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A47328
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A demonstration of the Messias. Part I in which the truth of the Christian religion is proved, especially against the Jews / by Richard Kidder.
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Kidder, Richard, 1633-1703.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing K402; ESTC R19346
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212,427
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527
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live Onely let him see and consider This Serpent then of Moses was a symbol or sign of something better than it self And in its first institution it was intended for a sign or symbol of some future good This is very probable from the very words of the Text Moses is Commanded to make a fiery Serpent and set it upon a pole so we render it or set it for a sign as the words may be rendred from the Hebrew Text. The vulgar Latine hath it pro signo i. e. for a sign And to the same sense it is rendred by the Syriac the Chaldee and the Greek Interpreters And this rendring is followed by Philo the Jew and by Justin the Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho And this sense is no way inconsistent with the sense which our Interpreters give This was a very fit type of Christ and of his death upon the Cross by him we are redeemed from the sting of death or sin 1. Cor. 15.56 and the power of the Devil that old Serpent Heb. 2.14 him God sent in the likeness of sinfull flesh and he did by this way condemn sin in the flesh Rom. 8.3 The Jewish Masters tell us upon this occasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. It was not the Serpent that killed but it was the sin Christ by taking away our sin saves us But they in the wilderness were saved us But they in the wilderness were saved by an unlikely way From the sting of a Serpent by the figure of one There was nothing in the matter or figure of the Serpent which healed them It was the fitter type of Christ we are healed by his stripes and have the hope of life by his death But the Crucifixion of the Messias was likewise foretold by Zechary Zech. 12.10 Joh. 19.37 Ps 22.16 Joh. 20.25 They shall look upon me whom they have pierced St. John who was an eye-witness of the crucifixion of Jesus does not onely assure us that he was really Crucified but also puts us in mind that this prophecy was verified The Psalmist had foretold no less They pierced my hands and my feet This was fulfilled in our Jesus who disdained not after his Resurrection to confirm a doubting Disciple who would not believe unless he saw the print of the nails Secondly the time of his death and that agrees with the type of it I mean the Paschal Lamb For Christ is our Passeover who is sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 and to this purpose It will be well worth our while to enquire after the precise time of slaying the Paschal Lamb that great and eminent type of our Saviour's death and to consider how well it agrees with the time of of our Saviour's death Now 't is expresly commanded that the Paschal Lamb should be killed in the evening Exod. 12.6 And we are to enquire what that expression does import Our Marginal reading will be of use in this enquiry which instead of in the evening renders it between the two evenings and that not without the warranty of the Hebrew Text There is great variety in the several versions of these words among the Ancient and Modern Translators I do not intend to represent that variety in this place Some of them are very reconcileable to the sense of the original others agree very exactly with it and indeed I have not met with any more wide among the Moderns than that of Castalio who very ill renders it sub crepusculum i. e. about the twylight as if the Paschal Lamb were not to be slain till it began to be dark which is so fond a conceit that I shall not need do any more than name it Jun. and Tremell keep strictly to the original Text render it inter duas Vesperas between the two evenings It is my business to inquire what is meant by this expression between the two evenings And by the way I cannot but take notice of the interpretation of Aben Ezra upon this place who gives us this account of the two evenings The first he would have to be the time when the Sun sets the second when the remaining light after Sun-set leaves the earth between these two he supposes the space of an hour and three quarters or thereabouts This interpretation agrees well with Castalio's sub crepusculum but 't is an interpretation that is extravagant for besides that it does not allow of a clear light for the remaining service after the killing of the Paschal Lamb nor yet give time enough for the whole service of the solemnity besides this I say the Authour of this interpretation seems to quit it and betake himself to another in his following words For he being pressed by an objection against this interpretation which he attempts not to answer confesses that there was a tradition among them which obliges them to kill the Paschal Lamb after the Sun did evidently decline from its meridian We are therefore still to seek what is meant by this expression between the two evenings in which time the Israelites were obliged to kill the Paschal Lamb and then to see whether this precise circumstance of time were also fulfilled in the death of our Saviour Now for the better understanding of this expression we must know that as the Jews day consisted of twelve hours so all their sorenoon was accounted morning Joh. 11.9 and from thence all the afternoon was accounted evening And then their evening was divided into two viz. the former and the latter evening The former evening was vespera declinationis and was to be reckoned from their sixth hour or our twelve at noon to Sun-set for from that time the Sun declined from its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or height Their latter evening was vespera occasus their Sun-setting so that the intermedial time between the Sun's declension and setting is that time which is between the two evenings Let us then consider what warrant we have for this And First the holy Scripture seems to give us ground to believe that the latter part of the Jewish day was divided into these two evenings To this purpose we read that the unclean person was to be removed out of the camp and it is added But it shall be when evening cometh on that is in the former evening as the following words assure us he shall wash himself with water And when the Sun is down there is the latter evening he shall come into the camp Deut. 23. v. 11. Of the former evening are those words spoken where 't is said of the Levite and his Wife that they tarried untill after noon or till the day declined as 't is in the Hebrew and they did eat both of them And then 't is added by the Levite's Father-in-law Behold now the day draweth towards evening and the day groweth to an end Judg. 19.8 9. Of the same evening the following words seem to be understood And it came to pass in an evening-tide that David arose from off his
