the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai and they had no children and Eleazar and Ithamar ministred in the priests office in the sight of Aaron d In the time of Aarons life as this phrase is taken Nâ—…ab â—… 4. See also Psal. 72. 5 17. and under their fathers inspection and direction and as their fathers servants or ministers in the Priests-office for servants are oft described by this phrase of being or standing or 〈◊〉 in the sight or 〈◊〉 of their master their father 5 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying 6 Bring the tribe of Levi near and present them e Offer them to the Lord for his special service This was promised to them before and now actually conferred upon them before Aaron the priest that they may minister unto him 7 And they shall keep his charge f i. e. Aarons charge or those things which are committed principally to Aarons care and oversight and under him and his direction to the Levites and the charge of the whole congregation g i. e. Of all the sacrifices and services which were due to the Lord from all the people and because all the people could not and might not perform them or at least diverse of them in their own persons therefore they were to be performed by some particular persons in their name and stead formerly by the first-born Numb 8. 16. and now by the Levites See Numb 1. 53. and 16. 9. before the tabernacle h Emphatically not within the Tabernacle for the care of these things within the holy place was appropriated to the Priests as the care of the most holy place was peculiar to the High-priest of the congregation to do the service of the tabernacle 8 And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation and the charge of the children of Israel i Those things which all the children of Israel are in their several places and stations obliged to take care of though not in their persons yet by others in their stead to do the service of the tabernacle 9 And * chap. 8. 19. thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons they are †Heb. 〈◊〉 giveâ—… wholly given unto him k To attend upon him and observe his orders and case him of part of his burden in things hereafter mentioned out of the children of Israel 10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons and they shall wait on their priests office l In their own persons not by the Levites and the stranger m i. e. Every one who is of another family than Aarons yea though he be a Levite See Numb 1. 53. and 16. 40. that cometh nigh n To wit to execute any part of the Priest office shall be put to death 11 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying 12 And I behold * chap. 8. 16 and 18. 6. I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the first-born n Who were Gods propriety by right of Redemption Exod. 13. 12. and to whom the administration of holy things was formerly committed which now was taken away from them either because they had forfeited this priviledge by joyning with the rest of their brethren in the idolatrous worship of the calf or because they were to be mainly concerned in the distribution and management of the inheritances which now they were going to possess and therefore could not be at leisure to attend upon the service of the Sanctuaâ—…y Which made it fit that this work should be committed to other hands And God would not commit it to some other persons in each Tribe which might be an occasion of Idolatry confusion division and contempt of sacred things but to one distinct Tribe which might be intirely devoted to that service and particularly to the Tribe of Levi partly out of his respect to Moses and Aaron branches of this Tribe partly as a recompence of their zeal for God and against Idolaters See Exod. 32. 25 29. Deut. 33. 9. and partly because it was the smallest of the Tribes and therefore most likely to find both employment in and maintenance for the work that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel therefore the Levites shall be mine 13 Because * Exod. 13. 2. Lev. 27. 26. chap. 8. 16. Luk. 2. 23. all the first-born are mine * Exod. 13. 12 15. for on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the first-born in Israel both man and beast mine they shall be I am the LORD o Who may appoint whom I please for my service 14 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai saying 15 Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers by their families every male from a month old p Because at that time the first-born in whose stead the Levites came Numb 8. 16. were offered to God Luk. 2. 22. and to be redeemed Numb 18. 16. And from that time the Levites were consecrated to God and were as soon as they were capable to be instructed in their work Elsewhere they are numbred from twenty five years old when they were entred as novices to part of their work Numb 8. 24. and from thirty years old when they were compleatly admitted to their whole office and upward shalt thou number them 16 And Moses numbred them according to the †Heb. mouth word of the LORD as he was commanded 17 * Gen. 46. 11. Exod. 6. 16. chap. 26. 57. 1 Chron. 6. 1 2. and 23. 6. And these were the sons of Levi by their names Gershon and Kohath and Merari 18 And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families Libni and Shimei 19 And the sons of Kohath by their families Amram and Izhar Hebron and Uzziel 20 And the sons of Merari by their families Mahli and Mushi these are the families of the Levites according to the house of their fathers 21 Of Gershon was the family of the Libnite and the family of the Shimite these are the families of the Gershonite 22 Those that were numbred of them according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward even those that were numbred of them were seven thousand and five hundred 23 The families of the Gershonite shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward 24 And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonite shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael 25 And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation shall be the * Exod. 25. 9. tabernacle q Not the boards which belonged to Merari ver 36. but the ten curtains mentioned Exod. 26. 1. and the * Exod. 26. 1. tent r To wit the curtains of goats hair * Exod. 26. 7. 14. the covering thereof s i. e. The coverings of
devoted which shall be devoted of men y Not by men as some would elude it but of men for it iâ—… manifest both from this and the foregoing verses that men here are not the persons devoting but devoted Quest. Was it then lawful for any man or men thus to devote another person to the Lord and in pursuance of such vow to put him to death Ans. This was unquestionably lawful and a duty in some cases when persons have been devoted to destruction either by Gods sentence as Idolaters Exod. 22. 20. Deut. 23. 15. the Canaanites Deut. 20. 1â—… the Amalekites Deut. 25. 19. 1 Sam. 15. 3 26. Benhadad 1 King 20. 42. or by men in pursuance of such a sentence of God as Numb 21. 2 3. and 31. 17. or for any crime of an high nature as Iudg. 21. 5. Ios. 7. 15. But this is not to be generally understood as some have taken it as if a Iew might by vertue of this Text devote his child or his servant to the Lord and thereby oblige himself to put them to death which peradventure was Iepthe's errour For this is expresly limited to all that a man hath or which is his i. e. which he hath a power over But the Iews had no power over the lives of their children or servants but were directly forbidden to take them away by that great command thou shalt do no murder And seeing he that killed his servant casually by a blow with a rod was surely to be punished as is said Exod. 21. 20. it could not be lawful wilfully and intentionally to take away his life upon pretence of any such vow as this But for the Canaanites Amalekites c. God the undoubted Lord of all mens lives gave to the Israelites a power over their persons and lives and a command to put them to death And this verse may have a special respect to them or such as them And although the general subject of this and the former verse be one and the same yet there are two remarkable differences to this purpose The verb is active ver 28. and the agent there expressed that a man shall devote but it is passive ver 29 and the agent undetermined which shall be devoted to wit by God or men in conformity to Gods revealed will 2. The devored person or thing is onely to be sold or redeemed and said to be most holy ver 28. but here it is to be put to death and this belongs onely to men and those such as either were or should be devoted in manner now expressed shall be redeemed but shall surely be put to death 30 And * Gen. 28. 22. Num. 18. 21 24. Mal. 3. 8. 10. all the tithe of the land z There are divers sorts of Tithes but this seems to be understood onely of the ordinary and yearly tithes belonging to the Levites c. as the very expression intimates and the addition of the fifth part in case of redemption thereof implies whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree is the LORDS it is holy unto the LORD 31 And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof 32 And concerning the tithe of the herd or of the flock even of whatsoever passeth under the rod ‖ Either 1. the tithers rod it being the manner of the Iews in tithing to cause all their cattel to pass through some gate or narrow passage where the tenth was marked by a person appointed for that purpose and reserved for the Priest Or 2. the shepherds rod under which the herds and flocks passed and by which they were governed and numbred See Ier. 33. 13. Ezek. 20. 37. the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD 33 He shall not search whether it be good or bad neither shall he change it and if he change it at all then both it and the change thereof shall be holy it shall not be redeemed 34 These are the commandments which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai ANNOTATIONS ON NUMBERS The ARGUMENT THis Book giveth us an History of almost forty years travel of the children of Israel through the Wilderness where we have an account of their journeys and what happened to them therein with their Government and how they were managed thereby Called Numbers by reason of the several Numbrings of the people as at the offerings of the Princes and at their several journeys c. But especially two One Chap. 1. Out of which the Priests and Levites were excepted but numbred by themselves viz. in the second year after they were come out of Egypt in the first month whereof the Passeover was instituted with the order about the Tabernacle both of the Levites and People and their several marches encampings and manner of pitching their Tents the Priest's maintenance and establishment by the miraculous budding of Aarons rod with the several impediments in their marches both among themselves by several murmurings seditions and conspiracies and from their enemies viz. the Edomites Canaanites over whom having obtained a victory and afterwards murmuring they were stung with fiery Serpents and cured by the brazen one Amorites whose Kings Sihon and Og they overcame and slew and Moabites where by the allurements of Balaam who was hired by Balak to curse Israel they joyned themselves to Baal-peor and are plagued for it that openly opposed them The other chief numbring is in Chap. 26. where they are found almost as many as the first though among them were none of the first numbring according to what God had threatned Chap. 14. save Moses Joshua and Caleb by reason of their desire to return back into Egypt upon the discouraging report of ten of those twelve that Moses sent to spy out the Land whereupon they were forced to wander above 38 years in the wilderness where he gave them several Laws Civil Ecclesiastical and Military as also particular directions about women's inheriting occasioned by the case of Zelophehad's daughters and concerning vows And then brings them back to the borders of Canaan where after divers victories obtained against their enemies they were directed how the Land of Canaan was to be divided among the Tribes and what portion the Levites were to have among them together with six cities of Refuge set apart for the Man-slayer At length Aaron being dead and Eleazar placed in his stead and Moses also having received the sentence of Death doth by God's appointment deliver up the people unto the charge and conduct of Joshua CHAP. I. 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai a Where now they had been a full year or near it as may be gathered by comparing this place with Exod. 19. 1. and 40. 17. and other places in the tabernacle b From the mercy-seat of the congregation on the first day of the second month in the second year after they
the day that the LORD commanded Moses and henceforward among your generations 24 Then it shall be if ought be committed by ignorance †Heb from the without the knowledge of the congregation that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt-offering r In Lev. 4. the bullock is for a sin-offering here it is for a burnt-offering either because they are different laws as hath been said or because here is added a new penalty to breed the greater caution and diligence in the Israelites who had given many instances and now a fresh and eminent instance of their heedlesness in observing the commands of God and so besides that bullock for a sin-offering which he leaves to be gathered out of Levit. 4. 14. he now requires another bullock for a burnt-offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD with his meat-offering and his drink-offering according to the ‖ Or Ordiâ—… manner and one kid of the goats for a sin offering 25 And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel and it shall be forgiven them for it is ignorance and they shall bring their offering a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD and their sin offering before the LORD for their ignorance 26 And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel and the stranger that sojourneth among them seeing all the people were in ignorance 27 * Lev. 4. 〈◊〉 And if any soul sin through ignorance then he shall bring a she-goat of the first year for a sin offering 28 And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD to make an atonement for him and it shall be forgiven him 29 Ye shall have one law for him that †Heb. dâ—… sinneth through ignorance both for him that is born amongst the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourneth among them 30 But the soul that doth ought s Understand such things as ought not to be done and things relating to the worship of God †Heb. 〈◊〉 high hand presumptuously t Heb. with an high or lifted up hand i. e. knowingly wilfully boldly resolvedly deliberately designedly So this phrase is elsewhere used See Exod. 14. 8. Lev. 26. 21. Numb 33. 3. Iob 15. 26. Psal. 19. 13. whether he be born in the land or a stranger the same reproacheth the LORD u i. e. He sets God at defiance and exposeth him to contempt as if he were unworthy of any regard and unable to punish transgressors and that soul shall be cut off from among his people 31 Because he hath despised the word of the LORD and hath broken his commandment that soul shall utterly be cut off his iniquity shall be upon him x i. e. The punishment shall be confined to himself and not fall upon the congregation as it will do if they neglect to cut him off 32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness they found a man that gathered sticks on the sabbath day y This seems to be added as an example of a presumptuous sin for as the law of the sabbath was plain and positive so this transgression of it must needs be a known and wilful sin 33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and unto all the congregation z i. e. To the Rulers of the congregation who as they represented and governed the congregation are called by the name of the congregation 34 And they a i. e. Moses and Aaron and the 70 Rulers last mentioned put him * Lev. 24. 〈◊〉 in ward because it was not declared what should be done unto him b i. e. In what manner he was to be cut off or by what kind of death he was to die which therefore God here particularly determines otherwise it was known in general that sabbath-breakers were to be put to death from Exod. 31. 14. and 35. 2. 35 And the LORD said unto Moses * Exod. 31 〈◊〉 The man shall be surely put to death all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp 36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp and stoned him with stones as the LORD commanded Moses 37 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying 38 Speak unto the children of Israel and bid * Deut. 22. 12. Mat. 23. 5. them that they make them fringes b These were certain threds or ends of their garments standing out a little further than the rest of their garments left there for this use in the †Heb. wings borders c i. e. in the four borders or quarters as it is Deut. 22. 12. Heb. wings which is oft used for borders or ends as Ruth 3. 9. 1 Sam. 15. 27. and 24. 5 c. of their garments d i. e. Of their upper garment or that wherewith they covered themselves as is expressed Deut. 22. 12. This was practised by the Pharisees in Christs time who are noted for making their borders larger than ordinary Mat. 23. 5. and by Christ himself as may be gathered from Luk. 8. 44. throughout their generations and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband e To make it more obvious to the sight and consequently more serviceable to the use here mentioned Or of a purple colour as the Iewish writers agree whose opinion is the more considerable because it was matter of constant practise among them of blue f. 39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe g It i. e. the ribband shall be unto you i. e. shall serve you for the fringe to wit to render it more visible and notorious by its certain and remarkable and distinct colour whereas the fringe without this was of the same piece and colour with the garment and therefore less observable Or it i. e. the ribband shall be in your fringes or put to your fringes fastened to them that ye may look upon it and remember h That by looking upon it you may remember that your eye may affect your mind and heart all the commandments of the LORD and do them and that ye seek not i Or inquire not for other rules or ways of serving me than I have prescribed you after your own heart and your own eyes k i. e. Neither after the devices and inventions of your own minds or hearts as Nadab and Abihu did when they offered strange fire and as you now did when you pretended to serve and please me by going up the hill and towards Canaan without and against my command nor after the examples or inventions of others which your eyes see as you did when you were set upon worshipping a calf after the manner of Egypt after which ye use to go a whoring l i. e. To depart from me and to prefer your
yet it was never done during that Kings Reign But in the year of our Lord 1577. which was tha 19th or 20th of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Some Bishops published a new Translation but till that time the Bibles used in Churches were Tindalls and Coverdales being allowed by the publick Authority of King Edward 6. 1551. 1552. And to this day the Psalms and the Gospels and Epistles in our Service-Book are according to Tindalls and Coverdales Bibles which should make us wary in our Censures of that Translation tho we see reason in many things to dissent from it Onely we having a more correct Translation Established by Authority why for the avoiding the offence of the less knowing people we have not made use of that but retained a Translation not undertaken by any publick Authority and confessed to be more imperfect is what I cannot nor count my self obliged to account for Possibly God for the honour of his Martyr hath so ordered it After this King James coming to the Crown being a Prince of great Learning and Iudgment and observing the different usage of some words in his age from the usage of them in K. Hen. 8. or in Qu. Elizabeths time and also the several mistakes tho of a minute nature in those more ancient Versions was pleased to employ diverse learned men in making a New Translation which is that which at this day is generally used With what Reverence to former Translators what labour and care and pains they accomplished their work the Reader may see at large in their Preface prefixed to those Copies that are Printed in Folio and in their Epistle to K. James in our Bibles of a lesser form of which Translation tho it may not be without its more minute Errors yet I think it may be said that it is hardly exceeded by that of any other Church By this History Reader thou mayest understand the mighty workings of Divine Providence and wonderful goodness of God to this Nation in the plenty we have of Bibles and that of a very correct Translation tho possibly not in every little thing perfect Mr. Fox if we remember right tells us a story of two Maids in Lincolnshire that in Qu. Maries time parted with a considerable part of their estate for a few leaves of the Bible How good is God to us that we for a few shillings can have the whole Revelation of the Divine Will Considering which we offer it to the consideration of any thinking English man or Woman what he or she will answer for his ignorance in the Holy Scriptures or for the ignorance of his or her Children if having so much means as we have to learn to read any shall neglect the learning of their Children to Read it or themselves in case their Parents have neglected them or being able to Read shall neglect the practice of it Exercising himself in the Law of the Lord day and night and living up to the rule of it The English Bible is come to us at the price of the blood of one Martyr and the unwearied labour of a multitude of Holy and Learned men succeeding one another for more then Sixty years before we had the Translation so perfect as it is now in all hands Poor Coristians in Popish Countries either have not this Pot of spiritual food or must cry out Death is in the pot Our English Translators in their Preface observe that of late the Church of Rome would seem to bear something of a motherly affection to her Children and allow them the Scripture in the Mother Tongue but it is indeed a gift not worthy of its name They must first get a License in Writing before they use them and to get that they must approve themselves to their Confessors to be such as are if not frozen in the dreggs yet sowred with the leaven of their superstition Yet this seemed too much to Clement the Eighth who therefore frustrated the grant of Pius the fourth They will allow none to be read but the Doway Bibles and the Remish Testaments the corruptions of which have been sufficiently manifested by many learned men nor will they trust their people with these without the License of their own Bishops and Inquisitors This is the liberty they boast of given to any of their Religion to Read the Scriptures in English What it is worth let any man judge In the mean time those who are not affected with the mercy of God to us in this particular must declare themselves neither to have any just value for God in the mighty workings of his Providence to bring this about nor yet for the blood of Holy Mr. Tindall who died in his Testimony to this truth that no people ought to be deprived of so great a good nor for the labours and pains of those many Servants of God who travelled in this great work and thought no labour in it too much nor indeed for their own souls to the Salvation of which if the Holy Scripture in our own Language doth not highly contribute we must lay the blame upon our selves But altho we have the Bible in a Language we understand yet we may see reason to cry out as Bernard does with reference to the Song of Solomon Here is an excellent Nut but who shall crack it Heavenly Bread but who shall break it For though the Papists and such as have ill will to the good of souls make too great an improvement of the difficulties in Holy Writ in making them an argument against the peoples having them in a Language which they can understand for Augustine said true when he said there are Fords in them wherein Lambs may wade as well as depths in which Elephants may swim and what others observe is as true that things necessary to be believed or done in order to Salvation lye plain and obvious in Holy Writ yet it is as true that there is much of Holy Writ of which the generality of people must say as the Eunuch How can I understand except some man should guide me Acts 8. 31. besides the seeming contradictions that are betwixt the Holy Penmen of those Sacred Books and indeed it is hard to say what Book of Scripture is so plain that every one who runneth can read it with understanding such a vast difference there is betwixt the capacities of those who yet have the same honest hearts This hath made wise and learned men not onely see a need of larger Commentaries but also of shorter Notes Annotations and Paraphrases c. Nor is this a late discovery It is upward of three hundred years since Lyra wrote his short Notes upon the whole Bible what Vatablus and Erasmus tho all of them Papists have done since is sufficiently known to say nothing of many others of that Religion Amongst the Reformed Churches there hath been a learned Piscator in Germany Junius and Tremellius elsewhere who did the same thing but all these wrote their Notes in
great Vessel not being fitted for sailing to remote places but only for the receit and preservation of Men and other Creatures in it 5. And the Waters †Heb. were in going and decreasing decreased continually untill the tenth moneth In the tenth moneth on the first day of the moneth were the tops of the Mountains seen 6. And it came to pass at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the Ark which he had made 7. And he sent forth a Raven f A fit messenger for that purpose because it smells dead Carcases at a great distance and flies far and then returneth to its former habitation with something in its bill which went forth †Heb. in going forth and returning to and fro g Heb. Going and returning i. e. went forth hither and thither now forward then backward sometimes going from the Ark and sometimes returning to the Ark though never entring into it again untill the Waters were dried up from off the Earth h Not as if she returned afterwards but the phrase implies that she never returned And so the word untill is often used as 2 Sam. 6. last Michal had no Child untill the day of her death i. e. never had a Child See also Psal. 110. 1. Matth. 1. 25. 8. Also he sent forth a Dove i Which flies lower and longer than the Raven and is more sociable and familiar with Man and more constant to its accustomed dwelling and more loving and faithful to its mate and therefore more likely to return with some discovery from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground 9. But the Dove found no rest for the sole of her foot k Because the tops of the Hills which then appeared were either muddy and dirty Or unobserved by the Dove as not soaring so high Whence the Doves are emphatically called the Dovis of the Vallies Ezek. 7. 16. and she returned unto him into the Ark For the Waters were on the face of the whole Earth Then he put forth his hand and took her l Her former acquaintance with Noah and her present necessity making her more tractable and †Heb. caused her to come pulled her in unto him into the Ark. 10. And he stayed yet other seven days and again he sent forth the Dove out of the Ark. 11. And the Dove came in to him in the Evening m As the manner of Doves is partly for better accommodation both for food and lodging than yet he could meet with abroad and partly from his Love to his Mate Quest. Whence was this leaf when Trees had been so generally overthrown and rooted up by the deluge Answ. 1. Many Trees might be preserved by an advantageous scituation between the Rocks or Hills which broke the force of the Waters 2. It is probable that God by his powerful providence preserved the Plants and Trees for future ages and therefore there is no mention of any of their Roots or Seeds preserved in the Ark. 3. The Olive-tree especially will not only stand but live and flourish under the Waters as Pliny l. 13. c. 25. and 16. 20. and 〈◊〉 4. 8. observe Adde that the word here rendred leaf signifies also a tender branch and lo in her mouth was an Olive-leaf n pluckt off So Noah knew that the Waters were abated from off the Earth 12. And he stayed yet other seven days and sent forth the Dove which returned not again unto him any more o Finding convenient food and resting place upon the Earth and preferring her freedom before her mate Possibly she might lose the sight of the Ark and forget or mistake the way to it 13. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and one year in the first moneth the first day of the moneth p The words moneth and day are oft times for brevity sake omitted by the Hebrews as being easily understood Thus the first of the Feast Matth. 26. 17. is the first day of the Feast Mark 14. 12. the Waters were dried up from off the Earth And Noah removed the covering of the Ark and looked and behold the face of the ground was dry 14. And in the second moneth on the seven and twentieth day of the moneth was the Earth dried q Not only from water as it was ver 13. but from mud and dirt also So the Flood continued ten days more than a year by comparing this with Chap. 7. 11. 15. And God spake unto Noah saying 16. Go forth of the Ark r As Noah expected the command of God for his going into the Ark Chap. 7. 1. 9. so for his coming forth of it thou and thy Wife and Sons and thy Sons Wives with thee 17. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee of all Flesh both of Fowl and of Cattle and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the Earth that they may breed abundantly in the Earth and * Chap. 1. 22. be fruitful and multiply upon the Earth s Quest. How could these Creatures which came out of the Ark in Asia get thence to America or to Islands remote from the Continent Answ. 1. As for America it is thought by divers learned men that it is either joyned to this Continent or separated from it only by a Narrow Sea which divers living Creatures could easily swim over 2. Many living Creatures are and always were transported by men in their vessels either for their supply or profit or diversion or other ends and thence might easily be propagated there 3. The same God who made all these Creatures and caused them to come first to Adam and afterwards to Noah could afterwards both encline and impower them to go whether he pleased without the advice of these vain men who will believe nothing of God which themselves either do not see or cannot do 18. And Noah went forth and his Sons and his Wife and his Sons Wives with him 19. Every Beast every creeping thing and every Fowl and whatsoever creepeth upon the Earth after their †Heb. families kinds went forth out of the Ark. 20. And Noah built an Altar unto the Lord t The first Altar we read of but not the first which was built For the Sacrifices which were offered before Gen. 4. 3. 4. presuppose an Altar Therefore it is no sufficient evidence that such things were not done because they are not said to be done in Scripture Which will be an useful consideration for the understanding of many passages in Scripture hereafter and took of every clean Beast and of every clean Fowl and offered Burnt-offerings on the Altar u The first thing Noah doth is to pay his debt of Justice and Gratitude to that God which had so miraculously preserved him and restored him to his antient and proper habitation God respects to be served in the first place What Beasts were clean and what
they have imagined to do 7. Go to let us m i. e. The blessed Trinity See Gen. 1. 26. go down and there confound their Language n By making them forget their former Language and by putting into their minds several Languages not a distinct Language into each person but into each Family or rather into each Nation that they may not †Heb. hear understand one anothers speech o And thereby be disenabled from that mutual commerce which was altogether necessary for the carrying on of that work 8. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the Earth p Thus they brought upon themselves the very thing they seared and that more speedily and more mischievously to themselves For now they were not only divided in place but in Language too and so were unfitted for those Consederacies and Correspondencies which they mainly designed and for the mutual Comfort and Help of one another which otherwise they might in good measure have enjoyed And they left off to build the City 9. Therefore is the Name of it called ‖ That is confusion Babel because the LORD did there confound the Language of all the Earth and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the Earth 10. * Chap. 10. 32. 1 Chron. 1. 17. These are the Generations of Shem q Not all of them as appears both from the next verse and from the former Chapter but of those who were the seminary of the Church and the Progenitors of Christ. Shem was an hundred years old and begat Arphaxad two years after the Flood 11. And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years r So that he lived almost all the time of Abraham which was a singular blessing both to himself who hereby saw his Children of the tenth Generation and to the Church of God which by this means enjoyed the Counsel and Conduct of so great a Patriarch and begat Sons and Daughters 12. And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years and begat Salah 13. And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years and begat Sons and Daughters 14. And Salah lived thirty years and begat Eber. 15. And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years and begat Sons and Daughters 16. * 1 Chro. 1. 19. And Eber lived four and thirty years and begat * called Luk. 3. 35. Phalec Peleg 17. And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years s So that he was the longest liv'd of all the Patriarchs which were born after the Flood and begat Sons and Daughters 18. And Peleg lived thirty years and begat Reu. 19. And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years and begat Sons and Daughters 20. And Reu lived two and thirty years and begat * Luk 3. 35. Saruch Serug 21. And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years and begat Sons and Daughters 22. And Serug lived thirty years and begat Nahor 23. And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years and begat Sons and Daughters 24. And Nahor t The first Patriarch who fell to Idolatry lived nine and twenty years and begat * Luk. 3. 34. Thara Terah 25. And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years and begat Sons and Daughters 26. And Terah lived seventy years and * Josh. 24. 2. 1 Chro. 1. 26. begat u i. e. Began to beget as Gen. 5. 32 Abram x Who is first named in order of Dignity for which cause Shem is put before Ham and Iapheth and Moses before Aaron not in order of time which seems to be this Haran probably was the eldest because Nahor married his Daughters Nahor the second and Abram certainly was the youngest because Terah Abrams Father lived two hundred and five years ver 32. and Abram after his Fathers Death Acts 7. 4. went out of Haran when he was seventy five years old Gen. 12. 4 5. therefore he was not begotten in Terahs seventieth year when Terah began to beget his Sons as here is said but in his one hundred and thirtieth year and so there remains seventy five years precisely to Abrams departure And Sarai Harans Daughter was but ten years younger than Abram Gen. 17. 17. and therefore Haran was Abrams Elder Brother Nahor and Haran 27. Now these are the Generations of Terah Terah begat Abram Nahor and Haran And Haran begat Lot 28. And Haran died before his Father Terah y i. e. In the presence and during the Life of his Father in the Land of his Nativity in Ur of the Caldees 29. And Abram and Nahor took them Wives The Name of Abrams Wife was Sarai and the Name of Nahors Wife Milcah the Daughter of Haran z Such Marriages of Uncles and Nieces being permitted then Exod. 6. 20. as in the beginning of the World the Marriages of Brethren and Sisters were though afterwards the Church being very much enlarged they were severely forbidden Levit 18. 12 14. the Father of Milcah and the Father of Iscah a Who is either Sarai as the Jews and many others think or rather another person For 1. Why should Moses express Sarai thus darkly and doubtfully Had he meant her he would have added after Iscah this is Sarai according to his manner in like cases Gen. 14. 2 7. and 35. 6. He elsewhere calleth her the Daughter not of his Brother as he should have done had she been Iscah but of his Father by another Mother 30. But Sarai was barren she had no child b See Gen. 16. 1 2. and 18. 11 12. 31. And Terah took Abram his Son c See Ios. 24. 2. Nehem. 9. 7. 1 Chron. 1. 26. Being informed by his Son of the command of God he did not despise it because it came to him by the hands of his inferiour but chearfully obeyeth it and therefore he is so honourably mentioned as the Head and Governour of the Action and Lot the Son of Haran his sons son and Sarai his daughter in law his Son Abrams wife and they went forth with them †i. e. Terab and Abram went with Lot and Sarâ—…i as their Heads and Guides from * Neh. 9. 7. Act. 7. 4. Ur of the Caldees to go into the Land of Canaan and they came unto Haran d Called Charran Act. 7. 4. and by the Romans Carrae a place in Mesopotamia strictly so called in the way to Canaan and near to it well known by Crassus his defeat there See Gen. 24. 10. and 28. 10. and 29. 4. and dwelt e Or rested or abode being detained there for a season peradventure by Terab's disease which begun there for the next verse tells us of his death there 32. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years and Terah died in Haran CHAP. XII 1.
