben Simai in Shihin and the Inhabitants of Ketsarah which belongs to Tsippor came down to quench it but he permitted them not saying Let the Exactor exact his Debt Presently a cloud gathered together above the fire and rains fell and put it out The Sabbath being finished he sent mony to every one of them d d d d d d Joseph in his own life p. 653 Josephus mentions also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Garisimes distant twenty furlongs from Zippor In like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e e e e e e Id. de bell lib. 2. cap. 37. Asamon a mountain in the middle of Gaâ—ilee which lies over against Sippor CHAP. LXXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Usha THE a a a a a a Bab. Rosh hashanab f. 31. 2 Juchas fol. 21. 2. Sanhedrin went 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Jabne to Usha and from Usha to Shepharaam The Gloss is to Jabne in the days of Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai to Usha in the days of Rabban Gamaliel but they went back from Usha to Jabne but in the days of Rabban Simeon they returned We do not apprehend the reason why Rabban Gamaliel went thither whatsoever it were either some disturbance raised by the Romans or indignation that R. Eleazar ben Azariah should be President with him or some other reason certainly the abode there was but small either Gamaliel himself returning to Jabne after some time or R. Akiba who succeeded in his chair But after the War of Hadrian and the death of R. Akibah in that War when Judea was now in disturbance by the Romans Rabban Simeon the son of Gamaliel succeeding in the Presidentship after Akibah went with the Sanhedrin from Jafne to Usha nor was there ever after any return to Jafne The Talmudists remember us of very many things transacted at Usha b b b b b b Hieros Sheviith fol. 39. 2 When they intercalated the year in Usha the first day R. Ismael the son of R. Jochanan ben Brucha stood forth and said according to the words of R. Jochanan ben Nuri. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel said We were not wont to do so in Jafne On the second day Ananias the son of Josi the Galilean said according to the words of R. Akibah R. Simeon ben Gamaliel said so we were wont to do in Jafne This story is repeated in c c c c c c Rosh hash fol. 58. 3. 59. 3. Rosh hashanah and d d d d d d Nedar fol. 40. 1. Nedarim e e e e e e Hieros Châ—tubh fol. 28. 4. See also Peah fol. 15. 2. In Usha it was decreed that a man should nourish his little children that if a man make over his goods to his children he and his wife be maintained out of them c. f f f f f f Bab. Shabâ— fol. 15. 2. It was determined also in Usha concerning the burning the Truma in some doubtful cases of which see the place quoted But that we be not more tedious let this story be for a conclusion g g g g g g Id. Sanbedr fol. 14. 1. The wicked Kingdom of Rome did sometime decree a persecution against Israel namely that every one preferring any to be an Elder should be killed and that every one that was preferred should be killed and that the City in which any is preferred to Eldership should be laid waste and that the borders within which any such promotion is made should be rooted out What did Baba ben Judah do He went out and sat between two great Mountains and between two great Cities and between two Sabbath bounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between Usha and Shapharaam and ordained five Elders namely R. Meir R. Judah R. Simeon R. Josi and R. Eliezar ben Simeon Rabh Oia added also R. Nehemiah When this came to be known to their enemies he said to his Scholars fly O my sons they said to him Rabbi What will you do He said to them Behold I am cast before them as a stone which hath no movers They say That they departed not thence until they had fastned three hundred iron darts into him and had made him like a sieve CHAP. LXXXV Arbel Shezor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tarnegola the upper A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Arbel
3936 762 39 9 Q. Sulpit. Camarin and C. Poppaeus Sabinus 3937 763 40 10 Pub. Corn. Dolabella and C. Iunius Silanus 3938 764 41 11 M. Aemil. Lepid. and T. Statilius Taurus 3939 765 42 12 Germanicus Caes. and C. Fonteius Capito 3940 766 43 13 L. Munatius Plancus and C. Silius Caecina 3941 767 44 14 Sext. Pomp. Sexti F. and Sext. Apuleius Sexti F. Augustus Cesar died the XIXth day of August on which day he had formerly entred upon the first Consulship b b b b b b Dion Cass. lib. 56. He lived LXXV years X months and XXVI days He bore the Empire alone from the Victory at Actium XLIV years wanting only XIII days c c c c c c Eutrop. lib. 7. Tiberius held the Empire in great slothfulness with grievous cruelty wicked covetousness and filthy lust Year of the World Of the City built Of Tiberius Of Christ Consuls 3942 768 1 15 Drusus Caes. and C. Norbanus Flaccus 3943 769 2 16 C. Statil Sisenna Taurus and Scribonius Libo 3944 770 3 17 C. Caecil Rufus and L. Pomponianus Flaccus 3945 771 4 18 Tiber. Caes. Aug. III. and Germanicus Caes. II. 3946 772 5 19 M. Iulius Silanus and L. Norban Flac. vel Balbus 3947 773 6 20 M. Valerius Messala and M. Aurel. Cotta 3948 774 7 21 Tiber. Caes. Aug. IV. and Drusus Caes. II. 3949 775 8 22 D. Haterius Agrippa and C. Sulpitius Galba 3950 776 9 23 C. Asinius Pollio and C. Antistius Veter 3951 777 10 24 Sext. Cornel. Cethegus and Visellius Varro 3952 778 11 25 M. Asinius Agrippa and Cossus Cornel. Lentulus 3953 779 12 26 Cn. Lentulus Getulicus and C. Calvisius Sabinus 3954 780 13 27 M. Licinius Crassus and P. L. Calphurnius Piso. 3955 781 14 28 Appius Iul. Silanus and P. Silvius Nerva 3956 782 15 29 C. Rubellius Geminus and C. Fusius Geminus In the early spring of this year came John baptizing In the month Tisri Christ is baptized when he had now accomplished the nine and twentieth year of his age and had now newly entred upon his thirtieth The thirtieth of Christ is to be reckoned with the sixteenth of Tiberius Of Augustus now entring upon his one and thirtieth year wherein Christ was born Dion Cassius hath moreover these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having now compleated thrice ten years being compelled indeed to it he continued his Government and entred upon a fourth ten of years being now more easie and slothful by reason of age In this very year was the Taxation under Cyrenius of which Luke speaks Chap. II. So that if it be asked when the fifth Monarchy of the Romans arose after the dissolution of those four mentioned by Daniel An easie answer may be fetched from S. Luke who relates that in that very year wherein Christ was born Augustus laid a Tax upon the whole World III. Christ was born in the thirty fift year of the reign of Herod which we gather from the observation of these things 1. d d d d d d Ioseph Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 10. Herod reigned from that time he was first declared King by the Romans seven and thirty years 2. Between the death of Herod and the death of Augustus there was this space of time 1. e e e e e e Ios. Antiq. lib. 1â— cap 15. The ten years current of the reign of Archelaus 2. f f f f f f Id. ibid. lib. Coponius succeeds him banished into Vienna in the Presidentship of Judea 3. Marcus Ambibuchus succeeds Coponius 4. g g g g g g Id. iold cap. 3 Annius Rufus succeeds Ambibuchus during whose Presidentship Augustus dies 18. cap. 1. Since therefore only fourteen years passed from the nativity of Christ to the death of Augustus out of which sum when you shall have reckoned the ten years current of Archelaus and the times of the three Presidents we must reckon that Christ was not born but in the last years of Herod Thus we conjecture In his thirty fift Christ was born In his thirty seventh now newly begun the Wise men came presently after this was the slaying of the infants and after a few months the death of Herod IV. Christ was born about the twenty seventh year of the Presidentship of Hillel in the Sanhedrin The rise of the family of Hillel took its beginning at the decease of the Asmonean family Herod indeed succeeded in the Kingly government a family sprung from Babylon and as was believed of the stock of David For h h h h h h Hieros Taanith fol. 68. 1. a book of genealogy was found at Jerusalem which we mentioned before in which it was written that Hillel was sprung from the stock of David by his wife Abital Now Hillel went up out of Babylon to Jerusalem to enquire of the Wise men concerning some things when now after the death of Shemaia and Abtalion the two sons of Betira held the chief seats And when he who had resorted thither to learn something had taught them some things of the Passover rites which they had forgot they put him into the chair You have the full story of it in the i i i i i i Pisachâ—n fol. 33. 1. Jerusalem Talmud We mention it Chap. XXVI 1. Now Hillel went up to Jerusalem and took the Chair an hundred years before the destruction of the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k k k k k k Bab. Schabb. fol 15. 1. Hillel and his son Simeon and his son Gamaliel and his son Simeon bare the Government for an hundred years before the laying waste of the Temple Of those hundred years if you take away two and thirty and an half of the life of Christ and forty years as it is commonly computed coming between the death of Christ and the destruction of the City there remain the twenty seven years of Hillel before the birth of our Saviour Hillel held the government forty years So that his death happened about the twelfth or thirteenth year of Christ His son also held it after him and his grandsons in a long succession even to R. Judah the Holy The splendor and pomp of this family of Hillel had so obscured the rest of the families of Davids stock that perhaps they believed or expected the less that the Messias should spring from any of them Yea one in the Babylonian Gemara was almost perswaded that Rabbi Judah the Holy of the Hillelian family was the Messias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l l l l l l Sanhedr fol. 98. 2. Rabh said If Messiah be among the living our Holy Rabbi is such if among the dead Daniel was he V. Christ was born in the month Tisri somewhat answering to our September This we conclude omitting other things by computing backwards from his death For if he died in his two and thirtieth year and an half at the feast of the Passover in the month Nisan you must necessarily lay the time of
not hearken to my words which I shall put into his mouth c. 3. How the Heavenly voice went out of the Cloud that overshadowed them when at his Baptism no such Cloud appeared Here that is worthy observing which some Jews note and reason dictates namely That the Cloud of Glory the Conductor of Israel departed at the death of Moses for while he lived that Cloud was the peoples guide in the Wilderness but when he was dead the Ark of the Covenant led them Therefore as that Cloud departed at the death of Moses that Great Prophet so such a Cloud was now present at the Sealing of the Greatest Prophet 4. Christ here shines with such a brightness nay with a greater than Moses and Elias now glorified and this both for the honour of his Person and for the honour of his Doctrine both which surpassed by infinite degrees the Persons and the Doctrines of both of them When you recollect the face of Christ transfigured shining with so great luster when he talked with Moses and Elias acknowledg the Brightness of the Gospel above the cloudy obscurity of the Law and of the Prophets VERS IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let us make here three Tabernacles c. THE Transfiguration of Christ was by night Compare Luk. IX 37. The form of his face and garments is changed while he prays and Moses and Elias came and discourse with him concerning his death it is uncertain how long while as yet the Disciples that were present were over-charged with sleep When they awaked O what a Spectacle had they being afraid they observe and contemplate they discover the Prophets whom now departing Peter would detain and being loth that so noble a Scene should be dispersed made this Proposition Let us make here three Tabernacles c. Whence he should know them to be Prophets it is in vain to seek because it is no where to be found but being known he was loth they should depart thence being ravished with the sweetness of such society however astonished at the terrour of the Glory and hence those words which when he spake he is said by Luke Not to know what he said and by Mark Not to know what he should say which are rather to be understood of the misapplication of his words than of the sense of the words He knew well enough that he said these words and he knew as well for what reason he said them but yet he knew not what he said that is he was much mistaken when he spake these words while he believed that Christ Moses and Elias would abide and dwell there together in Earthly Tabernacles VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. While he yet spake behold a cloud c. MOses and Elias now turning their backs and going out of the Scene Peter speaks his words and as he speaks them when the Prophets were now gone Behold a Cloud c. they had foretold Christ of his death such is the cry of the Law and of the Prophets that Christ should suffer Luk. XXIV 44. He Preaches his Deity to his Disciples and the Heavenly voice seals him for the true Messias See 2 Pet. I. 16 17. VERS X. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why therefore say the Scribes that Elias must first come I. IT would be an infinite task to produce all the passages out of the Jewish Writings which one might concerning the expected coming of Elias We will mention a few things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in passing which sufficiently speak out that vain expectation and the ends also of his expected coming 1. Let David Kimchi first be heard upon those words of Malachi Behold I send you Elias the Prophet God saith he shall restore the soul of Elias which ascended of old into Heaven into a created body like to his former body for his first body returned to Earth when he went up to Heaven each Element to its own Element But when God shall bring him to life in the body he shall send him to Israel before the day of Judgment which is the Great and Terrible day of the Lord and he shall admonish both the fathers and the children together to turn to God and they that turn shall be delivered from the day of Judgment c. Consider whether the Eye of the Disciples looks in the Question under our hands Christ had commanded in the verse before Tell the Vision of the Transfiguration to no man until the Son of man be risen from the dead But now although they understood not what the Resurrection from the dead meant which Mark intimates yet they roundly retort Why therefore say the Scribes that Elias shall first come That is before there be a Resurrection and a day of Judgment for as yet they were altogether ignorant that Christ should rise They believed with the whole Nation that there should be a Resurrection at the coming of the Messias 2. Let Aben Ezra be heard in the second place We find saith he that Elias lived in the days of Ahaziah the son of Ahab we find also that Joram the son of Ahab and Jehoshaphat enquired of Elisha the Prophet and there it is written This is Elisha the son of Shaphat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who poured water upon the hands of Elijah And this is a sign that Elias was first gone up into Heaven in a whirlwind because it is not said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who poureth water but Who poured Moreover Elisha departed not from Elijah from the time that he first waited upon him until Elias went up And yet we find that after the death of Jehoshaphat in the days of Ahasiah his son It was written And a letter came to him from Elijah the Prophet And this proves that he then writ and sent it for if it had been written before his Ascension it would be said A letter was found or brought to him which Elias had left behind him And it is without controversie that he was seen in the days of our Holy Wise Men. God of his Mercy hasten his Prophesie and the times of his coming So he upon Mal. IV. 3. The Talmudists do suppose Elias keeping the Sabbath in Mount Carmel a a a a a a Hieros Pesach fol. 30. 2. Let not the Truma saith one of which it is doubted whither it be clean or unclean be burnt lest Elias keeping the Sabbath in Mount Carmel come and testifie of it on the Sabbath that it is clean 4. The Talmudical books abound with these and the like trifles b b b b b b Maimon in Gizelah c. 13. If a man finds any thing that is lost he is bound to declare it by a publick outcry but if the owners come not to ask for it let him lay it up by him until Elias shall come And c c c c c c Bava Mezia cap. 1. Hal. ult c. If any find a Bill of Contract between his Country men and knows
After these things Jesus walked in Galilee for he would not walk any more in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him 3. It was not unusal to defer the payment of the half Shekels of this year to the year following by reason of some urgent necessity Hence it was when they sat to collect and receive this Tribute the Collectors had before them two chests placed in one of which they put the h See Shekal cap. 2. Maimon ibid. Tax of the present year in the other of the year past u But it may be objected Why did the Collectors of Capernaum require the payment at that time when according to Custom they began not to demand it before the fifteenth day of the month Adar I answer 1. It is certain there were in every City money changers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to collect it and being collected to carry it to Jerusalem Hence is that in the Tract cited The fifteenth day of the month Adar the Collectors sit in the Cities to demand the half Shekel and the five and twentieth they sit in the Temple 2. The uncertain abode of Christ at Capernaum gave these Collectors no unjust cause of demanding this due whensoever they had him there present at this time especially when the feast of Tabernacles was near and they about to go to Jerusalem to render an account perhaps of their Collection But if any list to understand this of the Tax paid the Romans we do not contend And then the words of those that collected the Tribute Does not your Master pay the Didrachm seem to sound to this effect Is your Master of the Sect of Judas of Galilee CHAP. XVIII VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven IT cannot be passed over without observation that the ambitious dispute of the Disciples concerning Primacy for the most part followed the mention of the death of Christ and his Resurrection See this Story in Mark IX 31 32 33. And Luke IX 44 45 46. He said to his Disciples Lay up these discourses in your ears for the time is coming that the Son of man is delivered into the hands of Men. But they knew not that saying c. and there arose a contest between them who among them should be greatest Also Matth. XX. 18 19 20. He said to them Behold we go up to Jerusalem and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the Chief Priests c. Then came to him the Mother of Zebedees children with her sons saying Grant that these my two sons may sit one on thy right hand c. And Luke XXII 22 23 24. The Son of man indeed goeth as it is determined c. and there arose a Contention among them who of them should seem to be the greater The dream of the earthly Kingdom of the Messias did so possess their minds for they had suck'd in this Doctrine with their first milk that the mention of the most vile death of the Messias repeated over and over again did not at all drive it thence The image of earthly pomp was fixed at the bottom of their hearts and there it stuck nor by any words of Christ could it as yet be rooted out no not when they saw the death of Christ when together with that they saw his Resurrection for then they also asked Wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel Acts I. 6. However after Christ had oftentimes foretold his death and resurrection it always follows in the Evangelists that they understood not what was spoken yet the opinion formed in their minds by their Doctors That the Resurrection should go before the Kingdom of the Messias supplied them with such an interpretation of this matter that they lost not an ace of the opinion of a future Earthly Kingdom See more at Chap. XXIV 3. VERS VI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is good for him in Talmudick Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to be said in distinction from those very small Mills wherewith they were wont to grind the spices that were either to be applied to the wound of Circumcision or to be added to the delights of the Sabbath Hence the Gloss of R. Solomon upon Jer. XXV 10. The sound of Mills and the light of the candle the sound of Mills saith he wherewith spices were ground and bruised for the healing of Circumcision That Christ here speaks of a kind of death perhaps no where certainly never used among the Jews he does it either to aggravate the thing or in allusion to drowning in the dead Sea in which one cannot be drowned without some weight hung to him and in which to drown any thing by a common manner of speech implied to devote to rejection hatred and execration which we have observed elswhere VERS X. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Their Angels in Heaven do always behold c. THIS one may very well expound by laying to it that which is said Heb. I. 14. The Angels are Ministring Spirits sent to minister for them who shall be heirs of the salvation to come As if he should say See that ye do not despise one of these little ones who have been received with their believing parents into the Gospel Church for I say unto you that after that manner as the Angels minister to adult Believers they minister to them also VERS XII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If he lose one does he not leave the ninety and nine c. A Very common form of speech a a a a a a Peah cap. 4. Hal. â— In distributing some grapes and dates to the poor although ninety nine say Scatter them and only one Divide them They hearken to him because he speaks according to the Tradition b b b b b b â—ieros Schabh fol. â—4 â— If ninety nine die by an evil eye that is by bewitching and but one by the hand of Heaven that is by the stroke of God c. If ninety nine die by reason of cold but one by the hand of God c. VERS XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tell him his fault between thee and him alone THE reason of the precept is founded in that charitable Law Levit. XIX 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but thou shalt surely reprove him and shalt not suffer sin in him Here the Talmudists speak not amiss c c c c c c Bab. â—â—achin fol. 1â— â— The Rabbins deliver Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart Perhaps he does not beat him he does not pull off his hair he does not curse him the Text saith In thy Heart speaking of hatred in the heart But whence is it proved that he that sees his brother doing some foul action is bound to reprove him Because it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
