Ishmaelites are said to have dwelt from Havilah to Shur Gen. XXV 18. that is before Egypt è Regione Egypti over-against Egypt as Bochart translates it That is Havilah bounded them on the North-East and Shur on the South-West Which Shur was near to Egypt And so Saul is said to have smitten the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur c. 1 Sam. XV. 7. Where we translate the last words over against Egypt Sabta Or Sabtha whom the Ancients call Sabatha or Sabathes seems to have been setled in that part of Arabia Foelix called Leanitis upon the Persian Sea Where there was a City not far distant from the Sea called by Ptolomy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From whence they sent Colonies over the Sea into Persia as Bochart shows by several Arguments L. IV. c. 10. For there is an Island on that Coast called Sophtha and a People called Messabatae or Massabathae upon the Confines of Media From the Chaldaean word Mesa which signifies middle and Sabatha as if one would say the Mediterranean Sabtae Raamah Or as the Ancients pronounce his Name Rhegma was situated in the same Arabia upon the Persian Sea Where there is a City mentioned by Ptolomy's Tables Rhegama in the Greek Text expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rhegma And so Stephanus mentions both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the Persian Gulph Sabtecha Or Sabtheca as some read it was the youngest Son of Cush except Nimrod who is mentioned by himself It is hard to find the place of his Habitation But the rest of the Sons of Cush being seated about the Persian Sea except Nimrod who as Moses tells us went to Babylon Bochartus thinks it reasonable to seek for him in that part of Caramania where there was a City called Samydace and a River Samydachus Which he thinks may have come from Sabetecha by the change of the Letter B into M Which was very frequent in Arabia and the neighbouring Countries For Merodach is also called Berodach in the Book of the Kings And in the Chaldee Paraphrase Basan is called Bathnan and Mathnan And Abana the famous River of Damascus is expounded Amana And Meccha and Beccha are the same City among the Arabians In like manner Sabtecha or Sabithace might be changed into Samydace Now into Caramania there was a short cut over the Streights of the Persian Gulph out of Arabia I see nothing any where more probable than this Conjecture of a very learned Man L. IV. Phaleg c. 4. And the Sons of Ramah Sheba and Dedan He gives an account of none of Cush's other Sons posterity but only of this Whose two Sons were seated near him and one another For the younger of them Dedan seems to have left his Name in a City now called Dadan hard by Rhegma upon the same Shore East-ward And from this Dadan the Country now hath its Name Of which Ezekiel speaks XXVII 15. as Bochart shews plainly L. IV. c. 6. And Sheba or as others read it Seba or Saba his elder Brother was seated in the same Country not far from Dedan where Pomponius mentions a People called Sabaei and Arrianus speaks of a great Mountain not far off called Sabo from this Saba Whose posterity easily passing over the Straits before-mentioned into Caramania might possibly give Name to a City there which Ptolomy calls Sabis And Pliny mentions a River of the same Name And Dionys Periegetes speaks of a People called Sabae Of whom the Scripture seems to speak in those places where Sheba and Seba are joined together LXXII 10. The Kings of Sheba i. e. of this Country and Seba shall offer Gifts And sometimes Sheba and Raamah for Rhegma are joined Ezek. XXVII 22. where the Prophet speaks of this Sheba the Son of Rhegma who brought those precious Commodities there mentioned out of Arabia They lying very commodiously for Traffick upon the Persian Gulph And these are the People also mentioned verse 23. of that Chapter with sundry other Nations who lived upon Tigris and Euphrates which run into the Persian Sea and therefore it is reasonable to think that Sheba's posterity lived near the same Sea Ver. 8. And Cush begat Nimrod Besides all the fore-mentioned he also begat this Son whom Moses distinguishes from the rest and mentions him alone by himself because he was the most eminent among his Brethren though born the last a mighty Commander as Moses here describes him Thus in the Title of Psal XVIII it is said David was delivered out of the hand of all his Enemies and out of the hand of Saul Who is particularly mentioned by himself because he was his Chief Enemy Sir W. Raleigh thinks he was begotten by Cush when his other Children were become Fathers and so being younger than his Grandsons he is named after an account is given of every one of them Nimrod The Author of the Chronicon Alexandr thinks he was the same with Ninus But Vossius rather takes him for him whom the Greek Writers call Belus that is Lord And that Ninus was his Son so called from the very thing it self Nin in Hebrew signifying a Son L. I. de Idolol cap. 24. The same Chronicon saith that Nimrod taught the Assyrians to worship the Fire And both Elmacinus and Patricides affirm the same See Hotting Smegma Orient L. I. c. 8. p. 272. Which if it be true I doubt not was as an Emblem of the Divine Majesty which used to appear in a glorious Flame Vr a City of Chaldaea seems to have had its name from the Fire which was there worshipped And that Vr also from whence Abraham came the Hebrews fansie had the same original for their Fable is That Abraham was thrown into the Fire because he would not Worship it and by the power of God delivered as St. Hierom tells us in his Questions upon Genesis He began to be a