by the passion of an enraged Woman wherewith he thought not fit to comply and probably he had denied her desire if God had not interposed in it because of his son n He doth not say because of his wife from whence may be gathered either that Hagar was not properly his Wife or that this was another of Abrahams infirmities that he had not that affection for her which he should have had Whereby we may also see the excellency of Gods institutions who appointed but one Woman for one man that each might have the intire interest in the others affections and the danger of mens inventions which brought Polygamy into the World whereby a mans affections are divided into several and sometimes contrary streams 12 And God said unto Abraham Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because of thy bond-woman o Thus Abraham had better authority for his divorce from Hagar than he had for his Marriage with her Chap. 16. 2. in all that Sarah hath said unto thee hearken unto her voice for in * Rom. 9. 7. Heb. 11. 18. Isaac shall thy seed p To wit the promised seed the Heir of thy Estate Covenant and Promises the progenitour of my Church and People and particularly of the Messias be called q i. e. Reputed and valued both by me and other men The words may be thus rendred by Isaac shall thy seed be For to be called is oft times put for to be as Isa. 1. 26. and 47. 1 5. Matth. 5. 9 19. 13 And also of the son of the bond-woman will I make a * Chap. 17. 20 nation because he is thy seed 14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning r He who before doubted and lingred to do it when Sarahs passion suggested it when once he understands it to be Gods will he makes hast to execute it An excellent example of prudence and piety and took bread s By which may be here understood all necessaries as Mal. 1. 7 12. Matth. 6. 11. and 14. 15. compared with Mark 6. 36. Luke 14. 1. and a bottle of water and gave it unto Hagar putting it on her shoulder and the child and sent her away t Quest. How is it likely that so rich and liberal a person as Abraham would send away such near and dear Relations with so mean accommodations Answ. 1. This might be done by particular command from God to Abraham though it be not here expressed as many things were said by God and done by men which are not mentioned in Scripture as is evident from Iohn 20. 30 31. and 21. 25. and many other places And God might order it thus partly to chastise Abrahams irregular Marriage with Hagar partly to correct and â—…ame the haughty and rugged temper of the Bond-woman and her Son and to prepare them for the receiving of Gods help and mercy and partly that he might more eminently shew his care and kindness to Abraham in providing for such forlorn and neglected Creatures because they belonged to him 2. It cannot be reasonably doubted that Abraham gave her these Provisions onely for the present and intended to send further and better afterward to a place appointed by him which also he did But she missed her way as well might in the Wilderness and thereby came into these straits designed by God for the signification of greater Mysteries as may be gathered from Gal. 4. and she departed and wandred in the wilderness of Beersheba u A place near Gerar so called here by a Prolepsis See ver 31. 15 And the water was spent in the bottle and she cast the child x Not as if she carried him in her arms or upon her shoulders for he was now about eighteen year old but being weak and faint and no doubt much dejected in spirit upon the prospect of his desolate and distressed condition she was forced to support and lead him by the hand but now despairing of his life she lays him down under a shrub under one of the shrubs 16 And she went and sat her down over against him a good way off as it were a bow-shot for she said let me not see the death of the child And she sat over against him and lift up her voice and wept y Who wept Either Hagar for the verb is of the feminine gender or the Lad as the words following seem to intimate And for the change of Genders that is not infrequent in Scripture use 17 And God heard the voice of the lad z He heard his cries tho' not flowing from true Repentance but extorted from him by his pressing calamity and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said unto her what aileth thee Hagar fear not for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is a Though he be in a vast and desolate Wilderness yet my eye is upon him and I will take care of him 18 Arise lift up the lad and hold him in thine hand for I will make him a great nation b i. e. Support or sustain thy languishing child with thy hand for I will bless him and thy care shall not be in vain 19 And God opened her eyes c Not that her eyes were shut or blind before but she saw not the Well before either because it was at some distance or because her eyes were full of tears and her mind distracted and heedless through excessive grief and fear or because God with-held her eyes that she might not see it without his information Compare Numb 22 31. Luke 24. 16. and she saw a well of water and she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink 20 And God was with the lad and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an Archer d i. e. A skilful Hunter of Beasts and Warriour with men too according to the prediction Gen. 16. 12. For the bow was a principal instrument in War as well as in Hunting Gen. 48. 22. 49. 23 24. And these two professions oft went together See Gen. 10. 9. 21 And he dwelt in th wilderness of Paran e In the borders of that Wilderness by comparing Gen. 14. 6. for the innermost parts of it were uninhabitable by Men or Beasts as antient Writers note and his mother took him a wife f By which we see both the obligation that lies upon Parents and the right that is invested in them to dispose of their Children in Marriage in convenient time Compare Gen. 24. 4. and 28. 2. Iudg. 14. 2. out of the land of Egypt g Rather than out of Canaan concerning whose accursed state and future destruction she had been informed in Abrahams house 22 And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech h He of whom see Gen. 20. 2. and Phicol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham saying God is with thee
c. or in general other rare and excellent things In those dayes men gave portions for their wives as now they have portions with them 54 And they did eat and drink he and the men that were with him and tarried all night and they rose up in the morning and he said * Vers. 56. and 59. send me away unto my master 55 And her brother and her mother said let the damsel abide with us ‖ Or a full year or ten months a few days at the least ten s Others thus a year or at the least ten months the word days being put for a year as elsewhere But it is very improbable that they would demand or expect such a thing from this man whom they saw bent so much upon expedition after that she shall go 56 And he said unto them hinder me not seeing the LORD hath prospered my way send me away that I may go to my master 57 And they said we will call the damsel and inquire at her mouth t i. e. Understand her mind by her words not so much concerning the marriage it self in which she resigned up her self to the disposal of her Parents and Friends and to which she had given an implicit consent by her acceptance of those presents which were made to her for that end as concerning the hastiness of her departure 58 And they called Rebekah and said unto her wilt thou go with this man And she said I will go 59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse u Deborah by comparing chap. 35. 8. In this corrupt Family the Mother and the Nurse are two distinct persons but in Abrahams pious Family there was no such principle or practise See Gen. 21. 7. and Abrahams servant and his men 60 And they blessed Rebekah and said unto her Thou art our sister x i. e. Our near Kinswoman distance of place shall not alienate our affections from thee but we shall still own thee as our sister and as far as we can be ready to perform all the duties of brethren to thee be thou the mother of thousands of millions and * Chap. 22. 17. let thy seed possesse the gate of those which hate them 61 And Rebekah arose and her damsels and they rode upon the camels and followed the man and the servant took Rebekah and went his way 62 And Isaac came from the way of the * Chap. 16. 14. and 25. 11. well Lahai-roi for he dwelt in the south-country y In the Southern part of Canaan as Gen. 12. 9. at Beersheba whither it seems Abraham returned after Sarahs death 63 And Isaac went out to ‖ Or to pray meditate z To converse with God and with himself by pious and profitable thoughts and ejaculations and fervent prayers as for other things so particularly for Gods blessing upon this great affair and so his prayers are eminently answered in the field a He chuseth a solitary place wherein he might more freely attend upon God without any interruption or distraction at the even-tide b That as he had begun the day with God so he might close it with him and commit himself to his protection Compare Psal. 55. 17. and he lift up his eyes and saw and behold the camels were coming 64 And Rebekah lift up her eyes and when she saw Isaac she lighted off the camel c As a testimony of her respect to him whom by the servant she understood to be her Lord and Husband Compare Ios. 15. 18. 1 Sam. 25. 23. 65 For she had said unto the servant what man is this that walketh in the field to meet us And the servant had said It is my master therefore she took a vail and covered her self d In token of modesty reverence and subjection See Gen. 20. 16. 1 Cor. 11. 10. 66 And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done 67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarahs tent e Partly to give her possession of it and partly to consummate the Marriage Women then had their tents apart from Men. See Gen. 18. 10. and 24. 67. and 31. 33. and took Rebekah and she became his wife and he loved her and Isaac was comforted after his mothers death f A sorrowful sense whereof he yet had retained though she died three years before this time CHAP. XXV 1 THen a After Sarahs death and Isaacs Marriage again Abraham took b Not from any inordinate lust which his age and eminent grace may sufficiently evince but from a desire of more Children and of accomplishing Gods promise concerning the great multiplication of his seed a wife c A secondary Wife or a Concubine as she is called ver 6. and 1 Chron. 1. 32. and her name was Keturah d A distinct person from Hagar as appears from ver 6. and 12. and as it seems of better quality and younger for Hagar was now eighty years old and not likely to be a mother of six Children 2 And she bare him e Quest. How could Abraham being now about one hundred years old have so many Children when his body was dead in his hundredth year Answ. Because that renewed strength which was miraculously conferred upon him did still in a great measure remain in him being not a temporary action but a durable habit or power Zimran and Jokshan and Medan f These persons were the heads of several people dwelling in Arabia and Syria where we shall find evident footsteps of their names amongst antient Geographers onely a little changed which could not be avoided in their translation into another Language and Midian g The Father of those Midianites of whom we read Gen. 36. 35. Iudg. 6. 2. Isa. 10. 26. and Ishbak and Shuah h From whom Bildad seems to be descended Iob 2. 11. 3 * 1 Chron. 1. 32. And Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim 4 And the sons of Midian Ephah i Of whom see Isa. 60. 6. and Epher k From whom some think Africa received its name and Hanoch and Abidah and Eldaah all these were the Children of Keturah 5 And Abraham gave l Which before he purposed and promised to give Gen. 24. 36. And now actually gave all that he had m Except that which is excepted in the following verse and except the use and enjoyment of his estate during his own life unto Isaac 6 But unto the sons of the concubines n Hagar and Keturah Concubines are sometimes called Wives as Gen. 16. 3. Iudg. 19. 1 2 3. 29. but their Children had no right to the inheritance For though the Children of Iacobs Concubines did equally partake of the inheritance with the other Children that was done by divine appointment and Iacobs voluntary act and upon special reason because of the vast inheritance promised and
the matter 10 And he said Now also let it be according unto your words he with whom it is found shall be my servant and ye shall be blameless f Thus he moderates the conditions which they proposed exempting the innocent and exchanging the deserved and offered death of the nocent into slavery 11 Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground and opened every man his sack 12 And he searched and began at the eldest g To take off all their suspicion of his fraud and left at the youngest and the cup h He found doubtless the money there but he accused them not about that matter both because they had an answer ready to that charge from his own mouth chap. 43. 23. and because the greater crime the stealing of the cup which Ioseph so much prized and used might seem to extinguish the less or at least cause him to neglect it was found in Benjamins sack 13 Then they rent their clothes and laded every man his asse and returned to the City i Being afraid and ashamed to go to their father without Benjamin concerning whom they had received so severe a charge and made such solemn promises and imprecations 14 And Judah and his brethren came to Josephs house for he was yet there and they fell before him on the ground 15 And Joseph said unto them What deed is this that ye have done wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly ‖ Or make trial divine 16 And Judah k Who speaks in the cause as being one of the eldest and a person of most gravity and discretion and readiness of speech and most eminently concerned for his brother said What shall we say unto my Lord what shall we speak or how shall we clear our selves God hath found out the iniquity l viz. This iniquity of which it seems some of us are guilty and God hath discovered it Or iniquity may be put for iniquities whether we are guilty of this fact or not we are certainly guilty of many other sins for which God is now punishing us to whose providence we therefore willingly submit of thy servants behold we are my Lords servants both we and he also with whom the cup is found 17 And he said God forbid that I should do so but the man in whose hand the cup is found he shall be my servant and as for you get you up in peace unto your father 18 Then Judah came near unto him m Made a little nearer approach to him that he might present his humble petitiâ—… to him and said O my Lord let thy servant I pray thee speak a word in my Lords ears n In thy hearing For this phrase doth not necessarily imply that he whispered in his ears as appears from Numb 14. 28. Deut. 32. 44. Iudg. 17. 2. and let not thy anger burn against thy servant for thou art even as Pharaoh o As thou representest his person so thou art invested with his Majesty and Authority and therefore thy word is a law thou canst do with us what thou pleasest either spare or punish us and therefore we do justly deprecate thine anger and most humbly intreat thy favourable audience and princely compassion to us 19 My Lord asked his servants saying have ye a father or a brother 20 And we said unto ray Lord we have a father an old man and a child of his old age a little one p So they call him comparatively to themselves who were much elder and withal to signifie the reason why he came not with them because he was young and tender and unfit for such a journey and his brother is dead and he alone is left of his mother and his father loveth him 21 And thou saidest unto thy servants Bring him down unto me that I may set mine eyes upon him q i. e. See him with my own eyes and thereby be satisfied of the truth of what you say Compare Gen. 42. 15 16. Elsewhere this phrase signifies to shew favour to a person as Ier. 39. 12. and 40. 4. But though that was Iosephs intention as yet he was minded to conceal it from them 22 And we said unto my Lord The lad cannot leave his father for if he should leave his father his father would die 23 And thou saidest unto thy servants * Chap. 43. 3. except your youngest brother come down with you you shall see my face no more r Quest. Why would Ioseph expose his father to the hazard of his life in parting with his dear child Answ. Ioseph supposed that to be but a pretence and might fear lest his brethren had disposed of Benjamin as they did of him and therefore could not bring him forth And as for his father the experience which he had of his continuance in life and health after the supposed untimely death of Ioseph gave him good assurance that his parting with Benjamin for a season and that under the care and charge of his brethren was not likely to make any dangerous impression upon him 24 And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father we told him the words of my Lord. 25 And * Chap. 43. 2. our father said Go again and buy us a little food 26 And we said we cannot go down if our youngest brother be with us then will we go down for we may not see the mans face except our youngest brother be with us 27 And thy servant my father said unto us Ye know that my wife s He calleth her so by way of eminency as Gen. 46. 19. because she onely was his wife by design and choice whereas Leah was put upon him by fraud and might have been refused by him if he had so pleased and the other two were given to him by Rachel and Leah bare me two sons 28 And the one went out from me and I said * Chap. 37. 33. surely he is torn in pieces and I saw him not since 29 And if ye take this also from me and mischief befall him ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave 30 Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father and the lad be not with us seeing that his life is bound up in the lads life t The death of the Child which upon this occasion he will firmly believe will unavoidably procure his death also 31 It shall come to pass when he seeth that the lad is not with us that he will die and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave 32 For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father saying * Chap. 43. 9. If I bring him not unto thee then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever 33 Now therefore I pray thee let thy servant abide in stead of the lad u Partly in
but these and therefore it is probable he had no more onely Iacob speaks this upon supposition in case he should have any other and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance * Either Ephraimites or Manassites 7 And as for me * Gen. 35. 19. when I came from Padan Rachel died by me f Or beside me near me before mine eyes I seeing but not being able to help her in her extremity which makes the remembrance of it more grievous to me This story he here mentions partly because the sight of Ioseph and his children brought his beloved Rachel to his remembrance partly to give the reason of this action of his to the rest of his children which was not onely because Rachel was his first rightful wife by designation and contract and therefore the right of the first-born was truly Josephs but because by her early death he was cut off from all hopes of having more children by her and therefore it was but fit he should supply that defect by adopting Iosephs children in the land of Canaan in the way when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath g Not out of disrespect to her whose person was and memory yet is precious and honourable to me but either because dying in child-bed they could not keep her till they came to the burying-place of the Patriarchs at Hebron Gen. 23. 19. especially when they were tyed to the slow motion of the flocks and herds or because I would not bury her in the common burying-place with heathens and Idolaters in the city of Ephrath By which he tacitly implies that he would not have Ioseph joyned with the Egyptians in burial the same is Bethlehem 8 And Israel beheld Josephs sons and said who are these h For Iacobs eyes were dim through age and iâ—…rmity as is observed ver 10. and therefore he could not distinctly discern them 9 And Joseph said unto his father They are my sons whom God hath given me in this place and he said Bring them I pray thee unto me and I will bless them i Or that I may bless them not with a common but with a Paternal and Patriarchal and Prophetical blessing in the name and by the spirit of God praying for and foretelling those blessings which God will confer upon them 10 Now the eyes of Israel were †Heb. heavy dim for age so that he could not see and he brought them near unto him and he kissed them and imbraced them 11 And Israel said unto Joseph I had not thought to see thy face and loe God hath shewed me also thy seed 12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees k Not his own knees from which they had been taken before but Iacobs knees between which they stood whilest Iacob kissed and embraced them from which Joseph removed them partly that they might not be burdensome to their aged and weak grandfather and principally that he might place them in fit order and reverend posture to receive the blessing for which he longed and he bowed himself with his face to the earth l Testifying thereby his reverence to his father his thankfulness for the favour which he had now shewed to him and his and his humble and earnest request for his blessing upon them 13 And Joseph took them both Ephraim in his right hand towards Israels left hand and Manasseh in his left hand towards Israels right hand and brought them near unto him 14 And Israel stretched out his right hand m Which was more honourable both in Scripture account and amongst the Gentiles and laid it upon Ephraims head n Which was a rite used often and in divers cases as in the conferring of offices either sacred or civil as Numb 8. 10. Deut. 34. 9. Act. 6. 6. and 13. 3. and among other things in giving benedictions as Mat 19. 13. who was the younger and his left hand upon Manassehs head guiding his hands wittingly o This proceeded not from chance or the mistake and weakness of his eyes but from design and the wisdom of his hands Heb. he disposed his hands prudently or he dealt wisely with his hands Here was a double wisdom shewed 1. Humane by which he gathered that Manasseh was the eldest because Ioseph placed him towards his right hand 2. Divine and prophetical by which he foresaw Ephraims advantages above Manasseh and wisely suited the ceremony to the substance giving the greater sign of honour to him to whom God designed the thing for Manasseh was the first-born 15 * Heb. 11. 21. And he blessed Joseph p Not now in his person but in his children which yet is called here a blessing of Ioseph because they were a part of himself In which sence and upon the same ground the land of Canaan is oft-times said to be not onely promised but given to Abraham and Isaac c. not as if they were in person to possess it but because it should be given to their children Thus Cham is said to be cursed when his son is cursed Gen. 9. 25. and said God * chap. 17. 1. and 24. 40. before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which fed me * i. e. Protected sustained and directed me all my life long unto this day 16 The Angel q Not surely a created Angel but Christ Jesus who is called an Angel Exod. 23. 20. and the Angel of the covenant Mal. 3. 1. who was the conductor of the Israelites in the wilderness as plainly appears by comparing Exod. 23. 20 21. with 1 Cor. 10. 4 9. Add hereunto that this Angel is called Iacobs redeemer which is the title appropriated by God to himself Isa. 43. 14. and 47. 4. and that from all evil and therefore from sin from which no created Angel can deliver us but Christ onely Mat. 1. 21. and that Iacob worshippeth and prayeth to this Angel no less than to God for the blessing and that without any note of distinction the word bless being in the singular number and equally relating to God and to the Angel and that the Angel to whom he here ascribes his deliverances from all evil must in all reason be the same to whom he prayed for these very deliverances which he here commemorates and that was no other than the very God of Abraham as is evident from Gen. 28. 15 20 21. and 32. 9 10 11. and 35. 3. * chap. 31. 11 13. which redeemed me from all evil bless the lads and let my name be named on them r i. e Let them be called my name owned for my immediate children and invested with the same priviledges with my other children be the heads of distinct tribes and as such receive distinct inheritances And hence they are called the children of Iacob or Israel no less than the children of
was gone the Lawgiver remained there still Nor was their Government and Commonwealth quite destroyed until the destruction of Ierusalem by Titus And therefore some translate the place thus and that with great probability The Scepter shall not depart until the Shiloh come and until which word is repeated out of the former member as is most usual in the Scripture the gathering of the people be to him i. e. until the Gentiles be converted and brought in to Christ. And this interpretation receiveth countenance from Mat. 24. 14. The Gospel shall be preached in all the world and then shall the end come not the end of the whole world as it is evident but the end of the Commonwealth and Government of the Iews when the Scepter and Lawgiver should be wholly taken away from that tribe and people be 11 Binding his foale unto the vine and his asses colt unto the choice vine i He signifies the plenty of vines in Iudahs portion that they shall be planted every where even in the commons and high-ways where men travel and where upon occasion they use to tie the beasts on which they ride to any tree which is near them he washed his garments in wine k Such shall be the plenty of it that if it were convenient men might use wine in stead of water to wash their garments and his cloathes in the blood of grapes l So the wine is called also in Dâ—…t 32. 14. 1 Macc. 6. 34. and by Pliny Hesiod and others As oil is called the blood of the olive 12 His eyes shall be red with wine m Which shews not onely the plenty of wine but also the excellency and strength of it which though not drunk in great quantity or to excess will make the eyes red See Prov. 23. 29. and his teeth white with milk 13 * Deut. 33. 18. Josh. 19. 10. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea n Acknowledge here and adore the divine providence which directed Iacob thus exactly to foretell the portion 〈◊〉 Zebulon which fell to them 200 years after this and that not by choice or any design of men but meerly by lot His portion was extended from the sea of Galilee to the great Mediterranean sea and to such parts of it where there were convenient havens and he shall be for an haven of ships and his border shall be unto Zidon o Or his side or coast to wit that which is upon the Mediterranean sea is near Sidon understanding not the city but the territory belonging to it unto which that Tribe reached upon the sea-coast For though Aher might seem to intercept them yet he did not reach to the sea Or his coast looks towards Sidon hath it in view and lies commodiously for commerce with that great City which then was the mart of the Nations 14 Issachar is a strong ass p Heb. an ass of bone i. e. of great bulk and bones and strength of body but of little spirit and courage couching down between two burdens q Which are laid upon his back and which he is contented to bear Or lying down i. e. enjoying his ease and rest between the borders to wit of the other Tribes with which he was encompassed and secured from forreign enemies which made him more secure and slothful Or between the orders or folds of cattle as a word very near akin to it and proceeding from the same root signifies Iudg. 5. 16. to the feeding and minding whereof he wholly gave himself neglecting more generous things 15 And he saw that rest r Or rather his resting place as this very word signifies Gen. 8. 9. Psal. 116. 7. and 132. 8. Isa. 11. 10. i. e. his portion or habitation as the Chald. and Syr. translate it So this agrees with the following member where after the manner of the Hebrews the same thing is repeated in other words And if it be objected against this version that it is not said his rest but rest in the general it may be replyed that so it is in the following branch the land though it be apparently meant of his land or portion of land allotted to him Besides the pronouns are often omitted and to be understood in the Hebrew text as may appear by comparing 1 King 10. 7. with 2 Chron. 9. 6. and Psal. 41. 9. with Ioh. 13. 18. and Mat. 3. 12. with Luk. 3. 17. was good and the land that it was pleasant and bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant unto tribute s Willingly paying whatsoever Tributes were imposed upon him either by the neighbouring Tribes or by forreign powers rather than to forfeit his pleasant and fruitful country and his sweet repose 16 Dan shall judge t i. e. Rule and govern them Though he be the son of my Concubine yet he shall not be subject to any other Tribe but shall have an absolute power within himself What is said of him is to be understood of the rest of the sons of the Concubines and hereby all difference between the sons of the Wives and Concubines is taken away It is said of Dan because he is the first-mentioned of that sort his people as one of the tribes of Israel u As the rest of the Tribes do having distinct Governments and Governours amongst them See Numb 1. 4 16. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way an †Heb. an arrow-snake adder in the path x Which covereth and hideth it self in the sand or dust of the high-way watching for men or beast that pass that way He notes the subtilty of that Tribe which should conquer their enemies more by craft and cunning than by strength or force of armes that biteth the horse heels so that his rider shall fall backward 18 I have waited for thy salvation O LORD y I do earnestly wait and hope and pray for thy helping hand to save me and my posterity from the manifold temporal calamities which I foresee will come upon them and especially from spiritual and eternal mischiefs by that Messiah which thou hast promised Iacob in the midst of his great work doth take a little breathing and finding himself weakned by his speech to his children and drawing nearer death he opens his arms to receive it as the thing for which he had long waited as the onely effectual remedy and mean of Salvation or deliverance from all his pains and miseries and particularly from his present horrours upon the contemplation of the future state of his children And this pathetical exclamation may look either 1. backward to the state of the tribe of Dan which he foresaw would be deplorable both for its great straits and pressures of which see Ioâ—… 19. 47. Iudg. 1. 34. and especially for that Idolatry which that Tribe would introduce and promote Iudg. 18. 30. and 1 King 12. 29. whereby they would ruine themselves and most of the other tribes with them
u This looks like a lye for Iacob either did not know this fact or rather was so well assured of Iosephs clemency and goodness that he never feared his revenge But guilt doth so awaken fear that it makes a man never to think himself secure saying 17 So shall ye say unto Joseph Forgive I pray thee now the trespass of thy brethren and their sin for they did unto thee evil And now we pray thee forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father x For whose sake pardon those that joyn with thee in his worship And Joseph wept y Partly in Compassion to their fear and trouble And partly because they still retained a diffidence in his kindness after all his great and real demonstrations of it when they spake unto him 18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face and they said Behold we be thy servants z Ready and willing to undergo that servitude into which we so wickedly sold thee 19 And Joseph said unto them * chap. 45. â—… Fear not for am I in the place of God a It is Gods prerogative to take vengeance which I dare not usurp See Deut. 32. 35. Or â—…an I do what I please with you without Gods leave Therefore fear him rather than me and upon your experience of his wonderful care and kindness to you believe that God will not and therefore that I neither can nor will do you any hurt But it is not unusual to put the Hebrew he for halo as it is Gen. 27. 36. 1 Sam. 2. 28. 2 Sam. 23. 19. 1 Kings 16. 31. c. and so the words may be very well rendred Aâ—… not I 〈◊〉 God i. e. Subject to his will a minister of his Providence Dare I destroy those whom God so eminently designed to save Dare I punish those whom God hath pardoned 20 But as for you ye thought evil against me b Therefore I do not excuse your guilt though I comfort you against despondency but God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive 21 Now therefore fear ye not I will nourish you and your little ones c Expect not onely a free pardon from me but all the kindness of a loving brother And he comforted them and spake †Heb. to their hearts kindly unto them 22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt he and his fathers house and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years 23 * Numb 32. 39 And Joseph saw Ephraims children of the third generation d Reckoning from and after Ephraim i. e. Ephraims Grand-childrens children So early did Ephraims priviledge above Manasseh appear and Iacobs blessing Gen. 48. 19. take place the children e Heb. Sons For though he had but one Son viz. Giiead by his first wife yet he married a second Wife and by her had two other Sons 1 Chron. 7. 16. which Ioseph lived long enough to â—…ee Or under the name of children his grandchildren also might be comprehended So there is no need of that Enallage of Sons for one Son which we meet with in other places also of Machir the son of Manasseh were †Heb. born brought up upon Josephs knees f Laid upon Iosephs lap or knees where Parents use ofttimes to take up and repose their Infants to express their love to them and delight in them And some observe that it was an antient custom in divers Nations that the Infant as soon as it was born was laid upon the Grandfathers knees So it is an Ellipsis whereby one word is put for two or under one Verb. See more of this phrase on Gen. 30. 3. and 48. 12. 24 And Joseph said unto his brethren * Heb. 11. 22. Exod. 3. 16. I die and God will surely visit you g i. e. Deliver you out of this place where I foresee you will be hardly used after my decease or fulfill his promised kindness to you as that word is used Gen. 21. 1. Exod. 4. 31. There is a double visitation oft mentioned in Scripture the one of Grace and Mercy which is here meant the other of Justice or Anger as elsewhere and bring you out of this land unto the land * chap. 15. 14. and 26. 3. and 35. 1â—… and 46. 4. which he sware to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. 25 And Joseph took an oath h For the same reason which moved Iacob to require an Oath from him Gen. 47. 30 31. of the children of Israel i He saith not of his brethren but of Israels children under which his Grandchildren are comprehended and seem principally intended here either because his brethren were most of them dead or rather because he knew that they were not to go out of Egypt in his brethrens time but in their second or third Generation saying * Exod. 13. 19. Josh. 24. 32. Acts 7. 16. God will surely visit you and ye shall carry up my bones k i. e. My dead body but he mentions onely his bones because part of his body was corrupted and the other part though preserved from corruption by the embalming yet was so changed and adulterated with the Spices and other materials which they used that it looked like another thing Onely his bones remained intire and unchanged Quest. Why did he not desire to be presently carried thither and buried there as his father did Answ. 1. Lest he should disoblige the Egyptians and provoke them against his brethren and children The removal of his Father thither was necessary and forced from him by an Oath but the order for the removal of himself would have been voluntary and designed and therefore could not have escaped the censure of an ungrateful contempt of the Land of Egypt which as it was thought good enough for him and his to live in should have been judged so too for his burial 2. That by these his remains his memory might be the longer and better preserved both with the Egyptians who for his sake might shew kindness to his near Relations and with the Israelites to whom this was a visible pledge of their deliverance and an help to their Faith and an obligation to them to persist in the true Religion hence 26 So Joseph died being an hundred and ten years old l So for about Thirteen years of affliction he enjoyed Eighty years of Honour and as much Happiness as Earth could afford him â—…nd they imbalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt ANNOTATIONS ON EXODUS The ARGUMENT AFter the Death of Joseph who had sent for his Fathers house into Egypt the Children of Israel exceedingly multiplied notwithstanding Pharaoh's cruel oppressing of them from under which God hearing their cry brought them with a strong hand Wherefore this book is called by the Greeks Exodus i. e. a going forth containing an historical accompt of passages for about one hundred and
of the sacrifice in their hands as we find Exod. 29. 24. by that right putting them into their office and sanctifie them that they may minister unto me in the priests office 42 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover †Heb. flesh â—… their nakedness their nakedness from the loins even unto the thighs g Including both Compare Exod. 20. 26. they shall †Heb. â—…e reach 43 And they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place that they bear not iniquity and die It shall be a statute for ever unto him and his seed after him CHAP. XXIX 1 AND this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them to minister unto me in the priests office * Lev. 8. 1 â—… Take one young bullock and two rams without blemish a See Exod. 12. 5. Mal. 1. 13 14. 2 And * Lev. 6. 20. unleavened b To shew that the Priests should be and that Christ really was free from all malice and hypocrisie both which are compared to leaven Luk. 12. 1. 1 Cor. 5. 8. and that all the services offered to God by the Priests were to be pure and unmixed bread and cakes unleavened tempered with oyl and wafers unleavened anointed with oil of wheaten flower shalt thou make them 3 And thou shalt put them into one basket and bring them c To the door of the Tabernacle as it follows ver 4. in the basket with the bullock and the two rams 4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and shalt wash them with water d Taken out of that laver Exod. 30. 18. This signified the universal pollution of all men and the absolute need they have of washing especially when they are to draw nigh to God And this outward washing was onely typical of their spiritual washing by the blood and spirit of Christ in order to their acceptance with God 5 And thou shalt take the garments and put upon Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breast-plate and gird him with * chap. 28. the curious girdle of the ephod e Not about the loins but about the paps or breast as Christ and his ministers are represented Rev. 1. 13. The linnen breeches are here omitted because they were put on privately before they came to the door of the Tabernacle where the other things were put on 6 And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head and put the holy crown f i. e. The plate of gold chap. 28. 36. as appears by comparing Lev. 8. 9. upon the mitre 7 Then shalt thou take the anointing * chap. 〈◊〉 oyl and pour it upon his head and anoint him g Which signified the gifts and graces of the holy ghost wherewith Christ was and the Priests ought to be replenished See Isa. 61. 1. 1 Ioh. 2. 27. But here ariseth a difficulty for this anointing is sometimes spoken of as peculiar to the High-priest as Lev. 21. 10. sometimes as common to all the Priests Exod. 30. 30. and 40. 14 15. which may be thus reconciled The oil was sprinkled upon all the Priests and their right ears thumbs and toes and their garments ver 20 21. Lev. 8. 30. but it was poured out upon the head onely of the High-priest Psa. 133. 2. who herein was a type of Christ who was anointed above his fellows Psal. 45. 7. Heb. 1. 9. 8 And thou shalt bring his sons and put coats upon them 9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles Aaron and his sons and †Heb. bind put the bonnets on them and the priests office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute h So long as the Iewish Pedagogy and Policy lasts and thou shalt †Heb. fill the hand of * chap. 28. 41. consecrate Aaron and his sons 10 And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation and * Lev. 1. 4. Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock i To signify that they offered it for themselves and for their own sins which the offerer performing this rite was to confess Lev. 16. 21. that they acknowledged themselves to deserve that death which was inflicted upon this innocent creature for their sakes and to testify their faith in the future sacrifice of Christ upon whom their sins were to be laid and by whose blood they were expiated and that they humbly begged Gods mercy in pardoning their sins and accepting them to and in their holy office 11 And thou k Moses who though no Priest yet for this time and occasion was called by God to this work shalt kill the bullock before the LORD by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation 12 And thou shalt take of the bloud of the bullock and put it upon * chap. 27. 2. and 30. 2. the horns of the altar l Not of incense as some would have it but of the burnt-offerings as may appear 1. because it was that altar at the bottom whereof the bloud was to be poured as it is here expressed but that was not done at the altar of Incense as is evident and confessed Compare Lev. 16. 18 c. 2. it was that altar upon which the parts of the sacrifices were burnt as it here follows ver 13. for there is no distinction here between the two altars It is true in the following sin-offerings of the Priests the blood was put upon the horns of the altar of incense Lev. 4. 7. But it must be considered 1. that the blood was not poured out at the bottom of that altar 2. because Aaron and his sons were not yet compleat Priests but private persons and therefore did this at the same altar which the people used in their sin offerings Lev. 4. 25 30. with thy finger and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar 13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards and ‖ It seemeth by anatomy and the Hebrew Doctors to be the midriff the caul that is above the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them m The parts which in all sacrifices were burned unto God Lev. 3. 3. and 4. 10. to signify either the mortification of their inward and most beloved lusts or the dedication of the best of all sacrifices and of their inward and best parts to God and his service and burn them upon the altar 14 But the flesh of the bullock and his skin and his dung shalt thou burn with fire without the camp it is a sin-offering n To wit for the high-priest as is plain from the whole context and therefore ought to be burnt by that law Lev.
Heb. 4. 5. Confirmative both assuring them of Gods good will to them and that as he blessed the Sabbath for their sakes so he would bless them in the holy use of it with temporal spiritual and everlasting blessings as he declares in many places of Scripture and assuring God of their standing to that covenant made between God and them So that this was a mutual stipulation or ratification of the covenant of grace on both sides throughout your generations that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctifie you i That selecteth you out of all people and consecrate you to my self and to my service and worship a great part whereof is the observation of the Sabbath Or that sanctifieth you by my Word and Ordinances which are in more eminent and solemn manner dispensed upon the Sabbath day by the observation whereof you declare that you own me as your onely sanctifier And so we may observe the sabbath owns the Lord as our Creatour and as our Redeemer and as our Sanctifier and therefore it is no wonder God so severely enjoyns the sanctification of the Sabbath and punisheth the neglect of it it being a tacit renouncing or disowning of God the Father the Son and the holy Ghost 14 * chap. 20. 8. Deut. 5. 12. Ezek. 20. 12. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you every one that desileth it shall surely be put to death k Of which see an example Numb 15. 32. c. for * Num. 15. 35. whosoever doth any work l i. e. Servile work as it is explained Lev. 23. 7. c. therein that soul shall be cut off from amongst his people 15 Six days †Heb. shall be done may work be done but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest m Heb. the sabbath of sabbaths or of sabbaths i. e. the great and chief sabbath as the song of songs is the most excellent song the holy of holies is the most holy c. The Iews had many sabbaths or days of rest but this is here preferred before them all by this emphatical repetition of the same word and by this argument the foregoing duty is pressed upon them †Heb. holiness holy to the LORD whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day he shall surely be put to death 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath to observe the sabbath n Or shall keep the sabbath by observing or celebrating the sabbath i. e. by observing or celebrating it the antecedent being put for the relative as is frequently done So here is another most emphatical repetition to oblige us to the greater caution and diligence in this great duty and to shew what stress God lays upon it who hath therefore placed this in the midst of the commands of the Decalogue as the heart which gives life and vigour to all the rest Or it may be rendered thus shall observe the day of rest to celebrate the sabbath and so the phrase is like that in the 4th Command Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy So here Observe the sabbath i. e. watch its coming and approach consider attentively the nature and use of it and that not as a matter of idle speculation but of serious practise or so that you may do or celebrate the Sabbath i. e. perform all the duties of it Or thus shall observe the sabbath to make it a sabbath or day of rest and that no idle or carnal rest but a rest holy to the Lord as it is called in the foregoing verse throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant o Or by a perpetual covenant or it is a perpetual covenant i. e. condition or part of that agreement made between me and them they have solemnly covenanted or promised that they will do all that I commanded them Exod. 24. 7 8 among which this is a chief branch and I have covenanted to bless and sanctify them in so doing And this word perpetual as also the word for ever being added to it in the next verse may intimate that this hath a longer perpetuity than the câ—…remonies to which this phrase is sometimes ascribed the rather because the reason of this perpetuity given in the next verse is such as hath its force not only till Christ but even till the end of the World and it is fit and just that men should retain this monument or memorial of the Worlds Creation even till its dissolution 17 It is a sign p A sign of the covenant between us that I will be their God and they will be my people both which depends upon this amongst other duties and upon this in an eminent degree between me and the children of Israel for ever for * Gen. 2. 2. in six dayes the LORD made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed q Not as if he had been weary with working which surely he could not be with speaking a few words nor can God be weary with any thing Isa. 40. 28. but it notes the pleasure or delight God took in reflecting upon his works beholding that every thing he had made was very good Gen. 1. 31. 18 And he gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai * chap. 32. 16. Deut. 9. 10. 2 Cor. 3. 3. two tables of testimony r i. e. The tables of the law which was the witness of Gods will and Israels duty See Exod. 16. 34. tables of stone s Whereby was signified both the durable and perpetual obligation of the moral law whereas the ceremonial law was to end with the Iewish policy at Christs coming and the stoniness of mens hearts by nature in which the law of God could not be written but by a divine and omnipotent hâ—…d written with the finger of God t i. e. With the power or spirit of God by comparing Mat. 12. 18. not by any art of man but immediately by a divine hand CHAP. XXXII 1 AND when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount a Where he had now been for near 40 days the people b i. e. Most or some of the people as it is expressed 1 Cor. 10. 7. gathered themselves together unto Aaron c As the chief person in Moses his absence and said unto him * Act. 7. 4. Up make us gods d i. e. Images or representations of God whom after the manner of Idolaters they call by Gods name For it is ridiculous to think that the body of the Israelites who were now lately instructed by the Mouth and words and miraculous works of the eternal God should be so senceless as to think that was the true God which themselves made and that out of their own ear-rings much more that that was the God that brought them out of Egypt as they say ver
this knowingly this was a gross sin Ezek. 18. 6. and they being accused and convicted were punished with death Levit. 20. 18. for as there was a turpitude in the action so it was very prejudicial to the children then begotten who were commonly weak or leprous or otherwise disordered which was also an injury to the Commonwealth of Israel and redounded to the dishonour of God and of the true Religion that the professours thereof gave such publick evidence of their intemperance and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean 25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many dayes out of the time of her separation or if it run beyond the time of her separation r To wit the seven dayes mentioned Levit. 12. 2. as suppose she had the Emerods c. all the dayes of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the dayes of her separation she shall be unclean 26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the dayes of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean as the uncleanness of her separation 27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the even 28 But if she be cleansed of her issue then she shall number to her self seven dayes s From the stopping of her issue as it is apparent And this was for trial whether it was onely a temporary obstruction or a real cessation and after that she shall be clean 29 And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles or two young pigeons and bring them unto the priest to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation 30 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin-offering and the other for a burnt-offering and the priest shall make an atonement for her before the LORD for the issue of her uncleanness 31 Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness that they die not in their uncleanness when they defile my tabernacle t Which they did both ceremonially by coming into it in their uncleanness and morally by the gross neglect and contempt of Gods express and positive command to cleanse themselves that is among them 32 This is the law of him that hath an issue and of him whose seed goeth from him and is defiled therewith 33 And of her that is sick of her flowers and of him that hath an issue of the man and of the woman and of him that lieth with her which is unclean CHAP. XVI 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses after * chap. 10. 2. the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered before the LORD and died 2 And the LORD said unto Moses Speak unto Aaron thy brother that he * Exod. 30. 10. Heb. 9. 7. come not at all times a Not whensoever he pleaseth but onely when I shall appoint him to wit to take down the parts and furniture of it upon every removal and to minister unto me once in the year Exod. 30. 10. into the holy place ‖ i. e. Into the Most Holy or the Holy of Holies as the following words demonstrate which is sometimes called onely the holy place as Heb. 9. 2 3 the positive degree put for the comparative which is not unusual in Scripture within the vail b To wit the second vail See Levit. 4. 6. before the mercy-seat which is upon the ark that he die not c For his irreverence and presumption for * Exod. 40. 35. 1 King 8. 12. I will appear d Visibly and gloriously That is as it were my presence-chamber whither the Priest shall not dare to come but when I call him in the cloud e Either in that dark place for there was no light came into it and clouds and darkness go together and one may be put for the other or in a bright and glorious cloud which used to be over the mercy-seat or rather in the cloud of incense mentioned afterward ver 13. by the mercy-seat 3 Thus f In this manner or upon these terms shall Aaron come into the holy place with * a young bullock g i. e. with the blood of it as it is explained ver 14. So it is a Synecdoche the whole put for the part For as for the body of it that was to be killed and offered without upon the Altar of burnt offerings for a sin offering h For his own and families sins for a goat was offered for the sins of the people and chap. 4. 3. a ram for a burnt-offering 4 He shall put on the * Exod. 28. 39 4â—… holy linen coat i It is observable that the High-priest did not now use his peculiar and glorious robes but onely his linnen garments which were common to him with the ordinary priests The reason whereof was either because this was not a day of feasting and rejoycing but of mourning and humiliation at which times people were to lay aside their ornaments Exod. 33. 5. Some conceive that under the linen garments here named are comprehended his more glorious robes also by a Synecdoche But that doth not appear neither from hence nor from other places alledged Had onely his holy garments been mentioned in general all might have been understood but when onely the linen apparel is mentioned here and after ver 23. and when that is so particularly expressed in four several parts of it and not a word of the other either here or in the rest of the chapter it seems presumptuous to adde them here without any ground or evidence Or because it was fit he should not exalt but abase himself when he was to appear before the divine Majesty and therefore he was to come in the meanest of his Priestly habits Or that it might be an evidence of the imperfection of this Priesthood and of the great difference between the Levitical and the true High-Priest Christ Jesus whose prerogative alone it is to go into the true Holy of Holies with his glorious robes when this must carry thither the characters of his meanness and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh and shall be girded with a linen girdle and with the linen mitre shall he be attired These are holy garments k Because appropriated to an holy and religious use for which reason other things are called holy See Exod. 29. 31. and 30. 25. and 2 Chron. 5. 5. therefore * Exod 30 â—…0 shall he wash his flesh in water and so put them on 5 And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin-offering and one ram for a burnt-offering 6 And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin-offering which is for himself and make * Heb. 9. 7. an atonement for himself and for his house l i. e.