z Berac sol 5 4 The righteous even in death are said to live and the wicked even in life are said to be dead But how is it proved that the wicked even in life are said to be dead From that place where it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have no delight in the death of the dead Is he already dead that is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dead And whence is it proved that the righteous even in death are said to live From that passage And he said to him this is the land concerning which I sware to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is the meaning of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He saith to him Go and tell the Fathers whatsoever I promised to you I have performed to your children The opinion of the Babylonians is the same a a a a a a Berac sol 18. 1 The living know that they shall dye They are righteous who in their death are said to live as it is said And Benaiah the son of Jehojada the son of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— living man c. And a little after The dead knew nothing They are the wicked who even in their life are called Dead as it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thou dead wicked Prince of Israel The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is commonly rendred Profane in this place they render it also in a sense very usual namely for one wounded or dead b b b b b b Ibid. col 2. There are further divers stories alledged by which they prove that the dead so far live that they understand many things which are done here and that some have spoke after death c. CHAP. XXIII VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In Moses seat c. THIS is to be understood rather of the Legislative seat or chair than of the merely Doctrinal and Christ here asserts the authority of the Magistrate and perswadeth to obey him in lawful things Concerning the Chairs of the Sanhedrin there is mention made in Bab. Succah c c c c c c Fol. â—1 2. There were at Alexandria seventy one golden chairs according to the number of the seventy one Elders of the great Council Concerning the authority of Moses and his Vicegerent in the Council there is also mention in Sanhedrim d d d d d d Chap. 1. hal 6 The great Council consisted of seventy one Elders But whence was this number derived From that place where it is said Chuse me out seventy men of the Elders of Israel And Moses was President over them Behold seventy one What is here observed by Galatinus from the signification of the Aorist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sat iâ— too light and aery He saith They sat saith he and not They sit that he might plainly demonstrate that their power was then ceased e e e e e e Chap. 6. Book 4. But if we would be so curious to gather any thing from this Aorist we might very well transfer it to this sense rather The Scribes and Pharises the worst of men have long usurped Moses seat nevertheless we ought to obey them because by the dispensation of the Divine Providence they bear the chief Magistracy Concerning their authority thus Maimonides f f f f f f In Mamrim cap. 1. The great Council of Jerusalem was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g g g g g g See 1 Tim. III. 15. The Pillar and Ground The ground of the traditional Law and the pillar of Doctrine whence proceeded statutes and judgments for all Israel And concerning them the Law asserts this very thing saying h h h h h h Deut. XVII 11. According to the Sentence of the Law which they shall teach thee Whosoever therefore believes Moses our Master and his Law is bound to relie upon them for the things of the Law Christ teacheth that they were not to be esteemed as Oracles but as Magistrates VERS IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heavy burdens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Talmudick Language Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A heavy Prohibition i i i i i i Jerus Roshbashanaâ— fol. 56. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k k k k k k Maim in Mamr chap. 1. Let him follow him that imposeth heavy things There are reckoned up four and twenty things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the weighty things of the School of Hillel and the light things of that of Shammai l l l l l l Jerus Jom Tobh fol. 60. 2. Sotah f. 19. 2 R. Joshua saith m m m m m m Ibid. chap. 3 hal 4. A foolish religious man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A crafty wicked man a shee-Pharisee and the voluntary dashing of the Pharisees destroy the world It is disputed by the Gemarists who is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crafty wicked man and it is answer'd by some He that prescribes light things to himself and heavy to others VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They make broad their Phylacteries THESE four places of the Law Exod. XIII ver 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. Exod. XIII ver 11 12 13 14 15 16. Deut. VI. ver 5 6 7 8 9. Deut. XI ver 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21. Being writ upon two Parchment-Labels which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tephillin were carried about with them constantly with great devotion being fastned to their forehead and their left arm To the forehead in that place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 n n n n n n Bab. Taanith fol. 16. 1. in the Gloss. where the pulse of an Infants brain is This of the forehead was most conspicuous and made broad hence came that Let no body pass by the Synagogue while prayers are saying there But if he hath Rhylacteries upon his head he may pass by because they show that he is studious of the Law o o o o o o Maimon on Tephilla Chap. 8. It is not lawful to walk through burying places with Phylacteries on ones head and the book of the Law hanging at ones arm * * * * * * Bab. Berac fol. 18. 1. They are called in Greek Phylacteries that is Observatories because they were to put them in mind of the Law and perhaps they were also called Preservatories because they were supposed to have some vertue in them to drive away Devils It is necessary that the Phylacteries should be repeated at home anights 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to drive away Devils p p p p p p Jerus Berac fol. 2. 4. Pisk in Berac Chap. 1. art 6. Rabben Asher ibid. Chap. 1. Col. 1. Concerning the curious writing of the Phylacteries see Maimon on Tephillin q q q q q q Chap. 1. 2. Concerning their strings marked with certain small letters See
pretending to be Pharisees whose works are as the works of Zimri and yet they expect the reward of Phineas The Gloss is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those painted men are such whose outward show doth not answer to their nature they are coloured without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but their inward part doth not answer to their outward and their works are evil like the works of Zimri but they require the reward of Phineas saying to men that they should honour them â—s much as Phineas They had forgot their own axiom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Disciple of the wise who is not the same within that he is without is not a Disciple of the wise e e e e e e Bab. Joma fol. 72. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But within ye are full of hypocrisie and iniquity The Masters themselves acknowledg this to their own shame f f f f f f Bab. Jom fol. 9. 2. They enquire what were those sins under the first Temple for which it was destroy'd and it is answered Idolatry Fornication and Bloodshed They enquire what were the sins under the second and answer Hate without cause and secret iniquity and add these words To those that were under the first Temple their end was revealed because their iniquity was revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But to those that were under the second their end was not revealed because their iniquity was not revealed The Gloss They that were under the first Temple did not hide their iniquity therefore their end was revealed to them as it is said After seventy years I will visit you in Babylon but their iniquity under the second Temple was not revealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those under the second Temple were secretly wicked VERS XXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye garnish the Sepulchres of the Righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g g g g g g Shakalim Chap. 2. Hal. 5. The Glossers are divided about the rendring of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some understand it of a kind of building or pillar some of the whiting or marking of a Sepulchre above spoken of the place referred to speaks concerning the remains of the Didrachms paid for the redemption of the soul and the question is if there be any thing of them due or remaining from the man now dead what shall be done with it the answer is Let it be laid up till Elias come but R. Nathan saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them raise some pillar or building upon his Sepulchre Which that it was done for the sake of adorning the Sepulchres is proved from the words of the Jerusalem Gemara upon the place h h h h h h Fol. 47. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They do not adorn the Sepulchres of the righteous for their own sayings are their memorial Whence those buildings or ornaments that were set on their Sepulchres seem to have been sacred to their memory and thence called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as Souls because they preserved the life and soul of their memory These things being considered the sense of the words before us doth more clearly appear Doth it deserve so severe a curse to adorn the Sepulchres of the Prophets and righteous men Was not this rather an act of piety than a crime But according to their own Doctrine O ye Scribes and Pharisees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Their own Acts and Sayings is a sufficient memorial for them Why do ye not respect follow and imitate these But neglecting and trampling upon these you perswade your selves that you have performed piety enough to them if you bestow some cost in adorning their Sepulchres whose words indeed you despise VERS XXXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The damnation of Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Judgment of Gehenna See the Chaldee Paraphrast on Ruth II. 12. Baal Turim on Gen. I. 1. Midras Tillin i i i i i i Fol. 41. 2 3 c. VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wise men and Scribes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wise men and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scribes Let them observe this who do not allow the Ministers of the word to have a distinct calling The Jews knew not any that was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A wise man or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Scribe but who was both learned and separated from the common people by a distinct order and office VERS XXXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unto the blood of Zacharias Son of Barachias THAT the discourse here is concerning Zacharias the son of Jehoiada k k k k k k 2 Chr. XXIV killed by King Joas we make appear by these arguments I. Because no other Zacharias is said to have been slain before these words were spoken by Christ. Those things that are spoke of Zacharias the father of the Baptist are dreams and those of Zacharias one of the twelve Prophets are not much better The killing of our Zacariahs in the Temple is related in express words and why neglecting this should we seek for another which in truth we shall no where find with any author of good credit II. The Jews observe that the death of this Zacharias the son of Jehoiadah was made memorable by a signal character and revenge Of the Martyrdom of the other Zacharias they say nothing at all Here both the l l l l l l Hieros in Taanith fol. 69. 1 2. Bab. in Sanhedr fol. 96. 2. Talmuds R. Jochanan said Eighty thousand Priests were killed for the blood of Zacharias R. Judah asked R. Acha whereabouts they killed Zacharias Whether in the Court of the Women or in the Court of Israel He answered neither in the Court of Israel nor in the Court of the Women but in the Court of the Priests And that was not done to his blood which useth to be done to the blood of a Ram or a Kid Concerning these it is written And he shall pour out his blood and cover it with dust But here it is written m m m m m m Ezech. XXIV 7. Her blood is in the midst of her she set it upon the top of a rock she poured it not upon the ground And why this n n n n n n Vers. 8. That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance I have set her blood upon a rock that it should not be covered They committed seven wickednesses in that day They killed a Priest a Prophet and a Judg they shed the blood of an innocent man they polluted the Court. And that day was the Sabbath day and the day of Expiation when therefore Nebuzaradan went up thither he saw the blood bubbling so he said to them what meaneth this It is the blood say they of Calves Lambs and Rams which we have offered on the Altar Bring then said he Calves Lambs and Rams that I may try whether this be their blood They brought them and slew them and
some outward kindness and more intimate friendship and familiarity And why Because John had promised that he would take care of Christs mother after his death For those words of our Saviour upon the Cross to John Behold thy Mother and to his Mother Behold thy Son And that from thence John took her home do carry a fair probability with them that that was not the first time that John heard of such a matter but that long before he had so promised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have loved thee Esa. LX. 10. is rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have had pity upon thee which may here also agree very well Jesus had pity upon him VERS XLVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bartimeus the son of Timeus SOME suspect the Evangelist here guilty of a Solecism by making a Tautology for it was neither necessary as they think so to render the Syriac word in Greek nor is it done so elsewhere in proper names of that nature For it is not said by any Evangelist Bartholomeus the son of Tholomeus Bar Abbas the son of Abbas Bar Jesus the son of Jesus nor in the like names True indeed But I. When the denomination is made from a common name and not a proper then it is not so ill sounding to interpret the word which is done once and again Mark III. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boanerges which is The sons of Thunder Act. IV. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Barnabas which is a son of Consolation II. Bar Timai may be rendred otherwise then The son of Timeus namely either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A son of Admiration or which is more proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A son of profit The Targum in Ester III. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the King ariseth no profit Timai from them The Evangelist therefore deservedly that he might shew that this Bartimeus was not named from this or that or some other Etymology but from his fathers name so interprets his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bartimeus the son of Timeus III. Perhaps there was a Timeus of some more noted name in that age either for some good report or some bad so that it might not be absurd to the Jews that then conversed there to say This blind Bartimeus is the son of the so much famed Timeus So it is unknown to us who Alexander and Rufus were Chap. XV. 21. But they were without doubt of most eminent fame either among the Disciples or among the Jews IV. What if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thimai be the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Simai Blind from the use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thau for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Samech among the Chaldeans so that Bartimeus the son of Timeus might sound no more than The blind son of a blind Father CHAP. XI VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And when he had looked round about upon all things COmpare Mark with the other Evangelists concerning the time of casting out the Merchants out of the Temple and it will appear that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he looked about denotes not a bare beholding or looking upon but a beholding with reproof and correction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Admonition among the Jews VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the time of figs was not yet SEE what we have said at Matth. XXI 19. The sum is this I. The time of Figs was so far off that the time of leaves was scarcely yet present II. The other Fig-trees in the Mount were of the common kind of Fig-trees and on them were not leaves as yet to be seen But that which Christ saw with leaves on it and therefore went to it was a Fig-tree of an extraordinary kind III. For there was a certain Fig-tree called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benoth Shuach which never wanted leaves and never wanted Figs. For every year it bare fruit but that fruit came not to full ripeness before the third year And such we suppose was this Fig-tree VERS XVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And would not suffer that any should carry any Vessel through the Temple a a a a a a Bab. Ievamoth fol. 6. 2. WHAT is the Reverence of the Temple That none go into the Mountain of the Temple or the Court of the Gentiles with his staff and his shoes with his purse and dust upon his feet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that none make it his common thorow-fare nor make it a place of spitting The same thing is ordered concerning a Synagogue yea concerning a Synagogue that is now laid waste much more of one that flourisheth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b b b b b b Megill f. 28. 1. A Synagogue now laid waste let not men make it a common passage And c c c c c c Fol. 27. 2. His Disciples asked R. Eleazar ben Shammua Whence hast thou lived so long He answered I never made a Synagogue a commonth orow-fare It is therefore forbid by the Masters that the Court of the Temple be not made a passage for a shorter way And was not this bridle sufficient wherewith all might be kept back from carrying Vessels through the Temple But the Castel of Antonia joyned to the Court and there were Shops in the Court of the Gentiles where many things were sold and that prophane Vessels were brought hither is scarcely to be denied And these Vessels might be said to be carried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Through the Temple although those that carried them went not through the whole Temple CHAP. XII VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A certain man planted a Vineyard THE Priests and Pharisees knew saith Matthew that these things were spoken of them Matth. XXI 45. Nor is it any wonder For the Jews boasted that they were the Lords Vineyard and they readily observed a wrong done to that Vineyard by any but how far were they from taking notice how unfruitful they were and unthankful to the Lord of the Vineyard The a a a a a a Tanchum fol. 54. 3. matter may be compared to a King that had a Vineyard and there were three who were enemies to it What were they One cut down the branches The second cut off the bunches And the third rooted up the Vines That King is the King of Kings the Blessed Lord. The Vineyard of the Lord is the House of Israel The three enemies are Pharaoh Nebuchadnezzer and Haman c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Vineyard If b b b b b b Kilaim cap. 4. hal 5. a man plants one row of five Vines the School of Schammai saith that it is a Vineyard But the School of Hillel saith It is not a Vineyard until there be two rows of Vines there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Set an hedge about it c c c c c c Ibid. hal 3. What is an hedge Let it be ten hands bredths high Less than so is not an hedge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
of some delicate niceness VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Above three hundred pence I. THE prizes of such precious oyntments as it seems in Pliny were commonly known For thus he f f f f f f Lib. XII c. 1◠The price of Costus is XVI pounds The price of Spike Nard is XC pounds The Leaves have made a difference in the value From the broadness of them it is called Hadrospherum with greater Leaves it is worth X xxx that is thirty pence That with a lesser leaf is called Mesopherum it is sold at X lx sixty pence The most esteemed is that called Microspherum having the least leafe and the price of it is X lxxv seventy five pence And elsewhere g g g g g g Cap. 20. To these the merchants have added that which they call Daphnois surnamed Isocinnamon and they make the price of it to be CCC 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Three hundred pence See more there II. It is not easie to reduce this sum of three hundred pence to its proper value partly because a peny was twofold a silver peny and a gold one partly because there was a double value and estimation of mony namely that of Jerusalem and that of Tyre as we observed before Let these be silver which we believe which are of much less value than gold and let them be Jerusalem pence which we also believe which are cheaper than the Tyrian yet they plainly speak the great wealth of Magdalen who poured out an oyntment of such a value when before she had spent some such other Which brings to my mind those things which are spoken by the Masters concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The box of spices which the husband was bound to give the wife according to the proportion of her dowry h h h h h h Bab. Chetub fol. 66. 2. But this is not spoken saith Rabh Ishai but of Jerusalem people There is an example of a daughter of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nicodemus ben Gorion to whom the Wise men appoynted four hundred crowns of gold for a chest of spices for one day She said to them I wish you may so appoynt for their daughters and they answered after her Amen The Gloss is The husband was to give to his wife ten Zuzees for every Manah which she brought with her to buy spices with which she used to wash her self c. Behold a most wealthy woman of Jerusalem daughter of Nicodemus in the contract and instrument of whose marriage was written A thousand thousand gold pence out of the house of her Father besides those she had out of the house of her Father in-Law whom yet you have in the same story reduced to that extream poverty that she picked up barly corns for her food out of the cattles dung VERS VII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For ye have the poor always with you SAmuel i i i i i i Bab. Schabb. fol. 63. 1. saith There is no difference between this world and the days of the Messias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anless in regard of the affliction of the Heathen kingdoms as it is said A poor man shall not be wanting out of the midst of the earth Deut. XV. 11. Observe a Jew cofessing that there shall be poor men even in the days of the Messias Which how it agrees with their received opinion of the pompous kingdom of the Messias let him look to it R. Solomon and Aben Ezra write If thou shalt obey the words of the Lord there shall not be a poor man in thee but thou wilt not obey therefore a poor man shall never be wanting Upon this received reason of the thing confess also O Samuel that there shall be disobedient persons in the days of the Messias which indeed when the true Messias came proved too too true in thy Nation VERS XII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And on the first day of unleavened bread SO Matth. Chap. XXVI 17. and Luke Chap. XXII 7. And now let them tell me who think that Christ indeed kept his Passover the fourteenth day but the Jews not before the fifteenth because this year their Passover was transferred unto the fifteenth day by reason of the following Sabbath Let them tell me I say whether the Evangelists speak according to the day prescribed by Moses or according to the day prescribed by the Masters of the Traditions and used by the Nation If according to Moses then the fifteenth day was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first of Unleavened bread Exod. XII 15 18. But if according to the manner of the Nation then it was the fourteenth And whether the Evangelists speak according to this custom let us enquire briefly Sometime indeed the whole seven days feast was transferred to another month and that not only from that Law Numb IX but from other causes also concerning which see the places quoted in the margin l l l l l l Hieros in Maasar Sheni fol. 56. 3. Maimon in Kiddush Hodesh cap 4. But when the time appointed for the feast occurred the Lamb was always slain on the fourteenth day I. Let us begin with a story where an occasion occurs not very unlike that for which they of whom we spake think the Passover this year was transferred namely because of the following Sabbath The story is this m m m m m m Hieros Pisachin fol. 33. 1. After the death of Shemaiah and Abtalion the sons of Betyra obtained the chief place Hillel went up from Babylon to enquire concerning three doubts When he was now at Jerusalem and the fourteenth day of the first month fell out on the Sabbath observe that it appeared not to the sons of Betyra whether the Passover drove off the Sabbath or no. Which when Hillel had determined in many words and had added moreover that he had learnt this from Shemaiah and Abtalion they laid down their authority and made Hillel president When they had chosen him President he derided them saying What need have you of this Babylonian Did you not serve the two chief Men of the world Shemaiah and Abtalion who sat among you These things which are already said make enough to our purpose but with the Readers leave let us add the whole story While he thus scoffed at them he forgat a Tradition For they said What is to be done with the people if they bring not their knives He answered I have heard this tradition but I have forgot But let them alone for although they are not Prophets they are Prophets sons Presently every one whose Passover was a Lamb stuck his knife into the fleece of it and whose Passover was a Kid hung his knife upon the horns of it And now let the impartial Reader judge between the reason which is given for the transferring the Passover this year unto the fifteenth day namely because of the Sabbath following that they might not be forced to abstain from
