surrounded on all sides with Iudah whereas in your Map the northern side thereof is all along fairly flanked with the Tribe of Don. Aleth You may remember what we so lately proved that Dan's portion primitively pertained to Iudah and was a canton cut out thereof In which sense according to Scripture Simeons inheritance was within the children of Iudah's and originally encompassed therewith Philol. Why call you this Tribe a jagged remnant being as whole a cloth as the rest and though not so great as entire as the other Tribes I am not sensible by this your Map of any notorious dispersedness of the Simeonites habitations Aleth Undoubtedly Iudah his portion made many incisures and larcinations into the Tribe of Simeon hindering the entireness thereof Particularly Askelon and Gaza first given to once possessed by Iudah though regained by the Philistines were continued and tyed by some narrow labell of land to the main of Iudah at leastwise had a Church-path as I may terme it a passage to the Temple without going through any part of Simeon But wanting certain instructions how to contrive and carry on such indented conveyances and not willing to confine the Reader to our conjecturall fancies we have left him to his liberty presenting Simeon entire wherein he may frame such incursions of Iudah as comply best with his own opinion Philol. You make this Tribe to range some miles south of Beer-sheba whereas that place passeth currant for the utmost border of the Countrey What more common in Scripture then from Dan to Beer-sheba that is from the north to the south of the land of Canaan Aleth It was the utmost eminent City but not absolutely the farthest place in Palestine as neither mentioned amongst the southern boundaries of the land in generall Numb 34. nor with the utmost limits of the Tribe of Iudah Iosh. 15. In ordinary discourse we measure England east and west from Dover to the Mount as the farthest western place of note though Cornwall stretches seven miles beyond it unto the lands end So Beer-sheba was the remotest remarkable City of Canaan where the cloth as I may say ended though the list thereof reached beyond it to the River of Egypt CHAP. XIII Objections against Benjamin answered Philol. VVHy make you Nob a Levite City in Benjamin within the suburbs of Anathoth Seeing Nob is neither named amongst the four Cities bestowed on the Levites in this Tribe Iosh. 21. 17. nor is it any of the eight and forty belonging unto them throughout the whole Countrey of Canaan Aleth That Nob was in this Tribe appears by that caâ—alogue of Cities presented us in Nehemiah which the Benjamites repossessed after their return from Babylon That it was a Levites yea a Priests City appears too plainly by the Massacre therein on them committed We confess it none of the eight and forty originally assigned to the Levites Yet how they in after-ages were capable of supernumerary Cities more then in their first Charter and how the Mortâ—main of the Levites as I may term it was enlarged with new foundations we have lately answered in the objections of Ephraim whither we refer you for further satisfaction Philol. You make the sons of Saul executed on an hill nigh Gibeah of Saul which your judicious friend will have hung up before the Tabernacle in Gibeon observing therein an exemplary piece of divine justice that whereas Saul had ruined the Tabernacle at Nob his sons were hung up before the same in Gibeon Aleth Not to be a Plaintise against him but a Defendant of my self I conceive him mistaken in confounding Gibeah of Saul with Gibeon distinct Cities as may appear by their severall owners and actions therein performed GIBEON GIBEAH An ancient City of the Hivites whose inhabitants deceived the Israelites given to the Levites in the Tribe of Benjamin where the Tabernacle was set up in the time of Solomon A City in Benjamin hard by Iâ—rusalem distinct from the former whose inhabitants were meer Benjamites and by their lust abused the Levites Concubine to death for which their Tribe was almost extirpated it was afterwards called Gibeah of Saul from his birth and frequent residence therein Now the text expresly saith that the Gibeonites did hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul that is in Sauls native place and Court where he had issued out his cruell edicts for the slaughter of the Gibeonites Philol. But that expression they hanged them in the hill before the Lord imports the same performed in some religious place probably in the prospect or view of the Tabernacle Aleth Before the Lord implies no more then what in the foregoing verse was termed unto the Lord that is in a sacred manner not out of private revenge but in an holy zeal tendering the parties executed an oblation to divine justice and so is interpreted by the Expositors thereon Philol. In your particular Map of Benjamin Iordan runs almost directly south the whole course of whose channell visibly bendeth eastward in your Map generall of Palestine Aleth That generall Map though first placed was last perfected wherein we have amended