His family as Gen. 7. 1. to wit the Priests and Levites See Numb 1. 49. 7 And he shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation 8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats one lot for the LORD m For the Lords use and service by way of sacrifice Both this and the other Goat typified Christ this in his death and passion for us that in his Resurrection for our deliverance and the other lot for the †Heb. Azazel scape-goat 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORDS lot †Heb. went up fell n So the lot is said to fall Ionah 1. 7. Act. 1. â—…6 Heb. went up to wit out of the vessel into which the lots were put and out of which they were brought up and offer him foâ—… a sin-offering 10 But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scape-goat shall be presented alive before the LORD to make an atonement with him o In manner hereafter expressed ver 21. 22. and to let him go for a scape-goat into the wilderness 11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock p Mentioned in general ver 6. The ceremonies whereof are here particularly described This was a differing bullock or heifer from that Numb 19. as appears by comparing the places of the sin offering which is for himself and shall make an atonement for himself and for his house and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself 12 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar q To wit of burnt-offering where the fire was alwayes burning and whence fire was taken for such uses as these before the LORD and his hands full of sweet incense r Of which see Exod. 30. 34 35 38. beaten small and bring it within the vail s i. e. Into the Holy of holieâ—… ver 2. 13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire t Which was in the censer ver 12. before the LORD that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy-seat that is upon the testimony that he die not u For so gross an errour committed in the highest acts of worship and that by an High-Priest whose knowledge and function was a great aggravation to his sin 14 And * Heb. 9. 13. and 10. 4. he shall take of the blood of the bullock and * chap. 4. 6. sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat x To teach us that God is mercifull to sinners onely through and for the blood of Christ. eastward y i. e. With his face east-ward or upon the eastern part of it towards the people who were in the court which lay east-ward from the Holy of holies which was the most western part of the Tabernacle This signified that the High-priest in this act represented the people and that God accepted it on their behalf and before the mercy-seat z On the ground shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times 15 Then shall he kill a Either this was done before he entred into the Holy of holies though it be mentioned after such trans-placings of passages being not unusual or rather he went out of the Holy of holies and killed it and then returned thither again with its blood and this agrees best with the text nor are transpositions to be allowed without necessity And whereas the High-priest is said to be allowed to enter into that place but once in a year that is to be understood but one day in a year though there seems to have been occasion of going in and coming out more than once upon that day the goat of the sin-offering that is for the people and bring his blood within the vail and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat and before the mercy-seat 16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place b Of which see below ver 19 20. and Exod. 29. 36. Lev. 8. 15. Heb. 9. 13. because of the uncleannesses of the children of Israel c For though the people did not enter into that place yet their sins entred thither and would hinder the effects of the High-priests mediation on their behalf if God was not reconciled to them and because of their transgressions in all their sins and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation that †Heb. dwelleth remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleannesses d Encompassed with their sins being in the midst of a sinfull people who defile not themselves onely but also Gods Sanctuary as God complains Ezek. 23. 38 39. 17 * Luk. 1. 10. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle †Heb. of meeting Exod. 29. 42. of the congregation e i. e. In the holy place where the Priests and Levites were at other times This was commanded for the greater reverence to the Divine Maiesty then in a more special manner appearing and that none of them might cast an eye into the Holy of holies as the High-priest went in or came out when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place untill he come out and have made an atonement for himself and for his houshold and for all the congregation of Israel 18 And he shall go out unto the altar f To wit the altar of incense where the blood of sacrifices was to be put Levit. 4. 4. and particularly the blood of the sin-offerings offered upon this day of atonement Exod. 30. 10. and which is most truly and properly said to be before the Lord i. e before the place where God in special manner dwelt to wit the Holy of holies Some understand it of the altar of burnt-offerings because he is said to go out to it But that going out relates not to the Tabernacle but to the Holy of holieâ—… into which he was said to go in ver 17. Add to this that this 〈◊〉 which is atoned by the High-priest seems to be in that place where he onely might now come and therefore in the Holy place called here the Tabernacle from which all other priests were for this day excluded whereas the altar of burnt-offerings was without the Holy place or Tabernacle to wit at the door of it and in the court of the Priests that is before the LORD and make an atonement for it and shall take of the blood of the bullock and of the blood of the goat and put it upon the horns of the altar round about 19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times g To signify its perfect cleansing seven being a number of perfection and our perfect reconciliation by the blood of Christ here represented and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the
that day shall the priest make an atonement for you to cleanse you that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD 31 It shall be a sabbath of rest y Observed as a sabbath day by cessation from all worldly and servile works and diligent attendance upon Gods worship and service unto you and ye shall afflict your souls by a statute for ever 32 * And the priest whom he shall anoint z Heâ—… i. e. either God who commanded him to be anointed as men are oft said to do what others do by their command or the High-priest who was to anoint his successour Or the third person is here put indefinitely or impersonally for who shall be anointed chap. 4. 3 5 6. and whom he shall †consecrate to minister in Heb. fill his â—…d the priests office in his fathers stead shall make the atonement and shall put on the linen clothes even the holy garments 33 And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation and for the altar and he shall make an atonement for the priests and for all the people of the congregation 34 And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins * once a year And he Exod 30 10. â—…b 9. 7. did as the LORD commanded Moses CHAP. XVII 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying 2 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons and unto all the children of Israel and say unto them This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded saying 3 What man soever there be of the house of Israel that killeth a Not for common use or eating for such beasts might be killed by any person or in any place but for sacrifice as manifestly appears both from ver 4. where that is expressed and from the reason of this law which is peculiar to sacrifices ver 5. and from Deut. 12. 5 15. 21. an oxe or lamb or goat in the camp b In Canaan the city answered to the camp and so it forbids any mans doing this either in the city or in the country or that killeth it out of the camp b In Canaan the city answered to the camp and so it forbids any mans doing this either in the city or in the country 4 And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle c This was appointed partly in opposition to the heathens who sacrificed in all places partly to cut off occasions of Idolatry partly to prevent the peoples usurpation of the Priests office and partly to signify that God would accept of no sacrifices but through Christ and in the Church of both which the Tabernacle was a type See Heb. 9. 11. and according to his own prescript But though men were tyed to this law God was free to dispense with his own law which he did sometimes to the Prophets as 1 Sam. 7. 9. and 11. 15. c. and afterwards more fully and generally in the days of the Messiah Mal. 1. 11. Ioh. 4. 21 24. of the congregation to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD blood shall be imputed unto that man d He shall be esteemed and punished as a murderer both by God and by men See Isa. 66. 3. The reason is because he sned that blood which though not mans blood yet was as pretious being sacred and appropriated to God and typically the price by which mens lives were ransomed he hath shed blood and that man shall be cut off from among his people e By death either by the hand of God in case men do not know it or neglect to punish it or by men if the fact was publick and evident 5 To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they f Either 1. the Egyptians and other idolatrous nations which commonly sacrificed to Idols or Devils in fields or any places who are not here named but may be designed by the particle they in way of contempt as if they were not worthy to be named as that particle is used Luk. 14. 24. and 19. 27. Ioh. 7. 11. and 8. 10. Or rather 2. the Israelites now mentioned and plainly understood in the following they who before the building of the Tabernacle took the same liberty herein which the Gentiles did from which they are now restrained offer in the open field even that they may bring them unto the LORD unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation unto the priest and offer them for peace-offerings g He nameth these not exclusively to others as appears from the reason of the law and from ver 8 9. but especially because in these the temptation was more common in regard of their frequency and more powerful because part of these belonged to the offerer and the pretence was more plausible because their sanctity was something of a lower degree than others these being onely called holy and allowed in part to the people when the other are called most holy and were wholly appropriated either to God or to the Priests unto the LORD 6 And the priests shall sprinkle the blood h This verse contains a reason of the foregoing law because of Gods propriety in the blood and fat wherewith also God was well pleased and the people reconciled And these two parts onely are mentioned as the most eminent and peculiar though other parts also were reserved for God upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and burn the fat for a * Exod. 29. 18. chap. 4. 31. sweet savour unto the LORD 7 And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils i So they did not directly or intentionally but by construction and consequence because the Devil is the author of idolatry and is eminently served pleased and honoured by it And as the Egyptians were notorious for their Idolatry as appears by the testimony of Scripture and of all antient writers so the Israelites were infected with their leaven Ios. 24. 14. Ezek. 20. 7. and 23. 2 3. And the name of Devils is commonly given in Scripture to Idols yea even to those which seemed most innocent as to Ieroboams Calves 2 Chron. 11. 15. by which he and the people designed and professed to worship the true God as is manifest from the nature of the thing and from many places of Scripture and the worshippers of Idols are esteemed and called worshippers of Devils See Deut. 32. 17. Psal. 106. 37. 1 Cor. 10. 20. Rev. 9. 20. The Hebrew word rendred Devils signifies goats either because goats were eminently worshipped by the Egyptians as Herodotus Strabo and others note and diverse of the Idols of the Heathens were of that or a like form or because the Devil did oft appear to the Heathens in that shape as their own
immoralities and such as the precepts of Noah reached to and such as the laws of nature and nations obliged them to And therefore the toleration of such actions was not onely against reason of state and the interest of the commonwealth of Israel and dangerous to the infection and destruction of the Israelites by the imitation of such examples but also against the light of nature and laws of humanity that sojourn in Israel that giveth any of his seed unto Molech c Or to any other Idol for the reason of the law equally concerns all See Levit. 18. 21. he shall surely be put to death the people of the land shall stone him with stones 3 And I will set my face against that man d i. e. Deal with him as an enemy and make him a monument of my justice either by punishing him immediately and eminently when the Magistrate cannot or will not do it or by adding to his corporal punishments my curse upon his soul and name See Lev. 17. 10. and will cut him off from among his people e From the number of his people of what nation or kindred soever he was or from the land of the living because he hath given of his seed unto Molech to defile my sanctuary f Which was done by this wickedness either because such persons did for the cover of their Idolatry come into Gods Sanctuary as the rest did See Lev. 15. 31. or because the Sanctuary was and was said to be defiled by gross abominations committed in that city or land where Gods Sanctuary was or because by these actions they did pronounce and declare to all men that they esteemed the sanctuary and service of God abominable and vile by preferring such odious and pernicious Idolatry before it and to prophane my holy Name g Partly by despising it themselves and partly by disgracing it to others and giving them occasion to blaspheme it and to abhor the true religion because they saw it deserted and condemned by those that best knew it and once embraced it 4 And if the people of the land do any wayes hide their eyes from the man h i. e. Wink at his fault and forbear to accuse and punish him Compare Act. 17. 30. when he giveth of his seed unto Molech and kill him not 〈◊〉 5 Then I will set my face against that man and * Exod. 20. 5. against his family i i. e. Either 1. his posterity whom God threatned to punish for their fathers Idolatry Exod. 20. Or 2. his people as that word is used Ier. 8. 3. Mic. 2. 3. to wit the people of that land who by their connivance make themselves guilty of his sin ver 4. Or 3. his disciples and followers who are oft called the sons or children of their masters And so it may be seem to be explained in the following words all that go a whoring after him as the first clause which concerns the head or chief person himself I will set my face against that man is explained by these words I will cut him off and will cut him off and all that go a whoring after him to commit whoredom with Molech from among their people 6 And * chap. 19. 31. the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards to go a whoring after them k To seek knowledge or counsel or help from them I will even set my face against that soul and will cut him off from among his people 7 * chap. 11. 44. 19. 2. 1 Pet 1. 16. Sanctifie your selves therefore and be ye holy for I am LORD your God 8 And ye shall keep my statutes and do them I am the LORD which sanctifie you l i. e. Who separated you from all nations and from their impurities and Idolatries to be a peculiar people to my self and therefore I will not suffer you to follow their examples Or who really sanctify you and give you my grace to do what I require i. e. to keep my statutes Or the argument is this Those idols and Idolatries will defile you and make you worse but I onely and my service will sanctify you and make you better 9 * Exod. 21. 1â—… Deut. 2â—… 16. Prov. 20. 20. Mat. 15. 4 For m Or surely as that praticle chi is oft used as Iob 8. 6. and 20. 20. So there needs no dispute about the connexion or what this is a reason of every one that curseth n Which is not meant of every perverse expression but of bitter reproaches or imprecations his father or o Heb. and put for or as hath been noted before his mother shall be surely put to death he hath cursed his father or his mother his blood shall be upon him p He is guilty of his own death he deserves to die for so unnatural a crime 10 And * Deut. 22. 22. Joh. 8. 4 5. the man that committeth adultery with another mans wife even he that committeth adultery with his neighbours wife the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death 11 * chap. 18. 8. And the man that lieth with his fathers wife hath uncovered his fathers nakedness both of them shall surely be put to death their blood shall be upon them 12 * chap. 18. 15. Deut. 27. 23. And if a man lie with his daughter in law both of them shall surely be put to death they have wrought confusion q By perverting the order which God hath appointed and mixing the blood which God would have separated and making the same off-spring both his own immediate child and his grandchild their blood shall be upon them 13 * chap. 18. 22. If a man lie also with mankind as he lieth with a woman both of them have committed an abomination they shall surely be put to death r Except the one party was forced by the other See Deut. 22. 25. their blood shall be upon them 14 And * chap. 18. 17 if a man take a wife and her mother it is wickedness s i. e. Abominable and extraordinary wickedness as the singularity of the punishment sheweth they shall be burnt with fire both he and they t Either or both or all of them if they consented to it that there be no wickedness among you 15 * chap. 18. 23. Deut. 27. 21. And if a man lie with a beast he shall surely be put to death and ye shall slay the beast u Partly for the prevention of monstrous Births partly to blot out the memory of so loathsome a crime and partly that by so severe a punishment of that creature which was onely a passive instrument to mans sin men might be assured that a more dreadful punishment than corporal death was reserved for them if they repented not 16 And if a woman approach unto any beast and lie down thereto thou shalt kill the woman and the
beast they shall surely be put to death their blood shall be upon them 17 * chap. 18. 9 Deut. 27. 23. And if a man shall take his sister his fathers daughter or his mothers daughter and see her nakedness x Seeing is here understood either 1. properly and so God would cut off the occasions of further filthiness Or rather 2. improperly for touching her or lying with her for 1. the sence of seeing is oâ—…t put for other sences as for hearing Ger 42. 1. compared with Act. 7. 12. Exod. 2â—… 18. Rev. 1. 12. and for touching as Ioh. 2â—… 25 29. 2. that act is expressed by words parallel to this of seeing as by 〈◊〉 or discovering and by knowing Gen. 4. 1. 3. so it is directly explained in the following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uncovered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which manifestly signifies lying with her â—… it is not probable that an equal punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dest sight and to the highest act of filthiness 5. nor seems there to be any reason why this crime should be restrained to this rather than to any other relations when it was as great yea a greater crime in some other relations and she see his nakedness it is a wicked thing and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people y i. e. Publickly for the terrour and caution of others he hath uncovered his sisters nakedness he shall bear his iniquity 18 * chap. 18. 19. See ch 15. 24. And if a man shall lie with a woman z Wittingly and willingly See on Lev. 15. 24. and 18. 19. having her sickness a i. e. her monethly infirmity and shall uncover her nakedness he hath †Heb. made naked discovered her fountain b Or her issue Thus the fountain of blood in Mark 5. 29. is the issue of blood Luk. 8. 44. the fountain put for the stream the cause for the effect which is common and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood and both of them shall be cut off from among their people 19 * ch 18. 12 13. And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mothers sister nor of thy fathers sister for he uncovereth his near kin they shall bear their iniquity 20 * chap. 18. 14. And iâ—… a man shall lie with his uncles wife he hath uncovered his uncles nakedness they shall bear their sin they shall die childless c i. e. Either shall be speedily cut off ere they can have a child by that incestuous conjunction that the remembrance of the fact may be blotted out or if this seem a less crime than most of the former incestuous mixtures because the relation is more remote and therefore the Magistrate shall forbear to punish it with death yet they shall either have no children from such an unlawful bed or their children shall die before them Hos. 9. 11 12. or shall not be reputed their genuine children but bastards and therefore excluded from the congregation of the Lord Deut. 23. 2. 21 * chap. 18. 16. And if a man shall take his brothers wife d Except in the case allowed by God Deut. 25. 5. it is †Heb. a separation an unclean thing e An abominable thing like the uncleanness of a menstruous woman which is oft expressed by this word Heb a separation or removing i. e. a thing deserving separation or exclusion from society with others or a thing to be removed out of sight or out of the world he hath uncovered his brothers nakedness they shall be childless 22 Ye shall therefore keep all my †chap. 18. 26. statutes and all my judgments and do them that the land whither I bring you to dwell therein * chap. 18. 25. spue you not out 23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation which I cast out before you for they committed all these things and * Deut. 9. 5. therefore I abhorred them 24 But I have said unto you Ye shall inherit their land and I will give it unto you to possess it a land that floweth with milk and honey I am the LORD your God which have separated you from other people f By my special grace and favour vouchsafed to you above all people in glorious and miraculous works wrought for you and among you and in ordinances and other singular priviledges and blessings imparted to you all which calls for your special love and service 25 * chap. 11. 2. Deut. 14. 4. Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean and between unclean fowls and clean and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast or by fowl or by any manner of living thing that ‖ Or moveth creepeth on the ground which I have separated from you as unclean g i. e. As things which by my sentence I have made unclean and which you must avoid as such 26 And ye shall be holy unto me * Verse 7. chap. 19. 2. Peâ—… 1. 1â—… 1 for I the LORD am holy and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine 27 * Deut. 1â—… 10 11. 1 Sam 28. 7 8. A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard shall surely be put to death they shall stone them with stones their blood shall be upon them CHAP. XXI 1 AND the LORD said unto Moses Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron and say unto them * Ezek. 44. 25. There shall none be defiled for the dead a To wit by touching of the dead body or abiding in the same house with it or assisting at his funerals or eating of the funeral feast The reason of this law is evident because by such pollution they were excluded from converse with men to whom by their function they were to be serviceable upon all occasions and from the handling of holy things Num. 6. 6. and 19. 11 14 16. Deut. 26. 14. Hos. 9. 4. And God would hereby teach them and in them all successive Ministers of holy things that they ought so entirely to give themselves to the service of God that they ought to renounce all expressions of natural affections and all worldly employments so far as they are impediments to the discharge of their holy services See Lev. 10. 3 7. Deut. 33. 9. Mat. 8. 22. Hereby also God would beget in the people a greater reverence to the Priestly function and oblige the Priests to a greater degree of strictness and purity than other men among his people 2 But for his kin that is near unto him b Under which general expression his wife seems to be comprehended though she be not expressed in the following instances because from the mention of others more remote it was easie to gather that so near a relation was not excluded And hence it is noted as a peculiar and extraordinary case that Ezekiel who was a
they gave publick testimony that they heard this person speak such words and did in their own and in all the peoples names desire and demand justice to be executed upon him that by this sacrifice God might be appeased and his judgments turned away from the people upon whom they would certainly fall if he were unpunished and let all the congregation stone him d The same punishment which was before appointed for those who cursed their parents whereas it deserved a far more grievous death Thus God in this life mixeth mercy with judgment and punisheth men less than their iniquities deserve 15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel saying Whosoever curseth e i. e. Speaketh of him reproachfully and with contempt They therefore are greatly mistaken that understand this of the heathen Gods whom their worshippers are forbidden to reproach or curse But Moses is not here giving laws to Heathens but to the Israelites nor would he concern himself so much to vindicate the honour of Idols nor doth this agree either with the design of the holy Scriptures which is to beget a contempt and detestation of all Idols and Idolatry or with the practise of the holy Prophets who used oft to vilify them See 1 â—…ing 18. 27. Ier. 10. 11. his God shall bear his sin f i. e. The punishment of it shall not go unpunished Some say he was to be beaten with stripes other say with death which is described ver 16. 16 And †Or. â—…e that 〈◊〉 he that blasphemeth the Name of the LORD g This some make a distinct sin from 〈◊〉 his God mentioned ver 15. but the difference they make seems arbitrary and without evidence from reason or the use of the words And therefore this may be a repetition of the same sin in other words which is common And as this law is laid down in more general terms ver 15. so both the sin and the punishment are more particularly expressed ver 16. Or the first part of ver 16. may be an application of the former rule to the present case And as for him that blasphemeth c. or is blaspheming c. in the present tense which is fitly used concerning words just now uttered and scarce yet out of their ears he shall c. And so the following words as well the stranger c. may be a repetition and amplificatioâ—… of the former law he shall surely be put to death and all the congregation h To shew their zeal for God and to beget in them the greater dread and abhorrency of blasphemy shall certainly stone him as well the stranger as he that is born in the land when he †Or 〈◊〉 blasphemeth the name of the LORD shall be put to death 17 * Exod. 21. 12. Num. 35. 31. Deut. 10. 21. And he that †Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a 〈◊〉 killeth any man i This law is repeated here either to justifie this sentence of putting blasphemers to death from the same severity executed for a less crime or to prevent the mischievous effects of mens striving or contending together which as here it caused blasphemy so it might in others lead to murder shall surely be put to death 18 And he that killeth a beast shall make it good †Heb. sâ—…l for sâ—…l beast for beast 19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour as * Exod. 21. 24. Deut. 19. 21. Mat. 5. 38. he hath done so shall it be done unto him 20 Breach for breach eye for eye tooth for tooth as he hath caused a blemish in a man so shall it be done to him again 21 * Exod. 21. 33 34. And he that killeth a beast he shall restore it and he that killeth a man he shall be put to death 22 Ye shall have * Exod. 12. 49. one manner of law k To wit in matters of common right but not as to Church priviledges as well for the stranger as for one of your own countrey for I am the LORD your God 23 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp and stone him with stones and the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses CHAP. XXV 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses in mount Sinai a i. e. Near mount Sinai So the Hebrew particle beth is sometimes used as Gen. 37. 13. Ios. 5. 13. Iudg. 8. 5. 2 Chron. 33. 20. compared with 2 King 21. 18. So there is no need to disturb the order of the Iâ—…story in this place saying 2 Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them When ye come into the land b So as to be settled in it for the time of the wars was not to be accounted nor the time before Ioshua's distribution of the land among them Ios. 14. 7 10. which I give you then shall the land †Heb. rest keep * Exod. 23. 11. See ch 26. 34. a sabbath c i. e. Enjoy rest and freedom from plowing tilling c. unto the LORD d i. e. In obedience and unto the honour of God This was instituted partly for the assertion of Gods soveraign right to the land in which the Israelites were but tenants at Gods will partly for the trial and exercise of their obedience partly for the demonstration of his providence aswell in the general towards men as more especially towards his own people of which see below ver 20 21 22. partly to wean them from inordinate love and pursuit of or trust to worldly advantages and to inure them to depend upon God alone and upon Gods blessing for their subsistence partly to put them in mind of that blessed and eternal rest provided for all good men wherein they should be perfectly freed from all worldly labours and troubles and wholly devoted to the service and enjoyment of God See on Exod. 23. 11. and lastly that by their own straits in that year they might learn more compassion to the poor who were under the same straits every year 3 Six years thou shalt sow thy field and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard and gather in the fruit thereof 4 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land a sabbath for the LORD thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard 5 * â—… King 19. 29. That which groweth of its own accord e From the grains that fell out of the ears the last reaping time of thy harvest thou shalt not reap f i. e. As thy own peculiarly but onely so as others may reap it with thee for present food neither gather the grapes †Heb. of thy separation of thy vine undressed g Heb. the grapes of thy separation i. e. The Grapes which thou hast separated or set apart to the honour of God and to the ends and uses appointed by God
house of their fathers according to the number of the names from twenty years old and upward all that were able to go forth to war 33 Those that were numbred of them even of the tribe of Ephraim were fourty thousand and five hundred o Above 8000 more than Manasseh towards the accomplishment of that promise Gen. 48. 20. which the Devil in vam attempted to defeat by stirring up the men of Gath against them i Chron. 7. 21 22. 34 Of the children of Manasseh by their generations after their families by the house of their fathers according to the number of the names from twenty years old and upward all that were able to go forth to war 35 Those that were numbred of them even of the tribe of Manasseh were thirty and two thousand and two hundred 36 Of the children of Benjamin by their generations after their families by the house of their fathers according to the number of the names from twenty years old and upward all that were able to go forth to war 37 Those that were numbred of them even of the tribe of Benjamin were thirty and five thousand and four hundred p The smallest number except one though Benjamin had more immediate children than any of his brethren Gen. 46. 21. whereas Dan had but one immediate son Gen. 46. 23. yet now his number is the biggest but one of all the Tribes and is almost double to that of Benjamin Such great and strange changes God easily can and frequently doth make in families 1 Sam 2. 5. And therefore let none boast or please themselves too much in their numerous off-spring 38 Of the children of Dan by their generations after their families by the house of their fathers according to the number of the names from twenty years old and upward all that were able to go forth to war 39 Those that were numbred of them even of the tribe of Dan were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred 40 Of the children of Asher by their generations after their families by the house of their fathers according to the number of the names from twenty years old and upward all that were able to go forth to war 41 Those that were numbred of them even of the tribe of Asher were forty and one thousand and five hundred 42 Of the children of Naphtali throughout their generations after their families by the house of their fathers according to the number of the names from twenty years old and upward all that were able to go forth to war 43 Those that were numbred of them even of the tribe of Naphtali were fifty and three thousand and four hundred 44 These are those that were numbred which Moses and Aaron numbred and the princes of Israel being twelve men each one was for the house of his fathers 45 So were all those that were numbred of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers from twenty years old and upward all that were able to go forth to war in Israel 46 Even all they that were numbred were * Exod. 38 26. See Exod. 12. 37. chap. 26. â—…1 six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty 47 But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbred among them 48 For the LORD had spoken unto Moses saying 49 Onely thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi q Because they were not generally to go out to war which was the thing principally eyed in this muster ver 3 20 45. but were to attend upon the service of the Tabernacle and therefore are reserved to another distinct muster Numb 3. 15. and 4. 2. c. And least this should be thought to be designed and done through Moses his ambition to give his own Tribe the preeminence he assures them it was done by Gods express command neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel 50 But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony r So called here and Exod. 38. 21. because it was made chiefly for the sake of the Ark of the Testimony 2 Sam. 7. 2. which is oft called the Testimony as hath been observed before and over all the vessels thereof and over all things that belong to it they shall bear the tabernacle and all the vessels thereof and they shall minister unto it and shall encamp round about the tabernacle 51 And when the tabernacle setteth forward the Levites shall take it down and when the tabernacle is to be pitched the Levites shall set it up and the stranger s The stranger elsewhere is one of another Nation here one of another Tribe one no Levite that cometh nigh t So as to do the offices mentioned ver 50. shall be put to death 52 And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents every man by his own camp and every man by his own standard throughout their hosts 53 But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony that there be no wrath u To wit from God who is very tender of his worship and will not suffer the profaners of it to go unpunished whose wrath is called simply Wrath by way of eminency as the most terrible kind of wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel and the Levites shall keep the charge x i. e. Shall suffer no stranger to approach through curiosity or any other motive of the tabernacle of testimony 54 And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses so did they CHAP. II. 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying 2 Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard a Or ensign by that to which he is allotted by the following order It is manifest that there were four great Standards or Ensigns which here follow distinguished by their colours or figures or otherwise also that there were other particular Ensigns belonging to each of their Fathers Houses or Families as is here said with the ensign of their fathers house †Heb. over against far off b Partly out of reverence to God and his Worship and the portion allotted to it and partly for caution least their vicinity to it might tempt them to make too near approaches to it It is supposed they were at 2000 cubits distance from it which was the space between the people and the Ark Ios. 3. 4. and it is not improbable because the Levites encamped round about it between them and the Tabernacle about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch 3 And on the east-side toward the rising of the Sun shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies and Nahshon the son of Amminadab shall be captain of the children of Judah 4 And his host and those that were numbred of them were threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred 5 And those that do pitch
the congregation to minister unto them a i. e. In their stead and for their good So they were the servants both of God and of the Church which was an high dignity though not sufficient for their ambitious minds 10 And he hath brought thee near to him and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee and seek ye the priesthood also b There being at this time but very few Priests and the profits and priviledges belonging to them being many and great they thought it but fit and reasonable that they or some of the chief of them should be admitted to a share in their work and advantages 11 For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD c Whose minister and chosen servant Aaron is You strike at God through Aarons sides Compare 1 Sam. 8. 7. Luk. 10. 16. Ioh. 13. 20. and what is Aaron that ye murmure against him 12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram d To treat with them and give them as he had done Korah and his company a timely admonition the sons of Eliab which said e Unto the messengers sent to them by Moses We will not come up f To Moses his Tabernacle whither the people used to go up for judgment Men are said in Scripture phrase to go up to places of judgment See Deut. 25. 7. Ruth 4. 1. Ezra 10. 7 8. But because they would not now go up therefore they went down quick into the pit ver 33. 13 Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey g i. e. Out of Egypt a place indeed of great plenty bâ—… to them a place of torment and intolerable slavery They invidiously and scoffingly use the same words wherewith God by Moses commended the land of Canaan to kill us in the wilderness 〈◊〉 make thy self altogether a prince over us 14 Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards wilt thou †Heb. â—…re out put out the eyes of these men h i. e. Of those who are confederate with us and of all the people who are of our mind Whilst thou make them blind or perswade them that they are blind and that they do not see what is visible to all that have eyes to wit that thou hast deceived them and broken thy faith and promise given to them or wilst thou lead them about like blind men whither thou pleasest one time towards Canaan another time toward Egypt again we will not come up i We will not obey thy summons nor own thy authority 15 And Moses was very wroth k Not so much for his own sake for he had learnt to bear indignities Numb 12. as for Gods sake who was highly dishonoured blasphemed and provoked by these speeches and carriages in which case he ought to be angry as Christ was Mark 3. 5. and said unto the LORD * Gen. 4. 4 5. Respect not thou their offering l i. e. Accept not their incense which they are now going to offer but shew some eminent dislike of it He calls it their offering though it was offered by Korah and his companions because it was offered in the name and by the consent of all the conspiratours for the decision of the present controversie between them and Moses I * Acts 20. 33. have not taken one ass m i. e. Not any thing of the smallest value as an ass was See 1 Sam. 12. 3. from them neither have I hurt one of them n I have never injured them nor used my power to defraud or oppress them as I might have done but which is here implied I have done them many good offices but no hurt therefore their crime is inexcusable because without any cause or provocation on my part 16 And Moses said unto Korah Be thou and all thy company before the LORD o Not in the Tabernacle which was not capable of so many person severally offering incense but at the door of the Tabernacle ver 18. which place is oft said to be before the Lord as Exod. 29. 42. Levit. 1. 11. c. where they might now lawfully offer it by Moses his direction upon this extraordinary occasion and necessity because this work could not be done in that place which alone was allowed for the offering up of incense not onely for its smallness but also because none but Priests might enter to do this work Here also the people who were to be instructed by this experiment might see the proof and success of it thou and they and Aaron to morrow 17 And take every man his censer and put incense in them and bring ye before the LORD every man his censer two hundred and fifty censers thou also and Aaron each of you his censer 18 And they took every man his censer p Which they could easily make in a sleight manner which would suffice for the present purpose and put fire in them q Taken from the Altar which stood in that place Levit. 1. 3 5. for Aaron might not use other fire Levit. 10. 1. And it is likely the remembrance of the death of Nadab and Abihu deterred them from offering any strange fire and laid incense thereon and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation with Moses and Aaron 19 And Korah gathered all the congregation r That they might be witnesses of the event and upon their success which they doubted not of might fall upon Moses and Aaron with popular rage and destroy them And it seems by this that the people were generally incensed against Moses and inclined to Korahs side against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and the glory of the LORD appeared s In the cloud which then shone with greater brightness and Majesty as a token of Gods approach and presence See Exod. 16. 7 10. Levit. 9. 6 23. Numb 20. 6. unto all the congregation 20 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron saying 21 * Gen. 19. 1â—… 22. Jer. â—… â—… Rev. 18. â—… Separate your selves from among this congregation ‖ To wit Korah and his 250 men and the people whom he â—…athered against Moses and Aaron ver 19. that I may consume them in a moment 22 And they fell upon their faces and said O God * chap. 2â—… â—… Job 12. 2â—… Eccl. 12. â—… Isa. 57. 1â—… Zach. 12. â—… Heb. 12. â—… the God of the spirits t i. e. Of souls as the word spirit in Scripture is oft used as Psal. 31. 5. and 77. 3. Prov. 17. 22. Eccl. 12. 7. Luk. 23. 46. Act. 7. 59. And this is no empty title here but very emphatical and argumentative thus Thou art the maker of spirits Zach. 12. 1. destroy not thy own workmanship