The appearance in the Court 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The rejoycing The Chagigah or the Peace-offerings were on the first day The appearance in the Court was on the second day The rejoycing might be on any day IV. In Moed Katon a Treatise that discourseth on things lawful or not lawful to be done in the intermedials of the Feast or in those days of the Feast that were not kept holy in the very entrance of that Discourse there are several things allowed which plainly argue absence and distance from Jerusalem As to eating unleavened bread the precept indeed was indispensible neither that any thing leavened should be eaten nor that any leaven should be found in their Houses for seven days together but no one would say that this command was restrained only to Jerusalem It is said in Jerusalem Kiddushin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c c c c c c Fol. 61. 3. The Womens Passover is arbitrary That is the Womens appearance at Jerusalem at the Passover was at pleasure But let them not say that eating unleavened bread was arbitrary or at the Womens pleasure for although they sate at home and did not go to Jerusalem to the Passover yet did they abstain from leven in their own Houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d Hieros Megillah fol. 74. 5 The unleavened bread was eaten in every house VI. It seems from the very phraseology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Joseph and Mary continued at Jerusalem all the seven days which was indeed generally done by others for devotion 's sake And then think what numerous companies of people must be going away to this or that Country yea particularly how great a crowd might be journeying together with Joseph and Mary toward Galilee So that it may be less strange if Jesus had not been within his Parents sight though he had been among the crowd nor that though they did not see him yet that they should not suspect his abscence VERS XLIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They went a days journey THE first ordinary days journey from Jerusalem toward Galilee was to Neapolis of old called Sichem distant thirty miles But was this the days journey that Joseph and the company that travailed along with him made at this time The place where Christ was first mist by his Parents is commonly shewed at this day to Travailers much nearer Jerusalem by the name of Beere but ten miles from that City You may believe those that shew it as you think fit VERS XLVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sitting in the midst of the Doctors I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a a a a a a Sanhedr cap. 11. hal 2. There are three Courts of Judicature in the Temple one in the gate of the Court of the Gentiles another in the gate of the Court of Israel a third in the room Gazith There was also a Synagogue in the Temple which must be observed b b b b b b Joma fol. 68. 2. The High-Priest came to read those places which were to be read on the day of attonement The Chazan of the Synagogue takes the Book and gives it to the Ruler of the Synagogue the Ruler to the Sagan the Sagan to the High-Priest c. Where the gloss There was a Synagogue near the Court in the Mountain of the Temple In which of these places Christ was found sitting amongst the Doctors let those tell us that undertake to shew the place where his Parents first missed him II. It is not easie to say what place he could be admitted to amongst the Doctors especially when that custom obtained which is mentioned c c c c c c Megillah fol. 21. 1. The Rabbins have a Tradition that from the days of Moses to Rabban Gamaliels they were instructed in the Law standing But when Rabban Gamaliel dyed the world languisht so that they learnt the Law sitting d d d d d d See Succah fol. 49. 1. Jucoas fol. 53. 1. Whence also that tradition that since the death of Rabban Gamaliel the glory of the Law was eclipsed Now when it was come to that pass after Gamaliel's death that the Disciples sate while the Master read how did they sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the ground Hence that passage e e e e e e In Megillah ubi supr Rabh would not sit upon his bed and read to his Scholar while he sate upon the ground Gloss. Either both should be on the bed or both upon the ground f f f f f f Ibid. fol. 27. 2. The disciples of R. Eleazar ben Shammua askt him how came you to this great age He answered them I never made the Synagogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common way That is he never took his passage through the Synagogue for a shorter cut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And I never walkt upon the heads of the Holy people The gloss is Upon the heads of his Disciples sitting upon the ground Whether on the naked floor might be a question if there were place for it but we let that pass at this present For this custom of sitting prevailed after the death of Gamaliel who took the Chair many years after this that we are now upon The great Hillel possest the Seat at this time or if he was newly dead his Son Simeon succeeded him so that it was the Disciples part in this age to stand not to sit in the presence of their Doctors How therefore should it be said of Christ that he was sitting among the Doctors let the following clause solve the difficulty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And asking them questions It was both lawful and customary for the Disciples or any that were present publickly to enquire either of the Doctor that was then reading or indeed the whole consistory about any doubtful matter wherein he was not well satisfied Take but two stories out of many others that may illustrate this matter g g g g g g Beâ—esh rabb fol. 90. 3. R. Judah ordained R. Levi ben Susi for a Doctor to the Simonians They made him a great chair and placed him in it Then propounded questions to him occasioned from Deut. XXV 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if the Brothers Wife should have her hands cut off how should she loose the shooe of her Husbands Brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If she should spit blood what then Most profound questions certainly such as require a most cunning sophister to unriddle them h h h h h h Hieros Taanith fol. 67. 4. There is a story of a certain Disciple that came and interrogated R. Joshua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of what kind is Evening Prayer He answered him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is arbitrary He came to Rabban Gamaliel and askt him he told him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is that we are in duty bound to How then saith he did R. Joshua tell me it is voluntary saith the other To
〈◊〉 Zephaniah the second Priest Targum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zephaniah the Sagan of the Priests Caiaphas therefore was the High-Priest and Annas the Sagan or Ruler of the Temple who for his independent dignity is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or High-Priest as well as Caiaphas and seems therefore to be named first because he was the others Father-in-law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h h h h h h Chetub fol. 88. 2. fol. 105. 1. There was a dissention between Hanan and the Sons of the chief Priests c. It was in a judicial cause about a Wife requiring her dower c. Where the scruple is who should these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these Chief Priests be Whether the Fathers and heads of the Courses or the High-Priest only and the Sagan It was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i i i i i i Cap. 1. of the same Treatise hal 5. a Counsel of Priests which we have already spoken to at Matth. XXVI 3. Now the question is whether by the Sons of the chief Priests be meant the Sons of the Fathers of Courses or the Fathers of Courses themselves or the Sons of the High-Priest and the Sagan where the High-Priest in that Court was like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prince in the Sanhedrin and the Sagan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of the Sanhedrin k k k k k k Pesikta fol. 11. 4. Moses was made a Sagan to Aaron He put on his Garments and took them off viz. on the day of his Consecration And as he was his Sagan in life so he was in death too VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Every valley shall be filled THE Jews have a Tradition that some such thing was done by the cloud that led Israel in the Wilderness Instead of many instances take the Targumist upon Cant. II. 6. There was a cloud went before them three days journey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to take down the hills and raise the valleyes It slew all fiery Serpents in the Wilderness and all Scorpions and found out for them a fit place to lodge in What the meaning of the Prophet in this passage was Christians well enough understand the Jews apply it to levelling and making the ways plain for Israel's return out of Captivity for this was the main thing they expected from the Messiah viz. to bring back the Captivity of Israel l l l l l l Beresh rabb fol. 110. 3. R. Chanan saith Israel shall have no need of the Doctrine of Messiah the King in time to come for it is said to him shall the Gentiles seek Isai. XI 10. but not Israel If so why then is Messiah to come and what is he to doe when he doth come He shall gather together the Captivity of Israel c. VERS VIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of these stones to raise up Children unto Abraham WE do not say the Baptist played with the sound of those two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Banaia and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abanaia He does certainly with great scorn deride the vain confidence and glorying of that Nation amongst whom nothing was more ready and usual in their mouths than to boast that they were the Children of Abraham when he tells them that they were such Children of Abraham that God could raise as good as they from those very stones VERS XI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that hath two Coats let him impart to him that hath none IT would be no sense to say he that hath two Coats let him give to him that hath not two but to him that hath none For it was esteemed for Religion by some to weare but one single Coat or Garment Of which more elsewhere VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exact no more than that which is appointed you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m m m m m m Sanhedr fol. 25. 2. When the Rabbins saw that the Publicans exacted too much they rejected them as not being fit to give their testimony in any case Where the Gloss hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too much that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 More than that which is appointed them And the Father of R. Zeirah is commended in the same place that he gently and honestly executed that trust He discharged the Office of a Publican for thirteen years when the Prince of the City came and this Publican saw the Rabbins he was wont to say to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go my people enter thou into thy Chambers Isai. XXVI The Gloss is Lest the Prince of the City should see you and taking notice what numbers you are should encrease his tax yearly VERS XIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither accuse any falsly LEVIT XIX 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither lye one to another Job XXXV 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The oppressed See Psal. LXXII 4. CXIX 122. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. n n n n n n Dion Cass. lib. 58. a little from the beginning The manner of sycophants is first to load a person with reproaches and whisper some secret that the other hearing it may by telling something like it become obnoxious himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With your wages A word used also by the Rabbins o o o o o o Midr. Schir fol. 5. 3. The King distributeh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wages to his Legions p p p p p p Sanhedr fol. 18. 2. The King is not admitted to the intercalation of the year 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because of the Opsonia That is lest he should favour himself in laying out the years with respect to the Souldiers pay VERS XXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Like a Dove IF you will believe the Jews there sate a golden Dove upon the top of Solomon's Scepter q q q q q q Bemidb. rabh fol. 250. 1. As Solomon sate in his throne his Scepter was hung up behind him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the top of which there was a Dove and a golden crown in the mouth of it VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being as was supposed the Son of Ioseph A Parable r r r r r r Schemoth rabba fol. 160. 4. There was a certain Orphaness brought by a certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epitropus or Foster-father an honest good man At length he would place her in Marriage A scribe is called to write a bill of her dower Saith he to the girl what is thy name N. saith she What the name of thy Father She held her peace To whom her Foster-father why dost thou not speak Because saith she I know no other Father but thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that educateh the child is called a Father not he that begets it Note that Joseph having been taught by the Angel and well satisfied in
Mary whom he had espoused had owned Jesus for his Son from his first birth he had redeemed him as his first-born he had cherisht him in his childhood educated him in his youth and therefore no wonder if Joseph be called his Father and he was supposed to be his Son II. Let us consider what might have been the judgment of the Sanhedrin in this case only from this story s s s s s s Kiddushin fol. 80. 1. There came a certain Woman to Jerusalem with a child brought thither upon shoulders She brought this child up and he afterward had the carnal knowledge of her They are brought before the Sanhedrin and the Sanhedrin judged them to be stoned to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not because he was undoubtedly her Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but because he had wholly adhered to her Now suppose we that the blessed Jesus had come to the Sanhedrin upon the decease of Joseph requiring his Stock and Goods as his heir Had he not in all equity obtained them as his Son Not that he was beyond all doubt and question his Son but that he had adhered to him wholly from his cradle was brought up by him as his Son and always so acknowledged III. The Doctors speak of one Joseph a Carpenter t t t t t t Sect. 13. of the same Treatise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u u u u u u Shemoth rabba fol. 128. 4. Abnimus Gardieus askt the Rabbins of blessed memory whence the earth was first created they answer him there is no one skilled in these matters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but go thou to Joseph the Architect He went and found him standing upon the rafters It is equally obscure who this Joseph the Carpenter and who this Abnimus was although as to this last he is very frequently mentioned in those Authors They say w w w w w w Beresh rabba fol. 73. 4. That Abnimus and Balaam were two the greatest Philosophers in the whole world Only this we read of him x x x x x x Midr. Ruth fol. 43. 2. That there was a very great familiarity betwixt him and R. Meir 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which was the Son of Heli. I. There is neither need nor reason nor indeed any foundation at all for us to frame I know not what marriages and the taking of Brothers Wives to remove a scruple in this place wherein there is really no scruple in the least 1. Joseph is not here called the Son of Heli but Jesus is so for the word Jesus viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be understood and must be always added in the Reader 's mind to every race in this Genealogy after this manner Jesus as was supposed the Son of Joseph and so the Son of Heli and of Matthat yea and at length the Son of Adam and the Son of God For it was very little the business of the Evangelist either to draw Joseph's Pedigree from Adam or indeed to shew that Adam was the Son of God which not only sounds something harshly but in this place very enormously I may almost add blasphemously too For when St Luke Vers. 22. had made a voice from Heaven declaring that Jesus was the Son of God do we think the same Evangelist would in the same breath pronounce Adam the Son of God too So that this very thing teacheth us what the Evangelist propounded to himself in the framing of this Genealogy which was to shew that this Jesus who had newly received that great testimony from Heaven this is my Son was the very same that had been promised to Adam by the seed of the Woman And for this reason hath he drawn his Pedigree on the Mother's side who was the Daughter of Heli and this too as high as Adam to whom this Jesus was promised In the close of the Genealogy he teacheth in what sense the former part of it should be taken viz. that Jesus not Joseph should be called the Son of Heli and consequently that the same Jesus not Adam should be called the Son of God indeed in every link of this chain this still should be understood Jesus the Son of Matthat Jesus the Son of Levi Jesus the Son of Melchi and so of the rest And thus the Genealogical stile agrees with that of Moses Genes XXXVI 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which words if you should render Aholibamah the Daughter of Anah the Daughter of Zibeon you emasculate Anah and make a Woman of him who was a Man and the Father of Aholibamah Vers. 24 25. 2. Suppose it could be granted that Joseph might be called the Son of Heli which yet ought not to be yet would not this be any great solecisme that his Son-in-law should become the Husband of Mary his own Daughter He was but his Son by Law by the Marriage of Joseph's Mother not by Nature and Generation y y y y y y Hieros Chagigah fol 77. 4. There is a discourse of a certain person who in his sleep saw the punishment of the damned Amongst the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I would render thus but shall willingly stand corrected if under a mistake He saw Mary the Daughter of Heli amongst the shades R. Lazar ben Josah saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That she hung by the glâ—ndles of her breasts R. Josah bar Haninah saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the great bar of Hell's gate hung at her ear If this be the true rendring of the words which I have reason to believe it is then thus far at least it agrees with our Evangelist that Mary was the Daughter of Heli and questionless all the rest is added in reproach of the blessed Virgin the Mother of our Lord whom they often vilifie elsewhere under the name of Sardah VERS XXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The son of Rhesa the son of Zorobabel the son of Salathiel the son of Neri I. THAT Pedaiah the Father of Zorobabel 1 Chron. III. 19. is omitted here is agreeable with Ezra V. 2. Hagg. I. 1 c. but why it should be omitted either here or there is not so easie to guess II. As to the variation of the names both here and 1 Chron. III. this is not unworthy our observation That Zorobabel and his Sons were carried out of Babylon into Judea and possibly they might change their names when they changed the place of their dwelling It was not very safe for him to be known commonly by the name of Zorobabel in Babylon when the import of that name was the winnowing of Babel so that he was there more generally called Sheshbazzar But he might securely resume the name in Judea when Cyrus and Darius had now fanned and sifted Babylon So his two Sons Meshullam and Hananiah could not properly be called one of them Abiud the glory of my Father and the other Rhesa a Prince while they were