three mistakes as escaped in our particular descriptions One that wherein you instance another 〈◊〉 Reâ—â—en formerly forgottâ—n to be confessed making that Tribe a little longer from north to south then it is represented in our particular description thereof My care shall be God willing in the second edition to conforme those particular Maps according to these rectisiâ—ations in the generall description CHAP. XIV Objections against Judah answered Philol. WOuld not it affright one to see a dead man walk And will not he in like manner be amazed to see the Dead-sea moving Why have you made the surface of the waters thereof waving as if like other seas it were acted with any tyâ—e which all Authors avouch and your self confesseth to be a standing stinking lake Thinkâ— not to plead that such waving is the impression of the winde thereupon seeing Tacitus affirmes of this sea Neque vento impellitur it is such a drone it will neither goe of it self nor yet be driven of the winde Aleth I will not score it on the account of the Graver that it is onely lascivia or ludicrum coeli the over-activity of his hand And in such cases the flourishings of the Scrivener are no essentiall part of the Bond but behold Mercators and other Authors Maps and you shall finde more motion therein then is here by us expressed The most melancholy body of moisture especially of so great extent is necessarily subject to such simpering in windy weather as inseparable from the liquidity thereof Philol. Why set you Zeboim most northernly of all the five Cities in the Dead-sea in the place where Sodome is situated in all other descriptions Aleth The placing of them is not much materiall whether longwise all in a File as Mr. More sets them
of the Temple were after the first measure that is according to those whereby the Ark was framed before mens first strength and stature was abated For as it is hard exactly to define how big men were in former ages so it plainly appears both by Scripture and Pagan Testimonies how much mens might is impaired and falls short of the performances of the ancients Homer Iliad E in the duell betwixt Diomedes and Aeneas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Virgil Aeneid 12. in the fight betwixt Aeneas and Turnus Vix saxum lecti bi◠sex cervice subirent Qualia nūc hominū producit corpora tellus A stone he snatch'd and threw a stone indeed So huge so heavy two men now had need To heave it up such dwarfes our days doe breed However we may safely with the most moderate make the Cubit of the first measure double to the former and equall to our English yard § 3. Say not that this allowing of severall Cubits amongst the Iews was double dealing and a flat breach of that Commandement Thou shalt not have in thy bag diverse weights a great and a small For that ordinance onely forbad the abuse of one measure a great to buy and a small to sell with both being conceived of the same standard But to have severall weights or measures where the chapman is acquainted with the difference and the prices rated accordingly is neither fault nor fraud at all no more then for a Merchant to sell by two severall pound weights the one Troy the other Averdupois where the differences of the ounces is notoriously known § 4. But thus allowing the Temple to be sixty great Cubits or as many yards or ninescore feet long twenty great Cubits or yards or sixty foot broad thirty great Cubits or yards or ninety foot high all clearly within the house besides the breadth of the wal without yet some wil say it answered not expectation and the stately character given therof in Scripture Is this that Fabrick which filled the whole world with the fame thereof which was so small in it self considered Nothing can be magnificum which is not magnum and it must first be great before it can be glorious He may be pretty but not a proper person who hath not bulk proportionable to his beauty Yea if Solomons Temple were compared to some structures and Fanes of heathen Gods as humane Authors give in their dimensions it would appear as Saint Gregories to Saint Pauls the babe by the mothers side or rather this Davids modell would be like David himself standing by Goliah so gigantick were some Pagan Fabrickes in comparison thereof Indeed this Temple is termed exceeding magnificall 1 Chron. 22. 5. But Diana who is styled her magnificence Act. 19. 