done but they shall be subordinate and servants to thee but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister d Or both to thee and to thy sons with thee which translation may seem to be favoured by the following words before the tabernacle which was the proper place where the Levites ministred whereas the Priests did minister to God both before and in the Tabernacle Besides both the foregoing words and the two following verses do entirely speak of the ministry of the Levites and the ministry of the Priests is distinctly spoken of ver 5. before the tabernacle of witness 3 And they shall keep thy charge e i. e. That which thou shalt command them and commit unto them and the charge of all the tabernacle f i. e. Of the boards and hangings and utensils of the Tabernacle to take them down and carry them and set them up again onely they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar g Which therefore were to be covered by the Priests before the Levites might meddle with them that neither they nor ye h They for presuming to touch them and you for your negligence in not covering them well or not looking to them also die 4 And they shall be joyned unto thee and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation for all the service of the tabernacle and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you 5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary i i. e. Of the holy and of the most holy place and the charge of the altar that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel k For coming too near the holy place or for usurping any part of your sacred function or for any other miscarriage which they may be guilty of through your carelessness or remissness in which case they shall perish for their errour but their blood will I require at your hands who should have advised them better or over-ruled them 6 And I behold I have * chap. 3. 12 â—…5 taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel to * chap. 3. 9. you they are given as a gift for the LORD l i. e. For the service of the Lord to assist you therein in the servile and troublesome parts of it to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation 7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priests office for every thing of the altar m To wit of burnt-offering as appears from the following words and within the vail n This phrase elsewhere signifies the inward or second vail but here it signifies either the outward vail onely or rather both the vails the singular number being put for the plural as when the altar is put for both the altars as hath been noted and so this phrase comprehends both the holy and the most holy place and ye shall serve I have given your priests office unto you as a service of gift o As a gift which I have freely conferred upon you and upon you alone and therefore let no man henceforth dare either to charge you with arrogance and usurpation in appropriating this to your selves or to invade your office and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death 8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron Rehold I also nave given thee the charge of mine heaveâ—… offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel unto thee have I given them p Not onely the charge of them but the use of them for thy self and family in such manner as I have elsewhere expressed by reason of the anointing q To wit to the Priestly office i. e. because thou art Priest and art to devote thy self wholly to my service which that thou maist perform more diligently and chearfully I give thee this recompense and to thy sons by an ordinance for ever 9 This shall be thine of the most holy things r Such as were to be eaten onely by the Priests and that in the Sanctuary How these diâ—…fer from the 〈◊〉 things see on Levit. 6. 17. reserved from the fire s i. e. Such sacrifices or such parts of sacrifices as were not burnt in the fire every oblation t Which may be understood either 1. of the wave-loaves Levit. 23. 17. and the shew-bread which were most holy things Lev. 23. 20. and 24. â—… and which did belong to the Priest nor was there any 〈◊〉 such oblation besides what is here particularly expressed 〈◊〉 the peace-offerings were not most holy and the burnt-offerings were not the Priests Or. 2. of oblations in general and so the following particulars are mentioned by way of explication and restriction of that general word to shew what oblations are here meant and to exclude peace-offerings and burnt-offerings of theirs every * Lev. 2. 2 3. meat-offering of theirs and every * Lev. 4. 22 27. 6. 25. sin offering of theirs and every * Lev. 5. 6. 7. 7. 14. 13. trespass offering of theirs which they shall render unto me u By way of compensation for a trespass committed against me in which case a ram was to be offered Lev. 6. 2 -6 which was a most holy thing and may be particularly designed here shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons x Thou shalt esteem it as a most holy thing and shalt use it accordingly in manner following Or these are most holy and therefore shall be for thee and for thy sons to wit exclusively none else may eat them 10 In the most holy place y To wit in the court of the Priests where there were places for this use See Lev. 6. 16 17 26. and 7. 6. and 8. 31. and 14. 13. Neh. 13. 5 9. Ezek. 42. 13. which is called the most holy place not simply and absolutely as the place within the vail was but in respect of the thing he speaks of because this was the most holy of all the places appointed for eating of holy things whereof some might be eaten in any clean place in the camp Lev. 10. 14. or in their own houses And as the most holy place is sometimes called simply Holy so it is not strange if an holy place be called most holy especially this place which was near to the altar of burnt-offerings which is called most holy and made all that touched it holy Exod. 20. 3â—… And God would have these things eaten by them in an holy place as in Gods presence that they might be obliged to the greater caution and not to abuse Gods good creatures and especially holy things to intemperance and that they might learn to eat this and their other food with thankfulness to God the giver of it and with respect to his service and glory which was afterward prescribed to Christians 1 Cor. 1â—… â—…1 1 Tim. 4. 3. shalt thou eat it every male
made a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived q He was delivered from death and cured of his disease 10 And the children of Israel set forward and * chap. 33. 43. pitched in Oboth r Not immediately but after two other stations mentioned Numb 33. 11 And they journeyed from Oboth and * chap. 33. 44. pitched at †Or â—…eaps of Abarim Ije-Abarim in the wilderness which is before Moab s Called the wilderness of Moab Deut. 2. 8. toward the sun-rising 12 From thence they removed and pitched in the valley of Zared t Or rather by the torrent or brook of Zared as we render it Deut. 2. 13. which ran into the dead sea and from which the valley also might be so called 13 From thence they removed and pitched on the other side of Arnon u Or rather on this side of Arnon for so it now was to the Israelites who had not yet passed over it as appears from Deut. 2. 24. But the same words Iudg. 11. 18. are to be rendered on the other side of Arnon for so it was to Iephthah and the same preposition signifieth on this side or beyond according to the circumstances of the place which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorite for Arnon is the border of Moab between Moab and the Amorite x i. e. Though formerly it and the land beyond it belonged to Moab yet afterwards it had been taken from them by Sihon ver 26 28. This is added to reconcile two seemingly contrary commands of God the one that of not meddling with the land of the Moabites Deut. 2. 9. the other that of going over Arnon and taking possession of the land beyond it Deut. 2. 24. because saith he it is not now the land of the Moabites but of the Amorites 14 Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD y This seems to have been some Poem or narration of the wars and victories of the Lord either by or relating to the Israelites which may be asserted without any prejudice to the integrity of the Holy Scripture because this book doth not appear to have been written by a Prophet or to be designed for a part of the Canon but by some other ingenious person who intended onely to write an historical relation of these matters which yet Moses might quote as St. Paul doth some of the heathen Poets And as St. Luk. aâ—…sures us that many did write an history of the things done and said by Christ Luk. 1. 1. whose writings were never received as Canonical the like may be justly conceived concerning this and some few other books mentioned in the old Testament Though the words may be thus rendred Wherefore it shall be said in the relation or narration for so the Hebrew Sepher is confessed to signifie of the wars of the Lord. ‖ Or Vaheb in Suphah what he did in the Red-sea z Or At Vaheb in Suphah or in the land of Suph Vaheb seems to be the name not of a man but of a city or place and Suphah the name of the country where it was and the Hebrew particle eth is oft rendred at And whereas the sence seems to be imperfect it must be noted that he quotes onely a fragment or piece of the book and that principally to prove the scituation of Arnon which he had asserted ver 13. for which end the passage quoted is sufficient And the sence is easily to be understood for it is plain enough that this Poet or writer is describing the wars and works of God by the several places where they were done and having begun the sentence before and mentioned other places he comes to these here mentioned At Vaheb in Suphah and at the brooks of Arnon c. And it seems probable that the war here designed was that of Sihon against the Moabites mentioned below ver 26. which is fitly ascribed to the Lord because it was undertaken and perfected by the singular direction and assistance of God and that for the sake of the Israelites that by this means that country might be invaded and possessed by them without taking it away from the Moabites which they were forbidden to meddle with or to disturb Deut. 2. 9. and so their title to it might be more just and unquestionable See Iudg. 11. 12 13 -27 and in the brooks a i. e. The brook the plural number for the singular as the plural number rivers is used concerning Iordan Psal. 74. 15. and concerning Tigris Nah. 2. 6. and concerning Euphrates Psal. 137. 1. and concerning Thermodoon in Virgil all which may be so called because of the several little streams into which they were divided of Arnon 15 And at the stream of the brooks that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar b A chief city in Moab as appears from Isa. 15. 1. of which v. 28. and †Heb. leaneth lieth upon the border of Moab 16 And from thence they went to Beer c This place and Mattanah Nahaliel and Bamoth named here ver 19. are not mentioned among those places where they pitched or encamped Numb 33. Either therefore they did not pitch or encamp in these places but onely pass by or thorough them nor indeed is it here said they pitched or encamped in these places which is said of those places Numb 33. but onely that they went to them ver 18. or these are stations omitted there and to be supplied from hence for though it be there said they went from such a place and pitched in such a place yet it is not said they went immediately from the one place to the other and therefore they might take these places in their way that is the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses Gather the people together and I will give them water d To wit in a miraculous manner 17 Then Israel sang this song e To praise God for giving them such a seasonable blessing before they asked it or complained for the want of it †Heb. ascend Spring up f Give forth thy waters that we may drink Heb. ascend i. e. let thy waters which now lye hid below in the earth ascend for our use It is either a prediction that it should spring up or a prayer that it might or a command in the name of God directed to the well by an usual Prosopopaeia as when God bids the heavens hear and the earth give ear Isa. 1. 2. Any of these ways it shews their faith O well ‖ Or answer Sing ye unto it ‖ Or sing ye of it or answer to it or concerning it it being the manner of the Iewish singers that one should answer to another of which see Exod. 15. 21. 1 Sam. 18. 7. 18 The princes
himself as a young lion he shall not lie down y i. e. Not rest or cease from fighting and pursuing untill he eat of the prey and drink the bloud of the slain 25 And Balak said unto Balaam Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all 26 But Balaam answered and said unto Balak Told not I thee saying All that the LORD speaketh that I must do 27 And Balak said unto Balaam Come I pray thee I will bring thee unto another place peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence 28 And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor z An high place called Beth-peor Deut. 3. 29. i. e. the house or temple of Peor because there they worshipped Baal-peor that looketh toward Jeshimon 29 And Balaam said unto Balak Build me here seven altars and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams 30 And Balak did as Balaam had said and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar CHAP. XXIV 1 AND when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel he went not as at * chap. 23. 3 1â—… other times †Heb. to the meeting of inchantments to seek for inchantments a i. e. To use enchantments which he is said to have done either because when he consulted and sacrificed to God he did also use enchantments and consult with the Devil that if one would not the other might help him or because he consulted God in a magical and superstitious way by using such postures or instruments or forms of words as inchanters used but he set his face toward the wilderness b Where Israel lay encamped either with intent to curse Israel without Gods leave or rather expecting what God of his own accord would suggest to him concerning this matter 2 And Balaam lift up his eyes and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes c In the order appointed Numb 2. and the spirit of God came upon him d i. e. Inspired him to speak the following words and so constrained him again to bless those whom he desired to curse 3 * chap. 23. 7 18. And he took up his parable and said Balaam the son of Beor hath said and the man †Heb. who had his eyes shut but now open whose eyes are open e The eyes either 1. of his body as in the following verse or 2. of his mind which God had opened in a peculiar and Prophetical manner whence Prophets are called Seers 1 Sam. 9. 9. He implies that before he was blind and stupid having eyes but not seeing nor understanding Some render the words having his eyes shut as the Hebrew verb Satham signifies the letters Schin and Samech being frequently exchanged and so the meaning is that he received this revelation either in a dream when mens eyes are simply shut or in an extasie or trance when mens eyes though open are in a manner shut to wit as to the use and exercise of them hath said 4 He hath said which heard the words of God which saw the vision f So called either strictly and properly because he was awake when this was revealed to him or largely and improperly for any extraordinary discovery of Gods mind to him whether sleeping or waking of the Almighty falling into a trance g Or extasy fainting and falling upon the ground as the Prophets used to do See 1 Sam. 19. 24. Ezek. 1. 28. and 3. 23. and 43. 3. Dan. 8. 17 18. and 10. 16. Rev. 1. 17. Others falling suddenly into a sleep as the Prophets sometimes did as Gen. 15. 12. Dan. 8. 18. but having his eyes open 5 How goodly are thy tents O Jacob and thy tabernacles O Israel 6 As the valleys h Which oft-times from a small beginning are spread forth far and wide Others as the brooks or rivers as the word signifies which stretch out and disperse their waters into several channels and sometimes further are they i i. e. The Israelites last mentioned spread forth as gardens by the rivers side k Pleasant and fruitful and secured by a fence as the trees of lign-aloes l An Arabian and Indian tree of a sweet smell yielding good shade and shelter both to man and beast such is Israel famous among the nations and not onely safe themselves but yielding shelter to all that joyn themselves to them which the LORD hath planted m Which are the best of the kind such as not man but God might seem to have planted as the best of all sorts are ascribed to God as the trees hills cities of God c. Compare Psal. 104. 16. and as cedar-trees n Which are famous for growth and height and strength and durableness whence Sâ—…lomons Temple was built of this wood 1 King 6. 9 10. beside the waters o Where trees thrive best 7 He shall pour the water out of his buckets p He i. e. God will abundantly water the valleys gardens and trees which represent the Israelites ver 6. i. e. he will wonderfully bless his people not onely with all outward blessings of which a chief one in those parts was plenty of water but also with higher gifts and graces with his word and spirit which are oft signified by watets Ioâ—… 3. 5. 4. 10. 7. 38 35. and at last with eternal life the contemplation whereof made Balaam desire to die the death of the righteous Others thus God shall make his posterity numerous for the procreation of Children is oft signified by waters fountains cisterns c. as Psal. 68. 26. Prov. 5. 15 18. 9. 17. Isa. 48. 1. But there is no necessity of flying to Metaphors here and therefore the other being the literal and proper sence is by the laws of good interpretation to be preferred before it and his feed shall be in many * Deut. 8. â—… waters q This also may be literally understood of their seed which shall be sown in waterish ground and therefore bring forth a better increase Isa. 32. 20. Others thus His seed shall be so numerous that it shall branch forth into many people the several tribes being reckoned and sometimes called several people Or his seed shall rule over many people or nations which are sometimes signified by many waters as Psal. 144. 7. Isa. 57. 20. Ier. 47. 2. Rev. 17. 15. But here also the literal sence seems best and his king r i. e. The King of Israel either God who was in a peculiar manner their King or Ruler Numb 23. 21. Iudg. 6. 23. 1 Sam. 8. 7. Isa. 33. 22. or their chief governour or governours whether King or others for Moses is called their king Deut. 33. 5. and the Judges were in a mâ—…ner Kings shall be higher than Agag s i. e. Than the king of the Amalekites which â—…ing and people were famous and potent in that age ver 20. as
those parts for it is probable and was then very usual some colonies of them were sent forth to remoter places which therefore had no hand either in their former sin or in this present raine of whom we read after this Iudg 6. And herein they did according to Gods own order concerning such people Deut 20. 13. only their fault was that they did not consider the special reason and great obligation which they had to involve the Women in the destruction for which reason Moses blames them afterward v. 15 16. 8 And they slew the Kings of Midian i Called Dukes or Princes of Sihon Ios. 13. 21. because they were subject to him while he lived but upon his death they resumed their Kingly power besides the rest of them that were slain namely * Josh. 13. 21. Evi and Rekem and Zur k The Father of Cozbi Numb 25. 15. and Hur and Reba five Kings of Midian Balaam also l Obj. he was gone and returned to his own place Numb 24. 25. which was Aram or Mesopotamia Numb 23. 7. Answ. Either he did go thitherward but in his journey made some stay in Midian where he was overtaken by divinevengeance or understanding the success of his wicked counsel left with Balaam in the sin and slaughter of the Israelites he returned partly to enjoy the reputation and reward of his counsel which he had lost before and partly to employ his Hellish arts against Israel now they were as he thought forsaken by their God and exposed to his malice Here Balaam dies the death of the wicked and not of the righteous as he desired Numb 23. 10. the son of Beor they slew with the sword And the children of Israel took all the Women of Midian Captives and their little ones and took the spoil of all their cattel and all their Flocks and all their goods 10 And they burnt all their cities m Partly to blot out the Name and Memory of so lewd and vile a people partly least any of the Israelites should be tempted to settle there and so be discouraged in their progress to Canaan and partly least they should be possessed by other people who might prove as bad Neighbours to them as these would have been wherein they dwelt and all their goodly castles with fire 11 And they took all the spoil and all the prey both of men and of beasts 12 And they brought the captives and the prey and the spoil unto Moses and Eleazar the Priest and unto the Congregation of the children of Israel unto the camp at the plains of Moab which are by Jordan near Jericho 13 And Moses and Eleazar the Priest and all the Princes of the congregation went forth to meet them without the camp n Partly to put respect upon them and congratulate with them for their happy success and partly to prevent the pollution of the Camp by the untimely entrance of the Warriours into it 14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host o Because they had spared those who were most criminal and who by the law of God and of nature were worthy of Death with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds which came from the †Hebr. host of war battel 15 And Moses said unto them Have ye saved * Sâ—… Deut. 20. 23. 1 Sam. 15. 3. all the women alive 16 Behold * Chap. 25. 2. these caused the children of Israel through the * Chap. 24. 14. 2 Pet. 2. 15. counsel of Balaam to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor and * Chap. 25. 9. there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD 17 Now therefore * Judg. 21. 11. kill every male among the little ones p Which they were forbidden to do to other people Deut. 20. 14. except the Canaanites to whom this people had equalled themselves by their horrid crimes and therefore it is not strange nor unjust that God the supream Lord of all mens lives who as he gives them so may take them away when he pleaseth did equal them in the punishment and kill every woman that hath known man q Partly for punishment because the guilt was general and though some of them only did prostitute themselves to the Israelites yet the rest made themselves accessary by their consent or concurrence or approbation and partly for prevention of the like mischief from such an adulterous generation by lying with †Hebr. a male him 18 But all the women children that have not known a man r To wit carnally See on Gen. 48. 1. and 19. 8. Levit. 18. 22. by lying with him keep alive for your selves s Either to sell them as slaves to others or to use them as Servants to your selves or to marry them when you have prepared and instructed them 19 And do ye abide without the camp seven dayes s According to the Law Levit. 15. 13. and Numb 19. 11 12. whosoever hath killed any person and * Chap. 19. 11 c. whosoever hath touched any slain purify t With the water of sprinkling Numb 19. 9. both your selves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day 20 And purifie all u To wit your spoil and prey See Levit. 8. 15. and 14. 49. your raiment and all that is †Heb. Instrument or vesseâ—… of skins made of skins and all work of goats hair x All which had contracted some ceremonial uncleanness either from the dead Bodies which wore them or the tents or houses where they were in which such dead Bodies lay or from the touch of the Israelitish Souldiers who were legally defiled by the slaughters they made and all things made of wood 21 And Eleazar the Priest said unto the men of war which went to the battel This is the ordinance of the Law which the LORD commanded Moses 22 Only the gold and the silver the brass the iron the tin and the lead 23 Every thing that may abide the fire ye shall make it go thorow the fire and it shall be clean nevertheless it shall be purified * Chap. 19. 9 17. with the water of separation and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water 24 And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and ye shall be clean and afterward ye shall come into the camp 25 And the LORD spake unto Moses saying 26 Take the sum of the prey †Heb. Of the captivity that was taken both of man and of beast thou and Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation 27 And * Josh. 22. 8. 1 Sam. 30. 24. divide the prey into two parts between them that took the war upon them who went out to battel and between all the congregation y The Congregation hath some share because the Warriours went in the name of all and because all
God unto all Israel b To wit by the Heads or Elders of the several Tribes or others who were to communicate these discourses to all the people in several Assemblies on this side Jordan in the wilderness in the plain c Either 1. In the vast desert of Arabia But that is no where called a plain Or rather 2. In the plain of Moab as may appear by comparing this with v. 5. and Numb 22. 1. and Deut. 34. 8. Obj. That was far from the Red-Sea here mentioned Answ. The word Suph here used doth not signifie the Red-Sea which is commonly called jam-suph and which was at too great a distance but some other place now unknown to us as also most of the following places are so called from the Reeds or Flags or Râ—…hes which that word signifies that grew in or near it which reason of the name being common to other places with the Red-Sea it is not strange if they got the same name Compare Numb 21 14. over against the ‖ Oâ—… Zuph Red sea between Paran d Not that Numb 10. 12. Which there and elsewhere is called the Wilderness of Paran and which was too remote but some other place called by the same name than which nothing more usual and Tophel and Laban e Places not mentioned elsewhere and Hazeroth f Of which see Numb 11. 35 and 33. 17 18. And these places seem to be the several bounds and limits not of the whole Country of Moab but of the plain of Moab where Moses now was and spake these words and Dizahab 2 There are eleven days journey g This is added to shew that the reason why the Israelites in so many years were advanced no further from Horeb than to these plains was not the great distance of the places or length of the way which was but a journey of eleven days at most but because of their rebellions as is mentioned before and repeated in this book from Horeb h Or Sinai the place where the Law was given which is promiscuously called by both those names by the way of mount Seir i Or Mount Edom i. e. the mountainous Country of Seir which was first possessed by the Horims and afterwards by the Edomites Deut. 2. 12. unto Kadesh barnea k Which was not far from the borders of Canaan See Gen. 16. 14. Numb 13. 26. 3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year in the eleventh month l Which was but a little before his death on the first day of the month that Moses spake unto the children of Israel according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them 4 * Numb 21. 24 33. After he had slain Sihon the King of the Amorite which dwelt in Heshbon and Og the King of Bashan which dwelt at * Josh. 13. 31. Astaroth in Edrei m His palace or Mansion-house was at Astharoth and he was slain at Edrei Numb 21. 33. of both these places see Gen. 14. 5. Jos. 13. 31. 5 On this side Jordan in the land of Moab ‖ Or willed to declare that is willingly declared See Joh. 6. 21. Gr. began Moses to declare this law saying 6 The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb saying ye have dwelt long enough in this mount i Of Horeb where they continued about a years space Exod. 19. 1. Numb 10. 11 12. 7 Turn ye and take your journey and go to the mount of the Amorite k i. e. To the mountainous Country where the Amorites dwelt which is opposed to the plain here following where others of them dwelt And this is first mentioned because it was in the borders of the land See below v. 19 20. The divers pâ—… or bounds of the land are here mentioned and unto †Heb. All his Neighbours all the places nigh thereunto in the plain in the hills and in the vale and in the south and by the sea-side to the land of the Canaanite and unto Lebanon unto the great river the river †Heb. Of Euphrates Euphrates 8 Behold I have †〈◊〉 given set the land before you l Heb. before your faces it is open to your view and to your possession there is no impediment in the way See of this phrase Gen. 13. 9. and 34. 10. go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers * 〈◊〉 12. 7. 〈◊〉 17 7 〈◊〉 18. 26. 〈◊〉 28. 13. Abraham Isaac and Jacob to give unto them and to their seed after them 9 And I spake unto you at that time m i. e. About that time to wit a little before their coming to Horeb. Exod. 18. 18. saying I am not able to bear you my self alone 10 The LORD your God hath multiplyed you and behold ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude 11 * 2 Sam. 24. 3. The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many moe as ye are and bless you * Gen. 15. 5. 22. 17. 26. 4. Exod. 32. 13. as he hath promised you 12 How can I my self alone bear your cumbrance and your burden n The trouble of ruling and managing so perverse a people and your strife o Either your quarrellings with God or rather your coatentions amoung your selves for the determination whereof the Elders were appointed 13 †Heb. 〈◊〉 Take ye wise men and understanding p Persons of Knowledge Wisdom and Experience and known q Men Famous and had in reputation for ability and integrity for to such they would more readily submit among your tribes and I will make them rulers over you 14 And ye answered me and said The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do 15 So I took the chief r Not in Authority which yet they had not but in endowments for good government of your tribes wise men and known and †Heb. gave made them heads over you captains over thousands and captains over hundreds and captains over fifties and captains over tens and officers s Inferiour Officers that were to attend upon the Superiour Magistrates and to execute their decrees among your tribes 16 And I charged your judges at that time saying Hear the causes between your brethren and * Joh. 7. 24. judge righteously between every man and * Lev. 24. 22. his brother and the stranger that is with him t That converseth or dealeth with him To such God would have justice equally administred as to his own people partly for the honour of Religion and partly for the interest which every man hath in matters of common right 17 * Lev. 19. 15. chap 16. 19. 1 Sam. 16. â—… Prov. 24. 23. Ye shall not †Heb. acknowledge faces respect persons u Heb. Not know or acknowledge Faces i. e. Not give sentence according to
Or rather 2. As an evidence of Gods gracious answer to Moses his prayers and of his reconciliation to the people notwithstanding their late and great provocation For saith he after this they proceeded by Gods guidance in their journeys some eminent stages whereof he names for all and though Aaron dyed in one of them yet God made up that breach and Eleazar came in his place and ministred as Priest one branch of which office was to intercede for the people Then saith he God brought them from the barren parts of the wilderness to a land of rivers of waters v. 7. a pleasant and fruitful soil Then he adds God separated the Levites c. v. 8. from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to * Num. 33. 3â—… Mosera d Obj. This place seems directly contrary to that Numb 33. 31. where their journey is quite contrary to this even from Moseroth to Bene-jaakan This indeed is a great difficulty and prophane wits take occasion to cavil And if a satisfactory answer be not yet given to it by interpreters it ought not therefore to be concluded unanswerable because many things formerly thought unanswerable have been since fully cleared and therefore the like may be presumed concerning other doubts yet remaining And it were much more reasonable to acknowledge here a transposition of the words through the Scribes mistake than upon such a pretence to reject the divine Authority of those sacred books which hath been confirmed by such irresistable Arguments But there is no need of these general pleas seeing particular answers are and may be given to this difficulty sufficient to satisfie modest and impartial enquirers Ans. 1. The places here mentioned are differing from those Numb 33. it being very frequent in Scripture for divers persons and places to be called by the same names and yet the names are not wholly the same for there it is Bene-jaakan and here Beeroth bene-jaakan or Beeroth of the children of Iaakan there Moseroth here Moserah there Hor-hagidgad here Gudgodah there Iotbathah here Iotbath If the places were the same it may justly seem strange why Moses should so industriously make a change in every one of the names And therefore these may be other stations which being omitted in Numb 33. are supplyed here it being usual in sacred Scripture to supply the defects of one place out of another Answ. 2. Admitting these two places to be the same with those Numb 33. 31. yet the journeys are divers They went from Beeroth of the children of Iaacan to Mosera which is omitted in Numbers and therefore here supplyed and then back again from Moserah or Moseroth to Bene-jaakan as is there said for which return there might then be some sufficient reason though now unknown to us as the reasons of many such like things are or God might order it so for his own pleasure and it is not impossible he might do it for this reason that by this seeming contradiction as well as some others he might in just judgment do what he threatned to the Iews Ier. 6. 21. even lay stumbling blocks before prophane and proud wits and give them that occasion of deceiving and ruining themselves which they so greedily seek and gladly embrace which is the reason given by some of the antients why God hath left so many difficulties in Scripture Ans. 3. The words may be otherwise rendred from Beeroth of the children of Iaakan and from Moserah where the order of the places is not observed as was noted before of the order of time v. 1. because it was nothing to the purpose here and because that might be easily fetched from Numb 33. where those journeys are more particularly and exactly described For the conjunction and that may be here wanting and to be supplyed as it is Exod. 6. 23. 1 Sam. 4. 7. Psal. 133. 3. Isa. 63. 11. Hab. 3. 11. And the preposition from is easily supplyed from the foregoing words as is most usual Nor seems there to be any more reason to render it to Moserah than from Moserah seeing the Hebrew letter He in the end is made a part of the proper name and therefore is not local * Num. 20. â—… there Aaron died e Qu. How it is true when Aaron dyed not in Moserah but in Mount Hor Numb 33. 37. Ans. 1. Moserah may be a differing place from Moseroth and that may be the name of a Town or Region in which Mount Hor was or to which it belonged Or the same mountain in respect of divers parts and opposite sides of it might be called by divers names here Moserah and there Hor. And it is possible they might go several journeys and pass to divers stations and by fetching a compass which they oft did in their Wilderness travels come to the other side of the same Mountain Ans. 2. The Hebrew particle soham may here note the time and not the place of Aarons death and may be rendred then as it is taken Gen. 49. 24. Psal. 14. 5. Eccles. 3. 17. Zephan 1. 14. And then is not to be taken precisely but with some latitude as it is oft used in Scripture that is about that time after a few removes more as the words at that time v. 8. must necessarily be understood and there he was buryed and Eleazar his son ministred in the priests office in his stead 7 * Num. 33. 32 â—… From thence e Either 1. From that place and that either from Moseraâ—… last mentioned or from Bene-jaakan for relatives many times in Scripture belong to the remoter antecedent Or 2. From that time for this particle sometimes notes not place but time as 2 King 2. 21. Isa. 65. 20. So the meaning is At or about that time as it is v. 8. which being considered may serve to clear the great difficulty discoursed upon the last verse concerning the seeming contradiction of this place and Numb 33. 31 32. they journeyed unto Gudgodah and from Gudgodah to Jotbath a land of rivers of waters 8 At that time f About that time i. e. when I was come down from the mount as was said v. 5. For these words manifestly look to that verse the 6 and 7. verses being put in by way of parenthesis as was said before Or if it relate to the words immediately foregoing this may be meant of a second separation of them upon Aarons Death and having mentioned the separation of Eleazar to the Office of the high Priest in his Fathers stead v. 6. he now repeats it that the Levites who were his as they had been his Fathers Servants were separated as before or were confirmed in their office * 〈◊〉 3. 6. 〈◊〉 8. 14. the LORD separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD to stand before the LORD g A phrase used concerning the Prophets 1 King 17. 1. and 18. 15. this being the posture of Ministers Hence the Angels are said to
Levites which I have set over thee and commanded thee to observe in this and the like matters by the way after that ye were come forth out of Egypt 10 When thou doest †Heb. lend the loan of any thing to c. lend thy brother any thing thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge o To prevent both the poor mans reproach by having his wants exposed to view and the creditors insolence and greediness which might be occasioned by the sight of something which he desired and the debtour could not spare 11 Thou shalt stand abroad and the man to whom thou doest lend shall bring out the pledg p He shall chuse what pledge he please provided onely it be sufficient for the purpose abroad unto thee 12 And if the man be poor thou shalt not sleep with his pledg q But restore it before night which intimates that he should take no such thing for pledge without which a man cannot sleep since it were an idle thing to fetch it and carry it every day See on Exod. 22. 26 27. 13 * Exod. 22. 26. In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledg again when the sun goeth down that he may sleep in his own raiment and * Job 31. 20. bless thee r Instrumentally as ministers are said to convert and save sinners to wit bring down the blessing of God upon thee by his prayers for though his prayers if he be not a good man shall not avail for his own behalf yet they shall avail for thy benefit and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God s i. e. Esteemed and accepted by God as a work of righteousness or holiness or goodness and mercy which oft is called righteousness as Psal. 112. 9. Prov. 10. 2. Dan. 4. 27. 14 Thou shalt not oppress an hâ—…ed servant t Either by laying too grievous burdens of work upon him or by with-holding his wages from him as it follows that is poor and needy whether he be of thy brethren or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates 15 At his day u At the time appointed weekly or daily * Lev. 19. 13. Jer. 22. 13. thou shalt give him his hire neither shall the sun go down upon it x To wit after the day upon which it is due and desired or demanded by him for justice must not be denied nor delayed for he is poor and †Heb. he lifteth his soul unto it setteth his heart upon it u lest he cry against thee unto the LORD and it be sin unto thee y Heb. lifteth up his soul to it which notes his great desire and hope of it and his dependance upon it See Psal. 24. 4. Ier. 22. 27. 16 * 2 King 14. 6. 2 Chron. 25. 4. Jer. 31. 29 30. Ezek. 18. 20. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers z Understand it thus if the one be free from the guilt of the others sin and except in those cases where the soveraign Lord of Life and Death before whom none is innocent hath commanded it as Deut. 13. Ios. 7. 24. For this law is given to men not to God and though God do visit the fathers sins upon the children Exod. 20. yet he will not suffer men to do so every man shall be put to death for his own sin a Understand onely and not for any other mans sin 17 * Exod. 22. 21 22. Prov. 22. â—…2 Jer. 22. 3. Ezek. 22. 29. Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger nor of the fatherless b Nor of the widow which is to be supplied out of the last member nor indeed of any other person but he particularly mentions these partly because men are most apt to wrong such helpless persons and partly because God is pleased especially to charge himself and so to charge others with the care of those who have no other refuge See Isa. 1. 23. Ier. 5. 28. * Exod. 22. 26. nor take a widows raiment c To wit such an one as she hath daily and necessary use of as being poor as may appear by comparing this with ver 12 13. and with other places But this concerns not rich persons nor superfluous raiment to pledg 18 But thou shalt remember d To wit affectionately and practically and by thy compassionate sence of others miseries thou shalt make it evident that thou hast not forgotten thy own distresses and deliverances I having thereby authority to command thee and thou having obligations on that account both to obey me and to pity others in the same calamities which thou hast felt that thou wast a bond-man in Egypt and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence therefore I command thee to do this thing e. 19 * Lev. 19. 9. and 23. 22. When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field and hast forgot a sheaf in the field thou shalt not go again to fetch it it shall be for the stranger for the fatherless and for the widow that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands 20 When thou beatest thine olive-tree f With staves as they used to do to fetch down the olives †Heb. thou shalt not bough it after thee thou shalt not go over the boughs again it shall be for the stranger for the fatherless and for the widow 21 When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard thou shalt not glean it †Heb. after thee afterward it shall be for the stranger for the fatherless and for the widow 22 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bond-man in the land of Egypt therefore I command thee to do this thing CHAP. XXV 1 IF there be a controversie between men a About criminal matters as it follows and they come unto judgment that the judges may judge them then they shall justify b i. e. Acquit him from guilt and false accusations and free him from punishment the righteous and condemn c Declare him guilty and pass sentence of condemnation to suitable punishments upon him the wicked 2 And it shall be if the wicked man be †Heb. a son of beating 1 Sam. 26. 16. worthy to be beaten d Which the Iews say was the case of all those crimes which the law commands to be punished without expressing the kind or degree of the punishment that the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten before his face e That the punishment may be duely inflicted without excess or defect which otherwise might easily happen through the executioners passion or partiality according to his fault by a certain number 3 * 2 Cor. 11. 24. Forty stripes he may give him and not exceed f It seems not superstition but prudent caution
thou hast done hide it not from me 20 And Achan answered Joshua and said Indeed I have sinned t He seems to make a sincere and ingenuous Confession and loads his sin with all just Aggravations against the LORD u Against his express Command and just Rights and glorious Attributes God of Israel x The true God who hath chosen me and all Israel to be the people of his peculiar love and care and thus and thus have I done 21 When I saw y He accurately describes the progress of his sin which began at his eye which he permitted to gaze and fix upon them which inflames his desire and made him covet them and that desire put him upon Action and made him take them and having taken resolve to keep them and to that end hide them in his Tent. among the spoil a goodly Babylonish garment z Which were composed with great art of divers Colours and of great price as appears both from Scripture Ezek. 23. 15. and from divers Heathen Authors See my Latin Synopsis and two hundred shekels a To wit in Weight not in Coin for as yet they received and payed Money by weight of silver and a †wedge of gold of fifty ‡ Heb. 〈◊〉 shekels weight then I coveted them and took them and behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it b i. e. Under the Babylonish Garment covered with it or wrapt up in it 22 So Joshua sent messengers c That the truth of his Confession might be evident and unquestionable which some peradventure might think was forced from him and they ran d Partly longing to free themselves and all the people from the Curse under which they lay and partly that none of Achans Relations or others might get thither before them and take away those things unto the tent and behold it e i. e. The parcel of things mentioned v. 21 and 24. was hid in his tent and the silver under it 23 And they took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them unto Joshua and unto all the children of Israel and laid them out before †Heb. poured the LORD f Where Ioshua and the Elders continued yet in their Assembly waiting for the issue of this business 24 And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah and the silver and the garment and the wedg of gold and his sons and his daughters g But this seems hard and unjust and therefore forbidden by God himself Deut. 24. 16. Ans. 1. That Law was given to men not to God who certainly hath a more absolute Right and Sovereignty over men than one man hath over another 2. Their Death was a Debt they owed to nature and to their own sins which Debt God may require when he pleaseth and he could not take it in more honourable and excellent Circumstances than these That the death of a very few in the beginning of a new Empire and of their settlement in the land might be useful to prevent the death of many thousands who took warning by this dreadful Example whom if the fear of God did not yet the love of their own and of their dear Childrens lives would restrain from such dangerous and pernicious Practises 3. It is very probable they were conscious of the fact as the Iewish Doctors affirm If it be pretended that some of them were Infants the Text doth not say so but only calls them Sons and Daughters And considering that Achan was an old man as is most probable because he was the fifth person from Iudah of which see on v. 1. it seems most likely that the Children were grown up and so capable of knowing and concealing or discovering this Fact Nor doth it follow that they were not guilty because it is not said so for it is apparent that many Circumstances are omitted in divers historical Relations in Scripture which sometimes are supplied in other places and his oxen and his asses and his sheep h Which though not capable of sin nor of punishment properly so called yet as they were made for mans use so they are rightly destroyed for mans good and being daily killed for our bodily food it cannot seem strange to kill them for the Instruction of our minds that hereby we might learn the detestable and contagious nature of sin which involves innocent Creatures in its Plagues and how much sorer Punishments are reserved for man who having a Law given to him and that excellent gift of Reason and Will to restrain him from the Transgressions of it his guilt must needs be unspeakably greater and therefore his sufferings more severe and terrible Further by this enumeration it appears that he had no colour of necessity to induce him to this Fact but was wholly inexcusable and his tent and all that he had and they brought them unto the valley of Achor 25 And Joshua said Why hast thou troubled us the LORD shall trouble thee this day And all Israel stoned him with stones i And burned them with fire which is easily understood both out of the following words and from Gods Command to do so v. 15. which doubtless was here executed and burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones k Qu. How could both these Deaths be inflicted upon them Ans. It seems they were stoned to death which was the Punishment of such Offenders Lev. 24. 14. Numb 15. 35. and not burned to death and therefore the stoning only of Achan is mentioned here and not his burning and God would have their dead Carkasses burned to shew his utmost Detestation of such persons as break forth into sins of such a publick Scandal and Mischief And for the burning of Achan commanded v. 15. it seems not likely to be meant of his burning alive because that burning is common to him and all that he hath as is there expressed but of the burning of his dead Carcass and other lifeless things as the manner was with accursed things Deut. 13. 16. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones l As a Monument of the sin and Judgment here mentioned that others might be instructed and warned by the Example and as a Brand of Infamy as Iosh. 8. 29. 2 Sam. 18. 17 unto this day so the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger wherefore the name of that place was called * Isa. 65. 10. Hos. 2. 15. the valley of Achor m Or the valley of trouble from the double trouble expressed v. 25. unto this day †That is trouble CHAP. VIII AND the LORD said unto Joshua * Deut. 1. 2â—… 7. 18. Fear not neither be thou dismayed take all the people of war with thee a Partly to strengthen them against those fears which their late Defeat had wrought in them and partly that