They read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when in the original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet is not washed from its filthiness VERS LI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When the time was come that he should be received up IT is a difficulty amongst some why there should be any mention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his receiving up when there is no mention of his death But let it be only granted that under that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is included the ascension of Christ and then the difficulty is solved The Evangelist seeming from thence to calculate Moses and Elias had spoken of his departure out of this world that is of his final departure when he took leave of it at his ascension into heaven And from thence forward till the time should come wherein he should be received up he stedfastly set his face toward Jerusalem resolving with himself to be present at all the Feasts that should precede his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or receiving up He goes therefore to the Feast of Tabernacles and what he did there we have it told us John VII After ten weeks or thereabout he went up to the Feast of Dedication Chap. XIII 22. and Joh. X. 22. and at length to the last Feast of all his own Passover Chap. XVII 11. VERS LII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Into a Village of the Samaritans IT may be a question whether the Jews in their journeying to and from Jerusalem would ordinarily deign to lodge in any of the Samaritan Towns But if necessity should at any time compel them to betake themselves into any of their Inns we must know that nothing but their mere hatred to the Nation could forbid them For m m m m m m Hieros Avod Zarah fol. 44. 4. Their land was clean their waters were clean their dwellings were clean and their roads were clean So that there could be no offense or danger of uncleanness in their dwelling and so long as the Samaritans in most things came the nearest the Jewish Religion of all others there was less danger of being defiled either in their meats or beds or tables c. VERS LV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of WHat Elias once did to those of Samaria the Sons of Zebedee had an ambition to imitate in this place dreaming as it should seem that there were those thunders and lightnings in their very name Boanarges that should break out at pleasure for the death and destruction of those that provoked them But could you not see O ye Sons of Zebedee how careful and tender your master was from the very bottom of his soul about the lives and well-being of mankind How he healed the sick cured those that were possest with Devils and raised the dead and will you be breathing slaughter and fire and no less destruction to the Town than what had happened to Sodom Alas you do not know or have not considered what kind of spirit and temper becomes the Apostles of the Messiah VERS LX. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the dead bury their dead THE Jews accounted of the Gentiles as no other than dead n n n n n n Chetubboth fol. 3. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people of the earth that is the Gentiles do not live And as the Gentiles so even amongst themselves these four sorts are so esteemed o o o o o o Shemoth rabb fol. 123. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These four are accounted as dead the blind the leprose the poor and the childless CHAP. X. VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seventy WHY the Vulgar should have seventy and two they themselves I suppose are able to give no very good reason Much less the Interpreter of Titus Bostrensis when in the Greek Copy before him he saw only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why he should render Septuaginta duos seventy two who can tell Aben Ezra upon the story of Eldad and Medad a a a a a a Numb XI hath this passage The wise men say that Moses took six out of every tribe and the whole number amounted to seventy and two but whereas the Lord had commanded only seventy the odd two were laid aside Now if God laid aside two of those who had been enrolled and endowed with the Holy Spirit that so there might be the just number of seventy only we can hardly imagine why our Saviour should add two to make it LXXII and not LXX d d d d d d Vajicra rabba fol. 178 1. It was said to Moses at Mount Sinai Go up thou and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the Elders of Israel so will the holy blessed God ordain to himself in the world to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a counsel of Elders of his own people Now the number of this Consistory the Doctors determine to be no other than seventy A Council of Seventy two was never heard of amongst the Jews but once only at Jabneh a a a a a a Jadaim cap. 3. hal 3. R. Simeon ben Azzai saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I receiv'd it from the mouths of the LXXII Elders on the day when they made R. Eliezar ben Azariah one of the Sanhedrin Nor did they then remove Rabban Gamaliel although he had displeas'd them VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As lambs among wolves IT is added in another Evangelist b b b b b b Mat. X. Be ye wise as serpents c. with which we may compare that in Midr. Schir c c c c c c Fol. 17. 3. The holy blessed God saith concerning Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those that belong to me are simple as Doves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but amongst the Nations of the world they are subtle as serpents VERS IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salute no man by the way I. WE have a passage something like this elsewhere d d d d d d 2 King IV. 29. If thou meet any man salute him not that is as is commonly expounded do not hinder thy journey by discoursing with any in the way But the same reason doth not hold in this place the business of these Disciples not requiring such mighty expedition They were commanded out two by two to this or the other place or City where Christ himself was to come in person nor was it necessary they should run in so great hast that they should make no stay in the way Only having appointed them to such and such places their business indeed lay no where but in those very places to which they had been particularly sent to proclaim the coming of Christ there and not to be telling it in the way The twelve Apostles that were sent their business was to declare the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven these the coming of the King himself No wonder therefore if the Apostles were
he art thou so sad He saith unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am sad for the speeches of those who say I will do this or that e're long though they know not how quickly they may be called away by death That man with whom thou hast been feasting and that boâ—sted amongst you with this wine I will grow old in the joy of my Son behold the time draws nigh that within thirty days he must be snatcht away He saith unto him do thou let me know my time To whom he answered over thee and such as thou art we have no power for God being delighted with good works prolongeth your lives VERS XXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither Store-house nor Barn I Am mistaken if the Jerusalem Writers would not render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Store-house where they laid up their fruits and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Barn where they laid up their grain It is commonly rendred the floor but there it is meant the Barn floor Our Saviour takes an instance from God feeding the Ravens m m m m m m Vide Job XXXVIII 41. Ps. CXLVII 9. It is R. Solomon's remark Our Rabbins observe that the Raven is cruel toward its young but God pitieth them and provides them flees that breed out of their own dung Now the reason they give why the old ones are so unmerciful to their own young is in Chetabboth n n n n n n Fol. 49. 2. where the Gloss thus explains the mind of the Gemarists speaking of the young ones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both white and black when they grow black the old ones begin to love their young but while they are all white they loath them In that very place there occurs this passage not unworthy our transcribing There was a certain man brought before Rabh Judah because he refused to provoide for his Children saith he to those that brought him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Dragon brings forth and lays her young in the Town to be nourisht up When he was brought to Rabh Chasda he saith unto them compel him to the door of the Synagogue and there let him stand and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Raven seeks her young ones but this Man doth not seek or own his Children But doth the Raven seek her young ones behold it is written God feedeth the Ravens which cry unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This hath no difficulty in it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is said of them while they are white that God feeds them but that is said of them when they are become black that the Raven owneth her young But the Gloss hath it thus It seems as if he with his own voice should cry out against himself and say the Raven owneth her young But there are those that expound it as if the minister of the Synagogue should set him forth and proclaim upon him the Raven acknowledgeth her young but this man rejects his own Children Tell it to the Church Matth. XVIII 17. VERS XXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The nations of the world c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is a very common form of speech amongst the Jews by which they express the Gentiles or all other nations beside themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have a peculiar propriety in Sacred Writ which they have not in prophane Authors so far that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath relation only to the Jewish ages and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the nations that are not Jewish Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. XXIV 3. is meant the end of the Jewish age or world And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. I. 2. is before the Jewish world began and hence it is that the world very often in the New Testament is to be understood only of the Gentile world VERS XXXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He will come forth and serve them o o o o o o Gloss. in Bathra fol. 57. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that serves at the table goes about while the guests sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to denote the same thing here unless it may referr to some such thing as this viz. that the Master will pass by his dignity and condescend to minister to his own Servants VERS XXXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the second watch and in the third IN the very dead watches of all at least if there be not a solecism in speech At the first watch they went to bed and the fourth watch the time of getting up again came on so that the second and the third watch was the very dead time of sleep VERS XLVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall be beaten with many stripes THere was a stated number of stripes and that was forty beyond which no Malefactor Condemned by the Judges to that punishment ought to receive Whence that passage p p p p p p Cholin fol. 82. 1. seems a little strange He that kills an Heifer and afterward two of that Heifers Calves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be beaten with fourscore stripes How so fourscorce when they ought not to exceed above forty q q q q q q Deut. XXV 3 They might not exceed that number for one single crime but if the crime was doubled they might double the punishment And it may be a question whether they did not double their accusations upon St. Paul when they multiplied their stripes he himself telling us that five times he had received forty stripes save one r r r r r r 2 Cor. XI 2â— But did every one that was adjudged by the Court to stripes did they always receive that number exactly of thirty nine no doubt the number was more or less according to the nature of the crime Which seems to be hinted in s s s s s s Fol. 24. 2. Pesachin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that eateth the Potitha some creeping thing of the Sea let him be beaten with four stripes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that eateth a Pismire let him be beaten with five 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that eateth an Hornet let him have six If this be the sense of the words then here may arise a question with what kind of scourge they were beaten if with that scourge of three cords that was used when they gave nine and thirty stripes repeating their strokes by a scourge of three cords thirteen times how then could they inflict four or five stripes with such a scourge as that was But as to the number of stripes which the master might inflict upon his slave that was not stated but left to the pleasure of the master according to the nature of the crime which seems hinted at in these words of our Saviour and in the following rule amongst the Jews some kind of measure still being attended to t
find it Herbanus the Jew s s s s s s Oregent Dial. at the beginning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was a man excellently well instructed in the Law and holy Books of the Prophets and the Octateuch and all the other Writings What this Octateuch should be distinct from the Law and the Prophets and indeed what the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the other writings besides should be is not easily guessed This Octateuch perhaps may seem to have some reference to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Hagiographa or Holy Writings for it is probable enough that speaking of a Jew well skilled in the Holy Scriptures he might design the partition of the Bible according to the manner of the Jews dividing it but who then can pick out books that should make it up Let the Reader pick out the eight and then I would say that the other four are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the other Writings But we will not much disquiet our selves about this matter It may be asked why these Books should be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Scriptures when the whole Bible goes under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Scriptures Nor can any thingbe more readily answered to this than that by this title they would keep up their dignity and just esteem for them They did not indeed read them in their Synagogues but that they might acknowledge them of most Holy and Divine Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of them they confirm their Traditions and they expound them mystically t t t t t t Schabb. fol. 116. 2. Yea and give them the same title with the rest of the Holy Scriptures u u u u u u Bathra ubi supr This is the order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Hagiographa Ruth the Book of Psalms Job the Proverbs Ecclesiastes the Canticles the Lamentations Daniel the Book of Esther Ezra and the Chronicles It is here disputed that if Job was in the days of Moses why then is not his Book put in the first place the answer is they do not begin with vengeance or affliction and such is that Book of Job They reply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruth also begins with affliction viz. with the story of a Famine and the death of Elimelech's Sons But that was say they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an affliction that had a joyful ending So they might have said of the Book and affliction of Job too We see it is disputed there why the Book of Ruth should be placed the first in that rank and not the Book of Job But we might enquire whether the Book of Psalms ought not have been placed the first rather than the Book of Ruth IV. In this passage at present before us who would think otherwise but that our Saviour alludes to the common and most known partition of the Bible and although he name the Psalms only yet that under the title he includes that whole volume For we must of necessity say that either he excluded all the Books of that third division excepting the Book of Psalms which is not probable or that he included them under the title of the Prophets which was not customary or else that under the title of the Psalms he comprehended all the rest That he did not exclude them reason will tell us for in several Books of that division is he himself spoken of as well as in the Psalms and that he did not include them in the title of the Prophets reason also will dictate because we would not suppose him speaking differently from the common and received opinion of that Nation There is very little question therefore but the Apostles might understand him speaking with the vulgar and by the Psalms to have meant all the Books of that Volume those especially wherein any thing was written concerning himself For let it be granted that Ruth as to the time of the History and the time of its writing might challenge to its self the first place in order and it is that kind of priority the Gemarists are arguing yet certainly amongst all those Books that mention any thing of Christ the Book of Psalms deservedly obtains the first place so far that in the naming of this the rest may be understood So St. Matthew Chap. XXVII 9. under the name of Jeremiah comprehends that whole Volume of the Prophets because he was placed the first in that rank which observation we have made in Notes upon that place VERS XLV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then opened he their understanding WHere it is said that by the imposition of the hands of the Apostles the gift of Tongues and of Prophesie was conferred they spake with tongues and they prophesied Acts XIX 6. by Prophesie nothing may be better understood than this very thing that the minds of such were opened that they might understand the Scriptures and perhaps their speaking with tongues might look this way in the first notion of it viz. that they could understand the original wherein the Scriptures were writ VERS L. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As far as Bethany HOW many difficulties arise here I. This very Evangelist Acts I. 12. tells us that when the Disciples came back from the place where our Lord ascended they returned from Mount Olivet distant from Jerusalem a Sabbath days journey But now the Town of Bethany was about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem Joh. XI 18. and that is double a Sabbath days journey II. Josephus tells us that the Mount of Olives was but five furlongs from the City and a Sabbath days journey was seven furlongs and an half q q q q q q Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 6. About that time there came to Jerusalem a certain Egyptian pretending himself a Prophet and perswading the people that they would go out with him to the Mount of Olives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which being situated on the front of the City is distant five furlongs These things are all true 1. That the Mount of Olives lay but five furlongs distance from Jerusalem 2. That the Town of Bethany was fifteen furlongs 3. That the Disciples were brought by Christ as far as Bethany 4. That when they returned from the Mount of Olives that they travelled more than five furlongs And 5. Returning from Bethany they travelled but a Sabbath days journey All which may be easily reconciled if we would observe That the first space from the City toward this Mount was called Bethphage which I have cleared elsewhere from Talmudick Authors the Evangelists themselves also confirming it That part of that Mount was known by that name to the length of about a Sabbath days journey till it come to that part which was called Bethany For there was Bethany a tract of the Mount and the Town of Bethany The Town was distant from the City about fifteen furlongs i. e. two miles or a double Sabbath days journey but the first border of this
exercise his power and strength to the utmost of what he either could or would because he knew his Champion Christ was strong enough not only to bear his assaults but to overcome them III. He was to overcome not by his Divine power for how easie a matter were it for an omnipotent God to conquer the most potent created Being but his victory must be obtain'd by his obedience his righteousness and his holiness IV. Here then was the rise of that trouble and agony of Christs soul that he was presently to grapple with the utmost rage of the Devil the Divine power in the mean time suspending its activity and leaving him to manage the conflict with those weapons of obedience and righteousness only It was about this therefore that that petition of our Saviour and the answer from Heaven was concern'd which may be gather'd from what follows ver 31. Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out Now is my soul troubled saith he and what shall I say It is not convenient for me to desire to be saved from this hour for for this very purpose did I come that therefore which I would beg of thee O Father is that thou wouldst glorifie thy name thy promise thy decree against the Devil lest he should boast and insult The answer from Heaven to this prayer is I have already glorify'd my name in that victory thou formerly obtainedst over his temptations in the wilderness and I will glorifie my name again in the victory thou shalt have in this combat also Luk. IV. 13. When the Devil had ended all his temptations he departed from him for a season He went away baffled then but now he returns more insolent and much more to be conquer'd And thus now the third time by a witness and voice from Heaven was the Messiah honoured according to his Kingly office As he had been according to his Priestly office when he enter'd upon his Ministry at his Baptism Mat. III. 17. and according to his Prophetick office when he was declar'd to be him that was to be heard Mat. XVII 5. compared with Deut. XVIII 15. VERS XXXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Prince of this world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Prince of this world a sort of phrase much us'd by the Jewish Writers and what they mean by it we may gather from such passages as these l l l l l l Sanbedr fol. 94. 1. When God was about to make Hezekiah the Messiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Prince of the world to him O eternal Lord perform the desire of this just one Where the Gloss is The Prince of this world is the Angel into whose hands the whole world is delivered Who this should be the Masters tell out m m m m m m Bemidb. rabâ— fol. 277. 4. When the Law was deliver'd God brought the Angel of death and said unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole world is in thy power excepting this Nation only the Israelites which I have chosen for my self R. Eliezer the Son of R. Jose the Galilean saith The Angel of death said before the Holy blessed God I am made in the world in vain The Holy blessed God answered and said I have created thee that thou shouldst overlook 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Nations of the world excepting this Nation over which thou hast no power l l l l l l Beresh rabb fol. 86. 4. If the Nations of the world should conspire against Israel the Holy blessed God saith to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your Prince could not stand before Jacob c. Now the name of the Angel of Death amongst them is Samael m m m m m m Targ. Jonath in Gen. III. 6. And the Woman saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Samael the Angel of death and she was afraid c. The places are infinite where this name occurs amongst the Rabbins and they account him the Prince of the Devils n n n n n n Ellâ—h haddâ—bharin rabba fol. 302. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The wicked Angel Samael is the Prince of all Satans The Angel of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He who hath the power of death that is the Devil Heb. II. 14. They call indeed Beelzebul the Prince of the Devils Matth. XII but that is under a very peculiar notion as I have shown in that place They conceive it to be Samael that deceived Eve So the Targumist before And so Pirke R. Eliezer o o o o o o Cap. 13. The Serpent what things soever he did and what words soever he uttered he did and uttered all from the suggestion of Samael Some of them conceive that it is he that wrastled with Jacob. Hence that which we have quoted already The Holy blessed God saith to the Nations of the World your Prince could not stand before him Your Prince that is the Prince of the Nations whom the Rabbins talk of as appearing to Jacob 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the shape of Archilatro or a chief Robber And R. Chaninah bar Chama saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was the Prince of Esau i. e. the Prince of Edom. Now the Prince of Edom was Samael p p p p p p Gloss in Maccoth fol. 12. 1. They have a fiction that the seventy Nations of the world were committed to the government of so many Angels they will hardly allow the Gentiles any good ones which opinion the Greek Version favours in Deut. XXXII 8. When the most high divided the Nations into seventy say they when he separated the Sons of Adam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He set the bounds of the Nations according to the number of the Angels of God Over these Princes they conceive one Monarch above them all and that is Samael the Angel of Death the Arch-Devil Our Saviour therefore speaks after their common way when he calls the Devil the Prince of this World and the meaning of the phrase is made the more plain if we set it in opposition to that Prince whose Kingdom is not of this world that is the Prince of the world to come Consult Heb. II. 5. How far that Prince of the Nations of the world had exercised his tyranny amongst the Gentiles leading them captive into Sin and Perdition needs no explaining Our Saviour therefore observing at this time some of the Greek that is the Gentiles pressing hard to see him he joyfully declares that the time is coming on apace wherein this Prince must be unseated from his throne and tyranny And I when I shall be lifted up upon the cross and by my death shall destroy him who hath the power of Death then will I draw all Nations out of his dominion and power after me VERS XXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have heard out of the Law OUT of the Law that is as the phrase is opposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the words