27. seems better to deserve the title whose Temple is said to be four hundred and twenty feet in the length two hundred and twenty in the breadth and sixty in the height thereof § 5. To which we answer 1t. The state of Solomons Temple did principally consist not so much in the greatness as exquisite symmetry thereof and costly furniture therein 2. It was abundantly big enough for the use for which it was intended namely to contain the holy vessells with sufficient yea with large space betwixt them and to receive such Priests as did officiate therein For the Holy of Holies was accessible to the high-Priest alone and that but once a year and into the Holy or inward house came not all the many thousands of Levites but onely such Priests to light lampes set shew-bread offer incense as by Lot and course were called thereunto as appeareth by Zacharies sole staying therein whilest the whole multitude of the people were praying without Indeed nothing of drudgery was done in the Temple or what must require many men to manage it it being neither handsome nor healthfull to croud much company into a covered room in that hot Countrey Lastly the great latitude and capacity of the Temple consisted in the outward Courts unseparable parts thereof of such receipt as to entertain multitudes of men sub dio in the open aire as compleating a square of five hundred cubits and in the amplitude largeness and magnificence thereof equalling yea exceeding the greatest buildings in the world if report be but reduced to the standard of truth and travellers not permitted to slip their thumb in their measuring of yards overlashing in their relations § 6. To return to what properly is termed Temple the Tectum or covered part thereof It was more then twice as great as the Tabernacle made by Moses which as Ribera collects from the length of the curtains Exod. 26. was but thirty Cubits in length ten in breadth and as many in height Yea well might the Temple exceed the Tabernacle in dimensions if we consider First the Tabernacle was erected by exiles wandering in a barren wilderness the Temple by a potent Prince and his populous subjects in their own peaceable countrey Secondly the Tabernacle was in a manner fitted for its foundation to the backs and shoulders of the Levites which were to carry it and therefore might not exceed a portable proportion Thirdly the Temple mystically typified the Church Triumphant and therefore in strength state grace and greatness was to surpass the Tabernacle the moveable Emblem of the Church Militant § 7. Now how the structure of the Temple stood in relation to the four quarters of the world is not plainly expressed in Scripture but may partly be collected from the phrase used in the originall where the porch is said to be set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the face of the house where Before is Eastward in the propriety of the Hebrew tongue Hence all expositors Jewish and Christian confidently place the ends or length of the Temple East and West the sides or breadth thereof North and South making the porch or entrance on the East end the inward house in the middle and the Holy of Holies in the West end of the Temple which severall parts we come now orderly to describe CHAP. IV. Of the fair Porch at the entrance of the Temple § 1. THe Porch in Latine porticus vestibulum in Hebrew Ulam which name the Septuagint retain gave a stately entertainment to such as entered into the Temple In the book of Kings we meet with the length and breadth thereof but no height there mentioned In Chronicles we finde the length and height of it whilest there the breadth is omitted by putting both together we may spell the perfect dimensions thereof Thus those who hope for exact intelligence from heaven must peruse and compare all expresses dispatched thence Yea in the new Testament Gods message is whole but not wholly by one messenger so that what is wanting in one is supplied in another Evangelist This Porch was twenty Cubits in length according to the breadth of the house
that is north-north-east 2 Another turned the way to Bethoron that is full west 3 The third to the border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim that is south-east Thus dividing themselves they compass their ends and destroyed that necessary profession in all the land For the musick of the harp may better be spared in a common-wealth then the noise of an hammer Indeed I have heard that therâ— is an house on London-bridge built entirely of wood without any mixture of iron-nailes therein therefore commonly called None-such for the rarity of the structure thereof but if any could shew a civilized State extant on earth without the use of smiths therein it deserveth the name of Nâ—neâ—such indeed Yea the very Philistines themselves though they suppressed the military use of smiths for matter of Armes permitted by way of lone their use to sharpen instruments of husbandry This not their bounty but policy suffered as being confident when the Israelites had ploughed harrowed sown their ground reaped housed and threshed their grain then they at pleasure could come up to take bake and eate it themselves § 53. So much for the cities in Benjamin of whose situation we have any certainty A second sort succeeds known by their conjecturall flags to be of doubtfull position Amongst these Nob justly claimeth the precedency made by us within the compass of Anathoth a city of the Priests where Ahimelech victualled David and his men with shew-bread and armed him with the sword of Goliah there kept for a monument Let others enquire why Davids sling was not rather preserved for that purpose seeing it overcame the other A false brother was present by name Doeg nation an Edomite office master of the Kings