and Bizjothjah 29 Baalah and lim and Azem 30 And Eltolad and Chesil and Hormah 31 And Ziklag and Madmannah and Sansannah 32 And Lebaoth and Shilhim and Ain and Rimmon all the cities are twenty and nine r Obj. Here are 37 or 38 Cities named before how then are they only reckoned 29 Ans. There were only 29 of them which either 1. Properly belonged to Iudah the rest fell to Simeons Lot or 2. Were Cities properly so called i. e. walled Cities or such as had Villages under them as it here follows the rest being great but unwalled Towns or such as had no Villages under them with their villages 33 And in the vale Eshtaol and Zoreah and Ashnah 34 And Zanoah and Engannim Tappuah and Enam 35 Jarmuth and Adullam Socoh and Azekah 36 And Sharaim and Adithaim and Gederah * Or or and Gederothaim fourteen cities s Obj. There are 15 numbred Ans. Either one of them was no City strictly called or Gederah and Gederothaim is put for Gederah or Gederothaim so called possibly because the City was double as there want not instances of one City divided into two parts called the old and the new City So the conjunction and is put for the disjunctive or whereof examples have been given before with their villages 37 Zenan and Hedashah and Migdal-gad 38 And Dilean and Mizpeh and Joktheel 39 Lachish and Bozkath and Eglon 40 And Cabbon and Lahmas and Kithlish 41 And Gederoth Beth-dagon and Naamah and Makkedah sixteen cities with their villages 42 Libnah t Heb. Libnah See Ios. 10. 29. and Ether and Ashan 43 And Jiphta and Ashnah and Nezib 44 And Keilah and Achzib and Mareshah nine cities with their villages 45 Ekron u Here and in the following Verses are contained all the Cities of the Philistines among which are Gath and Askelon which peradventure are here omitted because they were not at this time places of such Power and Eminency as afterwards they were but were the Daughters of some of these following Cities though afterwards the Daughter might overtop the Mother as is usual with her †Towns x Heb. Her Daughters i. e. lesser Cities or great Towns subject to Ekrons Jurisdiction and her villages ‡ Heb. Daughters Numb 21. 25. y i. e. Lesser Towns or Hamlets 46 From Ekron even unto the sea all that lay †near Ashdod with their villages ‡ Heb. by the place of 47 Ashdod with her †towns and her villages Gaza with her * Heb. Daughters * Heb. Daughters towns and her villages unto the river of Egypt and the great sea and the border thereof z i. e. The Sea-Coast and all other Cities Towns and Villages upon it 48 ¶ And in the mountains a i. e. In the higher grounds called Mountains or Hills in comparison of the Sea-Coast Shamir and Jattir and Socoh 49 And Dannah and Kirjath-sannah which is Debir b Which also is called Kiriath-sepher above v. 15. So this City had three Names 50 And Anab and Eshâ—…emoh and Anim 51 And Goshen c See Ios. 10. 41. and Holon and Giloh eleven cities with their villages 52 Arab and Dumah and Eshean 53 And * Janum and Beth-tappuah and 〈◊〉 Janus Aphekah 54 And Humtah and * Chap. 14. 15. Kirjath-arba which is Hebron and Zior nine cities with their villages 55 Maon d Of which see 1 Sam. 23. 25. and 25. 2. Carmel e Nabals Country 1 Sam. 25. and Ziph f Which gave its name to the Neighbouring Mountain 1 Sam. 26. 1. and Juttah 56 And Jezreel and Jokdeam and Zanoah 57 Cain Gibeah and Timnah ten cities with their villages 58 Halhul Bethzur and Gedor 59 And Maarath and Beth-anoth and Eltekon six cities with their villages 60 Kirjath-baal which is Kirjath-jearim and Rabbah two cities with their villages 61 ¶ In the wilderness g So the Hebrews call places either uninhabited by men or having but few Inhabitants Beth-arabah Middin and Secaâ—…ah 62 And Nibshan and the city of salt h So called either from the Salt Sea which was near it or from the Salt which was made in it or about it and Engedi six cities with their villages 63 As for the Jebusites the inhabitants of Jeruâ—…em i For though Ierusalem was in part taken by Ioshua before this yet the upper and stronger part of it called Zion was still kept by the Iebusites even until Davids time and it seems from thence they descended to the lower Town called Ierusalem and took it so that the Israelites were forced to win it a second time yea and a third time also for afterwards it was possessed by the Iebusites Iudg. 19. 11. 2 Sam. 5. 6 7. the children of Judah could not drive them out k Namely because of their unbelief as Christ could do no mighty work because of the peoples unbelief Mark 6. 5 6. Mat. 13. 58. and because of their Sloth and Cowardise and Wickedness whereby they forfeited Gods help and then they must needs be imporent but this inability was wilful and brought upon them by themselves but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem l The same things which are here said of the children of Iudah are said of the Benjamites Iudg. 1. 21. Hence ariseth a question To which of the Tribes Ierusalem belonged whether to Benjamin as is gathered from Gen. 49. 27. Deut. 33. 12. Ier. 6. 1. or to Iudah as is implied here and Psal. 78. 68 69. Some think that being in the Borders of both it was common to both and promiscuously inhabited by both and it is certain that after the Captivity it was possessed by both Neh. 11. 4. But for the present though it did belong to Benjamin yet the Children of Iudah being possibly very active in the first taking of it by Ioshua as they certainly were after his Death Iudg. 1. 8. they might thereby get some right to share with the Benjamites in the Possession of it It seems most probable that part of it and indeed the greatest part and main body of it stood in the Tribe of Benjamin and hence this is mentioned in the List of their Cities and not in Iudah's List and part of it stood in Iudah's share even Mount Moriah on which the Temple was built and Mount Sion when it was taken from the Iebusites unto this day m When this Book was written whether in Ioshuah's Life and Old Age which continued many years after the taking of Ierusalem or after his Death when this Clause was added here and elsewhere in this Book by some other man of God which must needs be done before Davids time when the Iebusites were quite expelled and their Fort taken CHAP. XVI AND the lot of the children of Joseph a i. e. Of Ephraim and the half Tribe of Manasseh which are here put together in one not because they had but one Lot for
The LORD our God will we serve and his voice will we obey 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and set them a statute and an ordinance p Either 1. He set or propounded or declared unto them the Statute and Ordinance i. e. the summ of the Statutes and Ordinances of God which their Covenant obliged them to Or 2. He set or established it to wit that Covenant with them i. e. the People for a Statute or an Ordinance to bind themselves and their Posterity unto God for ever as a Statute and Ordinance of God doth in Shechem 26 And Joshua wrote these words q i. e. This Covenant or Agreement of the people with the Lord. in the book of the law of God r i. e. In that Volume which was kept in the Ark Deut. 31. 9 26. whence it was taken and put into this Book of Ioshua This he did partly for the perpetual remembrance of this great and solemn Action partly to lay the greater obligation upon the people to be true to their engagement and partly as a Witness for God and against the people if afterwards he severely punished them for their defection from God to whom they had so solemnly and freely obliged themselves and * See Judg. 9. 6. took a great stone and set it up there s As a witness and monument of this great transaction according to the custom of those ancient times as Gen. 28. 18. and 31. 45. and 35. 14. Exod. 24. 4. Deut. 27. 2. Ios. 4. 3. and 8. 32. Possibly this agreement was written upon this Stone as was then usual under * Gen. 35. 4. an oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD t i. e Near to the place where the Ark and Tabernacle then were for though they were forbidden to plant a Grove of Trees near unto the Altar Deut. 16. 21. as the Gentiles did yet they might for a time set up an Altar or the Ark near a great Tree which had been planted there before 27 And Joshua said unto all the people Behold this stone shall be a witness unto us for it hath heard u It shall be as sure a Witness against you as if it had heard This is a common Figure called Prosopopoeia whereby the sense of hearing is oft ascribed to the Heavens and the Earth and other senseless creatures as Deut. 32. 1. Isa. 1. 2. Ier. 2. 12. all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us it shall be there for a witness unto you lest ye deny your God 28 So * Judg. 2. 6. Joshua let the people depart every man unto his inheritance 29 ¶ And it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun the servant of the LORD died being an hundred and ten years old 30 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in * Chap. 19. 50. Judg. 2. 9. Timnath-serah which is in mount Ephraim on the north-side of the hill of Gaash 31 And * Judg. 2. 7. Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that * Heb. prolonged their days after Joshua over-lived Joshua and which had known all the works of the LORD that he had done for Israel 32 ¶ And * Gen. 50. 25. Exod. 13. 19. the bones of Joseph which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt buried they in Shechem x Not in the city of Shechem but in a Field near and belonging to it as appears from the following words and from Gen. 33. 18. and from the ancient custom of the Israelites to have their Burying places without Cities in Fields or Gardens in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of * Gen. 33. 19. the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred ‖ Or Lambs pieces of silver and it became the inheritance of the children of Israel 33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son which was given him x By special favour and for his better conveniency in attending upon the Ark which then was and for a long time was to be in Shiloh which was near to this place whereas the Cities which were given to the Priests were in Iudah Benjamin and Simeon which were remote from Shiloh though near to the place where the Ark was to have its settled abode to wit to Ierusalem in mount Ephraim JUDGES The ARGUMENT THE Author of this Book is not certainly known whether it was Samuel or Ezra or some other Prophet nor is it material to know 1. It matters not who was the Kings Secretary or with what Pen it was written if it be once known that it was the King who made the Order or Decree It is sufficient that unto the Iews were commited the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. i. e. the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament one part of which this was by confession of all and that the Iews did not falsify their trust therein but kept those Holy Books themselves and delivered them to the World entire without addition or diminution for neither Christ nor his Apostles who severely rebuke them for their mistakes and misunderstandings of some passages of Scripture ever charge them with any perfidiousness about the Canon or Books of the Scripture This Book is called the Book of Judges because it treats of the Iudges or of the state of the Commonwealth of Israel under all the Iudges except Eli and Samuel who being the last of the Iudges and the occasions or instruments of the change of this Government are omitted in this Book The Iudges were a sort of Magistrates inferior to Kings and could neither make new Laws nor impose any Tributes but were the supreme Executors of Gods Laws and Commands and the Generals of their Armies NOW after the death of Joshua a Not long after it because Othniel the first Judge lived in Ioshuah's time it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the LORD b Being assembled together at Shiloh they enquired of the High-priest by the Urim and Thummim See Numb 27. 21. Iudg. 20. 18. 1 Sam. 23. 9. saying Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first c Being sensible that the Canaanites are troublesome to them and expected great advantage against them by their heedless condition and finding their People to encrease and multiply exceedingly and consequently the necessity of enlarging their Quarters they renew the War They do not enquire who shall be the Captain General to all the Tribes but as appears by the answer What Tribe shall first undertake the Expedition that by their success the other Tribes may be encouraged to make the like attempt upon the Canaanites in their several Lots to fight against them 2 And the LORD said Judah d Not a person so called but the Tribe of Iudah as is manifest
man of Zorah c A City of which see Iosh. 15. 33. and 19. 41. of the family d i. e. Of the Tribe or People as family sometimes signifies Iosh. 7. 17. Ier. 8. 3. and 10. 25. Amos 3. 1. Mich. 2. 3. Zach. 14. 18. of the Danites whose name was Manoah and his wife was barren and bare not e An Emphatical repetition of the same thing in divers words which is an usual Elegancy both in Scripture and other Authors 3 And ‡ Heb. an angel the angel of the LORD f The Son of God oft so called in the old Testament as may be gathered from v. 18. yet distinguished from the Lord because he appeared here as it were in the form of a Servant as a Messenger sent from God and was really a distinct person from God the Father appeared unto the woman and said unto her Behold now thou art barren and bearest not but thou shalt conceive and bear a Son 4 Now therefore beware I pray thee g Because the child was to be a Nazarite from the Womb v. 5. and from the conception and because the Mothers Pollution extends to the Child she is enjoyned from this time to observe the following rules belonging to the Nazarites * Numb 6. 2 3. and drink not wine nor strong drink h Under which by a Synecdoche are comprehended the other particulars mentioned Numb 6. 2 3 4. as is implyed v. 14. and eat not any unclean thing i Any of those meats forbidden Levit. 11. which were forbidden to all but especially to the Nazarites 5 For lo thou shalt conceive and bear a son and * Numb 6. 5. 1 Sam. 1. 11. no rasor shall come on his head for the child shall be a Nazarite k A person separated from others and consecrated to Gods service unto God from the womb and he shall begin to deliver Israel l And the deliverance shall be carried on and perfected by others as it was in part by Eli and Samuel and Saul but especially by David out of the hand of the Philistines 6 ¶ Then the woman came and told her husband saying A man of God m A Prophet or sacred person sent with a Message from God came unto me and his countenance was like the countenance of an Angel of God very terrible n Or venerable or awful full of Majesty but I asked him not whence he was neither told he me his name 7 But he said unto me Behold thou shalt conceive and bear a son and now drink no wine nor strong drink neither eat any ‡ Heb. uncieanness unclean thing for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death 8 ¶ Then Manoah intreated the LORD and said O my LORD let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born 9 And God hearkned to the voice of Manoah and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sate in the field but Manoah her husband was not with her 10 And the woman made haste and ran and shewed her husband and said unto him Behold the man hath appeared unto me that came unto me the other day 11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said unto him Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman and he said I am 12 And Manoah said Now let thy words come to pass o Or thy words shall come to pass I firmly believe that thy promises shall be fulfilled ‡ Heb. what shall be the manner of the c. how shall we order the child p What rules shall we observe about his Education and ‖ Or what shall he do ‡ Heb. what shall be his work how shall we do unto him 13 And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware q Whilest the Child is in her Womb and after the Child is Born let him observe the same Orders 14 She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine neither let her drink wine or strong drink neither eat any ‡ Heb. uncleanness unclean thing all that I commanded her let her observe 15 ¶ And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD I pray thee let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid ‡ Heb. before thee for thee r Supposing him to be a Man and a Prophet to whom he would in this manner express his respect as was usual to strangers See Gen. 18. 5. Iudg. 6. 18. 16 And the Angel of the LORD said unto Manoah Though thou detain me I will not eat of thy bread s i. e. Meat as bread is commonly taken in Scripture and if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering thou must offer it unto the LORD t Not unto a man as now thou apprehendest me to be but unto the Lord as thou wiltst by and by perceive me to be for Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD 17 And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD What is thy name that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee hononr u Either by making honourable mention of thee or by performing respect and service to thee by a Present which they usually gave to Prophets 1 Sam. 9. 7 8. 2 King 14. 3. 18 And the angel of the LORD said unto him Why * Gen. 32 29. askest thou thus after my name seeing it is ‖ Or wonderful secret x Or hidden from mortal Men or wonderful such as thou canst not comprehend my nature or essence which is oft signified by name in Scripture is incomprehensible This shews that this was the Angel of the Covenant the Son of God 19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering y Which were generally joyned with the chief Sacrifices and offered it upon a rock z The Angels presence and command being a sufficient Warrant for the offering of Sacrifice by a person who was no Priest and in a place otherwise forbidden to the LORD and the angel did wondrously and Manoah and his wife looked on 20 For it came to pass when the flame a Either arising from the fire which Manoah brought for the offering or produced by the Angel out of the Rock in a miraculous manner went up toward heaven from off the altar b i. e. From that part of the Rock which served instead of an Altar upon which the Sacrifice was laid that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame c To manifest his nature and essence to be Spiritual because not capable of hurt by the fire and Caelestial of the altar and Manoah and his wife looked on it and fell on their faces d Partly in Reverence to that glorious
wanting of far more large and capacious Buildings than this that have been supported only by one Pillar Particularly Pliny in the 15th Chapter of the 36th Book of his Natural History mentions two Theaters built by one C. Curio who lived in Iulius Cesar's time each of which was supported only by one Pillar or Pin or Hinge though very many thousands of People did sit in it together And much more might Two Pillars suffice to uphold a Building large enough to contain Three thousand persons which is the number mentioned v. 17. Or the Pillars might be made Two in the lower part meerly for Ornament-sake which might easily be so ordered as to support a Third and Main Pillar in the Middle which upheld the whole Fabrick 30 And Samson said Let ‡ Heb. my soul me die with the Philistines r i. e. I am contented to Die so I can but therewith contribute any thing to the Vindication of Gods Glory here trampled upon and to the Deliverance of Gods People This is no example nor encouragement to those that wickedly Murder themselves for Sampson did not desire nor procure his own Death voluntarily but only by meer force and necessity because he did desire and by his Office was obliged to seek the destruction of these Enemies and Blasphemers of God and Oppressors of his People which in these circumstances he could not Effect without his own Death and his Case was not much unlike theirs that in the heaâ—… of Battel run upon the very mouth of the Canon or other evident and certain danger of Deatâ—… to execute a design upon the Enemy or theirs who go in a Fire-ship to destroy the Enemies best Ships though they are sure to Perish in the Enterprize Moreover Sampson did this by Divine Instinct and Approbation as Gods Answer to his Prayer manifests and that he might be a Type of Christ who by voluntarily undergoing Death destroyed the Enemies of God and of his People and he bowed himself with all his might and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were therein so the dead which he slew at his death were moe than they which he slew in his life 31 Then his brethren s Either First Largely so called his kinsmen Or Secondly strictly â—…o called Sampson's Parents having had other Children after him as it was usual with God when he gave an extraordinary and unexpected Power of procreating a Child to continue that strength for the Generation or Conception of more Children as in the case of Abraham Gen. 25. 1 2. and Anna 1 Sam. 2. 21. and all the house of his father came down and took him and brought him up and buried him t Which they adventured to do partly because the most barbarous Nations allowed Burial even to their Enemies and would permit this oft-times to be done by their friends partly because Sampson had taken the blame of this Action wholly to himself for which his innocent Relations could not upon any pretence be Punished and principally because they were under such grief and perplexity and consternation for the common Calamity that they had neither heart nor leisure to Revenge themselves of the Israelites but for their own sakes were willing not to disquiet or offend them at least till they were in a better posture to resist them between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying-place of Manoah his father and he judged Israel twenty years t This was said before Iudg. 15. 20. and is here repeated partly to confirm the Relation of it and partly to explain it and to shew when these Twenty years ended even at his Death as is here Noted CHAP. XVII AND there was a man a The things mentioned here and in the following Chapters did not happen in the order in which they are put but much sooner even presently after the Death of the Elders that over-lived Ioshua Iudg. 2. 7. as appears by divers passages as First because the place called Mahaneh-Dan or the camp of Dan Iudg. 13. 25. was so called from that which was done Iudg. 18. 12. Secondly Because the Danites had not yet got all their Inheritance Iudg. 18. 1. which is not credible of them above 300 Years after Ioshuah's Death Thirdly because Phinehas the son of Eleazar was Priest at this time Iudg. 20. 28. who must have been about 350 years old if this had been done after Sampson's Death which is more than improbable of mount Ephraim whose name was ‡ Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Micah 2 And he said unto his mother The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee about which thou cursedst b i. e. Didst Curse the Person who had taken them away and that in my hearing as it follows and spakest of also in mine ears behold the silver is with me I took it c The fear of thy Curse makes me acknowledge mine Offence and beg thy Pardon And his mother said Blessed be thou of the LORD d I willingly consent to and beg from God the removal of the Curse and a Blessing instead of it Be thou free from my Curse because thou hast so honestly restored it my son 3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother his mother said I had wholly ‡ Heb. 〈◊〉 fied dedicated the silver unto the LORD e In the Hebrew it is Iehovah the incommunicable name of God Whereby it is apparent that neither she nor her Son intended to forsake the true God or his Worship as appears from his rejoycing when he had got a Priest of the Lords appointment of the Tribe of Levi Iudg. 17. 13. but onely to Worship God by an Image which also it is apparent that both the Israelites Exod. 32. 1 c. and Ieroboam afterwards designed to do from my hand for my son f Either First for the honour and benefit of thy self and Family that you need not be continually going to Shiloh to Worship but may do it as well at home by these Images Or Secondly that thou mayest cause these things to be made to which end she restored all the Money to him as it here follows to make a graven image and a molten image g Many think this was but one Image partly Graven and partly Molten But it seems more probable that they were two distinct Images because they are so plainly distinguished Iudg. 18. 17 18. where also some other words come between them It is true the graven image alone is mentioned Iudg. 18. 20 30 31. not exclusively to the other as appears from what is said just before but by a common Synecdoche whereby one is put for all especially where that one is esteemed the chief now therefore I will restore it unto thee h To dispose of as I say 4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother i Though his Mother allowed him to keep it yet he persisted in his resolution
ye are all children of Israel q The Sons of that Holy man who for one filthy action left an Eternal brand upon one of his own Sons a People in Covenant with the holy God whose Honour you are obliged to vindicate and who hath expresly commanded you to punish all such notorious Enormities give here your advice and counsel 8 ¶ And all the people arose as one man saying We will not any of us go to his tent r i. e. His habitation to wit until we have revenged this Injury neither will we any of us turn into his house 9 But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah we will go up by lot against it 10 And we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel and an hundred of a thousand and a thousand out of ten thousand to â—…etch victual for the people that they may do when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin accord ing to all the folly that they have wrought s That we may punish them as such a wickedness deserves in Israel t This is added as an aggravation that they should do that in Israel or among Gods peculiar People which was esteemed abominable even among the Heathen 11 So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city ‡ Heb. fellows knit together as one man 12 ¶ And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe u Heb. tribes Either the Plural Number for the Singular or rather tribe is put for family as was noted before as families are elsewhere put for tribes They take a wise and a just course in sending to all the parts and families of the tribe to separate the Innocent from the Guilty and to give them a fair opportunity of preventing their ruin by doing nothing but what their Duty Honour and Interest obliged them to even by delivering up those vile Malefactors whom they could not keep without horrid guilt and shame and bringing the Curse of God upon themselves of Benjamin saying What wickedness is this that is done among you 13 Now therefore deliver us the men the children of Belial which are in Gibeah that we may put them to death and put away evil x Both the Guilt and the Punishment wherein all Israel will be Involved if they do not Punish it from Israel but the children of Benjamin would not hearken y Partly from the Pride of their Hearts which made them scorn to submit to their Brethren or to suffer them to meddle in their Territory partly from a conceit of their own Valour and Military skill and partly from Gods just judgment to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel 14 But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah to go out to battel against the children of Israel 15 And the children of Benjamin were numbred at that time out of the city twenty and six thousand men that drew sword beside the inhabitants of Gibeah which were numbred seven hundred chosen men z Object This agrees not with the following numbers for all that were slain of Benjamin were 25100 men v. 35. and there were only 600 that survived v. 47. which make only 25700. Ans. The other thousand men were either left in some of their cities where they were slain v. 48. or were cut off in the two first Battels wherein it is unreasonable to think they had an unbloody Victory and as for these 25100 men they were all slain in that day i. e. the day of the third Battel as is affirmed v. 35. 16 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men * Chap. 3. 15. left handed a Heb. shut up on their right hand i. e. using their left hand instead of their right every one could sling stones at an hairs breadth and not miss b An Hyperbolical expression signifying that they could do this with great exactness There are many Parallel Instances in Historians of Persons that could throw Stones or shoot Arrows with great certainty so as seldom or never to miss Of which see my Latin Synopsis And this was very considerable and one ground of the Benjamites confidence because in those times they had no Guns 17 And the men of Israel c To wit such as were here present v. 2. for otherwise it is most probable they had a far greater number of men being 600000 before their entrance into Canaan Num. 1. 2. beside Benjamin were numbred four hundred thousand men that drew sword all these were men of war 18 ¶ And the children of Israel d i. e. Some sent in the name of all arose and went up to the house of God e To wit to Shiloh which was not far from Mizpeh where they were and * Chap. 1. 1. asked counsel of God and said Which of us shall go up first to the battel f This they ask to prevent Emulations and Contentions but they do not ask whether they should go against them oâ—… no for that they knew they ought to do by the will of God already revealed nor yet do they seek to God for his help by Prayer and Fasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all reason they ought to have done but were confident of Success because of their great Numbers and Righteous Cause against the children of Benjamin And the LORD said Judah shall go up first 19 And the children of Israel rose up in the morning and encamped against Gibeah 20 And the men of Israel went out to battel against Benjamin and the men of Israel put themselves in aray to fight against them at Gibeah 21 And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men g Quest. Why would God suffer them to have so great a loss in so Good a Cause Ans. Because they had many and great Sins reigning amongst themselves and they should not have come to so great a Work of God as this with polluted hands but should have pulled the Beam out of their own Eye before they attempted to take that out of their Brother Benjamin's Eye which because they did not God doth it for them making them by this loss more clearly to see their own Sins and their need of Gods help without which their great Numbers were insignificant and bringing them through the Fire that they might be purged from their Dross it being probable that the great God who governs every stroke in Battels did so order things that their worst and rotten Members should be cut off which was a great Blessing to the whole Common-wealth 22 And the people the men of Israel incouraged themselves h Heb. strengthned themselves partly by supporting themselves with the Conscience of the Justice of their Cause and the hopes of success and partly by putting themselves in better order for
LORD smote Benjamin before Israel and the children of Israel destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and an hundred men i This is the Total Sum whereof the particulars are related v. 44 45. and for the odd hundred not there mentioned they were killed in other places not their expressed all these drew the sword 36 So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites because they trusted unto the liers in wait which they had set beside Gibeah 37 And the liers in wait hasted and rushed upon Gibeah and the liers in wait ‖ Or made a long sound with the trumpet drew themselves along k Or extended themselves i. e. whereas before they lay close and contracted into a narrow compass now they spread themselves and Marched in Rank and File as Armies do Or marched or went Heb. drew their Feet So this Verb is oft used as Gen. 37. 28. Exod. 12. 21. Iudg. 4. 6. Iob 21. 33. and smote all the city with the edge of the sword 38 Now there was an appointed ‖ Or time sign between the men of Israel ‡ Heb. with and the liers in wait that they should make a great ‡ Hebr. elevation flame with smoke to rise up out of the city 39 And when the men of Israel retired in the battel Benjamin began ‡ Heb. to smite the wounded to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons for they said Surely they are smitten down before us as in the first battel 40 But when the flame began to rise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke the Benjamites looked behind them and behold the ‡ Heb. the whole consumption flame of the city ascended up to heaven 41 And when the men of Israel turned again the men of Benjamin were amazed l Because of their great disappointment and the present danger wherewith they were surrounded on every side for they saw that evil ‡ Heb. touched them was come upon them 42 Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness but the battel overtook m i. e. The Men of Battel or War The abstract for the concrete as Poverty 2 King 24. 14. Pride Psal. 36. 11. Deceit Prov. 12. 25. Dreams Ier. 25. 9. Election Rom. 11. 7. are put for Persons that are Poor Proud Deceitful Dreamers Elect. them and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them n So the sence may seem to be this That the Israelites did not only kill the Inhabitants of Gibeah and all the Benjamites that came into the Field against them 600 excepted but in the midst of them or together with them they killed also the rest of the Benjamites who when they saw their Army was wholly Destroyed made haste to flee out of their several Cities or Towns that so they might escape the Sword which was coming towards them But the words may be rendred thus And them who were of the other cities to wit of Benjamin i. e. who abode in their own Cities and did not go up to Gibeah they Destroyed in the midst of them i. e. in their several Cities or in the midst of it i. e. of every City for so it is said v. 48. where it is said That they smote the men of every City But this I submit to the Learned 43 Thus they enclosed the Benjamites round about and chased them and trode them down ‖ Or from Manuchah c. with ease o Without great difficulty Now that God gave them his presence and assistance they easily did that which before they found too hard for them Or unto Menuchah or as far as Maâ—…uchah a place so called See 1 Chron. 2. 52. Ier. 51. 59. ‡ Heb. unto over against over against Gibeah towards the sun-rising 44 And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men p To wit in the Field or Battel all these were men of valour 45 And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon and they gleaned q i. e. They cut off the remainders in the pursuit and spared none A Metaphor from those who gather Grapes or Corn so clearly and fully that they leave no relicks for those who come after them of them in the high-ways five thousand men and pursued hard after them unto Gidom and flew two thousand men of them 46 So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand r Besides the odd hundred expressed ver 35. but here only the great number is expressed the less being omitted as inconsiderable which way of numbring is frequent in Scripture as Iudg. 11. 26. 2 Sam. 5. 5. and in other Authors and in vulgar use as when they are called the 70 Interpreters who in truth and exactness were 72. Here are also a thousand more omitted because here he speaks onely of them who fell in that third day of Battel See on v. 15. men that drew the sword all these were men of valour 47 * Chap. 21. 13. But six hundred men turned and fled to the wilderness unto the rock Rimmon and abode in the rock s In a Cave within that Rock where they Fortified themselves and fetched in Provision as they had opportunity which they could easily do when the heat of the Battel was over and the Israelites were not solicitous to pursue them further Rimmon four months 48 And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin t Having destroyed those that came to Gibeah and into the field now they follow them home to their several habitations and smote them with the edge of the sword as well the men u Comprehensively taken so as to include women and children If this seem harsh and bloody either it may be ascribed to Military Fury or rather it may be justified partly from that high guilt brought upon the whole Tribe in which it is no wonder if their Infants suffered which was not unusual in such cases as Numb 31. 17. 1 Sam. 15. 3. Iâ—…s 7. 15. partly from that Command of God in a Parallel case Deut. 13. 15. and partly from that Solemn Oath by which they had Anathematised or devoted to Death all that came not up to Mizpeh Iudg. 21. 5. which none of the Benjamites did for which cause also they destroyed all the Men Women and Children of Iabesh-Gilead Judg. 21. 10. of every city as the beast and all that ‡ Heb. was found came to hand also they set on fire all the cities that ‡ Heb. were found they came to CHAP. XXI NOw the men of Israel had sworn a In the beginning of this War after the whole Tribe had espoused the quarrel of the Men of Gibeah Iudg. 20. 13 14 in Mizpeh saying There shall not any of us
give his daughter unto Benjamin to wise b They do not as some suppose here swear the utter extirpation of the Tribe which fell out beyond their expectation Iudg. 21. 3 6. but only not to give their Daughters to those Men who should survive justly esteeming them for their harbarous Villany to be as bad as the worst of Heathens with whom they were forbidden to Marry In this Case the Benjamites might have Married among themselves if any of their Men and Women were left alive 2 And the people came to the house of God c Partly to mourn for the common loss and partly to ask counsel from God about the repairing of it and abode there till even before God and lift up their voices and wept sore 3 And said O LORD God of Israel Why is this come to pass in Israel that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel d Why hast thou given them up to such wickedness and us to such rage that the whole Tribe should be in a manner lost Hence it appears that they did not swear to root them all out as is further manifest from the different matter and words of this Oath ver 1. which only denied them their Daughters in Marriage and that concerning the people of other Tribes who joyned not with them in this business which was that they should be put to death v. 5. And their sparing of those 600 Men in the Rock Rimmon v. 13 14. plainly shews that they were not obliged by any Oath or Vow to extirpate them 4 And it came to pass on the morrow that the people rose early and built there an altar e Not for a Monument of the Victory as some say but for Sacrifices as the next words shew Qu. What need was there of this when the ordinary Altar was there to which also they seem to be restrained Deut. 16. 2 Answ. They are not there restrained to one Altar but to one place of Worship as is expressed and therefore there might be in that place more Altars than one when the Multitude of Sacrifices so required which was the case 1 King 8. 64. and probably at this time when all the Tribes being met they had many Sacrifices to offer some in common for all and some peculiar to every Tribe Nay other Altars might be and oft-times were Erected in other places by Divine Direction or Dispensation as Iudg. 6. 24 26. 1 Sam. 7. 9 17. and 11. 15. and 16. 2 5. and offered burnt-offerings and peace offerings 5 And the children of Israel said Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD for they had made a great oath f i. e. A solemn Oath joyned with some terrible Execration against the Offenders herein concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh saying He shall surely be put to death g Because by refusing to execute the Vengeance due to such Malefactors they were justly presumed guilty of their Crime and therefore liable to the same Punishment as was the case of that City that would not deliver up an Idolater dwelling among them to Justice 6 And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother h Not for the War which was just and necessary and good but for their immoderate severity in the Execution of it and for the dreadful consequences of it and said There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day 7 How shall we do for wives for them that remain seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives 8 And they said What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD And behold there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead i A City in Gilead and in the Tribe of Manasseh of which see 1 Sam. 11. 1 3 9 c. and 31. 11 c. to the assembly 9 For the people were numbred and behold there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there 10 And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest and commanded them saying Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword with the women and the children k Who in such publick and scandalous Crimes were for the greater Terrour of such Transgressors and prevention of the like Sins oft involved in the same Punishment with the men as Deut. 13. 15. Ios. 7. 24 c. 11 And this is the thing that ye shall do * Numb 31 Ye shall utterly destroy every male and every woman that ‡ Heb. knoweth the lying with man hath lien by man l But not the Virgins as appears from the next Verses It is questionable whether they were not obliged to destroy these also by vertue of their Oath and of Gods express Command concerning Devoted Persons such as these certainly were that they should surely be put to death Levit. 27. 29. which was also particularly enjoyned and practised in such Cases as Deut. 13. Ios. 7. c. But the natural and necessary duty of preserving a Tribe from total Ruine might seem to render the case difficult and doubtful and incline their Opinions as well as their Affections to the more favourable side And it may be the Lord whom they were here consulting with upon all their occasions gave them a Dispensation thus to do though that be not expressed which is the case of many other things which were done though not Recorded as this very Oath was omitted in its proper place and had not been Recorded if this extraordinary occasion had not been offered 12 And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred ‡ Heb. young women Virgins young virgins m Not Married yet marriageable it is probable there were other and younger Virgins but whether they were slain or spared Scripture determines not and the Learned do not agree But these could not serve the present and urgent occasion and therefore he takes notice onely of these 400 which were of riper Age. that had known no man by lying with any male and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh which is in the land of Canaan 13 And the whole congregation sent some ‡ Heb. and â—…pake and called to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon and to call ‖ Or proclaim peace peaceably unto them 14 And Benjamin n The poor remainders of the Tribe of Benjamin came again at that time and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead and yet so they sufficed them not 15 And the people repented them for Benjamin o Were yet more grieved upon this unhappy disappointment for they supposed here would have been Wives sufficient for them because that the LORD had made a breach p The Benjamites were the onely