directly answers the Type in the confirmation of the old Nor do I think that the water it self which issu'd from his side was that only which was contain'd in the Pericardium but that something supernatural was in this matter VERS XXXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A bone of him shall not be broken THESE words may have some reference to that of Psal. XXXIV 20. but they are more commonly referr'd by Expositors to that Law about the Paschal Lamb Exod. XII 46. For Christ is our Passover 1 Cor. V. 7. i i i i i i Pesachin fol. 84. 1. If any one break a bone of the Passover let him receive forty stripes k k k k k k Ibid. fol. 83. 1. The bones the sinews and what remains of the flesh must be all burnt on the sixteenth day If the sixteenth day should happen on the Sabbath and so indeed it did happen in this year wherein Christ was crucify'd then let them be burned on the seventeenth for they drive away neither the Sabbath nor any holy day VERS XXXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall look on him whom they have pierced IT is observ'd by all Expositors how the Greek Version in that place of Zachary from whence this passage is taken doth vary for they have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall look toward me because they have insulted So the Roman Edition and so some others It is questioned whether those Interpreters did so render the words or whether this were not an interpolation To pass by the testimonies of the ancients that ascribe it to the Seventy Let us observe these two things I. It is no unusual thing for the Greek Interpreters in their rendrings sometimes to favour the Jewish Traditions and sometimes the common Interpretation of the Nation there want not instances of both kinds it is the latter we have to do with at this time wherein take one or two examples instead of many that might be reckon'd up What reason can be given that they should render Caphtorim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cappadocians and Caphtor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cappadocia Deut. II. 23. but only because the Pelusiotes and Pelusium were commonly so termed by the Jews Who could have imagin'd any reason why they should say of Eli that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He judged Israel twenty years when in the original it is forty 1 Sam. IV. 18. but that they favour'd the common sigment of that Nation that the Philistines had such a dread of Samson that for twenty years after his death they stood in as much awe of him as if he was then alive and judg'd Israel Of this nature is their rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Son by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instruction Psal. II. 12. and upon some such account no doubt is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the place we are now treating of For II. The Chaldee Paraphrast thus renders the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rogabunt a facie mea quoniam translati sunt They shall ask after me because they are carry'd away Which R. Sol. thus interprets They shall look back to mourn because the Gentiles have pierced some of them and killed them in their captivity Which agrees so well with the sense of the Greek Version They shall look on me mourning because the Gentiles have insulted over my people in their captivity that I cannot suspect any interpolation in the Greek Copies but rather think that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the very word which the Interpreters themselves did use which rendring our Evangelist deservedly rejects Think you that figment about Messiah ben Joseph to which the Talmudists l l l l l l Succah fol. 52. 1. apply these words of Zachary as also doth Aben Ezra upon the place was invented when the Greek Version was first framed if not which is my opinion then it is probable that the Chakle◠Paraphrast gave the sense that most obtain'd in the Nation at that time with which that of the Greek accords well enough The Interpreters rendring it according to the common opinion of the Nation read as it seems 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is a thing not unusual with them to be purblind either in earnest or through trifling on purpose or through meet dim sightedness Nor is it any wonder that our Evangelist should depart from their reading when they depart from the Text it self which the Jews retain against their own Comments upon it They keep the word but pervert the sense especially Kimchi upon the place The Targumist something more modestly than either he or the Talmudick Authors but far enough from the mind of the Prophet although not from the mind and opinion of the Nation in common upon that Prophesie which opinion you will easily suppose the Greek Interpreter had an eye to at least if you will admit R. Solomon as an Expositor upon them CHAP. XX. VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The first day of the week c. AND David smote them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Sam. XXX 17. Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the morning to the evening and on the morrow Vulg. A vespera usque ad vesperam alterius diei from the evening to the evening of the next day But the Rabbins a a a a a a Vajiera rab fol. 188. 3. What is the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Two nights and one day Kimchi From the evening of this day to the evening of the next and all that evening to the twilight of the following day Reckon the time from the laying of Christ in the grave to his Resurrection and the measures of both the times will agree Compare also the things themselves In that space of time David conquer'd the Amalekites in the same space of time our Saviour overcame Death Hell and Satan VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He stooping down c. STanding within the Cave he bow'd himself to look down into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the place where the body was laid which was four cubits lower than the flower of the Cave it self See Bava bathra about places of burial b b b b b b Cap. 6. hal ult which place I have quoted and explain'd Centur. Chorograph cap. ult VERS XII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The one at the head the other at the feet SO were the Cherubins placed at each end of the Mercy-seat Exod. XXV 18 19. As to those Cherubins that were in Solomon's Temple 2 Chron. III. 10. I cannot but by the way observe what I meet with in Bava bathra c c c c c c Fol. 99. 1. Onkelos the Proselyte saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Cherubins are like children going from their master That is with their faces turn'd partly toward their Master and partly toward the way wherein they were to go For as the Gemarists When Israel obey'd the will of God the Cherubins
more than these might it not have been enough to have said as well as these For what reason had he to expect that Peter should love him more than the rest did especially more than St. John whom Christ himself had so loved and who had stuck so close to him Christ seems therefore to reflect upon Peter's late confidence not without some kind of severity and reproof q. d. Thou saidst O Simon a little while ago that thou wouldst never forsake me no not though all the other Disciples should thou didst profess beyond all the rest that thou wouldst rather dye than deny me thou wouldst follow me to prison to death nay lay down thy own life for me What saist thou now Simon Doest thou yet love me more than these If thou thinkest thou art provided and canst hazard thy life for me feed my sheep and for my sake do thou expose thy life yea and lay it down for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Feed my Lambs If there be any thing in that threefold repetition feed feed feed we may most fitly apply it to the threefold object of St. Peters Ministry viz. the Gentiles the Jews and the Israelites of the ten Tribes I. To him were committed by his Lord the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. XVI that he might open the door of Faith and the Gospel to the Gentiles which he did in his preaching it to Cornelius II. In sharing out the work of Preaching the Gospel amongst the three Ministers of of the Circumcision his lot fell amongst the Jews in Babylon James his lot was amongst the Jews in Palestine and Syria And John's amongst the Hellenists in Asia III. Now amongst the Jews in Babylon were mixed the Israelites of the ten Tribes and to them did the Gospel come by the ministry of St. Peter as I have shewn more at large in another Trearise To this therefore have the words of our Saviour a plain reference namely putting Peter in mind that whereas he had with so much confidence and assurance of himself made such professions of love and constancy beyond the other Disciples pretending to a wonderful resolution of laying down his very life in that behalf that he would now shew his zeal and courage in feeding the sheep of Christ. Thou canst not Simon lay down thy life for me as thou didst once promise for I have my self laid down my own life and taken it up again Feed thou my sheep therefore and be ready to lay down thy life for them when it shall come to be required of thee So that what is here said does not so much point out Peter's Primacy as his danger nor so much the priviledge as the bond of his Office and his Martyrdom At last for that our Saviour had this meaning with him is plain because immediately after this he tells him by what death he should glorifie God vers 18. VERS XXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If I will that he tarry till he come TILL I come that is till I come to destroy the City and Nation of the Jews As to this kind of phrase take a few instances Our Saviour saith Matth. XVI 28. There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kindom Which must not be understood of his coming to the Last Judgment for there was not one standing there that could live till that time nor ought it to be understood of the Resurrection as some would have it for probably not only some but in a manner all that stood there lived till that time His coming therefore in this place must be understood of his coming to take vengeance against those enemies of his which would not have him to rule over them Luke XIX 12 27. Perhaps it will nor repent him that reads the Holy Scriptures to observe these few things I. That the destruction of Jerusalem and the whole Jewish state is described as if the whole frame of this world were to be dissolved Nor is it strange when God destroyed his Habitation and City places once so dear to him with so direful and sad an overthrow his own people whom he accounted of as much or more than the whole world beside by so dreadful and amazing Plagues Matth. XXIV 29 30. The Sun shall be darkned c. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man c. which yet are said to fall out within that Generation vers 34. 2 Pet. III. 10. The Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat c. Compare with this Deut. XXXII 22. Heb. XII 26. and observe that by Elements are understood the Mosaick Elements Gal. IV. 9. Coloss. II. 20. and you will not doubt that St. Peter speaks only of the Conflagration of Jerusalem the destruction of the Nation and the abolishing the dispensation of Moses Revel VI. 12 13. The Sun became black as sackcloth of hair c. and the Heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together c. Where if we take notice of the foregoing Plagues by which according to the most frequent threatnings he destroyed that people viz. the Sword vers 4. Famine vers 5 6. and the Plague vers 8. Withal comparing those words They say to the Mountains fall on us and cover us with Luke XXIII 30. it will sufficiently appear that by those phrases is understood the dreadful judgment and overthrow of that Nation and City With these also agrees that of Jerem. IV. from vers 22. to 28. and clearly enough explains this phrase To this appertain those and other such expressions as we meet with 1 Cor. X. 11. On us the ends of the world are come and 1 Pet. IV. 7. The end of all things is at hand II. With reference to this and under this notion the times immediately preceding this ruine are called the last days and the last times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the last times of the Jewish City Nation Oeconomy This manner of speaking frequently occurs which let our St. John himself interpret 1 Joh. II. 13. There are many Antichrists whereby we know it is the last time and that this Nation is upon the very verge of destruction whenas it hath already arrived at the utmost pitch of Infidelity Apostacy and wickedness III. With the same reference it is that the times and state of things immediately following the destruction of Jerusalem are called a New Creation New Heavens and a New Earth Isai. LXV 17. Behold I create a New Heaven and a New Earth When should that be Read the whole Chapter and you will find the Jews rejected and cut off and from that time is that New Creation of the Evangelical world among the Gentiles Compare 2 Cor. V. 17. and Revel XXI 1 2. where the old Jerusalem being cut off and destroyed a new one succeeds and New Heavens and a New Earth are created 2 Pet. III. 13. We according
Israelite and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An uncircumcised Priest R. a a a a a a Hieros Pesach fol. 36. 2. Jochanan in the name of R. Benaiah saith They sprinkle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Upon an uncircumcised Israelite b b b b b b Levachin cap. 2. hal 1. All the Sacrifices whose blood is received by an Alien 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The uncircumcised Priest lamenting c. are not approved R. Simeon saith They are approved And c c c c c c Hieros in the place before R. Lazar in the name of R. Haninah saith There is a story 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of an uncircumcised Priest who sprinkled blood at the Altar and his sprinklings were approved d d d d d d Gloss in Zevachin An uncircumcised Priest is a Priest whose brethren died by circumcision And An e e e e e e Arâ—ch ex Câ—â—liâ— uncircumcised Israelite is whose brethren died of circumcision and yet he is an Israelite although uncircumcised For the Israelites are not bound to perform the precepts where Death will certainly follow For it is said Laws which if a man shall observe them he shall live in them not that he dye in them Hence if the first second third son should dye by circumcision those that were born after were not circumcised but were always uncircumcised and yet Israelites in all respects Priests in all respects f f f f f f Hieros Jevamoth fol. 7. 4. R. Nathan saith I travailed to Cesarea of Cappadocia and there was a woman there who had brought forth male children which had died of circumcision the first the second the third they brought the fourth to me and I looked upon him and saw not in him the blood of the Covenant He advised them to permit him a little while though not circumcised and they permitted him c. Now Jew tell me Whether Circumcision is any thing especially whether it be of so much account either to Justification or to Sanctification as you esteem it when an Israelite might be a true Israelite and a Priest a true Priest without Circumcision II. Circumcision is nothing in respect of the time for now it was vanished the end of it for which it had been instituted being accomplished That end the Apostle shews in those words Rom. IV. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A seal of the Righteousness of the Faith in uncircumcision But I fear the words are not sufficiently fitted by most Versions to the end of Circumcision and the scope of the Apostle while they insert some thing of their own The French Translation thus Scean de la justice de foy Laquelle il avoyt durant le prepuce A seal of the righteousness of Faith which he had during uncircumcision The Italian thus Segno della giustitia della fede laquale fu nella circoncisione A Seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which was without circumcision The Syriac reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And a sign of the Righteousness of his Faith The Arabic of the righteousness of Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was in uncircumcision Others to the same sense as though Circumcision were given to Abraham for a sign of that righteousness which he had while as yet he was uncircumcised which we deny not in some sense to be true but we believe Circumcision especially looks far another way Give me leave to render the words thus And he received the sign of Circumcision a seal of the Righteousness of the Faith which should hereafter be in Uncircumcision I say Which should be not which had been Not which had been to Abraham as yet uncircumcised but which should be to his seed uncircumcised that is To the Gentiles that should hereafter imitate the faith of Abraham For mark well upon what occasion Circumcision was appointed to Abraham laying before your eyes the history of it Gen. XVII First This promise was made him Thou shalt be the Father of many Nations in what sense the Apostle explains in that Chapter and then a double Seal is subjoyned to establish the thing viz. The changing of the name Abram into Abraham and the institution of Circumcision ver 4. Behold my Covenant is with thee Thou shalt be the Father of many Nations Why is his name called Abraham For the sealing of this promise Thou shalt be the Father of many Nations And why was Circumcision appointed him For sealing the same promise Thou shalt be the Father of many Nations So that this may be the sense of the Apostle very agreeable to the institution of Circumcision He received the sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteouss of Faith which herafter the Uncircumcision or the Gentiles was to have and obtain Abraham had a double Seed a natural seed that of the Jews and a Faithful seed that of the believing Gentiles The Natural seed is signed with the sign of Circumcision first indeed for the distinguishing it self from all other nations while they were not as yet the seed of Abraham But especially in memory of the justification of the Gentiles by Faith when at last they were his seed Therefore upon good reason Circumcision was to cease when the Gentiles should be brought in to the Faith because then it had obtained to its last and chief end and from thenceforth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Circumcision is nothing VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye not the Servants of men I Ask whether the Apostle speaks these words directly and as his own sense or by way of objection to which he answereth in the verse following The Jews were wont thus to object concerning themselves by reason of their liberty obtained by the redemption out of Egypt so that they would not endure by any means to be called Not free Joh. VIII 33. Rabban g g g g g g Kiddush fol. 22. 2. Jochanan ben Zaccai said The blessed Lord saith The ear which heard my voice upon mount Sinai at what time I said For the children of Israel are my Servants and not the Servants of Servants but it goes and obtains to its self the Lord let that ear be bored Perhaps these new Christians that were of a servile condition laboured under this pride not as yet instructed concerning the true sense of Evangelical Liberty Or this scruple stuck with them whether it were lawful for a Christian to serve a Heathen An Atheist An Idolater c. such Questions are moved by the Masters Whether an Israelite is to be sold for a Servant to a Heathen Whether an Israelite that is a Servant is to be pressed with the same service as a Canaanite If the Apostle speaks directly he does not discourse concerning Servants particularly but of all Christians in general And it is far from his intention to take away the relation that is between Masters and Servants but he admonisheth all Christians that they serve not the evil lusts and wills of men