heardsmen who told al and more then all to Saul adding of his own head that Ahimelech enquired counsell of the Lord for him Sure I am Doeg enquired not of the Lord when he told so damnable an untruth Hereupon Saul condemned the Priest to death and others declining so savage a service Doeg undertook it killing fourscore and five persons which wore a linen Ephod besides women children sucklings and cattel so voracious was the appetite of his sword and so active his cruelty when in commission and armed with authority § 54. The Readers eye may easily discover such places of uncertain position as remain and amongst them Zemaraim so named in Hebrew for plenty of wooll thereabouts as Woollwich in Kent and Woollton in Dorset-shire are so called upon the same occasion We set Zemaraim next Bethel because named next unto it where some place the Zemarites ancient inhabitants of Canaan as we have formerly observed Nigh this city was an hil of the same name whereon King Abijah stood made his excellent oration wanting nothing but a better man to utter it immediately before his miraculous victory over the Army of Ieroboam The Valley of Craftsmen which though it sounds like a Countrey yet because going in equipage with other cities may be concluded a city it self And what are Valladolit or Vallis Olitana in Spaine and Vale-royall in Cheshire but the former a fair city the latter lately an Abby now a village I am almost of opinion that this Valley of craftsmen took its denomination from Solomons work-men of whom we read that in the plain of Iordan in the clay ground they cast all the brasen vessels of the Temple did not the position of that place whereof before lie a little more north-ward We conclude with Zeboim not the same with that city first burnt then drowned in the Daed-sea but another probably built not far thence near the influx of Iordan into the dead-sea § 55. Sâ—imei the son of Elah was Solomons Purveyor in Benjamin The Armes of Benjamin were Gules a Wolfe salient argent in allusion to Iacobs words He shall ravin as a Wolfe in the morning he shall devoure the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil Surely the conformity hereof was not found in the person of Benjamin who appears rather lamb-like then wolvish in that little left of him in Scripture Some conceive they have found the resemblance in the two Sauls of this Tribe the one persecuting David the other the Son of David Christ in his members with raging cruelty But to wave the various Rabbinicall conceits hereof certainly this as al other similitudes of this nature is not to be sought in the disgraceful but commendable qualities of a Wolf Thus when God saith of himself Behold I come as a thief it is not meant injuriously fraudulently mischievously but secretly suddenly irresistibly This premised though wolves and foxes generally hear ill in Scripture yet the former excell in sight descrying things at great distance in sleight of excessive agility of body in might very strong in proportion to the bulk thereof All which properties discover themselves in the Benjamites quick sighted steady handed witness their good mark-men and stout-hearted in a word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that both their valour and success are foretold in this blessing bestowed upon them Here the Map of Judah is to be inserted THE TRIBE OF IVDAH CHAP. 13. § 1. IUDAH foâ—rth son of Iacob by Leab his wife was generally a well-natured man endevouring preservation of his brother Ioseph and an excelleâ—t speaker being the mouth for the rest of his brethren in his eloquent oration to Iosâ—â—h Not that these his good qualities which otherwhiles were allayed with lust and cruelty were the causes buâ— rather the effects of Gods preferring him above the rest of his brethren Of this Tribe threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred canne out of Egypt all which deservedly dying in the wilderness for their disobedience the next generation descended from them being threescore and sixteen thousand and five hundred possessed the land of Canaan § 2. Iudah saith the Scripture prevailed above his brethren and of him came the chiefe rulers so that he may be traced all along by the footsteps of his soveraignty Whilest they were in thâ— wilderness God ordered that the standard of Iudah should pitch first oâ— the east side of the Tabernacle towards the rising of the Sun Perchance to denote that the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in his wings should be extracted from that Tribe When Ioshua was dead and the childreâ— of Israel asked of the Lord Who shall goe up first for us to fight against the Candanites It was answered Iudah shall goe up Othniel the first Judge was hence descended and David in whose royall line the Crown lasted for above four hundred years and after the return from captiviâ—y Zorobabel of the Tribe of Iudah is honoured with the style of Governour which office for some time continued in his family In a word besides Princes so puissant was the Tribe in Generalls Ioab Abishdi Amasa