I repent of and hereby retract for them that honour me a That Worship and serve me with Reverence and Godly Fear and according to my Will which I esteem as an Honour done to me I will honour b I will advance them to Honour and maintain them in it and * Mal. 2 9 they that despised me c Not formally and directly for so Eli's Sons did not despise God but indirectly and by consequence by presumptuous disobedience of my Commands by defiling and disgracing my Worship and Ordinances either by transgressing the Rules I have given them therein or by their ungodly and shamefull Conversation and by making my service contemptible and abominable to others through their Scandals all which are manifest Arguments of contempt of God and are so called as Numb 11. 20. 1 Sam. 12. 9 10. Mal. 1. 8. and all which were eminently found in Eli's sons shall be lightly esteemed d Both by God and Men. 31 Behold * King â—… â—…7 â—…4 â—… â—… 11 â—… â—… 〈◊〉 the days come that I will cut off thine arm e i. e. I will take away thy strength which is oft signified by the arm as Iob 22. 8. Psal. 37. 17. or all that in which thou placest thy confidence and security either 1. The Ark which is called Gods strength Psal. 78. 61. and was Eli's strength who therefore was not able to bear the very ridings of the loss of it Chap. 4. 18. Or 2. His Priestly dignity or employment whence he had all his Honour and Substance Or rather 3. His Children to whom the words following here and in the succeeding Verses seem to consine it who are the strength of Parents see Gen. 49. 3. Deut. 21. 17. Psal. 127. 4 5. and the arm of thy fathers house f i. e. Thy Childrens Children and all thy Family which was in great measure accomplished 1 Sam. 22. 16 c. that there shall not be an old man in thine house g They shall generally be â—…ut off by an untimely Death before they be old 32 And thou shalt see ‖ Or the 〈◊〉 of the Tabernacle for all the wealth which God would have given Israel an enemy in my habitation in all the wealth which God shall give Israel h So the sense is Thou shalt see not in thy Person but in thy Posterity it being most frequent in Scripture to attribute that to Parents which properly belongs to their Posterity onely as Gen. 17. 8. and 27. 29 40. an enemy i. e. thy Competitour or him who shall possess that place of high Trust and Honour which now thou enjoyest such persons being through Mans corrupt Nature esteemed as a mans worst Enemy in my habitation i. e. in the Sanctuary And then he adds by way of Aggravation that this sad Accident should happen in all the wealth which God shall give Israel i. e. In a time when God should eminently bless Israel and make good all his Promises to them which was in Solomon's days when Abiathar of Eli's Race was put out oâ—… the High-Priesthood and Zaâ—…ck was put in his place 1 King 2. 27 35. when the Priesthood was most glorious and most Profitable and comfortable and therefore the loss of iâ—… more deplorable But the words may be otherwise rendered as is noted in the Margent of our English Bibles Thou shalt see to wit in thy own person the affliction or oppression or calamity of my habitation i. e. either of the Land of Israel wherein I dwell or of the Sanctuary called the habitation by way of Eminency whose greatest glory the Ark was 1 Sam. 4. 21 22. and consequently whoâ—…e greatest Calamity the loss of the Ark was for or instead of all that good wherewith God would have blessed Israel or was about to bless Israel having raised up a young Prophet Samuel and thereby given good grounds of hope that he intended to bless Israel if Thou and thy Sons had not hindred it by your Sins which God was resolved severely to Punish So this clause of the Threatning concerns Eli's Person as the following concerns his Posterity And this best agrees with the most proper and usual signification of that Phrase Thou shalt see and there shall not be an old * See Zech. 8. 4. man in thine house for ever i i. e. As long as the Priesthood continues in thy Family or as long as the Levitical Priesthood lasts 33 And the man of thine k i. e. Those of thy Posterity whom I shall not cut off from mine altar l i. e. From attendance upon mine Altar whom I shall not destroy but suffer to live and wait at the Altar shall be to consume thine eyes and to grieve thine heart m Shall be so forlorn and miserable that if thou wast alive to see it it would grieve thee at the very heart and thou wouldst consume thine Eyes with weeping for their Calamities So the Phrase is like that of Richel weeping for her children Jer. 31. 15. which were slain long after her Death and all the increase of thine house n i. e. Thy Children shall die ‡ Heb. Men. in the flower of their age o About the Thirtieth year of their Age when they were to be admitted to the plenary Administration of their Office Num. 4. 3. then they shall die 34 And this shall be a sign unto thee p To wit of the certain truth of all those sad Predictions that shall come upon thy two sons on Hophni and Phinehas in one day they shall dâ—…e both of them q And so they did chap. 4. 11. 35 And I will raise me up * Ezek. 4 〈◊〉 a faithful priest r To wit of another Line as is necessarily implied by the total removal of that Office from Eli's Line before threatned The Person designed is Zadok one eminent for his Faithfulness to God and to the King who when Abiathar the last of Eli's Line was Deposed by Solomon was made High-Priest in his stead 1 King 2. 27 35. 1 Chron. 29. 22. that shall do according to that which is in my heart s And shall not dishonour or disobey me to gratify his Sons as thou hast done and in my mind and I will build him a sure house t i. e. Give him a numerous Posterity as that Phrase is used Exod. 1. 21. 2 Sam. 7. 11. 1 King 11. 38. and confirm that sure Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood made to Phinehas of Eleazar's Line Numb 25. 13. and interrupted for a little while by Eli and his of the Line of Ithamar unto him and his Children for ever And this was manifestly verified until the Babylonish Captivity Ezek. 44. 15. and there is no reason to doubt of its continuance in the same Line till Christ came and he shall walk u i. e. Minister as High-Priest before mine anointed x Fither First Before King Solomon who was Anointed King 1
And it came to pass when he made mention of the ark of God that he fell from off the seat backward c Being so oppressed with Grief and Astonishment that he had no Strength left to support him by the side of the gate d To wit the Gate of the City which was most convenient for the speedy understanding of all Occurrences and his neck brake and he died for he was an old man and heavy e Old and therefore weak and apt to fall Heavy and therefore his fall more dangerous and pernicious and he had judged Israel f He was their Supreme Governor both in Civils and Spirituals forty years 19 ¶ And his daughter in law Phinehas wife was with child near ‖ Or to cry out to be delivered and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken and that her father in law and her husband were dead she bowed her self and travelled for her pains ‡ Heb. were turned came upon her g To wit before her time which is oft the effect of great Terrors both in Women and in other Creatures Psal. 29. 9. 20 And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her Fear not for thou hast born a son But she answered not ‡ Heb. set not her heart neither did she regard it h Being overwhelmed with Sorrow and so uncapable of Comfort 21 And she named the child ‖ That is Where is the glory Ichabod saying ‖ Or There is no glory * Chap. 14 3. The glory i i. e. The glorious Type and assurance of Gods presence the Ark which is oft called Gods Glory as Psal. 26. 8. and 78. 61. Isa. 64. 11. and which was the great safeguard and Ornament of Israel which they could glory in above all other Nations is departed from Israel because the ark of God was taken and because of her father in law and her husband 22 And she said The glory is departed from Israel for the ark of God is taken k This is repeated to shew her Piety and that the Publick and Spiritual loss lay heavier upon her spirit than her Personal or Domestick Calamity CHAP. V. AND the Philistines took the ark of God a Quest. Why were not they immediately killed who touched the Ark as afterwards Uzzah was 2 Sam. 6. 7. Ans. First Because the Sin of the Philistines was not so great because the Law forbidding this was not given or at least was not known to them whereas Uzzah's Fact was a transgression and that of a known Law Secondly Because God designed to reserve the Philistines for a more publick and more shameful punishment which had been prevented by this and brought it from Eben-Ezer b Where they found it in the Camp of the Israelites chap. 4. 1. unto Ashdod c Called also Azotus whither they brought it either because it was the first City in their way or rather because it was a great and famous City and most eminent for the worship of their great God Dagon 2 When the Philistines took the ark of God they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon d Either First Out of respect to it that it might be worshipped together with Dagon Or rather Secondly By way of reproach and contempt of it as a Spoil and Trophy set there to the honour of Dagon to whom doubtless they Ascribed this Victory as they did a former Iudg. 16. 23. And though they had some reverence for the Ark before chap. 4. 7 c. Yet that was certainly much diminished by their success against Israel not withstanding the presence and help of the Ark. 3 ¶ And when they of Ashdod e i. e. The Priests of Dagon arose early on the morrow f Either to worship Dagon according to their manner or being curious and greedy to know whether the Neighbourhood of the Ark to Dagon had made any alteration in either of them that if Dagon had received any Damage they might if possibly they could repair it before it came to the Peoples knowledge as indeed they did to prevent their contempt of that Idol by which the Priests had all their reputation and advantage behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD and they took Dagon and set him in his place again g Supposing or pretending that his fall was wholly casual 4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off h The head is the Seat of Wisdom the Hands the Instruments of Action both are cut off to shew that he had neither Wisdom nor Strength to Defend himself nor his worshippers Thus the Priests by concealing Dagon's shame before make it more evident and infamous upon the threshold onely ‖ Or the fishy part the stump of Dagon i Heb. Only Dagon i. e. that part of it from which it was called Dagon to wit the Fishy part for Dag in Hebrew signifies a Fish And hence their Opinion seems most probable that this Idol of Dagon had in its upper parts an human shape and in its lower parts the Form of a Fish for such was the Form of divers of the Heathen gods and particularly of a god of the Phoenicians under which Name the Philistines are comprehended as Diodorus Siculus and Lucian both witness though they call it by another Name was left to him k Or upon it i. e. upon the Threshold there the Trunk abode in the place where it fell but the Head and Hands being violently cut off were slung to distant and several places 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any that come into Dagons house tread on the threshold ‡ Of the Temple of l Out of a Religious reverence supposing this place to be Sanctified by the touch of their god who first fell here and being broken here touched it more thoroughly than he did other parts This Superstition of theirs was Noted and Censured long after Zephan 1. 9. Herein they manifested their stupendious Folly both in making a perpetual Monument of their own and Idols shame which in all reason they should rather have buried in eternal Oblivion and in turning a 〈◊〉 and certain Argument of Contempt into an occasion of further Veneration Dagon in Ashdod unto this day m When this History was Written which if Written by Samuel towards the end of his Life was a sufficient ground for this expression this Superstitious usage having then continued for many Years 6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod n For their Incorrigibleness by the foregoing Documents and he destroyed them o Partly by wasting their Land chap. 6. 5. and partly
Parenthesis to signifie That David did not so give up himself to Lamentation as to neglect his great business the care of the Commonwealth which now lay upon him but took particular care to fortifie them against such further Losses and Calamities as he bewails in the following Song and by his example and this counsel to instruct the People that they should not give up themselves to sorrow and despondency for their great and general Loss but should raise up their Spirits and betake themselves to Action he bade them s David being now Actually King upon Saul's Death takes his Power upon him and gives forth his Commands teach the children of Judah t These he more particularly teacheth because they were the Chief and now the Royal Tribe and likely to be the great Bulwark to all Israel against the Philistines upon whose Land they bordered and withal to be the most friendly and true to him and to his Interest the use of the bow u i. e. The use of their Arms which are all Synecdochically expressed under the name of the bow which then was one of the chief Weapons and for the dextrous use whereof Ionathan is commended in the following Song which may be one reason why he now gives forth this Order that so they might strive to imitate Ionathan in his Military Skill and to excel in it as he did behold it is written x Not the following Song as many think for that is written here and therefore it was needless to refer us to another Book for it but this foregoing counsel and course which David took to repair the last Loss which is here mentioned but briefly and in general terms but as it seems more largely and particularly described in the Book of Iasher of which See on Iosh. 10. 13. * Josh. 10. 13. in the book ‖ Or of the upright of Jasher 19 The beauty of Israel y Their Flower and Glory Saul and Ionathan and their Army consisting of young and Valiant Men. is slain upon the high places z Heb. upon thy high places i. e. Those which belong to thee O Land of Israel how are the mighty fallen a How strangely how suddenly how dreadfully and universally 20 * Mic. 1. 10. Tell it not in Gath b This is not a Precept but a Poetical wish whereby he doth not so much desire that this might not be done which he knew to be vain and impossible as express his great sorrow because it was and would be done to the great dishonour of God and of his People publish it not in the streets of Askelon lest the daughters c He mentions these because it was the custome of Women in those times and places to celebrate those Victories which their Men obtained with Triumphant Songs and Dances as Exod. 15. Iudg. 11. 34. 1 Sam. 18. 6. of the Philistines rejoyce lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph 21 Ye mountains of Gilboa let there be no dew neither let there be rain upon you d This is no proper Imprecation which he had no reason to inflict upon those harmless Mountains but onely a passionate representation of the Horror which he conceived at this publick Loss which was such as if he thought every person or thing which contributed to it were fit to bear the tokens of Divine displeasure such as this is when the Earth wants the blessed and necessary Influences of Dew and Rain nor fields of ‡ Heb. heave-offerings offerings e i. e. Fruitful fields which may produce fair and goodly Fruits fit to be offered unto God for there the shield of the mighty f The Shields of the Valiant men of Israel ‡ Heb. was loathed so Gr. is vilely g Dishonourably for it was a great Reproach to any Soldier to cast away or lose his Shield cast away h To wit by themselves that they might flee more swiftly away as the Israelites did and Saul with the rest as is said 1 Sam. 31. 1 2. the shield of Saul as though he had not been anointed with oyl i As if he had been no more nor better than a common Soldier he was exposed to the same kind of Death and Reproach as they were 22 From the blood of the slain from the fat of the mighty the bow of Jonathan turned not back k To wit without Effect comp Isa. 45. 23. and 55. 11. Their Arrows shot from their Bows and their Swords did seldom miss and commonly pierced Fat and Flesh and Blood and reached even to the Heart and Bowels and the sword of Saul returned not empty l i. e. Not filled and glutted with Blood for the Sword is Metaphorically said to have a mouth which we Translate an edge and to devour 2 Sam. 2. 26. and 11. 25. Ier. 2. 30. and 46. 10. And this their former successfulness is here mentioned as an aggravation of their last infelicity 23 Saul and Jonathan were lovely and ‖ Or sweet pleasant m Amiable and obliging in their Carriage and Conversation both towards one another and towards their People for as for Saul's fierce behaviour towards Ionathan it was onely a sudden Passion by which his ordinary temper was not to be measured and for his carriage towards David 1 Sam. 20. 30 33. that was from that jealousie and Reason of State which usually engageth even good-natured and well-nurtured Princes to the same Hostilities in like cases But it is observable That David speaks not a word here of his Piety and other Vertues but onely commends him for those things which were truly in him A fit pattern for all Preachers in their Funeral Commendations in theâ—…r lives n and in their death they were not divided o Ionathan was not false to his Father as was reported but stuck close to him and as he lived so he died with him at the same time and in the same common and good Cause they were swifter than Eagles p Expeditious and nimble in Pursuing their Enemies and Executing their Designs which is a great commendation in a Prince and in a Soldier they were stronger than lions q In regard of their bodily Strength and the Courage of their Minds 24 Ye daughters of Israel r These he mentions partly because the Women then used to make Songs both of Triumph and of Lamentation as occasion required and partly because they usually are most delighted with the Ornaments of the Body here following weep over Saul who clothed you in scarlet s This he did partly because he procured them so much Peace as gave them opportunity of enriching themselves and partly because he took these things as spoils from the Enemies and clothed his own People with them Comp. Psal. 68. 12. with other delights who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel 25 How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battel O
2 Chron. 1. 12. I will as certainly give them as if I had actually done it for future certain things are oft expressed in Scripture in the past time as is well known to all thee that which thou hast not asked both riches and honour so that there ‖ Or 〈◊〉 not been shall not be i So it is true of all the succeeding Kings of Israel of whom he speaks Or hath not been as it is in the Hebrew and so it may be true of all the Kings that then were or had been in the world whereof none was like to him to wit in all the things here mentioned and wherein he is compared with them which is not onely in Riches but also in Wisdom and in Honour or Renown any among the kings like unto thee all thy days k To wit of thy life Whereby he signifies that these gifts of God were not temporary and transient as they were in Saul but such as should abide with him whilst he lived 14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways l This caution God gives him lest his great Wisdom should make him proud or careless or presumptuous as if he were out of all danger and to oblige him to more care and circumspection to avoid the snares and mischiefs to which so much prosperity and glory would probably expose him and withal to justify himself in case he should afterwards alter the course of his Providence towards Solomon and that when men are surprized with Solomon's dreadful fall they might know it was no surprizal to God but that he did foresee it and would over-rule it to his own Glory one way or other to keep my statutes and my commandments * Chap. 15. 5. as thy father David did walk then I will lengthen thy days 15 And Solomon awoke and behold it was a dream m i. e. He perceived that it was a Dream not a vain Dream wherewith men are commonly deluded but a Divine Dream assuring him of the thing which he knew partly by a Divine impression and inspiration thereof in his mind after he was awakened and partly by the vast alteration which he presently found within himself in point of Wisdom and Knowledge and he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD n Which was there in the City of David 2 Sam. 6. 17. before which he presented himself in way of Holy Ministration and Adoration which may be noted by the word stood Or that word may note his abode there for some considerable time as the offering of so many Sacrifices required and offered up burnt-offerings o Chiefly for the expiation of his and his peoples sin through the Blood of Christ manifestly signified in these Sacrifices and offered peace-offerings p Solemnly to praise God for all his Mercies and especially for giving him a quiet and fixed possession of the Kingdom and for his Glorious appearance to him in a Dream and for the great promise therein made to him and the actual accomplishment of it since wrought in him and made a feast to all his servants 16 ¶ Then came there two women that were harlots q Or Victuallers for the Hebrew word signifies both See on Ios. 2. 1. And possibly they might be both this by their open profession and the other by their secret practice not that they were common Harlots for neither would Solomon have tolerated such nor durst such have presented themselves before so wise and just a Ruler nor do such use either to bring forth Children or to have such a tender care of and affection to them as these express Yet that they were unmarried persons and so guilty of Fornication seems most probable both because there is no mention of any Husbands whose office it was if there were any such to contest for their Wives and because they lived a solitary life in one House unto the king r Haply they had presented their Cause to the Inferior Courts who could not determine and therefore now they bring it to the King as the Supreme Magistrate and famous for his Wisdom and stood there before him s Desiring and expecting his Sentence in the case 17 And the one woman said O my lord I and this woman dwell in one house and I was delivered of a child with her in the house 18 And it came to pass the third day t So they could not be distinguished by their Age. after that I was delivered that the woman was delivered also and we were together there was no stranger with us in the house u Therefore no Witness on either side and although there might be some sensible difference to an exact observer between the features of the two Children yet it is not probable that was much minded by the Neighbours for though civil Women might assist them both in their Child-births yet it is not likely they would afterwards converse much with them as being persons of suspected fame and the features of the Children especially for so few days night easily be so like that it was difficult to discern the one from the other And the Testimonies of the Women were of equal credit i. e. of none at all save we two in the house 19 And this womans child died in the night because she over-laid it x And so smothered it which she justly conjectures because there were evidences of that kind of death but no appearance of any other cause thereof 20 And she arose at midnight y When I was asleep as she reasonably and truly concluded and took my son from beside me z Either because the really desired the comfort of a Child to be educated by her and owned as hers or because she would not be thought guilty of the Childs death for which she knew not how severely Solomon would punish her while thine handmaid slept a As the might well know because had she been awake she had discovered and prevented her design and laid it in her bosome and laid her dead child in my bosome 21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck behold it was dead but when I had considered it in the morning behold it was not my son which I did bear 22 And the other woman said Nay but the living is my son and the dead is thy son and this said No but the dead is thy son and the living is my son Thus they spake before the king b Both peremptorily and vehemently affirmed the same thing oft repeating the same words 23 Then said the king The one saith This is my son that liveth and thy son is the dead and the other saith Nay but thy son is the dead and my son is the living 24 And the king said Bring me a sword and they brought a sword before the king 25 And the king said c With seeming sincerity and earnestness though with a
against the Holy Ghost That they might be guilty of many other hainous Crimes which God and the Prophet knew and were guilty of Idolatry which by Gods Law deserved death that the Idolatrous Parents were punished in their Children and that if any of these Children were more innocent and ignorant of what they said God might have Mercy upon their Souls and then this death was not a misery but a real blessing to them that they were taken away from that wicked and Idolatrous Education which was most likely to expose them not onely to Temporal but to an Eternal destruction in the Name of the LORD m Not from any carnal or revengeful passion but by the motion of Gods Spirit and by Gods command and commission as appears by Gods concurrence with him Which God did partly for the terror and caution of all other Idolaters and prophane persons who abounded in that place partly to vindicate the Honour and maintain the Authority of his Prophets and particularly of Elisha now especially in the beginning of his Sacred Ministry And this did beget such a confidence in Elisha that he durst venture to go into Bethel after this was done and such a terror in the Bethelites that they durst not avenge themselves of him and there came forth two she-bears n Possibly robbed of their Whelps and therefore more fierce Prov. 17. 12. Hos. 13. 8. but certainly acted by an extraordinary fury which God raised in them for this purpose out of the wood and tare forty and two children o This Hebrew word signifies not onely young Children but those also who are grown up to maturity as Gen. 32. 22. and 34. 4. and 37. 30. Ruth 1. 5. of them 25 And he went from thence to mount Carmel p Partly to decline the fury of the People of Bethel partly that he might retire himself from men and converse more freely with God and so fit himself more for the discharge of his employment and partly that he might visit the Sons of the Prophets who lived in that place or near it and from thence he returned to Samaria q By the direction of Gods Spirit for the service which he did chap. 3. 11 c. CHAP. III. NOw Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah a Quest. How can this be true when Ahaziah Iehoram's predecessor who Reigned two Years began his Reign in Iehoshaphat's 17th Year 1 King 22. 51 Ans. Either Ahaziah Reigned the greatest part of two Years to wit of the 17th and 18th Years of Iehoshaphat parts of Years being oft called years in the computation of times both in Scripture and other Authors and Iehoram began his Reign towards the end of his 18th Year or Ahaziah Reigned part of this two Years with his Father and the rest after him and reigned twelve years 2 And he wrought evil in the sight of the LORD but not like his father and like his mother for he put away the ‡ Heb. 〈◊〉 image of Baal * 1 King 16. 31 32. that his father had made b Not from any principle of Conscience for that would have reached the Calves also but either because he was startled at the dreadful Judgments of God inflicted upon his Father and Brother for Baal-worship or because he needed Gods help to subdue the Moabites which he knew Baal could not do or to gratify Iehoshaphat whose help he meant to crave which he knew he should never obtain without this and for this reason it seems Iezabel was willing to connive at it as a trick of State 3 Nevertheless he cleaved unto the sins of Jeroboam c i. e. The worship of the Calves which all the Kings of Israel kept up as a Wall of partition between their Subjects and those of Iudah Thus he shews that his Religion was over-ruled by his Interest and Policy the son of Nebat which made Israel to sin he departed not therefrom 4 ¶ And Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master d A man of great wealth which in those times and places consisted much in Cattel which enabled and emboldned him to Rebel against his Sovereign Lord. and rendred unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs and an hundred thousand rams with the wool 5 But it came to pass when * Ahab was dead that the king of Moab rebelled e See of this ch 1. 1. It is here repeated to make way for the following Story Ahaziah did not attempt the recovery of Moab either because he was a man of a low spirit and courage or because his Sickness or the shortness of his Reign gave not opportunity for it against the king of Israel 6 ¶ And king Jehoram went out of Samaria f To some place appointed for the Rendezvous of his people the same time and numbred all Israel g To wit such as were fit for War 7 And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah saying The king of Moab hath rebelled against me wilt thou go with me against Moab to battel and he said I will go up I am as thou art my people as thy people and my horses as thy horses h Of which see on 1 King 22. 4. He joyns with him in this War partly because the War was very just in it self and convenient for Iehoshaphat both in the general that Rebels and Revolters should be chastised and suppressed lest the example should pass into his Dominions and the Edomites should be hereby encouraged to revolt from him as they did from his Son and in particular that the Moabites should be humbled who had with others Invaded his Land before this time 2 Chron. 20. 1. and might do so again if they were not brought low for which a fair opportunity was now offered to him and partly because Iehoram had reformed some things and Iehoshaphat hoped by this means to engage him to proceed further in that work 8 And he i Either Iehoshaphat or rather Ioram for the following answer may seem to be Iehoshaphat's said Which way shall we go up And he answered The way through the wilderness of Edom k Which though it was much the longer way yet they thought it best partly to secure the King or Vice-Roy of Edom of whom they might have some suspition from that passage 2 Chron. 20. 22. and to carry both him and his Soldiers along with them into the War both to get their assistance and to prevent them from making a War of diversion against Iudah whilst Iehoshaphat was engaged against Moab and partly that they might invade Moab on their weakest side and where they least expected them God also thus disposed their hearts to make way for the following miracle 9 So the king of Israel went and the king of Judah and the king of Edom l i. e. The Vice-Roy under Iehoshaphat 1 King 22. 47.
of the host u With whom he justly had great power for his eminent service chap. 3. And she answered I dwell among mine own people x I live in Love and Peace among my Kindred and Friends nor have I any cause to complain of them or to seek relief from higher powers 14 And he said What then is to be done for her Hast thou observed any thing which she wants or desires For the Prophet kept himself much in his Chamber whilst Gehazi went more freely about the House as his occasions led him And Gehazi answered Verily she hath no child and her husband is old 15 And he said Call her And when he had called her she stood in the door y Out of reverence humility and modesty waiting till he came to her or called her further in to him 16 And he said About this ‡ Heb. set time season according to the time of life z Of which Phrase see on Gen. 18. 10. thou shalt imbrace a son And she said Nay my lord thou man of God do not lye unto thine hand-maid a Do not delude me with vain hopes She could not believe it for joy and supposed the Prophet might say thus either for her trial or from his own private judgment and affection and not by warrant from God 17 And the woman conceived and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her according to the time of life 18 ¶ And when the child was grown it fell on a day that he went out to his father to the reapers 19 And he said to his father My head my head b His Head was grievously pained which possibly came from the heat of the Harvest-season to which he was exposed in the field and he said to a lad Carry him to his mother 20 And when he had taken him and brought him to his mother he sat on her knees till noon and then died 21 And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God and shut the door upon him c Partly in hopes that this might contribute something to the Childs restitution to Life she having in all probability had an account of the like Miracle done by Elijah 1 King 17. 21. and partly that she might for the present conceal the death of the Child which if it had been known would have filled her Husband with grief and hindred her journey and opened the mouths of the enemies of God and his Prophets to blaspheme whereas she had a confidence put into her by God that the Prophet could and would restore her Son and went out 22 And she called unto her husband and said Send me I pray thee one of the young men and one of the asses that I may run to the man of God and come again 23 And he said Wherefore wilt thou go to him to day it is neither new moon nor sabbath d Which were the chief and usual times in which they resorted to the Prophets for instruction for which he supposed she now went not suspecting but that the Child was well by this time And she said It shall be ‡ Heb. peace well e My going will not be troublesome to him noâ—… prejudicial to thee or me Heb. peace i. e. peace be to thee farewel or be contented let me go 24 Then she sadled an ass and said to her servant Drive and go forward ‡ Heb. restrain not for me to ride slack not thy riding for me except I bid thee 25 So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel and it came to pass when the man of God saw her asar off that he said to Gehazi his servant Behold yonder is that Shunammite 26 Run now I pray thee to meet her and say unto her Is it well with thee Is it well with thy husband Is it well with the child And she answered It is well f So it was in some respects because it was the Will of a Wise and Good God and therefore best for her Or it shall be well though the Child be dead I doubt not by Gods blessing upon thy endeavours it shall live again and do well But she answers ambiguously and briefly too that she might sooner come to the Prophet and more fully open her mind to him 27 And when she came to the man of God to the hill she caught ‡ Heb. by his feet him by the feet g She fell at his Feet and touched them as a most humble and earnest suppliant Compare 1 Sam. 25. 24. Matth. 28. 9. Withal she intimated what she durst â—…ot presume to express in words that she desired him to go along with her but Gehazi came near to thrust her away h Judging this posture indecent for her and offensive to her Master And the man of God said Let her alone for her soul is ‡ Heb. bitter vexed within her i Disturb her not for this uncouth gesture is a sign of some extraordinary grief and the LORD hath hid it from me and hath not told me k Whereby he signifies that what he knew or did was not by any vertue inherent and abiding in himself but onely from God who revealed to him onely what and when he pleased Compare 2 Sam. 7. 3. 28 Then she said Did I desire a son of my lord l This Child was not given to me upon my immoderate desire for which I might have justly been thus chastised as Rachel was Gen. 30. 1. compare with 35. 18. but was freely promised to me by thee in Gods Name and from his special Grace and Favour and therefore I trust both thou didst pray for it and God design it as a blessing and not as an affliction as now it proves unless thou dost obtain the Child for me a second time which I know thou canst do and I humbly beg thee to do Did not I say Do not deceive me m With vain hopes of a comfort that I should never have And I had been much happier if I had never had it than to lose it so quickly Therefore thou art in some measure concerned to revive my dead hopes and to continue to me the great blessing which thou hast procured 29 Then he said to Gehazi Gird up thy loins n Tie up thy long Garments about thy Loins for expedition See 1 King 18. 46. and take my staff in thy hand and go thy way if thou meet any man salute him not and if any salute thee answer him not again o An Hyperbolical expression Make no delays nor stops by the way neither by words nor actions but go with all possible speed Compare Luk. 10. 4. He requires this haste that the Miracle might be done secretly and speedily before the Childs death was divulged which might cause many inconveniences See on ver 21. and lay my staff upon the face of the child p For God
had compassion on them and had respect unto them because of his covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and would not destroy them neither cast he them from his ‡ Heb. 〈◊〉 presence f i. e. From the Land of Canaan to which the presence and publick and solemn Worship of God was confined as yet 24 So Hazael king of Syria died and Ben-hadad his son reigned in his stead 25 And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz ‡ Heb. 〈◊〉 ed and â—…ook took again out of the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war three times did Joash beat him g According to the Prediction above v. 19. and recovered the cities of Israel CHAP. XIV IN the second year of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel a i. e. After he began to Reign alone for he Reigned two or three Years with his Farther Oâ—… which see on chap. 13. 10. reigned * 2 Câ—… 〈◊〉 Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah 2 He was twenty and five years old when he began to reign and reigned twenty and nine years b To wit 14 Years with Ioash King of Israel who Reigned onely 16 Years chap. 13. 10. and 15 Years after the death of Ioash or with Ieroboam the Son of Ioash as is affirmed here ver 17. and 2 Chron. 25. 25. in Jerusalem and his mothers name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem 3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD c That which was in some sort agreeable to Gods Will. yet not like David his father d Not sincerely 2 Chron. 25. 2. he did according to all things as Joash his father did e i. e. For a time served God aright but afterwards fell to Idolatry 1 Chron. 25. 14. as Ioash had done 2 King 12. 3. 4 Howbeit f Though he did right c. for this Particle is to be joyned with those words the rest being to be closed with a Parenthesis the high places were not taken away as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places 5 ¶ And it came to pass assoon as the kingdom was confirmed in his hand that he slew his servants * Chap. 12 〈◊〉 which had slain the king his father Whereby it is implied that his Fathers Murderers had powerful Friends and Abetrors and that their Fact was in some sort approved by the generality of the People to whom Ioash had made himself hateful by his Apostacy to Idolatry and by his ingratitude to the House of Iehoiada 6 But the children of the murderer he slew not g Wherein he shewed some Faith and Courage that he would obey this Command of God though it was very hazardous to himself such persons being likely to seek revenge for their Fathers death according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses wherein the LORD commanded saying * Deut. 24. 〈◊〉 Ezek. 18 〈◊〉 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children nor the children be put to death for the fathers but every man shall be put to death for his own sin 7 He slew of Edom h i. e. Of the Edomites or the children of Seir as they are called 2 Chron. 25. â—… 1. either because they dwelt in Seir See Gen. 36. 8. or because these people were confederates And he invaded these People because they were Subjects to his Kingdom from which they had revolted in Ioram's days 2 King 8. 20. in the valley of salt i Which was the Land of Edom Of which see 2 Sam. 8. 13. Psal. 60. 2. ten thousand and took ‖ Selah k Or the rock the chief City of that part of Arabia called by other Authors Petra which signifies a rock because it was built upon a Rock â—… Chron. 25. 12 by war and called the Or the rock name of it Joktheel l Which signifies the obedience of God i. e. given him by God as a reward of his Obeidence to Gods Message by the Prophet 2 Chron. 25. 8 9. unto this day 8 ¶ Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu king of Israel saying Come let us look one another in the face m Let us fight personally and with our Armies This challenge he sent partly upon the late and great inâ—…uries done by the Israelites to his people 2 Chron. 25. 10 13. and partly from self-confidence and a desire of advancing his Glory and Empire by his Arms. 9 And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah saying The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon n By the thistle a low and contemptible yet troublesome Shrub he understands Amaziah and by the cedar himself whom he intimates to be far stronger than he and out of his reach saying Give thy daughter to my son to wife o Let us make a match i. e. let us fight Onely he expresseth this Bloody work in a civil manner as Amaziah had done ver 8. and as Abner did 2 Sam. 2. 14. Or let thy Kingdom and mine be United under one King as formerly they were and let us decide it by a pitched Battel whether thou or I shall be that King Or as some expound it by affirming That it was great arrogancy and presumption for him to desire a Friendly League or Affinity with him he leaves him to guess how intolerable it was that he should undertake to wage War against him and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon and trode down the thistle p And with no less ease shall my Soldiers tread down thee and thy Forces 10 Thou hast indeed smitten Edom and thine heart hath lifted thee up glory of this q Content thy self with that Glory and Success and let not thine Ambition betray thee to ruin and tarry ‡ 〈◊〉 at thy 〈◊〉 at home for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt that thou shouldest fall even thou and Judah with thee 11 But Amaziah would not hear r Because God blinded and hardned him to his destruction for his abominable and ridiculous Idolatry 2 Chron. 25. 10. therefore Jehoash king of Israel went up s To wit into the Kingdom of Iudah carrying the War into his Enemies Countrey and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one another in the face at Beth-shemesh which belongeth to Judah t Which is added to distinguish it from that Bethshemesh in Issachar and another in Naphthali Ios. 19. 22 38. 12 And Judah ‡ Heb. was 〈◊〉 was put to the worse before Israel and they fled u Being unsatisfied in the ground and manner of the quarrel and discouraged by their Kings Idolatry and smitten by God with a spirit of fear every man to their tents 13 And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah
this Relation ver 9. That when he heard of Tirhakah he sent messengers to Hezekiah pretending as if he would forthwith come against him but it is not said that he did so nor is it set down what he did with Tirhakah because the Design of the Sacred Writer was onely to write the History of the Iewish Nation not of others but onely with respect to them Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves and in the second year that which springeth of the same and in the third year z This was an excellent Sign for it was miraculous especially considering the waste and havock which the Assyrians had made in the Land and that the Iews had been forced to retire into their strong Hold and consequently to neglect their Tilling and Sowing and Reaping and yet this Year they should have sufficient Provision from those Fruits of the Earth which the Assyrian left and the Second Year which probably was the Year of Release in which they might neither Sow nor Reap from such Fruits as the Earth brought forth of its own accord and so in the Third Year sow ye and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruits thereof a You shall not Sow and another Reap as lately you did but you shall Enjoy the Fruit of your own Labours 30 And ‡ Heb. the escaping of the House of judah that remaineth the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward and bear fruit upward b i. e. Shall increase and multiply greatly A Metaphor from Planâ—… Comp. Iob 29. 19. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant c That handful of Iews who now were gathered together and shut up in Ierusalem shall go out to their several Habitations and by my singular Blessing increase exceedingly and ‡ Heb. the escaping they that escape out of mount Sion d The same thing expressed in other words which is usual in the Hebrew Language * 〈◊〉 9. 7. the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this Although when you reflect upon your selves and consider either your present fewness and weakness or your great unworthiness this may seem too great a Blessing for you to expect or believe yet God will do it from the zeal which he hath both for his own Name to Vindicate it from the Blasphemous Reproaches of the Assyrians and for the good of his undeserving People 32 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shield nor cast a bank against it e Which was true though he sent Rabshakeh and others with a great Host against Ierusalem Chap. 18. 17. Either because that Host went away with Rabshakeh to Libnah above ver 8. Or rather because that Army did not form a close Siege against it but onely Marched towards it and disposed themselves so as to block it up at some distance possibly waiting till the King of Assyria had taken Libnah and Lachish which they presumed he would speedily do and should come up with the rest of his Forces when they intended to fall more vigorously to their work 33 By the way that he came by the same shall he return f Whereas he expected to devour the Kingdom of Iudah at one Morsel and then to proceed further and to Conquer Egypt or other Neighbouring Countries and as it is said of him and concerning this very time and design Isa. 10. 7. To cut off nations not a few he shall meet with so sad a disappointment and rebuke here that he shall make haste to return with shame to his own Country and shall not come into the city saith the LORD 34 For * Chap. 20. 6. I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake and * 1 King 11. 1â—… 13. for my servant David's sake g For my Promise and Covenants-sake made with David concerning the Stability and Eternity of his Kingdom See 1 King 11. 12 13. 35 ¶ And * 〈◊〉 37. 36. it came to pass that night h Either 1. In the Night following this Message of the Prophet to Hezekiah Or 2. In that famous Night when God Destroyed the Assyrians it was done in this manner For such Expressions are oft used of an indefinite and uncertain time as that day is frequently taken as Isa. 4. 1. and 26. 1. and 27. 1 c. that the angel of the LORD went out and smote i With Pestilence or some other sudden and Mortal stroke in the camp of the Assyrians k Either before Libnah or in some other place near Ierusalem where they were Encamped an hundred fourscore and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning behold they were all dead corpses 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed l Whom God spared not in Mercy but in Wrath reserving him to a more dreadful and shameful Death by the hands of his own Children and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh 37 And it came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword and they escaped into the land of ‡ Heb. Ararat Armenia m Which was a place most fit for their purpose because it was near to that part of Assyria and was very Mountainous and inaccessible by Armies and the people more stout and warlike and constant Enemies to the Assyrians and * Ezra 4. 2. Esarhaddon n Who sent great supplies to his new Colony in Samaria Ezra 4. 2. fearing it seems lest Hezekiah should improve the last great advantage to disturb his new Conquests there his son reigned in his stead CHAP. XX. IN * 2 Ch 32. 24. Isa. 3â—… 1. those days a i. e. In that Year of the Assyrian Invasion as is manifest from hence that that was in Hezekiah's 14th Year chap. 18. 13. and God now added 15 Years more to him chap. 20. 6. and yet Hezekiah Reigned onely 29 Years in all chap. 18. 2. And this happened Either First After the destruction of Sennacherib's Army Or Secondly Before it as may be thought from v. 6. where he speaks of his deliverance from the King of Assyria as a future thing It is true that when Hezekiah received that insolent Message from the Assyrian he was in health and went into the Temple to pray ch 19. 14. but there might be time more than enough for this sickness and recovery between that threatning and this destruction of the Assyrian was Hezekiah sick unto death and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him and said unto him Thus saith the LORD ‡ Heb. Give charge concerning thine house Set thine house in order b Take care to make thy Will and to settle the Affairs of thy Family and Kingdom which