God the true Messias And the Jews that would not believe that no sign would serve to make them believe That indeed you 'l say gave assurance to all men that he was the Son of God the true Messias but how did that give assurance that there should be an universal Judgment and he the Judge Truly he that knows what the true Messias means needs no more proof and demonstration of that than his very Character He is heir of the World he is Prince and Saviour he is King in Sion he is set up above all Principality and power as the Scripture speaks these and divers other things of him and doth any man need more evidence of his being judge of all the World But our question is how that is inferred or argued from his Resurrection The Resurrection of Christ did beget and effectuate a double Resurrection for you have mention of a two fold Resurrection in Scripture First There is mention of the first Resurrection Rev. XX. 5. The Millenary not able to clear the notion whereof nor to spell out the meaning hath bewildred himself in those wild conceptions as he hath done The first Resurrection began and took place presently after our Saviours own Resurrection for it means no other than the raising the Heathen from their death in sin blindness and Idolatry to the life light and obedience of the Gospel And so the Apostle titles their estate writing to the Ephesians which had been some of them Ephes. II. 1. You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins And to that very tenor are those words of the Prophet Esay XXVI 19. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise The Gentiles to be raised from their spiritual death presently upon his raising from his bodily And who so shall well weigh those words of our Saviour Joh. V. 25. The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live will clearly find them to mean nothing else So that the Resurrection of Christ had first influence and virtue to cause this spiritual Resurrection the Resurrection of souls the raising up of the Gentiles from the death of sin And whence it had this influence it is easie to read viz. because by his Resurrection he had conquered the Devil who had so long kept the poor Heathen under that spiritual death Will you have a Commentary upon that passage in Psal. CX 3. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power First His Resurrection day of power Rom. I. 4. Then look into the story of the Acts of Apostles the history of the times next following his Resurrection You may wonder there to see people coming in by flocks and thousands to the acknowledgment and entertaining of the Gospel three thousand at one Sermon Chap. II. five thousand at another Chap. III. and further in that book in a little time the Gospel running through the World and imbraced and intertained of all Nations Oh! It was the day of his power and thy people shall be willing in day of thy power He had now Conquered Hell and Satan by his death and rising again whose captives those poor heathen had been two and twenty hundred years and now he said to the captives Go free and to the prisoners Go forth and so they did And upon the very like account his Resurrection hath influence to the causing and effectuating the general Resurrection at the last day For though it might be a little too long to hold that the wicked shall be raised by the very same virtue of Christs Resurrection that the godly shall yet it is not too large to hold that they shall be raised by some virtue of his Resurrection viz. as his Resurrection had conquered death and brought him to those articles that he must in time give up and restore all prisoners and dead that they may come and give account to him that conquered him I have the keys of the grave and death faith he in the Revelations he had wrung the keys out of the jaylors hand and opened the prison doors that the prisoners should come out when he calls Very observable to the purpose we are upon viz. that Christs Resurrection did assure that judgment and that he should be judge is that in Phil. II. 8. 9. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross Wherefore also God hath highly exalted him Obedience was that debt that was to be paid to God Whereas much stress is laid upon the torments that Christ suffered it is very true that he suffered as much as I may say God could lay upon him short of his own wrath and as much as the Devil could withal his wrath but that was not the debt that was due and to be paid to God Wrath and torment and damnation was rather the debt that was to be paid to man But the debt was obedience For easie is it to observe how Satan had got the day of God as with reverence I may speak it when he had brought the chief creature of Gods creation and in him all mankind to disobey God and to be obedient to him and had carried it for ever had not an obedience been paid again to God that outvied that disobedience How might Satan triumph Man that is the darling creature to the Creator and that is set up Lord and Ruler of all Creatures and to whom even the Angels are appointed to be ministring Spirits I have brought this brave Gallant to forsake his Creator and to follow and obey me But forth steps this noble Champion of God and in the form of a servant incounters this triumpher and mauger all his spite and power and vexatiousness he pays God an obedience incomparably beyond the obedience that Adam should have paid incomparably outweighing the disobedience that Adam shewed He paid an obedience that should answer for the disobedience of all his people An obedience that should be a stock for all his people Nay he paid an obedience that outvied all the disobediences of all men and Devils For he paid an obedience that was infinite Now his Resurrection did demonstrate that he had made full payment or else Satan and Death might have kept him still in the grave their prison if a farthing had been yet unpaid Now he having by his Resurrection consummated the payment of so great obedience and vindicated the honour and quarrel of God against his enemies In all justice and equity the Lord exalted him above all that all should be subject and homagers to him and that he might take account and reward accordingly those that obey him and that obey him not And so the Lord hath appointed a day in which he will judge the World in righteousness by him whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he raised him from the dead And are you assured that there will be
and all destroyed before Christ came in the flesh as is apparently to be observed there They were the Babylonian Mede-Persian Grecian and Syro-Grecian and after them rose the fift this of the Roman And which is observable and which may be observed out of Roman Records It began most properly to be a Monarchy that very year that our Saviour was born as might be shewed out of Dion c. if material and so Christ and this Roman Beast born and brought forth at the very same time Well the Devil gave his Seat and Power to this Beast this City If you look for any thing but Devilishness and mischief from it you look for Grapes of Thorns and Figs of Thistles True there was in the beginning of the Gospel a flock of Christ there holy and their Faith famous Rom. I. 8. but poor men they were underlings and of no power We speak of Rome in its pomp and power acting in its authority and dominion as it ruled over all the World and as it was invested in the Authority and Seat of the Dragon himself And why did the Devil give his Seat and Power and great Authority to it You may easily guess for what viz. that it should be an enemy to that and them to whom he himself was chiefly an Enemy Christ and his Gospel and his People We cannot say that Rome conquered Nations and subdued Kingdoms by the power of the Dragon so properly as that Rome fought against Christ and his Gospel and People by the power of the Dragon And this was the very end why the Dragon gave him his Seat and Power And that City hath done that work for her Lord and Master the Dragon as faithfully zealously constantly as the Dragon himself could have done For indeed the spirit of the Dragon hath all along acted her and been in her The first cast of her office for her Master and which shews what she would do all along for him was that she murthered Christ himself the Lord of life I said before that it is not said of the Monarchies before that the Dragon gave his power and his seat and great authority to them nor indeed could it so properly be said of them as of Rome For the Dragon had something for Rome to do which they did not could not viz. to murther the Saviour of the World the Lord of Glory In Rev. XI 8. where mention is made of the witnesses Prophesying and being martyred it is said Their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified When you hear of the City where our Lord was crucified you will think of Jerusalem but when you hear of the great City this Apostle teaches us to look at Rome And who can but observe that which our Saviour himself saith concerning himself Luke XVIII 32 33. The Son of man shall be delivered to the Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and spitted on And they shall scourge him and put him to death Who was it that so spitefully entreated and put to death the Son of God The Gentiles And who those Gentiles The Evangelists tells you who Pilate the Roman Governor and the Roman Souldiers and that by the Authority and Tyranny of Rome and in the cause of Rome that would have no King but Cesar. There were two Nations that had a hand in the conspiracy of Christs murther the Jew and the Roman and whether of them deeper in the murther The Evangelists tell and the Jews themselves tell that the Roman must do it or it could not be done Joh. XVIII 31. Pilate said unto them Take ye him and judge him according to your Law the Jews therefore said unto him It is not lawful for us to put any man to death Therefore thou must do it or it will not be done And he did it And now as Hannibals father brought him to an Altar and engaged him in an oath to be an enemy to Rome so let me bring your thoughts to Christs cross and engage your hearts in such another enmity Christian it was Rome that murthered thy Saviour and need I to say any more As oft as you read repeat the History of our Saviours bitter passion remember Rome for it was Rome that caused him so to suffer and Pontius Pilate brought him to it by the Authority of Rome And the very frame of the Article in the Creed Suffered under Pontius Pilate hints you to observe and remember such a thing For if it had meant to intimate Christs sufferings only it had been enough to have said He suffered without saying any more but when he saith He suffered under Pontius Pilate it calls you to think of that Power and Tyranny by which he suffered viz. the Power and Tyranny of Rome which Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor acted and exercised And here let us argue with a Romanist according to the cue of his own Logick He saith Peter was at Rome c. Ergo. We argue likewise Pilate was at Jerusalem c. Ergo. Here was a sad beginning and that which speaks plainly why it was that the Devil made Rome his Deputy and invested it in his Seat and Power viz. that it might murther his great enemy the Lord Christ. And this was but too plain a prognostick what it would do to the members of Christ in succeeding generations which how it did there are so many thousand stories written in blood that I need not to mention them I might begin with the Ten Persecutions raised by the Heathen Emperors against the Professors of Christ and his Gospel wherein so many thousand poor Christians were destroyed with the most exquisite torments that could be invented and whereby that City and Empire shewed how zealously it wrought for its Master and would not spare the dry tree when it had cut down the green would not spare Christ in his members who had so little spared him himself in his own person But a Papist will say True indeed Heathen Rome was even as you say but Papal Rome is of another kind of temper It is the Church of Christ the Mother Church the chief of Churches It was Babylon and Sodom and Egypt in the Heathen Emperors time and the seat of the Devil but under the Popes it is Jerusalem Sion and the City of God I should ask him that pleads thus one question and ere ever I should turn Romanist I I. would be resolved of but I doubt the infallible chair it self is not able to resolve it and that is this Whence it is that since the Jew that had a hand in murthering Christ hath laid under a curse ever since and hath been utterly cast off of God for it and is like to be to the end how comes it to pass that the Roman that had a hand as deep in that horrid act if not deeper should be so blessed as to be the only people and
finished there shall be the general resurrection And accordingly they construe the words before us to this sence The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years were finished And then lived An opinion as like the opinion of the Jews as one egg is like another They think Christ shall reign among them on earth a thousand years pompous reign So do these They think that at the beginning of his reign the holy Prophets and Patriarchs shall be raised from death and reign with him So these They think that at the end of his thousand years reign there shall be the general resurrection and world of Eternity so do these So that the Millenary doth Judaize and he knows it not he is fallen into the Jews opinion and is not aware of it This book of Revelations is exceeding full of expressions that allude to the Jewish customs and opinions I say again is exceeding full but it were ridiculous to think that such passages are to be construed in the same literal sense that the Jews took them in Only those common and well known things as being familiar to the Nation are used to signifie or illustrate some spiritual sence or matter Expressions are used in this place that are agreeable in sound to the opinion of the Jews but not agreeable in sence but signifying something else They conceit a personal pompous reign of Christ on earth a thousand years in all earthly state and gallantry These words speak of a reign of Christ a thousand years but they mean his reign and ruling by his Word and Spirit and of his subduing and bringing the Nations into subjection and obedience but by the Ministry of the Gospel They speak of those that had been martyred reigning with him but the meaning only is to intimate that the children of his kingdom must suffer persecution and that they shall lose nothing by their persecution but as the Apostle speaks If they suffer with him they shall also reign with him Let us read the verse before I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God And which had not worshiped the beast neither his image neither had received his his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished And did they live then That is not imaginable the time of reviving being then past and over For at the end of the thousand years Satan is let loose again brings in Popery and Mahumetism and the World grows as Heathenish as it had been before Satans binding and imprisoning So that they had lost the opportunity of reviving which was in the thousand years The word Until signifies doubly either concluding or else excluding you may see my meaning by these examples The Master in the Parable gives Talents to his servants and bids them Occupy till I come Here the word until concludes that he would come again This iniquity shall not be purged from you till you dye Es. XXII 14. Here the word till excludes them from ever having their iniquity purged The word until in the text is of this latter construction and means that they let slip and embraced not the opportunity of reviving all the thousand years when was the time of reviving and so they lived not again at all And if we well observe the Histories both of the Heathen and of the Church we shall find that all along this time that the Gospel was dispersing through the World there were multitudes of Heathens that would not forsake their Heathenism and multitudes in the Church in a little time fell to superstition and worshiping of Images and so even turned to Heathenism also Therefore God suffers Satan to be let loose again to go about in the world again with his delusions he brings in Popery in the West and Mahumetism in the East and so the whole World is returned to blindness and darkness again because when the light shone they would none of the light They would not embrace the offer of reviving when the time and opportunity of reviving was therefore they lived not again till those thousand years were finished and then the time of living again was over So that in the words before us we observe three things I. That the raising of the Gentiles from the Death of Sin is called the first Resurrection II. That in that time of raising some lost the opportunity and would not be raised III. That they losing the opportunity of rising and living missed always of rising and living I. As to the first thing named That the raising of the Gentiles from the death of sin is called the first Resurrection It gives us occasion to consider how a mans getting out of the state of sin into the state of grace is a Resurrection or a rising from the dead And with all to compare this first and last resurrection together and to see what connexion there is between them I. To Sadduces and Atheists that deny the resurrection at the last day because they can see no reason for it I should propose this question Whether there hath not been a raising of dead souls from the death of sin Abraham once an Idolater was not his soul dead then Yet afterwards he was the great Father of the faithful Was there not then a Resurrection of that dead soul Manasseh the King an Idolater a Conjurer a Sacrificer of his Sons to Molech was not this man dead in trespasses and sins and yet this man afterwards was a Penitent a Convert a Promoter of piety and the true worship of God Was not here a Resurrection of a dead Soul Is God less able to raise a dead body out of the grave than to raise a dead soul out of its sins Nay is not this as great a work of God as that will be Christ that can make such vile souls that they may be like unto his most glorious soul cannot he make these vile bodies that may be like his most glorious body according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself II. But let us look upon this first resurrection a little and blessed and holy is he that hath part in it over such an one shall the second death have no power In some things it is not parallel or like to the second resurrection in more it is First The Second Resurrection shall be of all bodies this First is not of all souls And if we come to seek for the reason of the difference where shall we find it Cannot the same power that shall raise all bodies also raise all souls The reason of the difference lies not in the difference of that power Were it not as much for the glory of God to raise all souls as to raise all bodies The reason of the difference lyes not there neither For God chooseth freely the
high when I say He suffered as much as God could put him to suffer and that I speak too low when I say short of his own wrath I dare not say He suffered the wrath of God as many do but the Prophets and Apostles teach me that he suffered the tryings of God And more he could not be put to suffer than what he did It pleased the Lord to bruise him and to put him to grief Esa. LIII 10. And more could not be laid upon him than what was laid Have you seriously weighed the meaning of those words of our Saviour himself Luke XXII 53. This is your hour and power of darkness The plain English of it is This is your hour that God hath let you loose upon me to do with me what you will without restraint And so hath he let loose upon me the Kingdom of darkness in its utmost power at the full length of the chain to do against me the utmost it can do I was daily with you in the Temple and ye stretched out no hands against me For then Providence restrained them because the Hour was not yet come But this is your hour and now Hell and all its power and all its Agents are let loose against him and Providence does not check them with any restraint I might insist to shew you that whereas God from the day of Adams fall had pitched a combate and field to be fought twixt the Serpent and the seed of the Woman in which the Serpent should bruise his heel and he break the Serpents head the hour of that incounter being now come the Godhead of Christ suspends its acting the providence of God suspends its restraining and lets Satan loose to do the utmost of his power and malice and leaves Christ to stand upon the strength of his own unconquerable holiness The Providence of God hath the Devil in a chain yea as to wicked and ungodly men Else why are they not carried bodily to Hell by him Why are they not hurried to their own place by him body and soul together But here God let the chain quite loose Satan do thy worst against him use all thy power rage and malice but all would not do for God very well knew what a Champion he had brought into the field to incounter him And therefore I may very well say it again That God put him to suffer as much as he could put him to suffer on this side his own wrath and the Devil put him to suffer as much as he could do with all his rage and power But his sufferings were not all that gave his blood and death that virtue that most justly is ascribed to it of justifying and saving The torments that he suffered were not the Godfather that named his blood by that precious Name of justifying and saving but it was that infinite Obedience that he shewed in bowing so low as to undergo those sufferings And there especially does the Scripture lay and lodge the stress of it Rom. V. 19. By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Phil. II. 8. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross. Heb. V. 8. Though he were a son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered Our Saviour in his sufferings and death for to that I will consine my discourse concerning his Obedience as the Text confines us to treat only of his blood and as the Scripture more peculiarly lodges his Obedience there For though he performed Obedience to God all his life yet the Obedience that he shewed to and in the shedding of his blood was the very apex and top-stone of his obedience And for this it is that I scruple to say that he suffered the wrath of God in his sufferings because it is hard to think that he lay under the depth of Gods displeasure when he was now in the highest pitch of obeying and pleasing God I say That Our Saviour in his sufferings and death had to deal with God and Satan upon different accounts with God to satisfie him with Satan to destroy him And with one and the same instrument as I may call it his Obedience he effected these contrary effects As the pillar of â—ire Exod. XIV was darknes to the Egyptians but light to Israel So his Obedience was destruction to the Devil and satisfaction to God I. Christ was to break the head of the Serpent as the Serpent had broke the head of Adam and all mankind He was to conquer the Devil who had conquered Man And what was that by which he conquered him By his divine power as he was God That had been no great Mastery for the great God by his omnipotent power to conquer a creature When he did but exert a little of his divine power at his apprehension he made Judas and all his band of Ruffians to go backward and fall to the ground Joh. XVIII 6. But he was to conquer Satan by righteousness holiness and obedience to God He had not needed to have been incarnate to conquer the Devil by his omnipotent divine power but he was to conquer him and he did conquer him by obedience and holiness Joh. XIV 30. The Prince of this World cometh saith he and hath nothing in me And he came with all his forces all his fury all his power and do all he could he could find nothing in him that could serve his turn All that he did or could do could not move him one hairs bredth from obeying God and persisting in his holiness The Apostle in the ninth of this Epistle vers 14. saith He offered himself without spot to God One spot had spoiled all the offering but the Devil could not fix one spot upon him though he flung against him all the sink of Hell but still he keeps to his obedience and holiness Vicisti Galilaee Julian a child of the Devil once said O Galilaean thou hast overcome me The Devil himself hath cause to say so now The Devil let loose upon him to do the utmost against him that he could without any restraint to bring him from his obeying of God and so to foil him and all will not do All the temptations and tricks and assaults that the anvil of Hell could forge and sharpen were bent and used against him and all return blunted and avail nothing All that Satan can do cannot bring from him one repining word for all his tortures not one desponding thought for all his pangs not one unbecoming passage for all his passion But still he will oby God come what will he will still retain his holiness and integrity let Devils and Men do what they will Satan art thou not conquered O Devil where is thy power now O Hell where is thy victory Thanks be given to God that hath given us such victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Satan thou hast not the first Adam now in handling who was foiled by one Devil and in one