vaile fitted for the Sanctum Sanctorum in the Tabernacle was too short and narrow yea half in half too little for this purpose Therefore it not being princely to piece patch or eek the same another was contrived as indeed nothing at the second hand was suitable to so stately a fabrick wherein as the Apostle in another case Old things are passed away behold all things are become new But more hereof hereafter in the Utensils of the Temple § 8. One difficulty remains where this Holy of Holies was placed because the text saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he prepared it in medio domus in the midst of the house which seems to import that the house or Temple did inviron or encompass it and that the Oracle like the center was surrounded with the circumference of the Temple But on stricter enquiry it will be found onely a pure Hebraism that in the midst signifieth the same with within as it is judiciously rendered in our translation Thus saith David He that worketh deceit shall not live in the midst of my house that is shall not dwell within my family O Lord saith the Prophet Revive thy work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make known Not insisting therein on an exact middle but desiring it might be done onely within the time and tearm appointed and promised by the Prophet So also was the Oracle prepared in the midst of the house that is within the same as the Chancell is said to be within the Church through which the high and usuall way leadeth into it CHAP. VII Of the Chambers about the Temple § 1. ALthough it be repeated thrice in one verse that chambers were built round about yet because in the same place mention onely is made of the Temple and Oracle we conceive with learned Ribera that the east end where the Porch stood was clear and un-chambered having no other buildings about it to hinder the prospect thereof Nor let any be moved because that the chambers are said to be built 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the wall as if they were founded on the wall of the temple supra being there taken for juxta or contra upon or hard by or over against as our translation rendreth it Thus it is in the originall Upon the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept that is by the waters as these chambers were built hard by or leaning to the wall of the Temple § 2. Three rows there were of these chambers In the lowest each chamber was five in the middle six in the third and highest story seven cubits broad and each of them equally five cubits in height going up from the first to the middle thence to the highest story with winding staires The beams of these chambers did not lye in but rest on the wall of the Temple the reduction or abatement whereof narrowing in the higher it went afforded fit stays for that purpose It seems the beams were not mortised into the walls of the Temple because the intireness of that building was not to be wounded with holes and perforations which in process of time might fret in and indent into the structure it self Speciall care therefore was taken to preserve the wholeness and prevent all fractions in this fabrick in some relation to the Temple of Christs body whereof a bone was not to be broken § 3. It is not expressed in Scripture for what use these chambers were principally intended Some conceive them designed for galleries or walking-places which to me seems too much presumption for any to take their pleasure so near the holy place Others will have them used for Dormitories for such Priests to lodge in who were in ordinary attendance about the Temple For my own part I conceive them imployed for Repositories wherein the holy vestments and vessels were safely laid up together with those of the Tabernacle which though not used were here carefully preserved For first the vessels of Moses his making were not aliened or diverted to any profane service such sacriledge being unsupposable in that age Secondly they were not altered or melted by Solomon of moe and lesser so to make fewer and greater Utensils for the Temple because the making as well as the matter the shape as well as the substance of all the Tabernacle-vessels were of livine institution Thirdly they were not imployed in Gods service because some few excepted whereof hereafter being calculated for the Meridian of the Tabernacle a less fabrick thus fel out to be too short and smal in proportion to the Temple as in the Vail was formerly observed Seeing therfore they were neither aliened altered nor used it remaineth they were carefully kept in these chambers intimated in the text where after the finishing of the Temple the Levites are said to bring up into it all the vessels of the Tabernacle Thus graces acquired or infused into a Christian in this life are not lost forfeited or cast away after death but preserved perfected and swallowed up in glory § 4. As for the mysticall meaning of these chambers Bede no doubt thought he hit the very mark when finding therein the three conditions of life all belonging to Gods Church In the ground-chamber such