it not good if peace and truth be in my days k Which he speaks not as if he were careless and unconcerned for his Posterity which neither the common inclinations and affections of Nature in all Men nor that singular Piety and Charity which was eminent and manifest in Hezekiah can suffer us to believe or for the Church and People of God for whose welfare he was so solicitous and industrious in the whole course of his Life but because it was a singular favour that this Judgment did not immediately follow his sin the cause of it but was suspended for a longer time 20 ¶ And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah 21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead CHAP. XXI MAnasseh * â—… 〈◊〉 33. 1. was twelve years old when he began to reign and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem a In which time the Years of his Imprisonment are comprehended 2 Chron. 33. 11. and his mothers name was Hephzi-bah 2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD b Partly by the instigation of the wicked Princes of Iudah who in Hezekiah's time were secret Enemies to his Reformation and now when their Fetters were knock't off by Hezekiah's death break forth into open Hostility against it and corrupt the Kings tender years with their wicked counsel and principally by his own vicious inclination after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel 3 For he built up again the high places * 〈◊〉 18. 4. which Hezekiah his father had destroyed and he reared â—…p altars for Baal and made a grove as * 1 〈◊〉 16. 33 did Ahab king of Israel and worshipped all the host of heaven c The Stars which the Gentiles had transformed into gods See on Deut. 4. 19. and served them 4 And * 〈◊〉 32. 34. he built altars in the house of the LORD d i. e. In the Temple its self in the Holy-place because this is distinguished from the courts of the house ver 5. of which the LORD said * 2 Sam. 7. 13. 1 〈◊〉 8. 29. 〈◊〉 9. 3. In Jerusalem will I put my Name e That place I have peculiarly Consecrated to my Worship and Honour which made it the greater Injustice and Impiety and Sacriledge to Alienate it from God and to Dedicate it or any part of it especially the Temple to the service of Idols whom God abhorreth 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts f The one of the Priests the other of the People 1 King 6. 36. of the house of the LORD 6 And * Lev. 18. 2â—… and 2â—… â—… he made his son pass through the fire g Of which see the Notes on Lev. 18. 21. and 2 King 16. 3. and observed times h i. e. Lucky or unlucky days or seasons for the dispatch of businesses according to the superstitious practise of the Heathens See Esth. 3. 7. See also Lev. 19. 26. Deut. 18. 10 11. and used inchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger 7 And he set a graven image of the grove i Either First The Image of that Baal which was worshipped in the Grove Or Secondly A representation of the Grove as may seem by comparing chap. 23. 6. Or Thirdly The Graven Image of Asherah a god or goddess so called possibly the same called elsewhere Ashtaroth See Iudg. 6. 25 28. 2 King 23. 6. 2 Chron. 15. 16. that he had made in the house of which the LORD said to David and to Solomon his son * 2 Saâ—… â—… 1â—… 1 King â—… 〈◊〉 and 9. 3. Chap. 23. 27 Psal. 1â—… 13. In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel will I put my Name for ever 8 Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land k They shall no more be carried Captives into a strange Land as it had happened before which I gave their fathers onely if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them 9 But they hearkened not and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel l Partly because they were not contented with those Idols which the Canaanites worshipped but either themselves invented or they borrowed from other Nations many new Idols and kinds of Idolatry and partly because as their light was far more clear their obligations to God infinitely higher and their helps and antidotes against Idolatry much stronger than the Canaanites had so their sins though the same in kind were unspeakably worse in respect of these dreadful aggravations 10 ¶ And the LORD spake by his servants the prophets saying 11 * Jer. 15. 4. Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites m i. e. The Canaanitish Nations all so called from one eminent part of them See on Gen. 15. 16. did which were before him and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols n By his Example Encouragement Counsel Authority and Command 12 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel Behold I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth of it both * 1 Sam. 3. 11. his ears shall tingle o By the great commotion which such terrible reports shall cause in the hearts and heads of the hearers See on 1 Sam. 3. 11. Ier. 19. 3. 13 And I * Isa. 34. 11. will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria p She shall have the same measure and lot i. e. the same Judgments which Samaria had The line is oft put for ones lot or portion as Psal. 16. 6. 2 Cor. 10. 16. because mens portions or possessions used to be measured by Lines Psal. 78. 55. Amos 7. 17. Or it is a Metaphor from workmen who mark out by Lines what parts of the Building they would have thrown down and what they would have stand See Isa. 34. 11. Lam. 2. 8. Amos 7. 7 8. Zech. 1. 16. Or it is an allusion to that fact of David who destroyed the Moabites by a measuring Line 2 Sam. 8. 2. ‡ Heb. over the House of Manasseh and the plummet of the house of Ahab and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish ‡ Heb he wipeth and turneth it upon the face thereof wiping it and turning it upside down q As men do with a
28. â—… 25. 16 And there came ‖ 〈◊〉 of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold o To the same Hold mentioned v. 8. where see the Notes unto David 17 And David went out †Heb. before 〈◊〉 to meet them and answered p i. e. 〈◊〉 as that word is oft used in Scripture even of him that speaketh 〈◊〉 and said unto them If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me mine heart shall †Heb. be one be knit unto you q I shall ever esteem and love you and shew this by my 〈◊〉 to you hereafter but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies r Which your Number and Quality and near Relation to Saul gives me some cause to suspect seeing there is no ‖ Or violence wrong in mine hands s I have done no Injury to Saul nor to you but have spared him and you when it was in my Power to have destroyed you the God of our fathers look thereon and rebuke it t To wit by his Hand and Power manifested for me and against you for your Persidiousness 18 Then †Heb. the spirit clothed Amasal So Judg. 6. 34. the spirit came upon Amasal u Not onely saving Graces but other heroical and generous Motions are ascribed to Gods Spirit which here stirred up in him a more than ordinary greatness and presentness of Mind and Resolution who was chief of the captains and he said Thine are we David and on thy side thou son of Jesse peace peace be unto thee and peace be to thine helpers for thy God helpeth thee x We have observed Gods singular and gracious Care of thee and Kindness to thee and if we should oppose thee we should be Fighters against God and his Word and Providence Then David received them and made them captains of the band y i. e Of those Forces which they brought with them Or he put them among the heads or officers of his band i. e. He gave them Commands either now in his small Army each according to his Quality or afterwards when he was advanced to the Kingdom for it is not here expressed when he did this 19 And there fell some of Manasseh to David when he came with the Philistins against Saul to battel but they helped them not z i. e. The Manassites here named and the rest of Davids Forces to whom they had now joyned themselves did not help the Philistins in Battel as David had pretended to do for the lords of the Philistins upon advisement sent him away saying * 1 Sam. 29. 4. He will fall to his master Saul †Heb. on our heads to the jeopardy of our heads 20 As he went to Ziklag a As he returned from the Camp of the Philistins to Ziklag 1 Sam. 29. 11. there fell to him of Manasseh Adnah and Jozabad and Jedaiel and Michael and Jozabad and Elihu and Zilthai captains of the thousands that were of Manasseh 21 And * 1 Sam. 30. 1 9 10. they helped David ‖ Or with a band against the band of the rovers b i. e. Against the Amalekites who had taken and burnt Ziklag whom David and his 600 Men were now pursuing whom these accompanied in that Expedition Or with a band or troop of Souldiers which they brought along with them to Davids Assistance for they were all mighty men of valour c Therefore they readily came to Davids help and were captains in the host d Therefore they brought others along with them 22 For at that time e i. e. While he was at Ziklag and in his March to Hebron and principally at Hebron as the next Verse explains it day by day there came to David to help him until it was a great host like the host of God f i. e. Innumerable like the Stars or Angels both which are called Gods hosts Oth. the host of God i. e. a very great Host great things being so called as Cedars Mountains c. of God But the particle of likeness here added excludes this Sence for it had been very improper to say a great host like a great host i. e. like it self 23 And these are the numbers of the ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bands that were ready armed to the war and * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 came to David to Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul to him * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the word of the LORD g Whereby he had settled the Crown upon David after Sauls death 24 The children of Judah that bare shield and spear were six thousand and eight hundred h Who came thither in the name of all their Brethren for that whole Tribe stuck to David at his very first coming to Hebron ready ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 armed to the war 25 Of the children of Simeon mighty men of valour for the war seven thousand and one hundred 26 Of the children of Levi four thousand and six hundred 27 And Jehojada was the leader of †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Aaronites i Not the High-priest for that was Abiathar 1 Sam. 23. 6. but one of Eminent place under him and who had a great Power and interest among his Brethren and with him were three thousand and seven hundred 28 And * â—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zadok k Thought to be the same who was made High-priest in Solomons time 1 Kings 2. 35. which if true he was very young at this time a young man mighty of valour and of his fathers house twenty and two captains l Whom he brought along with him 29 And of the children of Benjamin the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 kindred of Saul three thousand for hitherto the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 8 3. greatest part of them had kept the ward of the house of Saul m i. e. Indeavoured to keep the Crown in their own Tribe and in Sauls Family 30 And of the children of Ephraim twenty thousand and eight hundred mighty men of valour †Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 famous throughout the house of their fathers 31 And of the half tribe of Manasseh n Which was within Iordan for of the other half beyond Iordan he speaks v. 37. eighteen thousand which were expressed by name o Which were not ashamed nor afraid publickly to own David first by putting their Names to some Paper presented to them for that purpose and then by marching to him to Hebron to come and make David King 32 And of the children of Issachar which were men that had understanding of the times p Either 1. skill in the Stars and several Seasons and Changes of the Air which might be of good use in Husbandry to which this Tribe was addicted Gen. 49. 14. Deut. 33. 18. Or rather 2. Political Prudence to discern and embrace the fit Seasons for all Actions as appears 1. from the following
Gaba six hundred twenty and one 27 The men of Michmas an hundred twenty and two 28 The men of Beth-el and Ai two hundred twenty and three 29 The children of Nebo fifty and two 30 The children of Magbish an hundred fifty and six 31 The children of the other * See 〈◊〉 â—… Elam l For one Elam was mentioned before v. 7. a thousand two hundred fifty and four 32 The children of Harim three hundred and twenty 33 The children of Lod ‖ Or 〈◊〉 as it is in 〈◊〉 copies Hadid and Ono seven hundred twenty and five 34 The children of Jericho three hundred forty and five 35 The children of Sanaah three thousand and six hundred and thirty 36 The priests the children of * 1 Chr. 24. Jedajah of the house of Jeshua nine hundred seventy and three 37 The children of * 1 Chr. 24. 〈◊〉 Immer a thousand fifty and two 38 The children of * 1 Chr. 9. 12. Pashur a thousand two hundred forty and seven 39 The children of * 1 Chr. 24 â—… Harim m The Head of one of the Twenty four courses which David appointed 1 Chr. 24. 8. Of all which courses some observe here are not above four or five that returned There is another Harim mentioned above v. 32. but that was no Priest as this was v. 36. a thousand and seventeen 40 The Levites the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel of the children of ‖ 〈…〉 Hodaviah seventy and four 41 The singers the children of Asaph an hundred twenty and eight 42 The children of the porters the children of Shallum the children of Ater the children of Talmon the children of Akkub the children of Halita the children of Shobai in all an hundred thirty and nine 43 The Nethinims n The persons devoted to the inferiour Services of the Priests and Levites of whom see 1 Chr. 9. 2. the children of Ziha the children of Hasupha the children of Tabbaoth 44 The children of Keros the children of Siaha the children of Padon 45 The children of Lebanah the children of Hagabah the children of Akkub 46 The children of Hagab the children of ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shalmai the children of Hanan 47 The children of Giddel the children of Gahar the children of Reajah 48 The children of Rezin the children of Nekoda the children of Gazzam 49 The children of Uzza the children of Paseah the children of Besai 50 The children of Asnah the children of Mehunim the children of Nephusim 51 The children of Bakbuk the children of Hakupha the children of Harhur 52 The children of ‖ 〈…〉 Bazluth the children of Mehida the children of Harsha 53 The children of Barkos the children of Sisera the children of Thamah 54 The children of Neziah the children of Hatipha 55 The children of Solomons servants o Either of those Strangers and Proselytes whom Solomon used in the building of the Temple 1 King 9. 21. to the service of which as some add he devoted them as there should be occasion hereafter Or others who had lived in Solomons Family and after his death called themselves and their Families by that name as esteeming it a great honour to them that they had been Servants to so great a Prince the children of Sotai the children of Sophereth the children of ‖ 〈…〉 Peruda 56 The Children of Jaalah the children of Darkon the children of Giddel 57 The children of Shephatiah the children of Hattil the children of Pochereth of Zebaim the children of ‖ Ami. 〈…〉 58 All the * Nethinims and the children of * Solomons servants were three hundred ninety and two 59 And these were they which went up from Tel-melah Tel-harsa p The names of the places whence they came and where they had lived in the time of their Captivity Cherub Addan and Immer q The names either of the Heads of the Families living in the places last mentioned or of other places where the persons here understood had dwelt but they could not shew their fathers house and their ‖ 〈◊〉 seed whether they were of Israel 60 The children of Delajah the children of Tobiah the children of Nekoda six hundred fifty and two 61 And of the children of the Priests the children of Habajah the children of Koz the children of Barzillai which took a wife of the daughters of * 〈◊〉 17. Barzillai the Gileadite and was called after their name r To wit Barzillai Which name he preferred before that of his own Family accounting it as it seems a greater Honour to be allied to so noble a Family than to be a Priest of the Lord. But by this ambition he deprived himself of the honour and advantage of the Priesthood as it is here noted v. â—…2 62 These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy s The Jews were generally very exact and careful in their Genealogies partly from their own choice and Interest that they might preserve the distinctions of the several Tribes and Families which was necessary both to make out their claims or titles to Offices or inheritances which might belong to them by death or otherwise as here we see and to govern themselves thereby in the matter of Marriages and some other things wherein the practice of some Laws required the knowledge of these things and partly by the special Providence of God that so it might be certainly known of what Tribe and Family the Messiah was born For as they took care of all their Families so doubtless they took a more punctual and singular care about the Royal Family upon which all their hopes depended but they were not found therefore †Heb. they were polluted from the priesthood were they as polluted put from the priesthood 63 And the ‖ Or 〈◊〉 Tirshatha t i. e. The Governour to wit Zerubbabel Whence Nehemiah also is so called Neh. 8. 9. 10. 2. said unto them that they should not eat of the most holy things till there stood up a priest with * Ex. 28. 30. Urim and with Thummim u That this point which could not be found out by any humane skill or Industry might be determined by divine direction Hereby it appears that the Urim and Thummim were lost in the destruction of the City and Temple though the Jews sed themselves with hopes of recovering them but in vain Of the Urim and Thummim see Exod. 28. 30. Numb 27. 21. 1 Sam. 23. 9. 64 The whole congregation †Heb. as one ch 3. 9. together was * Neh. 7. 66. forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore x The particular summs here recited come only to 29818. Unto whom are added in this total summ 12542. Which either were of the other Tribes beside Iudah and Benjamin or were such as were supposed by themselves and others to be Israelites but could not prove their pedigree by their genealogies and therefore could not be so punctually
my House and the Gate Or to the City i. e. the Gate belonging to the City So Iob might live in the Country adjoining to it when I prepared my seat o When I caused the seat of Justice to be set for me By this and divers other Expressions it appears that Iob was a Magistrate or Judge in his Country in the street p i. e. In that void and open place within or near the Gate where the People assembled for the administration of Justice among them 8. The young men saw me and hid themselves q Either out of a profound Reverence to my Person and Dignity or out of a Conscience of their own Guilt or Folly which they supposed I might either understand by Information from others or discover by their countenances or carriages in my presence for which they knew I would reprove them and bring them to shame or other punishment and the aged arose and stood up r Whilest I either passed by them or was present with them See Levit. 19. 3â—… 1 Kings 2. 19. So great a veneration they had for my Person 〈◊〉 regard of that Wisdom and Justice and faithfulness which they discerned in me and in all my proceedings And therefore they judged quite otherwise of me than you now do 9. The Princes refrained talking s Either fearing that I should discern their weakness by their words or desiring to hear my words and sentence which they readily approved of and fully assented to Such an opinion had they of my Wisdom and did not think me such a foolish erroneous and impertinent Person as you fancy or represent me to be and laid their hand on their mouth t In token both of their wonder at Iob's wise Speeches and Sentences and of their resolution to be silent See Iob 21. 5. Prov. 30. 32. 10. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 The nobles held their peace and their Tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth u It lay as still as if it had done so and they could not have spoken 11. When the ear heard me then it blessed me x i. e. Pronounced me to be a man blessed of God with eminent Gifts and Graces or heartily prayed for Gods Blessing upon me because of that Wisdom and Integrity which they saw in all my actions and of the satisfaction which I gave to all and the relief which I gave to the oppressed by my righteous and equitable decrees in all causes which were brought before me and when the Eye saw me it gave witness to me y When my appearance gave them occasion to speak of me they gave Testimony to my pious and just and blameless conversation So far was I from being or being thought to be guilty of those crimes wherewith you charge me of which see Ch. 22. 9. 12. Because * 〈◊〉 â—…2 12. 〈◊〉 â—…1 13. I delivered z From his potent oppressour They did not honour me for my great Wealth or Power but for my impartial Justice and pity to the afflicted and courage in maintaining their cause and right against their mighty Adversaries the poor that cried and the fatherless and him that had none to help him a None would own or help them partly because they were poor and unable to recompence them for it and partly because their Enemies were great and likely to crush both them and their helpers Which made Iob's virtue moâ—…e glorious 13. The blessing b Wherewith both he and others for his sake blessed me and begged that God would bless me of him that was ready to perish c To lose his Life or estate by the malice and tyranny of wicked men came upon me and I caused the Widows d Who are the common object of injuries and oppressions because for the most part they are unable either to offend those who molest them or to desend themselves from their Violence heart to sing for joy e For her great and unexpected deliverance 14. * Isa. 59. 17 Eph. 6. 14. 1 Thes. 5. 8. I put on Righteousness and it cloathed me f As a Garment covers the whole Body and is worn continually all the day long so I was constantly just in the whole course of all my administrations publick and private and never put off this Garment out of a partial respect to my self or to the persons of other men as the manner of many Judges is my judgment was as a robe and diadem g My judgments or decrees were so equal and righteous that they never brought shame and reproach upon me but always Honour and great Reputation 15. I was eyes h i. e. Instead of Eyes to instruct and direct and assist to the blind i Either 1. Corporally Or rather 2. Spiritually such as through Ignorance or weakness were apt to mistake and to be seduced or cheated by the craft and Artifices of evil-minded men These I cautioned and advised and led into the right way and feet was I to the lame k i. e. Ready to help him who was unable to help himself 16. I was a father l i. e. Had the care and bowels of a Father to them to the poor and the cause which I knew not m Either 1. Those which were not brought to my knowledge or Tribunal either through neglect or because the injured persons durst not complain I diligently enquired after Or 2. Those which were hard and difficult and possibly were made so by the frauds or arts of the oppressours or their advocates which the poor injured person could not find out I took pains to discover I searched out 17. And I brake †Heb. the jaw-teeth or grinders the jaws n Or the jaw-bones or the grinders the sharpest and strongest Teeth in the Jaw i. e. their power and violence wherewith they used to oppress others It is a Metaphor from Wild-beasts which break their Prey with their Teeth Compare Psalm 38. 57. 4. 58. 6. of the wicked and †Heb. cast pluckt the spoil out of his Teeth o i. e. Forced them to restore what they had violently and unjustly taken away 18. Then I said p i. e. I persuaded my self being thus strongly fortified with the Conscience of my own universal integrity and with the singular favour of God and of all men But although this was sometimes Iob's opinion vet at other times he was subject to fears and expectation of changes as appears from Chap. 3. 25 26. I shall die in my nest q Not a violent or untimely but a natural and peaceable and seasonable death sweetly expiring in my own Bed and Habitation in the midst of my Children and Friends leaving the pretious perfume of a Good-name behind me and a plentiful Inheritance to all my posterity and I shall multiply my days as the sand r Which is innumerable See Gen. 22. 17. 41. 49. 19. My root
7 For they have devoured Jacob l The posterity of Iacob whom thou didst love and with whom and his Seed thou madest a sure and everlasting Covenant whereby thou didst ingage thy self to be an enemy to their enemies Exod. 23. 22. Besides thou haâ—…est cruelty especially when the wicked devour those who are more righteous than themselves Habak 1. 13. and laid waste his dwelling place 8 * Isa. 64. 9 O remember not against us ‖ Or the iniquities of them that were before us former iniquities m The sins committed by our Forefathers and by us who have filled up the measure of their sins for which we confess thou hast most righteously brought this desolating judgment upon us let thy tender mercies n Upon which all our confidence is fixed for merit and righteousness we have none See Dan. 9 7 9. speedily prevent us o Prevent our utter extirpation which we have deserved and have great reason to expect for we are brought very low p Past the hopes of all humane help and therefore the glory or our deliverance will be wholly thine 9 Help us O God of our salvation q From whom we have oft received and from whom alone we now expect salvation for the glory of thy name r Which is now obscured by the insolency and blasphemy of thine enemies who ascribe this Conquest to their Idols and triumph over thee no less than over thy people as one unable to deliver them out of their hands See Dan. 3. 15. and deliver us and †Heb. attone or expiate purge away our sins for thy names sake 10 * Psal. 42. 10. and 115. 2. Wherefore should the heathen say Where is their God! s He whom they served and of whom they boasted He is lost and gone or grown impotent or idle Let him be known among the heathen t By the expectation of his judgments upon them according to Psal. 9. 16. in our sight u That we may live to see it and praise thy name for it by the †Heb. vengeance revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed 11 Let * the sighing of the prisoner u Of thy poor people now in prison or at least in captivity come Psal. 102. 20. before thee according to the greatness of †Heb. thine arm thy power †Heb. reserve the children of death preserve thou those that are appointed to die x Heb. the children of death i. e. Which were either designed to death or in manifest danger of it as being wholly in the power of their cruel and barbarous enemies 12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom y i. e. Either 1. Abundantly as this Phrase notes Isa. 65. 6 7. Ier. 32. 18. Luke 6. 38. Or 2. Sensibly so as it may come home to them and fall heavily upon them in their own persons there reproach wherewith they have reproached thee z As impotent or unfaithful or unmerciful to his own people So they intimate that this dedesire did not proceed from a revengeful mind but from a due sence of God's favour O Lord. 13 * Psal. 9â—… 7. So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever we will shew forth thy praise †Heb. to generation and generation to all generations PSAL. LXXX The ARGUMENT This Psalm was Composed either 1. Upon the same ocasion with the former to wit the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans as most conceive Which yet seems not probable because here is no mention of the Temple nor of Jerusalem as there is in the foregoing Psalm nor of the Tribe of Judah which was most concerned in that desolation but of Joseph Verse 1. and of the Tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh which were carried captive long before that time nor do the expressions of this Psalm import such a desolating judgment as those of the former do Or 2. Upon occasion of the captivity of the ten Tribes as some others think But why then is Benjamin named which is none of that number nor went into captivity with them but was joyned with Judah Or 3. Upon occasion of some other calamity or calamities which befel the Tribes of Israel after their division into two Kingdoms and before the captivity and destruction of either of them In which time all â—…he evils mentioned in this Psalm did befal them sometimes in one Tribe or part and sometimes in another as is manifest from their History To the chief musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth a It seems to be the name of a Musical Instrument though many separate the latter part of the word from the former and expound Eduth a testimony or witness between God and his people of his relation to them and of their dependence upon him a Psalm ‖ Or for Asaph of Asaph 1 GIve ear O shepherd of Israel b Thou who hast undertaken to seed and govern thy people of Israel as a shepherd doth his flock now perform thine Office and rescue thy â—…ock from those grievous Wolves which devour and destroy them thou that leadest c Or didst lead formerly though now thou hast forsaken them Ioseph d i. e. The Children of Ioseph or of Israel as he now said this Clause being but a repetition of the former in other words Compare Psal. 77. 15. And the name of Ioseph the most eminent of the Patriarchs both for his dignity and piety and the right of primogeniture transferred upon him from Reuben 1 Chron. 5. 1. is elsewhere put for all the ten Tribes as Ezek. 37. 16 19. Amos 5. 6 15. and 6. 6. Zech. 10. 6. And for all the Tribes as Psal. 81. 5. Obad. v. 18. like a flock thou that dwellest between the cherubims e Which were the Mercy-seat above the Ark. By which title he prudently and piously minds the ten Tribes of their revolt from God and of the vanity of their superstitious Addresses to their Calves at Daâ—… and Bethel and of the necessity of their returning to the true worship of God before the Ark at Ierusalem if they desired or expected any relief from him And by this title it seems more than probable that this Psalm was not made upon occasion of the Babylonish Captivity in and after which time there was no Ark nor Cherubims nor do I remember that David or any Prophets did then apply themselves to God by that Title See Dan. 9. shine forth f Out of the clouds wherein thou seemest to hide thy self Shew forth thy power and goodness to and for thy poor oppressed people in the face of thine and their Enemies 2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh g i. e. Before all the Tribes of Israel for whom he mentions onely these three Tribes either 1. Because of their special relation to Ioseph here named Vers. 1. Ephraim and Manasseh being his Sons and
both which cases it is a Metonymy of the Adjunct are like a shadow that declineth r Or that is extended or stretched out to its ulmost length as it is when the Sun is setting when it speedily and totally vanisheth And just so the hopes of our restitution which sometimes we have are quickly cut off and disappointed and I am * Isai. 40. 6. Jam. 1. 10. Psal. 109. 13. withered like grass 12 But * Lam. 5. 19. thou O LORD shalt endure for ever s But this is my comfort although we dye and our hopes vanish yet our God is everlasting and unchangeable and therefore invincible by all his and our enemies constant in his counsels and purposes of mercy to his Church stedfast and faithful in the performance of all his promises and therefore he both can and will deliver his people and * Psal. 135. â—…3 thy remembrance t Either 1. the fame and memory of thy wonderful works Or rather 2. thy name Iehovah mentioned in the former clause which is called by this very word Gods remembrance or memorial and that unto all generations Exod. 3. 15. Thus this clause exactly answers to the former and both of them describe the Eternity of Gods existence whereby the Psalmist relieves and supports himself under the consideration of his own and his peoples frailty and vanity unto all generations 13 Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion u Upon Ierusalem or thy Church and People for the time to favour her yea the set time x The end of those 70. Years which thou hast fixed of which see Ier. 25. 12. and 29. 10. Dan. 9. 2. is come 14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof y Thy people value the dust and rubbish of the holy City more than all the Palaces of the Earth and passionately desire that it may be rebuilt 15 So the Heathen shall fear the name of the LORD and all the kings of the earth thy glory z Which was in some sort fulfilled when the rebuilding of the Temple and City of God was carried on and finished through so many and great difficulties and oppositions to the admiration envy and terrour of their Enemies as we read Nehem. 6. 16. Compare Psal. 126. 2. but much more truly and fully in building of the spiritual Ierusalem by Christ unto whom the Gentiles were gathered and the Princes of the World paid their acknowledgments 16 When the LORD shall build up Zion he shall appear in his glory a His glorious power and wisdom and goodness shall be manifested to all the World 17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute b i. e. Of his poor forsaken despised people in Babylon and not despise c i. e. Will accept and answer their prayer 18 This shall be written d This wonderful deliverance shall not be lost nor forgotten but carefully recorded by thy people for the generation to come e For the instruction and incouragement of all succeeding Generations The singular number put for the plural as is ordinary and * Psal. 22. 31. the people which shall be created f Which may be understood either 1. of the Jews which should be restored who were in a manner dead and buried in the grave and meer dry bones Isa. 26. 19. Ezek. 37. and therefore their restauration might well be called a Creation or as it is elsewhere a resurrection Or 2. of the Gentiles who should be converted whose conversion is frequently and might very justly be called a second Creation See 43. 1 7 15. and 65. 18. Eph. 2. 10 15. shall praise the LORD 19 For he hath looked down g To wit upon us not like an idle Spectator but with an eye of pity and relief as the next Verse declares from the height of his sanctuary h From his higher or upper Sanctuary to wit Heaven as the next Clause explains it which is called Gods high and holy place Isa. 57. 15. from Heaven did the LORD behold the earth 20 * Psal. 79. 11. To hear the groaning of the prisoner to loose †Heb. the children of death those that are appointed to death i To release his poor Captives out of Babylon and which is more from the Chains and Fetters of Sin and Satan and from eternal destruction 21 To declare the name of the LORD in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem k That they being delivered might publish and celebrate the name and praises of God in his Church 22 When the people are gathered together and the kingdoms to praise the LORD l When the Gentiles shall gather themselves to the Jews and join with them in the praise and worship of the true God and of the Messias This Verse seems to be added to intimate that although the Psalmist in this Psalm respects the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon yet he had a further design and a principal respect unto that greater and more general deliverance of his Church and People by the Messias 23 He m To wit God to whom he ascribes these Calamities v. 10. to whom therefore he addresseth himself for relief †Heb. afflicted weakned my strength in the way m Either 1. in the midst of our expectations Whilest we are expecting the accomplishment of thy promise either of bringing us out of Babylon or of sending the Messias we faint and one of us perish after another and our hope is like the giving up of the Ghost Or rather 2. in the midst of the course of our lives Which sence is confirmed 1. from the following Clause Which after the manner explains the former he shortned my days as also from the next Verse where he begs relief from God against this misery in these words take me not away in the midst of my days 2. From the use of this word way which is used for the course of a mans life Psal. 2. 12. and which comes to the same thing for the course of a journey as it is opposed to the end of the journey Gen. 24. 27. Exod. 23. 20. and elsewhere the life of man being oft compared to a journeying or travelling and death to his journeys end And the Psalmist here speaks as other sacred Writers do elsewhere and as all sorts of Writers frequently do of the whole Commonwealth as of one man and of its continuance as of the life of one man And so this seems to be the matter of his complaint and humble expostulation with God O Lord thou didst chuse us out of all the World to be thy peculiar people and didst plant us in Ganaan and cause a glorious Temple to be built to thy name to be the onely place of thy publick and solemn worship in the World and didst make great and glorious promises that thine eyes and heart should be upon it perpetually 1 Kings
representation of Gods mercies and judgments he invites all nations to an acknowledgment of the true God to praise him for his favours and to tremble at his judgments which is their just duty and reasonable service 1. O * Psal. 106. 1. 118. 1. and 136. 1. Give thanks unto the LORD for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever a This whole verse occurs also Psal. 106. 1. Only there the address is made to the Israelites and here to all mankind 2. Let the redeemed of the LORD b All they whom God hath redeemed as it is expressed in the next clause or delivered from all the following calamities say so c To wit that the Lord is good c. as it is v. 1. whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy d Of such as had taken them Captives either in Battel or in their Travels to which they were led by their own inclinations or by their necessary occasions 3. And gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north e Bringing them into their own land out of the several quarters of the World into which they had been carrled and †Heb. from the Sea from the south f Heb. from the Sea Which in Scripture commonly notes the West because the great Mid-land Sea was on the West of Canaan but here as it appears from the opposition of this to the North it notes the South so called from the Red-sea which was on the South and which is sometimes called the Sea simply and without addition as Psal. 72. 8. 114. 3. 4. They wandred in the wilderness g Mistaking their way which they might easily do in the vast and sandy desarts of Arabia in a solitary way they found no city to dwell in h Or rather no City or Town inhabited where they might refresh themselves as Travellers used to do for they did not go into the Wilderness to seek for a City or Habitation there but only intended to pass through it as appears by the context and by the nature of the thing 5. Hungry and thirsty their Soul fainted in them i Partly for want of necessary Provisions and partly through anguish of spirit 6. Then they cryed unto the LORD k Heb. Unto Iehovah to the true God For the Heathens of whom he speaks had many of them some knowledge of the true God and did in their manner worship him with and in their Idols and especially in their distresses when they discovered the impotency of their Idols they did direct their Prayers immediately to the true God of which there are many instances of Heathen Writers in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses l In answer to their Prayers which he did not because their Prayers were acceptable to him but partly out of the benignity and compassionateness of his nature to all his creatures partly to encourage and preserve the use of Prayer and Religion among the Gentiles and to oblige them to a more diligent search after the knowledge of the true God and of his Worship and partly to give his own People assurance of his great readiness to hear and answer all those Prayers which with upright hearts they offered to him according to his word 7. And he led them forth m Out of the Wilderness where they had lost their way v. 4. by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation n See before on v. 4. 8. †Heb. let them 〈◊〉 to the LORD his goodness So Gr. Oh that men would praise o Heb. Let them praise Or They shall praise i. e. They are highly obliged to praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men p Not only to his peculiar people but to all mankind to whom he is very kind and bountiful 9. For he satisfieth the longing q Either the thirsty opposed to the hungry here following or the hungry as this general phrase is limited and expounded in the next clause soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness r With the fruits of his goodness with good things Psal. 103. 5. with food and gladness Act. 14. 17. with that good which they wanted and desired 10. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death s In a disconsolate and foâ—…lorn condition in dark prisons or dungeons being bound in affliction and iron t With afflicting or grievous irons Or in the cords of affliction as they are called Iob 36. 8. and particularly in iron fetters 11. Because they rebelled against the words of God u Against Gods commands made known either 1. by his written Word delivered to the Jews of which the Gentiles were not ignorant which therefore they should have diligently inquired after and searched into as the Queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and as divers of the Heathens travelled into very remote parts to gain a more perfect knowledge of the Arts and Sciences which will justly be laid to their charge and condemn them for their neglect of that Divine wisdom which was treasured up in the holy Scriptures Or 2. by the Prophets who some times were sent to the Gentiles Or 3. by the Law and light of Nature and by it's Interpreters their wise and learned Philosophers who delivered many excellent rules and precepts of piety and virtue which were sufficient though not for their salvation without Christ yet for the conduct of their lives in a great measure and to leave them without excuse for their gross disobedience thereunto and contemned the counsel of the most High 12. Therefore he brought down their heart x The pride and rebellion and obstinacy of their hearts with labour y Or with trouble or troubles they fell down and there was none to help z They fell into their enemies hands and into hopeless and remediless miseries 13. Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses 14. * Psal. 68. 6. 146. 7. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and brake their bands in sunder 15. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men 16. For he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder a He restored them to liberty in spight of all impedimen's and oppositions 17. ‖ Psal. 38. 5. Fools b i. e. Wicked men whom he calls fools because of the mischiefs which through their own folly they bring upon themselves †Heb. from the way of because of their transgression c Heb. because of the way of their transgression i. e. their custom and course of sinning as the word way is used Psal. 1. 1. Prov.