and the first temptation presented to him Now all the power and army of Hell is let loose all the machinations of the bottomless pit put in practise against the second Adam but all to no purpose he stands like a rock unmoved in his righteousness and obedience and by such a death destroys him that had the power over death the Devil II. As the Dâ—â—â—l must be conquered so God must be satisfied And as Christs obedience did the one work so it did the other Obedience was the debt of Adam and mankind and by disobedience they had forfeited their Bonds Then comes this great Undertaker and will satisfie the debt with full interest yea and measure heaped and running over Does not the Apostle speak thus much Rom. V. from vers 12. forward particularly at vers 19. By the disobedience of one man many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous Nor was this all that mans debt must be paid but Gods honour lay at stake too and that must be vindicated God had created man his noblest creature that he might glorifie and honour his Creator by his obedience Satan brings him to disobey his Creator and to obey him How might Satan here triumph and the honour of God lie in the dust I have mastered the chief Creation of God might Satan boast and made him that carried the badge and livery of his image now to carry mine I have frustrated the end and honour of the Creator and now all is mine own How sad a time were those three hours or thereabouts that passed betwixt the Fall of Adam and the promise of Christ Adam in darkness and not the least glimpse of promise or comfort Satan triumphing and poor manking and Gods honour trampled underfoot But then the Sun of righteousness arose in the promise that the seed of the woman should break the head of the Serpent And shall this uncircumcised Philistin thus deâ—ie the honour and armies of the living God saith Christ shall Satan thus carry the day against man and against God I will pay obedience that shall fully satisfie to the vindication of Gods honour to confound Satan and to the payment of mans debt to his reinstating and recovery And that was it that he paid consummatively in his Obedience to the death and in it and to the shedding of his blood Of which to speak in the full dimensions of the height depth length bredth of it what tongue can suffice what time can serve T is a Theme the glorified Saints deservedly sing of to all Eternity I shall speak in little of that which can never be extolled enough these two things only I. That he died merely out of obedience The Apostle tells us in Phil. II. 8. He became obedient to the death the death of the Cross. And what can ye name that brought him thither but Obedience Christs dead body imagine lies before you Call together a whole College of Phisitians to diffect it and to tell you what it was of which he died And their Verdict will be Of nothing but Love to man and Obedience to God For Principles of death he had none in his nature And the reason of his death lay not in any mortality of his body as it does in ourâ— but in the willingness of his mind Nor was his death his wages of sin as it is ours Rom. VI. ult but it was his choise and delight Luke XII 50. I have a baptism to be baptised withal and how am I straitned till it be accomplished Ask the first Adam why he sinned when he had no principles of sin in him and the true answer must be Because he would sin And so ask the second Adam why he died when he had no principles of death in him his answer must be to the like tenor He would lay down his life because he would be obedient to the death He came purposely into the World that he might dye Behold I tell you a mystery Christ came purposely into the World that he might dye and so never did Man but himself never will man do but himself True that every Man that comes into the World must dye but never Man came purposely that he might dye but only He. And he saith no less than that he did so Joh. XII 27. Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I to this hour And John XVIII 37. For this cause came I into this World to bear witness to the Truth Even to bear witness to the Truth to Death and Martyrdom II. Now add to all this the dignity of his Person who performed this Obedience that he was God as well as Man That as he offered himself according to his Manhood so he offered himself by the Eternal Spirit or as he was God as this Apostle saith Chap. IX 14. And now his obedience his holiness that he shewed in his death is infinite And what need we say more So that lay all the disobedience of all men in the World on an heap as the dead frogs in Egypt were laid on heaps that they made the land to stink again yet here is an Obedience that out-vies them all For though they be infinite in number as to mans numbring yet lay them all together they are finite upon this account because committed by creatures finite But here is an Obedience a holiness paid down by him that is infinite And now Satan where is thy Triumph Thou broughtest the first Adam to fail of perfect Obedience that he should have paid his Creator and here the second Adam hath paid him for it infinite Obedience And what hast thou now gained Therefore to take account from whence comes that infinite Virtue of Christs blood and death that the Scripture so much and so deservedly extols and magnifies Because as the Evangelist â—aith Out of his side came water and blood so out of his wounds came obedience and blood holiness and blood righteousness and blood and that obedience holiness righteousness infinite because he that paid it down and performed it was infinite And now judge whether it may not very properly be said That Christ was sanctified by his own blood As Aaron was sanctified for his Priesthood by his Unction and Garments Christ was consecrated fitted capacitated by his infinite obedience and righteousness which he shewed to the death and in it to be an High Priest able to save to the uttermost all those that come to him For first as in reference to himself it is said by this Apostle that he was raised from the dead by the blood of the Covenant Chap. XIII 20. And it was not possible but he should be raised for when he had performed such obedience and righteousness as in it was infinite in its validity subdued Satan in its alsufficiency satisfied the justice of God it was impossible that he should be held of death which is the wages of sin and disobedience And as he was thus raised by
To gather Spiritual strength for that which it may be hath been scattered in our wordly employment Secondly There is a commemorative end of the Sabbath to remember Gods creating the world Which Adam might very well nay must have been employed about though he had never fallen When he had been all the week upon his employment dressing the Garden and keeping it then on the Sabbath to set himself to meditate upon Gods creating of the world and to study his power and wisdom and goodness shewed in that glorious workmanship and to spend the day in prayers to him Observe the work of that day to us and the same it should have been to him in Psal. XCII which is intituled a Psalm for the Sabbath day It tells you what the work of the day is vers 1. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name O most High And upon what reason ver 4. For thou hast made me glad through thy works I will triumph in the works of thy hands This is a Sabbath days work after our sixs days work to make it our employment to think of Gods to meditate of his wondrous works of Creation and Preservation and there will come in the thoughts of our Creator and Preserver and may mind us of our engagement to praise him to whet our thankfulness and faith with these thoughts 1. When we have laboured all the week to think of our Creator that hath sustained us fed cloathed brought us hitherto And here is a right Sabbath employment to let our thoughts stream from our wordly employment to God and to the remembrance of him in whom we live and move and have our being 2. To trust God with our support though we labour not on the Sabbath but spend it wholly to him and not to our selves He that created all things and that hath fed and preserved us hitherto can support us without our working on his day nay and will do it for do his work and undoubtedly thou shalt not want thy wages What a lecture did God read in his raining of Manna that on the Sabbath day he rained none thereby to shew his own owning of his Sabbath and checking and chiding those that for greediness and distrust would go out and think to gather some on that day And when he provided them Manna on the sixth day for the Sabbath also what a lecture did he read that he that observes the Sabbath and does Gods Will ceasing from his own labour and doing his shall never be unprovided for Thirdly There is an Evangelical end of the Sabbath referring to Christ and that in Adams Sabbath as well as ours Let us begin with his I have shewed that on the sixth day Adam sinned and Christ was promised So that the last work of God in the days of Creation was the setting up Christ and restoring fallen man by him And here God rested viz. He had brought in his Son in whom his Soul delighted and made him heir of all things and thus he rested in Christ finished his work in Christ rested refreshed delighted himself in Christ. Now the next day when the Sabbath came in what had Adam to do in it but to remember the Creation to remember his new creating when he was broke all to pieces and spoiled To remember his Creator and Redeemer It is said Gen. III. 21. Unto Adam and his wife did the Lork God make coats of skins and cloathed them The Lord and Lady of all the world clad in Leather Which our silks and sattens now would scorn to think of but from so mean a garb comes all our gallantry though now we scorn it But whence came those Skins Most probably they were the skins of beasts that were sacrificed For That sacrifice was from the beginning may be observed from that that Christ is called The Lamb slain from the beginning of the world and that not only in prediction or that it was determined and foretold by God that he should be slain but in figure that sacrifice was offered from the beginning of the world which did presignifie his killing and offering up And this further appears from the sacrifices of Cain and Abel which rite and piece of Religion they had learned of their Father Adam Here then was work for Adam on the Sabbath to sacrifice in memory of Christ to be offered up for redemption and to praise God for creating the world but especially for vouchsafing Christ whereby a better world and Estate is created And would not Adam when he had a family preach to his family of these things upon the Sabbath day My Children learn to know and remember the Creator the blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Spirit who in six days made Heaven and Earth and on the sixth day made me and your Mother both of us in his own image perfectly holy and righteous and endued with power of perfect obedience and to resist all temptations But that day we were deceived by the Devil and fell and undid our selves and our posterity and came into a state of death and damnation But God suffered us to lye so but a few hours but promised his own Son to take our flesh and to dye to deliver us from death and damnation and taught us this duty of sacrifice in comemoration of Christs death and appoynted this day to commemorate these things and to be employed in such service and meditations Oh! my Children learn to know your Creator to believe in Christ your Redeemer and to observe his Sabbath Such employment as this had Adam with his family on the Sabbath day that it was even a Christian Sabbath to him as ours is to us and the very same work is ours and was his on the Sabbath day but only that he also sacrificed Fourthly There is a Typical end of the Sabbath to signify Eternal Rest. Heb. IV. 3. For we which have belived do enter into rest As he said I have sworn in my wrath if they shall enter into my Rest although the works were finished from the foundation of the world Where the Apostle signifies that the Sabbath hinted another rest to wit Gods Eternal Rest different from that rest when God ceased from the works of Creation The Sabbath typifies the end viz. Eternal Rest and the means viz. to rest in Christ. One end was to Adam in innocency both to us This is a lecture that may be read in the Sabbath in something that is visible to see something invisible as in the water to see the Sun This is a way to rest and resembles that great and last Rest as pleasant walks lead at length to the stately House at the end of them This is a fit thought for the Sabbath-day morning Now I rest from the world how shall I rest from it eternally Now I deal with God invisibly but one day visibly They who love Eternal Rest will certainly love the Sabbath To all these ends God
the Justice of God that Christ was to satisfie and if he could not have done that then there would have been some reason he should have suffered his wrath The Justice of God challenged obedience of men or no coming to Heaven satisfaction for disobedience or they must to Hell Here is enough saith Christ to serve for both ends They have disobeyed here is obedience more than all their Disobediences do or can come to They cannot obey as they should here is that that makes it out viz. Obedience infinite III. The truth was that Christ had to deal with the wrath of the Devil but not at all with the wrath of God Consider but these passages and see what was the stress that Christ had to deal withal in his Passion First That Gen. III. 15. He shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Satan the seed of the woman shall destroy thee This is explained Heb. II. 14. For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil And 1 Joh. III. 8. For this purpose the Son of God was manifest that he might destroy the works of the Devil And then observe that Joh. XIV 30. The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me And Luke XXII 53. When I was daily with you in the Temple ye stretched forth no hands against me but this is your hour and the power of darkness While I preached there was a restraint upon you because my hour was not come but now you and Hell are let loose to have your full swing against me There was a Combate proposed in the sufferings of Christ before God and Angels Twixt whom Christ and the wrath of God No but twixt Christ and Satan and all his power What doth God in this quarrel Doth God fight against Christ too as well as the Devil Was his wrath against him as well as the Devils wrath What against his own Champion his own Son No he only tries him by affliction not overwhelms him with his wrath He only lets him alone to him to be the shock of Satan He little assists Satan by his wrath laid on his own Champion See the great Mystery of this great Dispensation in brief God had created the first Adam and endued him with abilities to have stood Thus endued he leaves him to stand of himself and permits Satan to tempt him and he overcomes him and all mankind are overthrown God raised up a second Adam endued with power to foil Satan do he his worst and not only with power to withstand Satan if he will but a will that could not but withstand Satan He sets him forth to encounter and leaves him to himself lets Satan loose to do his worst Satan vexeth him with all the vexation Hell could inflict upon him Did not God love his Son look with dear bowels upon him all this while It is a very harsh opinion to think that Christ undertaking the combate for the honour of God against his arch-enemy that obeying the Will of God even to the death that retaining his holiness unmoveable in the midst of all his tortures paying God an infinite obedience it is harsh I say to think that God should requite him with wrath and look upon him as a wretched damned person No it was the wrath of the Devil that Christ had to combate with not the wrath of God at all IV. Though Christ is said to bear sins yet for all that God did not look upon him any whit the more wrathfully or in displeasure but rather the more favourably because he would bear the sins of his people For God looked on Christ not as a sinner but as a Sacrifice and the Lord was not angry at him but loved him because he would become a Sacrifice Joh. X. 17. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life Esa. LIII 12. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his Soul unto death Do those words speak the anger of God No his wel-pleasedness his rewarding him for that he would be numbred with transgressors being none but a Lamb without spot and blemish Some say That Christ was the greatest sinner murderer c. because he bare the sins of those that were so which words border upon blasphemy and speak besides a great deal of imprudence and inconsideration See Levit. XVI 21 22. And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live Goat and consess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins putting them upon the head of the Goat And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities Is it not sensless now to say That the Goat was the greatest sinner in Israel Was he any whit the more sinful because the sins of the people were put upon him And so of other sacrifices on whose heads hands were laid and sins put was the wrath of God upon the Sacrifice No the pleasure of God was upon it for attonement In such sense are those places to be taken Isa. LIII 6. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all 1 Pet. II. 24. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree 2 Cor. V. 21. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin He bare our sins not as a sinner but as a Sacrifice And that Joh. I. 29. makes it plain Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World As a Lamb at the Temple bare the sins of the people so Christ bare our sins How Was the Lamb guilty or sinful No as an attonement and sacrifice And so God looked on Christ as a Sacrifice well pleasing to him not as sinful at all Need we any more illustration Observe that Exod. XXVIII 36 38. And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold and grave upon it like the engravings of a signet Holiness to the Lord. And it shall be upon Aarons forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts and it shall be always upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord. Holiness to the Lord because he bare iniquity It should rather have been Unholiness if Aaron had been any whit the more sinful for bearing the peoples iniquities But he is said to bear their iniquities because he by his office undertook to attone for them How did God look upon Aaron in his Priesthood With anger because he bare the iniquity of the people Nay with favour and delight as so excellent an instrument of attonement Such another passage is that Levit. X. 17 c. Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place
19. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise 590   And compared with Iohn 5. 20. Ephes. 2. 1. 1105 28. 16. I lay in Sion a foundation a stone c. 205 35. 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief 1255 40. 3. Wilderness for Heathen World 296 45. 13. All thy children shall be taught of the Lord. 1057 53. 4. Surely he hath born our griefs c. reconciled with Matth. 8. 17. 167  7. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter 680  8. Who shall declare his generation 1112 55. 3. Hear and your Souls shall live c. Even the sure mercies of David 1235 56. 1. Keep judgment and do justice 1114 63. 4. The day of vengeance is in my heart c. 351  8. Children that will not lye compared with Iohn 1. 47. 524 65. 13. Behold my servants shall eat but they shall be hungry 552  17. I create a new Heaven and a new Earth 244 626 1075  20. There shall be no more than an infant of days 573 1071 66. 7 8. Before she travailed she brought forth before her pain came she was delivered c. 244 350 351  20. They shall bring their Brethren c. 347  21. I will take of them for Priests and Levites saith the Lord. 1040  24. Their worm shall not dye neither shall their fire be quenched 38 346 347 JEREMIAH Ch. vers  Page 2. 31. SEE the Word of the Lord. 1125 4. 23. Earth without form c. 244 31. 34. They shall teach no more every man his neighbour for they shall all know me 1071 EZEKIEL Ch. vers  Page 8. 17. THEY put the branch to their nose 602 15. 2. What is the Vine-tree more to me than any tree c. 602 27. 7. Wheat of Minith and Pannag 684 38. 39. 17. Concerning Gog and the Land of Magog 1173 1247 DANIEL Ch. vers  Page 7. 9. THrones were cast down c. 220  10. The judgment was set c. 220  13 14. Kingdom of Heaven 115  18 26 27. The Saints of the most High shall take the Kingdom c. 1058 1059  24. The ten horns are ten Kings that shall arise 1035  25. A time and times and the dividing of times 1035 9. 24. Seventy years c. 116  27. He shall confirm the Covenant c. 117 12. 2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake 1085 HOSEA Ch. vers  Page 3. 5. IN the later days compared with Acts 2. 17. 1 Tim. 4. 1. 2 Tim. 3. 1. 1 Ioh. 2. 18. 1 Cor. 10. 11. 1 Pet. 4. 7. and interpreted of the end of the Jewish State 1074 4. 8. They eat up the sins of my people 1243 5. 11. Ephraim is oppressed c. Because he willingly walked after the commandment 1098 8. 12. I have written to him the great things of my Law c. 11â—7 AMOS Ch. vers  Page 3. 2. YOU have I known of all the families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities 1226 4. 3. And ye shall go out at the breaches c. 673 5. 18. Wo to you that desire the day of the Lord reconciled with Chap. 6. 3. 1120  25. Have ye offered unto me 671  26. The Tabernacle of Moloch c. compared and harmonized with Luke 7. 43. 671 to 673 6 3. Wo to you that put the evil day far away reconciled with Chap. 5. 18. 1120 OBADIAH vers  Page 20. ZArephath 368 HAGGAI Ch. vers  Page 2. 9. THE glory of this later house shall be greater than of the former 531 ZECHARIAH Ch. vers  Page 11. 8. THree Shepherds c. interpreted of Pharisees Sadducees and Esseans 1037 1102 11. 1 2 3 6 7 8 10 14. Concerning the great Shepherd 573 574 14. 16 17. It shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the Nations c. 107 MALACHI Ch. vers  Page 4. 5. BEhold I will send Elijah 382 c. MATTHEW Ch. vers  Page 1. 17. FOurteen Generations c. thrice said but squares not exactly Vindicated 99 100 3. 5. The Region about Jordan 43 298 c.  7. Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come 1128 4. 15. Beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles 362 6. 9. After this manner pray ye 1138 c. 8. 17. Himself took our infirmities reconciled with Isa. 53. 4. 167  28. The Country of the Gergasins reconciled with Mark 5. 1. 70 10. 5. Go not into the way of the Gentiles 273  29 30. The hairs of your head are numbred 1251  34 35. Think not that I am come to send peace on Earth reconciled with Isa. 2. 4. 11. 9. 1042 1061 12. 32. It shall never be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come 1095  43 44 45. When the unclean Spirit is gone out of c. Even so shall it be to this wicked generation Meant of the Apostacy of the Jews from Christianity 1044 1096 15. 22. A woman of Canaan reconciled with Mark 7. 26. 202  39. Coasts of Magdala reconciled with Mark 8. 10. 307 16. 28. Shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom 625 1074 18. 17. Let him be to thee as an Heathen or a Publican 1097 19. 28. Ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel 1057 21. 19. No figs but leaves why was the figtree cursed when as it was not time for figs 87 225 to 228  38. The Husbandmen seeing the Son said among themselves this is the heir let us kill him c. 654 23. 2 3. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat Therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do 1038 1080 24. 22 24. For the Elect sake Deceive the very Elect. 1146  29 30. The Sun shall be darkned c. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven 608 1074 1201  31. Son of Man send his Aâ—geiâ— c. 1201 26. 6. And Iohn 13. 1 2. The Suppers here mentioned were the same however otherwise interpreted 252 to 254 260 261 24. This night before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice 1086  37. Thou art a Galilean for thy speech betrayeth thee 78 27. 33 34. Vinegar to drink mingled with Gall reconciled with Mark 15. 23. 267 617  48. Put it on a reed reconciled with Iohn 19. 29. 617 28. 19. Go and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost 1122 to 1124 MARK Ch. vers  Page 1. 40. BEseeching him and kneeling to him 347 3. 28 29. All sins shall be forgiven c. But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness c. 1130 5. 1. The Country