as live in mariage in the middle-chamber such as contain but in the excelsis or third-story such as have attained to the sublimity of perpetuall virginity Rupertus in the lowest chamber lodgeth those of practicall lives with Noah in the middle those of mixt lives with Iob and in the highest such as spend their days with Daniel in holy speculations But is not this rather lusus then allusio sporting with then expounding of Scriptures Thus when the gates of the Oracle are made five-square Ribera therein reads our conquest over the five senses and when those of the door of the Temple are said to be four-square therein saith he is denoted the quaternion of Evangelists After this rate Hiram though no doubt dexterous in his art could not so soon fit a pillar with a fashion as a Frier can fit that fashion with a mystery If made three-square then the Trinity of Persons four-square the cardinall vertues five-square the Pentateuch of Moses six-square the Petitions in the Lords prayer seven-square their Sacraments eight-square the Beatitudes nine-square the orders of Angels ten-square the Commandements eleven-square the morall vertues twelve-square the articles of the Creed are therein contained In a word for matter of numbers fancy is never at a loss like a begger never out of his way but hath some haunts where to repose it self But such as in expounding of Scripture reap more then God did sow there never eat what they reap thence because such grainless huskes when seriously threshed out vanish all into chaffe § 5. For the rest we refer the reader unto our Map wherein he may observe a double Alphabet for his direction
with the former § 10. Iosephus himself elsewhere confesseth as learned Grotius doth observe that the Temple was never but twice demolished first by Nebuchadnezzar and finally by the Romans § 11. Understand him to reconcile him to himself never but twice demolished in anger from enemies whereas Herod destruebat animo restruendi destroyed it with intent to rebuild it As the Chirurgion who not out of cruelty but pity breaks an ill set bone with full intent to set it better Hence it was that this third Temple in some sense is always accounted reputed and esteemed by the Jewish Rabbins the same with the second CHAP. VII Generall observables in Herods building § 1. THus satisfied for the main that Herod rebuilt Zorobabels Temple come we to some memorable observables therein gathered out of Iosephus whose single band if the Reader shall refuse to accept we can tender him no better yea no other securirity It is not therefore expected that all which Iosephus relates should be credited in the full latitude thereof it is enough if the judicious Reader with Saint Paul in another case concerning the reports of the Corinthians doth partly beleeve it § 2. First to satisfie and content the Iews half suspecting his power or pleasure to rebuild the Temple he plucked not down the old Temple till all necessaries for the new one were perfectly provided and brought in place ready to be set up lest otherwise between two Temples none at all should be left Such as take down one Church before fully furnished for the setting up of a new make a dangerous breach for profaneness and Atheisme to enter in thereat No such regnum for Satan as in the interregnum between two religions § 3. As for the dimensions of Herods Temple in relation to Solomons the ensuing parallel thus presents them unto us 1 King 6. 2. And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord the length thereof was threescore cubits and the breadth thereof twenty cubits and the height thereof thirty cubits after the first measure the porch therein was an hundred and twenty cubits high Iosephus Anti. Iud. lib. 15. cap. 14. Herâ—d removed the old foundations and laying new ones built the Temple an hundred cubits long so many and twenty more in height as for the breadth omitted by Flaviâ—â—â— Iosâ—phus Ben-Goriâ—n addeth it was an hundred cubits Not that the whole body of Herods Temple was an hundred and tweâ—ty cubits high but onely the middle thereof as Iosephus confesseâ—h the sides round about being lower Thus whilest Solomons Temple was builded long ways with the porch or to wer at the east end Herods appears more round with a tower in the middle thereof § 4. Now though the length and breadth of Herods Temple exceeds Solomons as they make it yet certainly noâ— cubits of the first measure but common ones are meant by Iosephus as may appear by the vast proportion of firme stones employed in this building being twenty five cubits long eight high and twelve broad Oh! with what art or engines were they brought hither If the stones on Sarisbury plain in a levell and flat Countrey and not above twenty miles from the sea are recounted amongst the wonders of England for their conveyance thither though the biggest of them called Corse stones are far less I say if they be beheld with such admiration that judicious men resolve them not reall but factitious stones of grit cemented with some unctuous matter how can we conceive that these