enemies but to their children who yet by the Law of God were not to suffer for their parents sins Deut. 24. 16. 1. HOld not thy peace a Do not neglect me but take notice of my extreme danger and misery and deliver me which thou canst do by the speaking of one word O God of my praise b The Author and matter of all my praises who hast given me continual occasion to praise thee whom I have used to praise and will praise whilst I live do not therefore now give me occasion to turn my praises into lamentations 2. For the mouth of the wicked and the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 mouth of the deceitful c Of those who add hypocrisie and perfidiousness to their malice †〈◊〉 have oâ—… themâ—… are opened d They speak freely boldly and publickly without any fear or shame against me they have spoken against me e Or to or with me as this particle commonly signifies with a lying tongue f Either 1. with calumnies or false and malicious reports Or 2. with deep dissimulation and professions of friendship and kindness 3. They compassed me about also with words of hatred g Which though covered with specious pretences proceeded from deep malice and hatred and were designed to work my destruction and fought against me * 〈◊〉 69. 4. without a cause h Without any just provocation given them by me 4. For my love they are my adversaries i They require my love and good will with enmity and mischief as it is explained v. 5. but I give my self unto prayer k Heb. but I prayer i. e. I am a man of prayer or I betake my self to prayer Thus I peace is put for I am for peace as we render it Psal. 120. 7. and thy bread for the men of thy bread or that eat thy bread Obad. v. 7. The sence is whilst they reproach and curse me I pray either 1. for them as he did Psal. 35. 13. or 2. for my self I did not render unto them evil for evil but quietly committed my self and my cause to God by prayer desiring him to plead my cause against them and I had no other refuge 5. And * 〈◊〉 35. 12. 〈◊〉 20. they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love 6. Set thou a wicked man l Heb. the wicked Which may be understood either 1. of some wicked Tyrant which may rule him with rigour and cruelty Or 2. of Satan who is mentioned in the next clause Let him be delivered over to Satan to be acted and ruled by him at his pleasure over him m Either 1. all mine enemies for the Singular number is sometimes used in like manner Or rather 2. one particular enemy who was worse than any of the rest more implacable and inexcusable whom he thought not fit to express by name nor was it in the least necessary to do so because he was speaking to God who knew his thoughts and whom he meant and let * 〈◊〉 3. 1. ‖ 〈◊〉 adver Satan stand at his right hand n Either 1. to molest and vex him and hinder him in all his affairs for the right hand is the great instrument of action Or rather 2. to accuse him for this was the place and posture of accusers in the Jewish Courts And as for his condemnation which is the consequence of this accusation that follows in the next verse 7. When he shall be judged o When he shall be called to an account and his cause examined before thy Tribunal let him †Heb. go out guilty or wicked be condemned and * Prov. 28. 9. let his prayer become sin p i. e. Be turned into sin or be imputed to him as his sin or be as unavailable with God for his relief as his sins When he makes supplication to his Judge as Iob speaks Iob 9. 15. for pity and pardon let him be the more provoked and enraged by it 8. Let his days q The days of his life Let him die an untimely death be few and * Act. 1. 20. let another take his ‖ Or charge office r Made void by his death He also implies that his enemy was a man of power and reputation 9. Let his children be fatherless s Whilst they are but children and so unable to provide for themselves and his wife a widow t Either made a widow by his death or constantly a widow all persons abhorring her who was related to so vile a miscreant 10. Let his children be continually vagabonds u Having no certain place of abode Which is a grievous curse in it self Gen. 4. 12 14. Isa. 16. 2. and beg x This increaseth their misery let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places y Into which they are fled for fear and shame as not daring to shew their faces amongst men 11. Let the extortioner z Or usurer or creditor catch a Heb. Ensnare which is an Emphatical expression i. e. take away not only by oppression and violence but also by cheats and cunning artifices whereby such persons entangle and so ruine their debtors all that he hath and let the stranger b Who hath no right to his goods and will use no pity nor measure in spoiling him spoil his labour c All the fruits of his labours 12. Let there be none to * Psal. 34. 10. extend mercy unto him neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children d Let him and his be unpitied and hated as the publick enemies of mankind 13. * Job 18. 19. Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following e Heb. in another generation either in the third generation or in the second or that which next followed the generation of his fathers So in this clause he limits the time of that destruction which he imprecates or foretells in the former let their name be blotted out 14. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembred f Against him or punished in him as God hath threatned to deal with great delinquents Exod. 20. 5. with the LORD and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out 15. Let them g The sins of his parents last mentioned be before the LORD h In Gods sight and memory to provoke God to punish him let them not be covered or pardoned continually that he may * Job 18. 17. Psal. 34. 16. cut off the memory of them from the earth 16. Because that he remembred not i His duty to God and his obligation to me for my former kindness expressed v. 4 5. to shew mercy but persecuted the poor and needy man k My self who was desolate and miserable whose condition required pity and not additions of cruelty that he might even sâ—…ay the broken in heart
that time when multitudes were made Christs willing people by the preaching of the Apostles as we read Acts 2. 3. 4. 5 c. And for the second clause it is to be understood thus thou hast or as it is in the Hebrew to thee is the dew of thy youth or of thy childhood for the word jeled from which this is derived signifies sometimes a young man and sometimes a child or infant By youth or childhood he here seems to understand those young men or children which shall be born to the Messias who are called his children Heb. 2. 13. and his seed Isa. 53. 10. wherein possibly there might be an allusion to this dew Thus the abstract is here put for the concrete which is very frequent in the Hebrew Tongue as Circumcision and Uncircumcision are put for the circumcised and the uncircumcised c. And even in the Latine Tongue this very word youth is oft used for a young man or for a company of young men By the dew of youth he means youth or young men like dew the note of similitude being oft understood And this progeny of Christ is compared to the dew partly because of their great multitude being like drops of dew innumerable and covering the whole face of the earth see 2 Sam. 17. 12. and partly because of the strange manner of their generation which like that of the dew is done suddenly and secretly and not perceived till it be accomplished and to the admiration of those that behold it of which see Isa. 49. 21. Or 2. joyntly as one entire sentence The dew of thy youth i. e. Thy posterity which is like the dew as was noted and explained before is as the dew which may very well be understood out of the foregoing clause as the word feet is understood in like manner Psal. 18. 33. He maketh my feet like hinds feet of or from the womb of the morning it is like the morning dew as it is called both in Scripture as Hos. 6. 4. and in other Authors Not is it strange that a womb is ascribed to the morning seeing we read of the womb of the Sea and of the womb of the â—…oe and frost Job 38. 8 28 29. 4 The LORD hath sworn t Which he did not in the Aaronical Priesthood Heb. 7. 21. but did it here partly because the thing was new and strange and might seem incredible because God had already erected another and that an everlasting Priesthood Numb 25. 13. and given it to Aaron and his posterity for ever and therefore this needed all possible assurance and partly that this Priesthood might be established upon better promises as is said Heb. 8. 6. and made sure and irrevocable and such that God neither could nor would repent of it as it follows and therefore will not repent * Heb. 5. 6. 7. 17 21. Thou art u To wit by my order and constitution thou shalt be so and I do hereby make thee so a priest x As well as a King Those Offices which were divided before between two families are both united and invested in thee both being absolutely necessary for the discharge of thine Office and for the establishment of thy Kingdom which is of another kind than the Kingdoms of the World spiritual and heavenly and therefore needs such a King as is also a Minister of holy things This word plainly discovers that this Psalm cannot be understood of David as some of the Jews would have it but onely of the Messias And although this word Cohen be sometimes used of a Prince or great Person in the State as the Jews object yet it cannot be so understood here partly because it signifies a Priest in Gen. 14. 18. from whence this expression is borrowed partly because that word is never used of a Soveraign Prince or King such as the Jews confess the Messias to be but onely of inferiour Princes or Ministers of State as Gen. 41. 45. 2 Sam. 8. ult partly because such an inconsiderable assertion would never have been ushered in by so solemn an oath especially after far greater things had been said of him in the same kind v. 1 2 3. and partly because the Messias is called a Priest Zach. 6. 13. compare Ier. 20. 21. 35. 15 18. for ever y Not to be interrupted or translated to another person as the Priesthood of Aaron was upon the death of the Priest but to be continued to thee for ever after the order of Melchizedek z Or after the manner c. so as he was a Priest and also a King and both without any successor and without end in the sence intended Heb. 7. 3. 5 The Lord a Either 1. God the Father whose words and oath he last mentioned v. 4. So this is an Apostrophe of the Psalmist to Christ Thy God and Father is at thy right hand to wit to defend and assist thee as that phrase is used Psal. 16. 8. 109. 31. and elsewhere See the Notes on v. 1. And he to wit God the Father shall strike c. as it follows Although this latter clause may belong to the Messias and as in the former he spake to him so in this he speaketh of him such changes of persons being very frequent in this Book Or 2. God the Son or the Lord who is at thy right hand as was said before v. 1. shall strike c. So this is an Apostrophe to God the Father concerning his Son This seems best to agree with the following verses for it is evident that it is the same person who strikes thorow Kings and judgeth among the heathen and filleth c. And so this whole verse and those which follow speak of one person which seems most probable at thy right hand shall strike thorow kings b Shall mortally wound and destroy all those Kings and Potentates who are obstinate enemies to him and to his Church in the day of his wrath c In the day of battel when he shall contend with them and pour forth the flouds of his wrath upon them 6 He shall judge d Either 1. conquer and govern them or rather 2. condemn and punish them as it is explained in the following clauses and as this word is used Gen. 15. 14. Rom. 2. 1 2. 1 Pet. 4. 6. and elsewhere among the heathen he shall fill the places d Or the place of battel which is necessarily supposed in the fight and therefore may very well be understood with the dead bodies e Of his enemies slain by his hand and lying in the field in great numbers and heaps and that unburied to their greater infamy he shall wound the heads f Heb. the head Which may be understood either 1. of some one person and eminent adversary of Christ and of his Kingdom either the Devil by comparing this with Gen. 3. 15. Heb. 2. 14. who was indeed the Head or
womb is his reward o Not a reward of debt merited by good men but a reward of grace of which we read Rom. 4. 4. which God gives them graciously as Iacob acknowledgeth of his children Gen. 33. 5. And although God give children and other outward comforts to ungodly men in the way of common providence yet he gives them onely to his people as favours and in the way of promise and covenant 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man p When they are shot out of a bow by a man of great strength against his enemy which are of great use and power both to offend the enemy and to defend himself so are children of the youth q Children begotten in youth as an husband or wife married in their youth are called an husband or wife of youth Prov. 5. 18. Isa. 54. 6. Ioel. 1. 8. and as a son begotten in old age is called a son of old age Gen. 37. 3. And these he prefers before other children in this point partly because such are commonly more strong and vigorous than others and partly because they live longest with their parents and to their comfort and support whereas children born in old age seldom come to any maturity of years before their parents death 5 Happy is the man that †Heb. hath filled his quiver with them hath his quiver full of them r Who hath a numerous issue which as it is a great blessing in it self so Solomons want of it made it more valuable in his eyes they shall not be ashamed s Such parents fear not the reproach of barrenness which was grievous especially among the Jews of which see Luke 1. 25. nor any other shame from their enemies but they ‖ Or shall subdâ—… as Psal. 18. 47. or destroy shall speak with the enemies in the gate t They shall couragiously plead their cause in Courts of Judicature which were in the gates Deut. 21. 19. 25. 7. not fearing to be crushed by the might of their adversaries as weak and helpless persons frequently are PSAL. CXXVIII A song of degrees This Psalm contains a description of the blessedness of good men 1 BLessed is every one that feareth the LORD that walketh in his ways 2 * Isai. 3. 10. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands a Thy labour shall not be vain and fruitless and the fruit of thy labours shall not be taken away from thee and possessed by others as God threatned to the disobedient Deut. 28. but enjoyed by thy self with comfort and satisfaction happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee b Both in this world and in the world to come as even the Chaldee Paraphrast explains these words 3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine c Like the vine for fruitfulness or like that sort of vines known by this name for its eminent fruitfulness as some trees amongst us are for the same reason called the great bearers by the sides of thine house d Where the vines are commonly planted for support and other advantages Which being applied to the wife may signifie either 1. the wife's duty to abide at home Tit. 2. 5. as the harlot is deciphered by her gadding abroad Prov. 7. 11 12. or rather 2. the legitimateness of the children which are begotten at home by the husband and not abroad by strangers thy children like olive-plants e Numerous growing and flourishing good both for ornament and manifold uses as Olive-trees are round about thy table f Where they shall sit at meat with thee for thy comfort and safety 4 Behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD 5 The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion g From the Ark in Zion and with those spiritual and everlasting blessings which are to be had no where but in Zion and from the God who dwelleth in Zion and with all other mercies which thou shalt ask of God in Zion and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem h The prosperity of that City to which thou belongest and which is the onely seat of Gods special presence and of his Worship whose felicity therefore is very delightful to every good man and upon whose peace the peace and safety of every member of it depends as every seaman is concerned in the safety of the ship in which he is all the days of thy life 6 Yea thou shalt see thy childrens children and * Psal. 125. 5. peace upon Israel i Not onely upon Ierusalem and the parts adjacent but upon all the Tribes and people of Israel PSAL. CXXIX A song of degrees This Psalm contains a joyful and thankful remembrance of the Churches former and manifold calamities from barbarous enemies and of Gods wonderful mercy in delivering them out of their hands 1 ‖ Or much MAny a time have they a Mine enemies or oppressors which is easily understood both from the nature of the thing and from v. 3. where they are expressed under the name of plowers afflicted me from my youth b From the time that I was a people when I was in Egypt and came out of it which is called the time of Israels youth Ier. 2. 2. Ezek. 23. 3. may * Psal. 124. 1. Israel now say 2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevailed against me 3 The plowers plowed upon my back c They have not onely thrown me down and trod me under foot but have cruelly tormented me wounded and mangled me and had no more pity upon me than the plowman hath upon the earth which he cuts up at his pleasure He saith upon my back either because they did literally scourge the Captives upon their backs with such cords as are mentioned v. 4. although we do not read that the Israelitish Captives were thus used by any of their enemies or by way of allusion to that usage which made a sort of furrows in their backs upon which they used to lay on their strokes they made long their furrows d They oft repeated their injuries and prolonged my torments 4 The LORD is righteous e Faithful or merciful as that word is frequently used he hath cut asunder the * Psal. 140. 5. cords f Wherewith the plow was drawn by which means they were stopped in their course So he persists in the same Metaphor of a plough By these cords he understands all their plots and endeavours of the wicked 5 Let them all be confounded and turned back g Forced to retreat with shame and disappointment that hate Zion 6 Let them be as the grass upon the house-tops h Which there were flat and therefore more capable of grass or green corn growing between the stones than ours are which withereth afore it groweth up i Which having no deep root never comes to maturity
over them before they are aware of it and they enjoy their present comforts without perplexing themselves about former or future events of his life because God answereth him s Answereth either 1. his labours with success as Money is said to answer all things Eccles. 10. 19. because it is equivalent to all and able to purchase all things Or 2. his desires in the joy of his heart t In giving him that solid joy and comfort of his labours which his Heart expected and desired CHAP. VI. 1 THere is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is common among men 2 A man to whom God hath given riches and wealth a All sorts of Riches as Gold and Silver Cattle and Lands c. and honour * Job 21. 10. Ps. 17. 14. 73. 7. so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth b Which he doth or can reasonably desire yet God giveth him not power to eat c Either because they are suddenly taken away from him by the Hand and Curse of God and given to others or because God gives him up to a base and covetous mind which is both a sâ—…n and a plague thereof d i. e. Any considerable part of it whereas the Stranger eateth not thereof but it i. e. all of it devoureth it all in an instant but a stranger eateth it this is vanity and it is an evil disease 3 If a man beget an hundred Children e i. e. Very many Children to whom he intends to leave his Estate and live many years f Which is the chief thing that he desires and which giveth him opportunity of increasing his Estate vastly so that the days g He saith days because the Years of mens life are but few of his years be many and his soul be not filled with good h Hath not a contented mind and comfortable enjoyment of his Estate whilst he lives and * Isa. 14. 19 20. Jer. 22. 19. also that he have no burial i And if after his Death he hath either none or a mean and dishonourable Burial because his â—…ordid and covetous carriage made him hateful and contemptible to all Persons his Children and Heirs not excepted and he was by all sorts of men thought unworthy of any testimonies of Honour either in his Life or after his Death Thus he describes a Man who lives miserably and dies ignominiously I say that an * Job 3. 16. Ps. 58. 8. untimely birth k Which as it never enjoyed the comforts so it never felt the calamities of this life which are far more considerable than its comforts at least to a Man that denied himself the comforts and plunged himself into the toils and vexations of this life is better than he 4 For l Or rather Although as this Particle is frequently rendred For â—…is Verse seems to contain not so much a reason of what he lasâ—… that an untimely Birth is better than he as an answer to an excepâ—… which might be made against it Although all that is here said be true of the Abortive yet it is better than he he m Either 1. the covetous Man Or rather 2. the Abortive of whom alone and not of the former that passage is true He hath not seen the Sun v. 5 cometh in n Into the World this word being oft put for a Man's being Born as Iob 1. 21. Eccles. 5. 15. with vanity o Or in vain to no purpose without any comfort or benefit by it which also is in a great measure the case of the covetous wretch and departeth in darkness p Dieth obscurely without any Observation or regard of men and his name shall be covered with darkness q Shall be speedily and utterly forgotten whereas the Name of such wicked men shall rot and be remembred to their shame 5 Moreover he hath not seen the sun r He never beheld the light and therefore it is not grievous to him to want it whereas the covetous Man saw that light was very pleasant and therefore the loss of it was irksom to him nor known any thing s Hath had no knowledge sense or experience of any thing whether good or evil this hath more rest t Because he is perfectly free from all those incumbrances and vexations to which the covetous Man is long exposed than the other 6 Yea though he live a thousand years twice told u Wherein he seems to have a priviledge above an untimely Birth yet hath he seen no good x He hath enjoyed little or no comfort in it and therefore long life is rather a curse and mischief than a blessing or advantage to him do not all y Whether Born out of and before their time or in due time whether their lives be long or short go to one place z To the Grave And so after a little time all are alike as to this life of which he here speaks and as to the other life his condition is infinitely worse than that of an untimely birth 7 * Pro. 16. 26. All the labour of man is for his mouth a For Meat to put into his Mouth that he may get food and a Bread is oft put for all food so food is put for all necessary Provisions for this life as Prov. 30. 8. and elsewhere whereof this is the chief for which a Man will sell his House and Lands yea the very Garments upon his back and yet the †Heb. Soul appetite is not filled b Although all that a Man can get by his labours is but necessary fâ—…od which the meanest sort of men commonly enjoy as is observed in the next Verse yet such is the vanity of this World and the folly of Mankind that men are insatiable in their desires and restless in their endeavours after more and more and never say they have enough 8 For what hath the wise more than the fool c To wit in these matters Both are equally subject to the same calamities and partakers of the same comforts of this Life what hath the poor that knoweth to walk before the living d To wit before the poor that doth not know this Which words are easily understood by comparing this clause with the former And such defects are usual both in Scripture and other Authors as hath been formerly noted by a Figure which the Learned call Anantapodoton And by this Phrase that knoweth c. he means such a poor Man who is ingenious and industrious who is fit for service and business and knows how to carry himself towards rich men so as to deserve and gain their favour and to procure a livelihood 9 Better is the sight of the eyes e i. e. The comfortable enjoyment of what a man hath for seeing is oft put for enjoying as Psal. 34. 12. Eccles. 2. 1. 3. 13. c.
in a peculiar manner being chosen by me and consecrated to my Use and Service and inâ—…bited by 〈◊〉 People and upon my mountains g In my Mountainous Country for such 〈◊〉 was Deut. 8. 9. Psal. 133. 3. Ezek. 6. 2 3. 39. 2 â—… 17. especially about Ierusalem Psal. 125. 2. upon some of which probably his Army was lodged tread him under feet then shall his yoke depart from off them and his burden depart from off their shoulders h Which Words are â—…peated from Isa. 10. 27. where they are explained 26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth i Upon this vast Empire now in the hands of the â—…rians and shortly to come into the hands of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole earth is put Synechdochically for a great part of it and this is the hand k The Providence of God executing his purpose that is stretched out upon all the nations 27 For the LORD of hosts hath * â—… Châ—… â—… 6. Jâ—…b 9. 12 2â—… 1â—… Psal. 33. 11. Irov 19. 21. 21. 30. Chap. 43. 13. Dan. 4. 31 32 35. purposed and who shall disanul it and his hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back 28 In the year that * 2 Kâ—… 16. 20. king Ahaz died was this burden l This following burdensom Prophecy 〈◊〉 the Philistins who in Ahaz his time made an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and took divers of their Cities and Villages 2 Chron. â—… â—… 29 Rejoyce not thou whole Palestina because the rod of m Most understand this of Uzziah who did then much mischief 2 Chron. 26. 6. But he was dead Thirty two years before this time and therefore their Joy for his Death was long since past Others understand it of Ahaz But he was so far from smiting them that he was smitten by them as was noted on v. 27. It seems better to understand it more generally of the Royal Race or soregoing Kings of Iudah who had been a terrible Scourge to them whose Rod might be said to be broken because that Scepter was come into the hands of slothful and degenerate Princes such as Ahaz was who had been lately broken by the Philistins and who probably was alive when this Prophecy was delivered because he here speaks of Hezekiah not as a present but as a future King It is said indeed that this burden was in the year that Ahaz died But so it might be though it was before his Death him that smote thee is broken for out of the serpents root shall come forth a ‖ Or addâ—…r cockatrice and his fruit shall be a fiery slying serpent n From the Root and Race of David shall come Hezekiah who like a Serpent shall sting thee to death as he did 2 Kings 18. 8. 30 And the first born of the poor o The People of the Jews who are brought to extreme Poverty by thy Cruelty and the Malice of other Enemies The First-born were the chief of all the Children Hence the Title of first-born is given to Persons or Things which are most eminent in their Kind as to the People of Israel Exod. 4. 22. to David Psal. 89. 27. to a grievous Death Iob 18. 13. and here to Persons eminently poor shall feed p Shall have plenty of Provisions in spight of all thine Attempts against them and the needy shall lie down in safety and I will kill thy root q I will utterly destroy thee both Root and Branch so that there shall not be a Remnant of thy People reserved as it follows It is a Metaphor from a Tree which for want of Nourishment is dried up by the Roots with famin and he shall slay thy remnant 31 Howl O gate r The gate is put either 1. Metaphorically for the People passing through the Gates or for the Magistrates and others who used to meet in the Gate for Judgment or upon other Occasions or 2. Synechdochically for the City as gates are commonly put as Ier. 22. 19. and as it is explained in the next Words cry O city s City is here put collectively for their Cities of which see 1 Sam. 6. 17. thou whole Palestina art dissolved t Heb. melted Which may be understood either 1 of the fainting of their Spirits and Courage as Exod. 15. 15. Iâ—…s 2. 9 24 c. or 2. of the Dissolution of their State for there shall come from the North u Either 1. from Iudea which lay Northward from some part of the Philistins Land But in truth Iudea lay more East than North from Iudah and therefore the Phâ—… are said to be on the west Isa. 11. 14. and never so far as I remember on the North Or 2. from Chaldaea as may be gathered 1. from the Scripture use of this Phrase which generally designs that Country as Ier. 1. 14 15. 6. 1 22. c. 2. from Ier. 47. where Destruction is threatned to the Philistins from the North v. 2. which all understand of the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar And whereas it is speciously objected That this suits not with the next Verse which speaks of Zions Safety at the time of this Destruction of the Philistins whereas Zion and the Land and People of Iudah were destroyed together with the Philistins by Nebuchadnezzar I humbly conceive it may be answered That that Verse is added to express the far-differing Condition of God's People and of the Philistins in the Events of that Babylonian War and that whereas the Philistins should be irrecoverably and eternally destroyed thereby and no Remnant of them should be left as was said v. 30. God's People though they should be sorely scourged and carried into Captivity yet they should be strangely preserved and after some years delivered and restored to their own Land and Temple whereby it would appear that Zion stood upon a sure Foundation and albeit it was grievously shaken yet it could not be utterly and finally overthrown a smoke x A grievous Judgment and Calamity which is oft signified by smoke as Gen. 15. 17. Deut. 29. 20. Iâ—…el 2. 30. either because Smoke is generally accompanied with Fire or because it causeth a great Darkness in the Air for Afflictions are frequently described under the names of fire and darkness and ‖ Or he shall not be alone none shall be alone in his ‖ Or assemblies appointed times y When God's appointed time shall come for the execution of this Judgment not one Person of all that numerous Army which is signified by the smoke last mentioned shall retire and desert his Colours or lag behind the rest But they shall march with great unanimity and alacrity and none of them shall withdraw his hand till the Work be finished till the Philistins be utterly destroyed 32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation z What shall a Jew say to the People of other Nations who shall either be
and 14. 13. is not yet full l All mens sins are kept by God as in a book of remembrance not one of them is lost and as God exactly observes the number and measure of mens sins so he determines within himself how far and how long he will bear with sinful Men or Nations and what shall be the period of his patience and when that comes their measure is full and their destruction infallibly comes See Ier. 51. 13. Mat. 23. 32. 1 Thess. 2. 16. 17. And it came to pass that when the Sun went down and it was dark behold a smoaking furnace and a †Heb. a lamp of fire burning lamp m By which symbol God designed to represent either 1. The future state of Abram's seed the smoaking furnace signifying Israel's misery in the iron furnace of Egypt as it is called Ier. 11. 4. and the burning Lamp noting their deliverance or light shining out of darkness Or 2. His own presence for God is called a consuming fire Heb. 12. last and both smoak and fire are elsewhere mentioned as the signs and means of God's appearance See Exod. 3. 2. and 19. 9 16 18. and 20. 18. And this sense seems to be favoured by the following words it being the custom of persons entring into covenant to pass between such pieces as hath been said and because God hath no body which could visibly do so therefore he doth it in this type or shadow that passed between those pieces 18. In that same day the LORD †Heb. cut * Cap. 24. 7. made a covenant with Abram saying * Chap. 12. 7. and 13. 15. and 26. 4. Exo. 23. 31. Numb 34. 3. Deut. 1. 7. and 11. 24. and 34. 4. Josh. 1. 4. 2 Chro. 9. 26. Neh. 9. 8. Isa. 27. 12. Unto thy seed have I given n i. e. Decreed and promised in due time to give which makes it as sure as if it were actually given to them Or I will give words of the past time being oft put for the future especially in Prophecies this Land from the river of Egypt o Not Nilus which elsewhere is so called but a less River as is sufficiently implyed because this is opposed to the great River here following but a River called Sihor which divides Egypt from Canaan See Numb 34. 5. Ios. 13. 3. 1 Chron. 13. 5. unto the great river the river Euphrates p The accomplishment hereof see 2 Sam. 8. 3. 1 King 4. 21. and 9. 21. 19. The Kenites q Supposed the same with the Midianites by comparing Exod. 3. 1. with Iudg. 1. 16. See also Numb 24. 21. 1 Sam. 15. 6. and the Kenizzites r Thought to be the Idumaeans who sprung from Kenaz of Esau's race But this seems not to agree with Deut. 2. 5. where God expresly saith to the Israelites concerning the Idumaeans I will give you none of their land c. and the Kadmonites s i. e. The Eastern people as the word signifies elsewhere called the Hivites Ios. 9. 1. who lived near the Mount Hermon Ios. 11. 3. which was in the East part of Canaan See Psal. 89. 12. 20. And the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaims 21. And the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the Jebusites CHAP. XVI 1. NOW Sarai Abrams wife bare him no children and she had an handmaid an Egyptian whose name was * Gal. 4. 24. Hagar 2. And Sarai said unto Abram Behold now the LORD hath restrained me from bearing I pray thee go in unto my maid it may be that I may †Heb. be builded by her obtain children by her a She reckons the children of her bond-woman as Hagar was Gal. 4. 22. would be accounted her children See Gen. 30. 3. Exod. 21. 4. 2 Sam. 21. 8. Esth. 2. 7. and Abram hearkned to the voice of Sarai b Supposing that God would accomplish his promise of a seed to come out of his loyns by this way and knowing that Sarai was not yet mentioned in the promise as the person by whom he should have that seed and not consulting with God which he should have done 3. And Sarai Abrams wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife c i. e. His Concubine or secundary Wife Polygamy though it was forbidden by God's first institution Gen. 2. 24. compared with Mat. 19. 5. and brought into the World by wicked Lamech yet it was sometimes practised by the Patriarchs either by God's permission who could rightly dispence with his own laws when and where he pleased or by their mistake about the lawfulness of it As for the present case it is most evident this action was not the effect of an inordinate lust but of an earnest desire of having children and especially of obtaining the blessed and promised seed 4. And he went in unto Hagar and she conceived and when she saw that she had conceived her mistress was despised in her eyes d For barrenness in it self was a reproach and especially to Sarai who seemed to be a person rejected by God as one whom he would not honour with being the mother of that seed and Hagar being suddenly made Sarai's partner in the priviledge of Abram's bed and superior to her in respect of that great blessing of child-bearing it is no wonder if she grew insolent upon it especially being advanced so highly from so low a condition 5. And Sarai said unto Abram My wrong be upon thee e i. e. The injury done to me by Hagar who thus wickedly requites my kindness to her be upon thee i. e. is to be imputed to thee thou art the cause of it because thou dost not maintain my reputation and repress her arrogancy I have given my maid into thy bosom and when she saw that she had conceived I was despised in her eyes the LORD judge between me and thee f i. e. give forth a righteous sentence between us and deal with each of us according to our guilt or innocency in this matter Compare 1 Sam. 24. 13 16. 6. But Abram said unto Sarai Behold thy maid is in thine hand g i. e. Subject to thy Power and Authority as the phrase is taken Gen. 24. 10. and 39. 4 6. 8. Num. 31. 49. For though she be my Concubine yet she is thy inferiour and therefore if she exalt her self above her measure I give thee power to exercise thy Authority over her But whether this was not one of Abram's infirmities to give up his second wife into the hands of the first may well be questioned do to her †Heb. that which is good in thine eyes as it pleaseth thee h Use whatsoever power God hath given thee over her for we must not think that Abram gave her power of Life and Death over her especially now
when she was with child Therefore here as often elsewhere the general words must be limited from the nature of the thing and from other texts of Scripture which forbid cruelty even to our servants 2. Either by imposing labours upon her above her strength or by grievous stripes which she could not bear And when Sarai †Heb. afflicted her dealt hardly with her i she fled from her face k Contrary to God's Command Eccles. 10. 4. and to the laws of justice because both her person and the fruit of her body were not her own but Abram's right and possession 7. And the Angel of the LORD l The Son of God who oft appeared in man's shape before he took man's nature who is called an Angel or Messenger because he was the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3. 1. and was sent upon divers messages to men in the Old Testament and at last was to be sent in the flesh as God's great Embassadour or Messenger of peace and reconciliation found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness by the fountain in the way to Shur m A place near Egypt Gen. 25. 18. 1 Sam. 15. 7. being her native Countrey Exod. 15. 22. 8. And he said Hagar Sarai's maid n By which Title he admonisheth her that though she was Abram's wife yet she was Sarai's maid to whom she owed subjection and service from which she could not lawfully withdraw her self whence camest thou And whither wilt thou go o Consider with thy self what thou art doing what a sad exchange thou art making Thou forsakest not only an excellent Master and Husband but also me and my worship which thou wilst not find in any other Family and so castest thy self out of the true Church and art running headlong into a place of all Idolatry and impiety to thy utter undoing and this meerly through pride and impatience and she said I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai 9. And the Angel of the LORD said unto her Return to thy mistress and submit thy self under her hands 10. And the Angel of the LORD said unto her I will multiply thy seed exceedingly that it shall not be numbred for multitude 11. And the Angel of the LORD said unto her Behold thou art with child and shalt bear a son and shalt call his name ‖ That is God shall hear Ishmael because the LORD hath heard thy affliction * Hath heard thy cry in thy affliction 12. And he will be a wild man p Heb. A wild ass-man i. e. a man like a wild ass fierce and untamed and unsetled in his habitation or as that creature is Iob 39. 5 8. Ier. 2. 24. Hos. 8. 9. living in desarts and mountains warlike and violent exercising himself continually in hunting beasts and oppressing men See Gen. 21. 20. his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him q He will provoke and injure all that converse with him and thereby will multiply his enemies which is to be understood not only of him but also of his posterity * Chap. 25. 18. and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren r In the borders of the other sons and kindred of Abram and Isaac who though they shall be vexed and annoyed with his neighbourhood yet shall not be able to make him quit his habitation See Gen. 25. 18. 13. And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her †Heb. Elroi thou art a God that seest me Thou God seest me s Thou hast been pleased to take notice and care of me and graciously to manifest thy self unto me for she said Have I also here looked after him that seeth me t i. e. After that God whose eye is upon me for good So she chides her self for her neglect of God and of his providence and that not only in her master's house but even here in the Wilderness where her desolate and miserable condition should have made her look after and call upon God for help Or rather these are words of admiration q. d. Have I also here i. e. in this desolate wilderness looked after him that seeth me i. e. seen the face of my gracious God That God should appear to me in my masters house where he used to manifest himself was not strange but that I should have such a favour here that God should not only look upon me but admit me to look upon him and vivisibly appear to me after I had run away from him and from my godly master this was more than I could hope or expect Others thus Have I here seen after him that sees me i. e. after the vision of him that hath appeared to me i. e. Do I yet see and live after I have seen God She wonders at it because it was then the common Opinion that an appearance of God to any person was a fore-runner of Death See Gen. 32. 30. Exod. 33. 20. Iud. 6. 22. and 13. 22. And seeing is here put for living one function of life for life it self as Exod. 24. 11. Eccles. 11. 7 8. But the word seeing put by its self as here it is is neither in those places nor elsewhere used for living And had that been her meaning she would have expressed it plainly as they do in the places alleadged and not have used so dark and dubious a metaphor nor would have said after him that sees me but rather after I have seen him 14. Wherefore the well was called * Chap. 24. 62 ‖ That is the well of him that liveth and seeth me Beer-lahai-roi u This name may have respect either 1. To God The well of him that liveth i. e. of the true and living God and seeth me i. e. taketh care of me Or 2. To Hagar The well of her that liveth i. e. who though she gave up her self for dead and lost yet now is likely to live both in her person and in her posterity and seeth or did see namely God present with her behold it is between Cadesh and Bered 15. And Hagar bare Abram a Son ‖ To wit after her return and submission to her Mistress which is evident from the following History and Abram called his sons name which Hagar bare Ishmael 16. And Abram was fourscore and six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram CHAP. XVII 1. AND when Abram was ninety years old and nine the LORD appeared to Abram and said unto him I am the ‖ Or All-sufficient Almighty God a Who can do all that I have promised or shall promise to thee and whatsoever pleaseth me and therefore do thou firmly believe all my words * Chap. 5. 22. walk before me b As becomes one in the presence of thy Lord and Judge and Rewarder being careful to please and obey me in all things and depending upon me for thy well-doing and well-being See
4 Surely * Mat. 8. 1â—… he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows m And whereas it may seem an unreasonable and incredible thing that so excellent and glorious so innocent and just a person should meet with this usage it must be known that his griefs and miseries were not laid upon him for his own sake but wholly and solely for the sake of sinful men in whose stead he stood and for whose sins he suffered as it here follows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted n Yet our people the Jews were so far from giving him the Glory and Praise of such a prodigious condescension and compassion that they made a most perverse construction of it and so great was their prejudice against him that they believed that he was thus disgraced and punished and at last put to death by the just judgment of God for his Blasphemy and other manifold Wickednesses 5 But o But this was a most false and unrighteous Sentence he was ‖ Or tormented * Rom. 4. 25. 1 Cor. 15. 3. wounded p Which word comprehends all his pains and punishments and his Death among and above the rest for our transgressions q Not by them which is expressed by another particle not by the wickedness of the Jews but for or because of them as this particle commonly signifies for the guilt of their sins which he had voluntarily taken upon himself and for the Expiation of their sins which was hereby purchased and procured of God for Men. Which Interpretation is confirmed 1. By the opposition of this truth to the false opinion mentioned in the foregoing clause that he was smitten of God for the guilt of his own sins 2. By the following clause as we shall see 3. By the nature of the thing this being evident from Scriptures both of the old and new Testament that Christ was not to suffer for his own but for other mens sins See Dan. 9. 24 26. he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace r Those punishments by which our Peace i. e. our reconciliation to God and Salvation or Happiness was to be purchased was upon him s Was laid upon him by Gods justice with his own consent and with his * 1 Pet. 2. 24. †Heb. bruise stripes we are healed t By his sufferings we are saved from our sins and from the dreadful effects thereof 6 All we t All mankind the Jews no less than the Gentiles like sheep u Which are simple and foolish Creatures and exceeding apt to straggle and lose themselves have gone a stray x From God and from the way of his Precepts in which he put our first Parents and in which he commanded us to walk we have turned every one to his own way y In general to the way and course of sin which may well be called a mans own way as sins are called mens own Lusts Jam. 1. 14. 2 Pet. 3. 3. and elsewhere because sin is natural to us inherent in us born with us and very dear to us and in particular to those several paths of divers Lusts which several men chuse and follow according to their differing Opinions Inclinations Occasions and Circumstances and the LORD †Heb. hath made the iniquities of us all to meet on him hath laid z Heb. hath made to meet as all the Rivers meet in the Sea on him the iniquity a Not properly for so he knew no sin 2 Cor. 5. 21. but the punishment of iniquity as that word is most frequently used as Gen. 4. 13. Lev. 20. 17 c. That which was due for all the sins of all his people whether Jews or Gentiles which must needs be so great and heavy a load that if he had not been God as well as Man he must have sunk under the burden of them This was actually verified in Christ. And both this and divers other passages here do as manifestly and fully point at Christ as if they were not a prophetical Representation of things to come but an historical Relation of them after they were done Nor do I see how they can be excused from a fearful wresting of the Scripture that expound these places of the Prophet Ieremiah or any other person but Christ. of us all 7 He was oppressed and he was afflicted b He was sorely punished for our sins But there is another Translation which seems to be more emphatical and more agreeable to the Hebrew Text It to wit our iniquity last mentioned or the punishment of all our sins was exacted or required as this word most properly and frequently signifies of which see my Latin Synopsis Gods Justice expected and required satisfaction from us for our sins which alas we could not make to him and he was afflicted or punished he bore the guilt and punishment of our sins in his Body upon the tree as is said 1 Pet. 2. 24. or as others render this last word and he answered i. e. became our surety or undertook to pay the debt and to suffer the Law in our stead and for our sake yet * Mat. 26. 63. 27. 12 14. Mar. 14. 61. 15. 5. Act. 8. 32. he opened not his mouth c He neither murmured against God for causing him to suffer for other mens sins nor reviled men for punishing him without cause nor used Apologies or endeavours to save his own Life but willingly and patiently accepted of the punishment of our Iniquity he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb d Bears the loss of its fleece or Life without any such clamour or resistance as other Creatures use in such cases so he openeth not his mouth 8 ‖ Or he was taken away by distress and judgment but c. He was taken from prison and from judgment e and who shall declare f Who can declare it The future being taken potentially as it is frequently no words can sufficiently express it his generation g Either 1. His Age or the continuance of his Life So the sense is That he shall not only be delivered from death and all his punishments but also shall be restored to an inexpressible or endless Life and to an everlasting Kingdom Thus great Interpreters understand it with whom I cannot comply because I do not find this Hebrew word to be ever used in Scripture of the continuance of one mans Life Or rather 2. His Posterity and so this word is unquestionably used Gen. 15. 16. Exod. 20. 5. Deut. 23. 2 3 8. and in many other places And so the sense of the place is this That Christs death shall not be unfruitful and that when he is raised from the dead he shall have a spiritual seed as is promised v. 10. a numberless multitude of those who shall believe in
him and be regenerated and adopted by him into the number of his Children and of the Children of God Ioh. 1. 12. Heb. 2. 10 13 14. for he was cut off h To wit by a violent death And this may be added as a reason both of his exaltation and of the blessing of a numerous posterity conferred upon him because he was willing to be cut off for the transgression of his People and as it followeth v. 10. made his soul an offering for sin Christs death being elsewhere declared to be the only way and necessary means of obtaining both these ends Luk. 24. 26 46. Ioh 12. 24 32 33. Philip. 2. 8 9. But these words may be rendred although he was cut off to fignifie that his death should not hinder these glorious effects out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people †Heb. was the stroke upon him was he stricken i This is repeated again as it was fit it should be to prevent mens mistakes about and stumbling at the death of Christ and to assure them that Christ did not die for his own sins but only for the sins and salvation of his People â—… These words are understood either 1. Of Christs Humiliation or Suffering and then the words are to be thus rendred He was taken away to wit out of this Life as this word is used Psal. 31. 13. Prov. 1. 19. and elsewhere he was put to death by distress or violence or tyranny as this word is used with this Preposition before it Psal. 107. 39. and judgment by oppression and violence under a form and pretence of Justice Or rather 2. Of Christs Exaltation because of the following clause which is not unseasonably mentioned in the midst of his Sufferings to take off the scandal which might have arisen from Christs Sufferings if there had not been a prospect and assurance of his victoriousness over them and his Glory after them and so the words may be rendered He was taken up or taken away freed or delivered from prison i. e. from the Grave which being called an house Job 30. 23. and a pit in which men are shut up Psal. 69. 15. may fitly be called a prison or from distress or affliction or oppression from the power and malice of his Enemies and from the torments of his own Soul arising from the sense of Mens sins and Gods displeasure and from judgment i. e. from all the sufferings and punishments inflicted upon him either by the unrighteous judgment of men or by the just judgment of God punishing him for those sins which he had voluntarily taken upon himself or which is the same thing from the sentence of Condemnation and all the effects of it for in this sense judgment is very commonly taken both in Scripture and other Authors 9 And he made his grave with the wicked k And although he did not die for his own but only for his Peoples sins yet he was willing to die like a malefactor or like a sinner as all other men are and to be put into the grave as they used to be which was a farther degree of his Humiliation He saith he made his Grave because this was Christs own act and he willingly yielded up himself to death and burial And that which follows with the wicked doth not note the sameness of place as if he should be buried in the same Grave with other malefactors but the sameness of condition as when David prayeth Psal. 26. 9. Gather not my soul to wit by death with sinners he doth not mean it of the same Grave but of the same state of the dead and with the rich l This passage is thought by many to signifie that Christ should be buried in the Sepulchre of Ioseph who is said to be both rich Mat. 27. 57. and honourable Mark 15. 43. which they conceive to be intimated as a token of Favour and Honour shewed to him Which to me seems not probable partly because this disagrees with the former clause which confefsedly speaks of the dishonour which was done to him and partly because the burial of Christ whatsoever Circumstances it was attended with is ever mentioned in Scripture as a part of his Humiliation Act. 2. 24. 27. And it seems more reasonable and more agreeable to the usage of Holy Scripture that this clause should design the same thing with the former and that by rich he means the same persons whom he now called wicked not as if all rich men were or must needs be wicked but because for the most part they are so upon which ground riches and rich men do commonly pass under an ill name in Scripture of which see Psal. 37. 16. 49. 6. Luk. 6. 24. 18. 24. Iam. 1. 11. 5. 1. in his †Heb. deaths death m Heb. in or at or after as this particle is frequently taken as hath been already noted his deaths for Christs death might well be called deaths in the plural number because he underwent many kinds of death and many deadly dangers and pains which are frequently called by the name of death in Scripture of which instances have been formerly given and he might say with no less truth than Paul did 1 Cor. 15. 31. I die daily and 2 Cor. 11. 23. I was in deaths oft because he had done no violence neither was any * 1 Pet. 2. 22 1 Ioh. 3. 5. deceit in his mouth n This some suppose to be added as a reason of the last branch of the foregoing clause why God so over-ruled matters by his providence that Christ should not be buried in the same Grave or in the same ignominious manner as malefactors were but in a more honourable manner in Iosephs own Tomb. But the last part of the foregoing clause cannot without violence be pulled asunder from the former wherewith it is so closely joined not only by a Conjunction copulative and but also by being under the government of the same Verb And therefore this latter clause of the verse if thus rendred must be added as the reason of what is said to be done in the former And so the sense of the place may be thus conceived This was all the reward of the unspotted Innocency of all his words and actions to be thus ignominiously used But these words may well be and are otherwise reâ—…dred both by Jewish and Christian Interpreters either thus although he had done c. or rather thus not for as these two same particles placed in the very same order are rendred by our Translator and others Iob 16. 17. any violence or injury or iniquity which he had done nor for any deceit which was in his mouth not for his own sins but as hath been said before for his Peoples â—…ins In which Translation there is nothing supplied but what is most frequent in Scripture use 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him o But although