K its situation 497 Canaan what p. 202. It was only a part of Canaan p. 328. The earthly Canaan is not to be sought after 1224 Candle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Candle used for a Person famous for life or knowledge 550 Capernaum its situation a City in a pleasant place p. 72. Where p. 308. There were two Places of that Name 496 497 Caphar Chittim the same with Ziddim 71 Caphar Hananiah was the middle of Galilee 58 Caphar Karnaim was of Heathen Jurisdiction 317 Caphar Tebi what Village and whence the Name 18 Caphar Tsemach something observed about its Name 316 Cappadocia rendred by the Vulgar Palusium was Sin of old but in the Talmudists Cappadocia c. 290 291 Captains of the Temple what 471 Carmel a mountainous Country 59 Casiotis and Casius the Mount where situate c. 291 Castara what place and by whom inhabited 515 Castor and Pollux what how pictured and how fatal their Feast to the Lacedemonians 705 706 Caves and Dens vastly large and very numerous in the Land of Israel many of these were digged out of Mountains and Rocks by the Gygantick Canaanites for the use of war 88 89 Causes capital the Sanhedrim lost the power of Judging in Capital Causes by their own neglect being so remiss to the Israelites with the reason of it 611 to 614 Cesarea how named by Arabians and Jews how far from Jerusalem Herod built it after it was destroyed the Schools and Doctors of the Jews flourished there 54 55 Cesaria Phillippi where situated 63 317 Chabul what 311 Chagigah the Festival this was the second part of the Passover being kept with joy mirth and sacrifices p. 356 c. Paschal Chagigah what part of the Passover When the time of bringing it 610 611 618 Chains for the hands used among the Jews 683 Chalamish what place and by whom inhabited 515 Chaldee Language from their return out of Babilon was the Jews Mother Tongue 545 Chaldee Paraphrast addeth to the Hebrew Text. 707 Chaluch was a woolen shirt next the skin worn by the Jews 457 Chamber of the Counsellors and chief Men what 358 Chambers and Gates lying on the South side of the Court of Israel what 31 32 Chammath this is Ammaus of Josephus so near Tiberias as to be computed almost one City computed by some to be the warm Bathes of Tiberias 68 69 308 Chaphar Acon what 60 Chaphenatha where and what 516 Charity towards our neighbour is the top of Religion and a most undoubted sign of love to God p. 219. Saint Paul had three steps or degrees in his Charity 1300 Charms Mutterings Exorcisms c. were several sorts of Enchantments practised by Jews 243 Chel was the second Inclosure about the Temple 29 30 Chephar what place and by whom inhabited 515 Cheth and He Aleph and Ain the Mystical Jewish Doctors did not distinguish them 79 Chethib and Keri are the differing Readings of the Hebrew Text. 139 140 Chezib it and Achzib changed into Ecdippa the name of a place 61 Chief Men and Counsellors their Chambers what 358 Chijun or Remphan or Rephan what c. 673 Child a Child with two Bodies from the Navel upward which acted as two Children c. born at Emmaus 373 Children were born and brought up in some Courts near the Temple under ground to be made fitter to sprinkle the Purifying water p. 34. Little Children admitted Disciples by Christ. p. 219. Among the Jews when Children were grown to twelve years of age they were put close upon business both Secular and Divine p. 394. Children born crooked maimed or defective according to some sin of the Parents was the Opinion of the Jews p. 568. Children in the womb supposed by the Jews to be in a capacity to commit some sin p. 569 570. Holy Children a term for such as are born of Christian Parents p. 759 760. Why Children were and are to be baptized p. 1125 1127 1128 Why there is no particular Precept in Scripture for their Baptism p. 1128 1133. Children of the Jewish Proselytes were Baptized in the Jewish Baptism and why p. 1128 1132 1133. Why Children suffer for their Parents sin the Justice thereof p. 1316 1317. Good Children being part of their Parents are punished for their Parents sins 1318 1319 Children of the Bride-chamber what their priviledge and business 172 Chipper what place and by whom inhabited 515 Chorazin where seated 83 84 Christ is added to Jesus in numberless places in the New Testament to shew that Christ was the true Saviour and that Jesus was the true Messias p. 96. Jesus Christ is called the Son of David in a Communion term in the New Testament the Talmudick Writings also use the same term for the true Messias p. 96 97. Christ was born in the thirty first year of Augustus Caesar. p. 104 105. In the thirty fifth year of the Reign of Herod p. 106. In the Month of Tisri answering our September at the Feast of Tabernacles p. 107. This Month Tisri was ennobled before Christs time by many excellent things done in it p. 107. He fulfilled the typical Equity of the three great Feasts Passover Pentecost and Tabernacles p. 107. The Jewish Writers seem to intimate the time of Christs birth p. 107 108. There was a general expectation of him when he came p. 108. Manaben i. e. the Comforter is taken for Christ. p. 108. He conversed upon Earth two and thirty years and an half p. 128 Many Miracles were done by him p 174. Ben Satda a blasphemous name given by the Jewish Writers to Jesus Christ whom they make a Magician c. p. 189. Signs of Christs coming what from the Doctrin of the Jews p. 240 241. His coming in Glory and in the Clouds signifie only his taking vengeance on the Jewish Nation p. 244 1074. His death and the manner of it in several things differed from the Jewish custom in putting Persons to death p. 266. Christ had Perfections and Excellencies which flowed from the Hypostatical union of the two Natures and such also as flowed from the Donation and anointing of the Holy Ghost both mentioned p. 351 352. Christ or Messiah and the Son of God are convertible Terms against the Jews p. 548 549. Christ in his Agony and Passion exercised obedience and holiness not the Divine Power to bear up under the utmost that an enraged Devil could do p. 591. Whether God was then angry with him is questioned p. 591. Christs dew is his quickening Power p. 691. His Resurrection shews him to be the Messiah p. 691. His entrance into his publick Ministry and the time of his death and the several Actions which he did about the time of each c. p. 1033. He held communion with the National Church of the Jews in the publick Exercise of their Religion proved by manifold instances p. 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041. He was a Member of the Church of the Jews proved and under the obligation of the Law p. 1037.
none made oblations of their own good will Nor let any think it strange that the Prophet and after him the Proto-martyr counts up the time in that round sum of forty years when it was indeed but eight and thirty and an half for so doth God himself Numb XIV 34. VERS XLIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And ye took up c. THE word in Amos is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which if we might render with R. Sol. in the future tense And ye shall bear your Idols with you into captivity as burdens laid upon your shoulders it would take off a little of the difficulty that otherwise seems to lye in this passage for it might be very reasonably questioned whether the Israelites ever did this in the wilderness but then this is directly contrary both to the Greek Version in that Prophet and now to the Holy Ghost in this place and to the very scope of the Proto-martyr in quoting it For he speaketh of God as giving up the people to worship the host of heaven and straightways suggests that they first desisted from serving God and then addicted themselves to the worshipping of Idols But the question is whether the discourse in this place is concerned in the Idolatry they committed in the wilderness or that in after-times That it doth not point at the Idolatry in the wilderness these following arguments seem to confirm I. Because there is no mention of any Idolatry committed in the wilderness after the Golden Calf besides that with Baal-Peor And it is hardly imaginable that Moloch and Baal-Peor were the same and that Moloch and Remphan were not two different Idols Nor is it probable at all that the Sacred Historian would have past over such a piece of wickedness without any taking notice either of the fault or punishment especially when as every where else the History of their Idolatry is related so very accurately But not to multiply arguments II. If Stephen refer this Idolatry of the Israelites to the times after those in the wilderness and in that sense interprets the Prophet he speaks the same thing that was commonly known and received amongst the Jews viz. that the punishment of that sin of the Golden Calf descended and was derived to following generations l l l l l l Sanhedr fol. 102. 1. R. Oshaiah saith that to the times of Jeroboam the children of Israel suckt of one Calf the Gloss is viz. that Calf they made in the wilderness but from that time forward they suckt of two and of a third too The Gloss is those two of Jeroboam's and the third of the wilderness R. Isaac saith there is not any instance of vengeance that comes upon the world wherein there is not a twenty fourth part of a pound of the first Calf According as it is said In the day that I visit I will visit their sin upon them Exod. XXXII R. Chaninah saith after twenty four generations the Gloss hath it in the Reign of King Zedekiah this verse was accomplisht as it is said He cried in mine ears with a loud voice the visitations of the City draw near every man having his destroying weapon in his hand Ezek. IX 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tabernacle of Moloch The Prophet Amos hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lat. Interlin Et portastis Siccuth Regem vestrum i. e. Ye carried Siccuth your King So R. Sol. and Kimchi Siccuth is the name of an Idol For my part I am at a stand in this matter as also in what words the Chaldee Paraphrast hath rendred this clause For in the Books publisht amongst us it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when as the Aruch citing the Targumist in this place saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Siccuth Malchechem with the Targumist is Succuth Pethachrechon Observe Pethachrechon not Pathcumarchon And that it was so originally written in the Targumist I do very much suspect however Kimchi owns only the other reading For 1. It is not easie I may say not possible to give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that propriety in this place that it bears in Ezek. XIII 18. and Chap. XVI 16. 2. Whereas the same Paraphrast renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Isa. VIII 21. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Zephan I. 5. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the more probable that he may render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word it should seem he useth for some Idol or heathen God because when he would express a King taken in its proper sense he always retains the usual word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If therefore according to the Copy quoted by the Aruch it should be read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then the Chaldee Version falls in with the Greek and shews that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be rendered your Moloch so that Moloch signifie an Idol and Succuth not an Idol but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the tabernacle of Moloch which seems the more likely from the agreement of the two clauses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tabernacle of Moloch and Star of Remphan But who or what kind of God this Moloch should be I will not spend much time to find out this having been the business of so many Pens already only this I cannot but observe that both Moloch and Remphan were certain figures that represented some of the Coelestial Luminaries because he saith He gave them up to worship the host of Heaven c. And that it is generally supposed that by Moloch was represented the Sun partly because of the Kingly name and partly upon the account of the fiery form and shape of the Idol and the fiery rites of its worship It is also called Baal Jer. XXXII 35. They built the high places of Baal to offer their sons to Motoch Which whether it be the same Idol that Ahab brought in upon Israel might not be unworthy our considering There may be some colour and hint of that bloody worship in what the Priests of Baal did to themselves 1 King XVIII 28. They cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them Moloch as the Jews describe him was an Image of brass having the face of a Calf his hands open like one ready to receive something brought him from another And so Diodorus Siculus describes Saturn of Carthage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They had an Image of Saturn made of brass stretching out his hands extended towards the earth so that a child being put into them was thrown and rould in a great gulph of fire q q q q q q Apud Euseb. Prepar Evang. lib 4. cap. 16. There we have also this passage out of Philo concerning the History of the Phoenicians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Saturn therefore whom the Phoenicians call Israel having governed that Country after his death was made the Star called Saturn Of
his wife Anobret he had one only begotten Son whom therefore they call Jeoud that being the term for an only begotten Son amongst the Phoenicians to this day Upon the breaking in of a very destructive war upon the Country he takes his Son and having decently adorned him and prepared an Altar for him sacrificed him on it This Israel by name was Abraham by the character from whom whether they derived by direful imitation this horrid usage of sacrificing to Moloch is no place at present to dispute the question rather might be whether the Israelites did act any such thing themselves in the wilderness whether with the Tabernacle of the Lord they also erected a Tabernacle to Moloch too whether having slighted the way of sacrificing beasts they instituted the offering up of their own children Which how unlikely it was that Moses should either suffer it to be done or having been done should pass it by in silence and make no mention at all of it any one may judg I shall conclude with that passage in Porphyrius quoted by the same Eusebius worth our taking notice of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That these sacrifices of men were abolisht almost every where Pallas tells us who wrote excellently well concerning the mysteries of Mithra under Adrian the Emperour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Star of your God Remphan In Amos it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chijun in the Seventy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephan I would not in this place heap up what learned men have said in this matter upon these two hinges the whole difficulty turns First to reconcile the Septuagint with the Prophet Amos and then to reconcile St. Stephen or St. Luke with the Septuagint I. Forasmuch as the Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chijun is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephan in the Septuagint I would not look for any thing Gigantick in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephan but something rather weak and infirm Any one knows that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie weak and weakness and from thence perhaps the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephan may take its original and not from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Giant And so the same thing might be done by the Interpreters in this name that had been done by the Jews in the name of Beelzebul viz. invented the name for meer contempt and reproach The naked and native signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chijun is firm upright stable and therefore is rendered by some in that place Basis or foundation a name indeed most unfit for an Idol which is a lye vanity nothing this the Septuagint being apprehensive of might translate it by a word perfectly contrary but more agreeable to the thing it self viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephan that is in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 weakness infirmity If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephan does not denote Saturn in the Coptick language as Kircher tells us II. But how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephan should be changed into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there have been various and those not impertinent conjectures The Syriack and Arabick retain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as to the sense we have mentioned sound properly enough to Eastern ears And what if St. Luke or our Martyr that they also as much as might be might sound the same thing in the ears of the Greeks should pronounce it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remphan where the sound of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies wandring or tottering might be included Be it therefore that Molech is the Sun and Remphan or Chijun should be Saturn we read of the Introduction of Molech into the land of Israel but of Chijun not at all only in the Prophet Amos and here in the mention of Remphan When I read that in 1 King XII 30. That all the people went to worship the Calf in Dan. And observe further that Dan was called Panias I begin to think that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phan in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rephan and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Remphan may have some relation with that name and that Dan is mentioned rather than Bethel because the Idolatry or Calf of that place continued longer than that of Bethel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will carry you beyond Babylon But the Hebrew words of Amos are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beyond Damascus so the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beyond Damascus I. Nothing was more usual in the Schools and Pulpits of the Jews than for the Reader or Preacher to vary and invert the Text of the Scripture to adapt and accommodate it to his own sense Hundreds of times we meet with this phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Talmudick Writers and the Jewish Expositors don't read this or that word so but so or so Where forsaking the proper and genuine reading they put another in the stead that may better fall in with the matter they are upon Not that they reject or vilifie the original Text but to bring what they alledg more ingenuously to their own purpose I have known this done in some words wherein they keep indeed to the same letters but make the variation by the change of vowels Which shews in the mean time that this was neither any strange thing amongst them nor accounted any crime but received rather with applause to aliâ—nate the words of the Hebrew Text from their native and original reading to deduce something either true in it self or at least smooth and ingenious And if Stephen here after the usage of the Schools quoting this passage of the Prophet Amos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beyond Damascus had magisterially said as they were wont to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 don't read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beyond Damascus but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beyond Babylon it would have gone down well enough with his auditory both by reason of the usual custom of the Nation and principally because what he said was true For II. Let us consult another place in the same Prophet Amos IV. 3. And ye shall go out at the breaches one against another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ye shall cast them into the palace Where the Targum and Syriack They shall carry them beyond the mountains of Armenia And the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Unto the mount Romman R. Sol. upon the place tells us that Jonathan paraphraseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beyond the mountains of Horman they are the mountains of darkness m m m m m m Beresh rab fol. 35. 4. Alexander King of Macedon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 went to the King of Cazia behind the mountains of darkness Let me add one passage more n n n n n n Hieros Sanâ—eâ— fol. 29. 3. Israel went into three Captivities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one was within the river Sanbation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the other