solid stones four of them being the ful length of the Temple were managed hither farther off from the sea over a mountainous Countrey However that great and goodly stones were here the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Disciples observation doth sufficiently prove § 5. The Holy of Holies had the inside thereof made onely by the Priests others not presuming to come on the ground whereof a thousand were found very cunning in building Now although Saint Paul was a Pharisee and a tent-maker the principles of that sect annexing some trade to their profession it is strange so many Priests though skilfull in the Mathematicall should be so dexterous in the manual part thereof The pinnacles of the Temple saith Iosephus were made so sharp that a bird could not sit on them to prevent the defiling thereof Wherefore when the Devill set our Saviour on a pinnacle of the Temple where no doubt his feet stood fast without any miracle which the Devill could not and Christ would not causlesly work as presumption against the will of his Father we understand thereby not such a sharp pinnacle but some bartlement wing or brink of building higher then the rest of the fabrick § 6. It was finished of all the days of the year on Herods birth-day and therefore saith Iosephus the joy was the greater two such eminent causes thereof meeting together In very good time no doubt Indeed the memories of Philip and Iacob or of Simon Iude have been anciently celebrated on the same day being paires of pious persons well agreeing amongst themselves But What communion hath light with darkness Heaven with hell God with Herod that they should be coupled together in the same solemnity However the finishing of the Temple on Herods birth-day was a better deed then what his grand-child Herod 〈◊〉 did many years after on his birth-day beheading Iohn the Bâ—ptist The same authour reports they had it by tradition that it never rained on the day-time but onely by night during the building of the Temple that so the labour of the workmen might not be interrupted § 7. But a more improbable passage falls from the pen of Iosephus when he reports that the Temple when finished sunk down twenty cubits in the foundation which the skilfull in Architecture will hiss at as an untruth For 1 Strange that all parts thereof as if by mutuall consent should at once equally sink directly down such an even and eminent proportion the same weight above meeting with just the same weakness beneath and no more in one place then another And grant the walls all agreed to sink together it is much the beams were not broken with the sudden subsidency of the building 2 Such a sinking fabrick would have frighted the Priests from officiating therein and death hanging over their heads disturbed their devotion 3 The same authour reports that the Holy of Holies in Herods Temple was just twenty cubits high If so then by the sinking of this fabrick it was wholly swallowed in the earth turned into a cellar so that the High-Priest in Scripture phrase must not go up but go down unto it 4 The Disciples when gazing on the greatness of the stones might better have bestowed their wonder that so firm a fabrick should stand on so fleeting a foundation Wherefore with the sinking of his Temple Iosephus his cred it
thereupon Which might soon have been spoken yea surely would not have been omitted had Zebulun been so situated Aleth That Zebulun bordered on this sea may cleerly be demonstrated first from Iacobs prophecy that he should dwell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 At the haven of the Seas Seas in the plurall pointing at his position betwixt the Mediterranean and Galilean seas the west and east bounds of his possession Now lest any should seek to wave these words by an Enallage in Number a figure we confess frequent in Hebrew Zebuluns bounding on the Galilean-sea is unfallibly collected out of the Gospell where Christ is said to dwell in Capernaum which is upon the sea coast in the borders of Zâ—bulun and Naphtali Philol. Christ his feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two fishes is misplaced in your Map as which ought to be set on the east side of the Sea of Galilce Aleth Learned men are much perplexed about the position of this miracle A miracle so remarkable in it self that of all the passages betwixt Christs conception and the introduction to his passion this onely and the descent of the Dove at his baptisme are recorded in all four Evangelists Yet some difficulty appears in the particular place thereof Luke termeth it the desert of Bethâ—aida but Saint Iohn who wrote the last therefore supplying the omissions and explaining the doubts in other Gospells assigneth the particular place to be near Tiberias both being Cities on the west side of the sea so that north of Tiberias betwixt it and Bethsaida in a desert named from the latter because leading to it this miracle is properly placed Philol. But immediately at the ending thereof the Disciples are said to sail 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto the other side unto Bethsaida or as Saint Iohn says towards Capernaum both these being Cities not far asunder Wherefore if they crossed over the Sea to go to Bethsaida they were not already on the same side thereof when the miracle was wrought and by consequence were then on the other the eastern side of the Sea Aleth By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant the opposite shoar on the same side of the Sea but so that it was over a reach or bay which they crossed therein sailing not athwart the breadth of the Sea from west to east but almost foreright the length of the lake from a place near Tiberias to the land of Gennesaret on the north end of the lake betwixt Bethsaida and Capernium Thus such who on the Severn Sea sail from Bristoll to Barstable may be said in some sense to cross the water as well as those that saile from Barstable to Cardifâ—e And thus in placing this miracle we have not onely followed the judgment of worthy Calvin but also the eyes of Biddulph a modern traveller who beheld the place CHAP. VIII Objections against Issachar answered Philol. WHat vast mountains have you made those of Gilboa to be the highest of them four miles perpendicular Surely the battell betwixt Saul and the Philistines could scarce be fought on such ascents Yea David might well have spared his wish Let there be no dew neither let there be rain upon you whose tops as you have exalted them may be presumed higher then the clouds themselves Aleth I confess them to be of the largest size store of room and want of other matter to fill it gave the occasion to their greater growth Which fault is amended in the following Map of Manasseh where behold them reduced to a more moderate proportion less then many of the mountains in Wales Philol. How comes a parcell of mount Ephraim to straggle into the Map of Issachar It being proper for those mountains to be confined to their own Tribe of Ephraim whence they fetcht their denomination Aleth I may say the Tribe of Ephraim had the Preemption but not the Monopoly of them I mean his turn was first served and he had the best and most of those mountains in his possession whence they deservedly took their name Yet so that some part of mount Ephraim ranged south ward into the Tribe of Benjamin as mount Zemaraim and some branched northward into Issachar as Shamir in mount Ephraim certainly in this Tribe because Tola a man of Issachar was buried therein Philol. It followeth not because he was extracted from this Tribe that therefore the place of his buriall was in the same finding many mens interments in Scripture casuall out of the Tribes of their nativity Thus Saul and Ionathan being Benjamites were notwithstanding buried in the Tribe of Gad at Iabesh Gilead as also Ishbosheth and Abner their Countreymen got graves at Hebron in the Tribe of Iudah so infirme is your inference that Shamir in mount Ephraim was in Issachar because Tola an Issacharite was intombed therein Aleth You instance onely in persons some forcibly others treacherously slain which occasioned their hasty tumultuary and extravagant interment Remember also that Saul and Ionathan though intermediately at Iabesh Gilead were finally intombed in the sepulchres of their Father in the land of Benjamin as we may presume that Tola his corps a peaceable Judge no violent detention or disturbance appearing to the contrary did rest in the possessions of that Tribe the Iews generally being as ceremonious to be buried in their own land as to be married in their own linage CHAP. IX Objections against Manasseh on this â—ide Jordan answered Philol. ANd why so much of the Map of Issachar presented again in Manasseh What need this waste and repetition of the same again Aleth The squaring of the Map necessarily commanded the repetition thereof nor is it lost labour because two scattered pieces in Issachar belonged to Manasseh Philol. But ô what a medley motley pieced Map have you made of this half Tribe of Manasseth Surely Iosephs coate consisted not of more colours then Manasseh Iosephs sons portion is made up of shreds and parcels as you have presented it marring the inâ—ireness of this halfe Tribe with your manifold divisions Aleth And yet no more then what are warranted by Gods word Let none part what he hath put together nor put together what he hath parted I delight not out of wantonness to make smpâ— of Manasseh's portion but the Texâ— puts the Shears into my hand commanding me to cut it so because Manasseh had three Countreys in Issachar and Asher That is surrounded with them which necessitates the cantoning of this halfe Tribe into such dis-jointed parcels Philol. You make a piece of Asher parted from the main body thereof to confine on Manasseh whilest Bonfrerius finds a fitter expedient by cutting off the west ends of Zebulun and Issachar from the Mediterranean and continuing Asher along the sea side to Manasseh so preserving Asher intire thereby Aleth His Expedient raiseth more difficulties then it allaieth as directly opposite to Scripture Reason and the generall consent of Writers