he took care of the Levitical Priest-hood also And where he had cleansed the Leper he takes order that the Priest should not lose the profit which in such a case he was wont to receive He wronged no man and though he were poor yet he took care to give every man his due and to reserve something for the poor also His righteousness was so exemplary that the Jews who thirsted after his bloud knew not how to effect his death They had procured false witnesses indeed but their testimony was so incoherent and so lewd that the Jews themselves were forced to use another device since that frequently made use of against his followers viz. to represent him as an Enemy to Caesar And now Pilate to approve himself to the Roman power delivers up Jesus to be crucified But still he pronounced him innocent who gave him up to be crucified He washes his hands and declares himself openly in behalf of Jesus What follows does eminently belong to our Jesus as it was spoken of the Messias Having Salvation The very name Jesus by which he was commonly known and called speaks Salvation And it was given him by the direction of an Angel Mat. 1.21 because he was to save his people from their sins And as he came to save what was lost so we shall find that he fulfilled that design and answered that blessed Name by which he was called he saved some from hunger and thirst some from diseases and possessions some from sickness and others from death and all that believe on him from Hell and the wrath which is to come For what follows in the Prophet that he was to be lowly agrees exactly to our Jesus For whether by lowly be meant poor as that Hebrew word used in the Prophet signifies or meek as it is there rendred by the LXXII Interpreters whose rendring St. Matthew also follows It is certain that our Jesus was both poor and meek in a very eminent degree So poor that he had not what the Foxes did not want where to lay his head And for his meekness and lowliness of mind he was the most eminent and unparrelled example that ever was in the world I shall proceed now to the consideration of the death of Jesus and those particulars which do more immediately relate thereunto And not to insist upon every particular which makes to my present purpose I shall take notice First of the kind of his death and that was the death of the Cross A death it was that Jesus one would have thought should not have died For besides that it was the vilest and most ignominious death a death of slaves and the most profligate villains Besides this it was not like to be the portion of Jesus Sanhedr cap. 7. I. Because it was not a Jewish punishment but a Roman one The Jewish four Capital punishments were stoning burning strangling and killing with the sword II. Because if this had been one of the Jewish punishments yet it could not by the Jewish Law have been the lot of Jesus For whereas the high Priest Pronounced him guilty of Blasphemy and they who were by him judged him thereupon worthy of death Levit. 24.16 we know that stoning was the death appointed in that Case not onely by the after constitution of the Jews but also by the Law of Moses But it was foretold that the Messias should suffer this kind of death And God's decrees and Counsels shall come to pass The Jews had a figure of this in the Wilderness Our Jesus put them in mind of it in these words As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up Joh. 3.14 The story is very well known The people for their sin were bitten with fiery Serpents and many of them died The people beg of Moses in this distress that he would intercede for them that the fiery Serpents might be removed Moses prayed to God in their behalf and by God's direction he makes a Serpent of brass and put it on a pole and they which were bitten looked upon this brazen Serpent and were healed Numb 21. This Serpent that was lifted up in the Wilderness was a type of the death of Christ and of the kind of his death and the effects of the brazen Serpent upon them who looked on it did typifie the virtue received by true believers from the death of Christ To this purpose this of the brazen Serpent is applyed by our Saviour Dominicam crucem intentabat Tertullian adv Judaeos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. pro Christian Apol. II. Moses made that Serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. in IV. Reg. Quaest 49. and by the ancient Christian Writers is frequently mentioned as a type of the Cross and passion of our blessed Saviour And that it is rightly applyed by Jesus and his followers I shall shew against the Jews Certain it is that the Jews do allow that this brazen Serpent was a figure of something else Vid. Buxtorf Hist Serpent Aenei c. 5. Just Martyr Dialog cum Tryph. and that it had a spiritual sense and meaning And when Just in Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew insisted upon this as a type of the death of Christ and appealed to the company what reason excluding that could be given of this matter one of them confessed that he was in the right and that himself had enquired for a reason from the Jewish Masters but could meet with none The Authour of the book of Wisedom calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wised 16.6 7. a symbol or sign of Salvation For he that turned himself towards it says he was not saved by the thing that he saw but by thee that art the Saviour of all It was an extraordinary and supernatural thing that the likeness of a Serpent should cure the venomous bite of a living one Abravenel R. Bechai in Num. 21. Philo Jud. de Agricultura Leg. Allegor l. 3. The Jewish Writers confess it to be miraculous and that there was in it a miracle within a Miracle Philo the Jew as I intimated before in the fourteenth page of this discourse does in several places mention the difference between the Serpent of Eve and the Serpent of Moses or this brazen Serpent of which I am now speaking He makes one directly opposite to the other and that which deceived Eve to be a symbol of voluptuousness and in token thereof doomed to goe upon his belly Gen. 3.14 But this of Moses to be a symbol of fortitude and temperance That was the destroyer of mankind this the Saviour of the Israelites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. every one that sees it the brazen Serpent shall live Very true For if the mind bitten with Eve's Serpent which is voluptuousness can spiritually discern the beauty of Temperance i. e. The Serpent of Moses and through it God himself he shall