mighty one in the Earth He was the first great Warrior and Conqueror so Gibbor is to be understood not for a Giant or Man of great Stature but for a potent Person And as some will have it a more severe Governour than they had been who only exercised Paternal Authority For he was the first that put down the Government of Eldership or Paternity as Sir W. Raleigh speaks and laid the Foundation of Soveraign Rule Ver. 9. He was a mighty Hunter Or rather mighty in Hunting For the Word tzid doth not signify a Hunter but Hunting Which shows by what means he came to be so great a Monarch He hardned himself to Labour by this Exercise which was very toilsom and drew together a great Company of robust Young Men to attend him in this sport Who were hereby also fitted to pursue Men as they had done wild Beasts For this was lookt upon in all ages as the rudiment of Warfare as Bochart shews out of a great many Authors L. IV. cap. 12. All the Heroes of old such as Nestor Theseus Castor Pollux Vlysses Diomedes Achilles Aeneas
Tongue and in an ill Sence Conspirations Machinations or mischievous Devices This Job Ludolphus approves of and translates this Sentence after this manner Consilia eorum nihil sunt nisi vis arma Their Counsels are nothing but Force and Arms. Vid. Comment in Histor Aethiop Lib. I. cap. 15. n. 106. Aben Ezra is not much different who translates it their Compacts As G. Vorstius notes upon Pirke Elieser cap. 38. where there are other various Interpretations With which I shall not trouble the Reader because I have given that which I think most natural Ver. 6. O my Soul come not thou c. He utterly disclaims all knowledge of their wicked Fact before-hand or approbation of it afterward For by Soul is meant himself and so the word Honour or Glory seems to mean in the following words which are but a repetition of this Or else it signifies the Tongue as in many places of Scripture particularly Psalm XXX 12. and the meaning is He never in Thought much less in Word assented to what they did They gloried in the slaughter they made but God forbid that I should so much as approve it Secret signifying the same with Assembly is in reason to be interpreted a secret place or Closet where Cabals as we now speak are wont to be held Slew a Man i. e. Shechem a great Man Or the Singular Number is put for the Plural In their self-will The Hebrew word Ratson may well be translated Humour When they were in a fit of Rage They digged down a Wall Broke into Hamor's House where Shechem was In the Margin we translate it houghed Oxen And indeed the Hebrew word Schor signifies an Ox not a Wall which they call Shur Yet the Vulgar the Syriack Arabick Chaldee and a great Number of the Hebrew Authors interpret it a Wall And though the LXX translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they ham-string'd an Ox yet the Author of the Greek Scholion as Bochart acknowledges translates it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they undermin'd a Wall The truth is we read of neither in the Story but only of their taking their Sheep and their Oxen XXXIV 28. which signifies not their houghing them but their driving them away Perhaps they both broke down a Wall to come at their Flocks and also houghed those which they were afraid would otherwise have escaped their Hands and got away Ver. 7. Cursed be their Anger Their Fury was most execrable and detestable And brought a Curse upon them For it was fierce Outragious or as the Vulgar translates it pertinacious Not a sudden impetuous Passion that was soon over But a setled inflexible Rage So he condemns them upon a double account First that they had such an implacable desire of Revenge and then that their Revenge was too cruel I will divide them in Jacob c. This is the Punishment which by a Prophetick Spirit he foretells God would inflict upon them That they who were associated in Wickedness should be disjoyned one from another when his Children came to inherit the Land of Canaan And so it fell out for Simeon's Posterity had not a separate Inheritance by themselves but only a Portion in the midst of the Tribe of Judah as we read Josh XIX 1 9. and accordingly we find them assisting one another to enlarge their Border Judg. I. 3 17. and their Portion being too strict for them we read how in after-times they acquired Possessions where they could far from the rest of their Brethren Five hundred of this Tribe under several Captains going to Mount Seir and there setling themselves 1 Chron. IV. 39 42. It is a constant Tradition also among the Hebrews as P. Fagius observes that a great many of this Tribe wanting a livelihood applied themselves to the teaching of Children and were employed as School-Masters in all the other Tribes of Israel Where few followed this Employment but Simeonites If this be true it is a further Proof of their scattered Condition As for the Tribe of Levi it is manifest they had no Inheritance alotted to them among their Brethren but were dispersed among all the Tribes Having certain Cities assigned to them with a little Land about them This indeed did not prove a Curse to them they having the Tenth of all the increase of the Land throughout the whole Country For this Curse seems to have been taken off upon that eminent Service they did in falling upon the worshippers of the Golden Calf and thereby consecrating themselves unto the LORD Exod. XXXII 26 29. Upon which account Moses blesses this Tribe a little before he died Deut. XXXIII 9. whereas he gives no Blessing at all to the Tribe of Simeon but leaves them under this Curse A great Ring-leader of the Idolatry with Baal-Peor being a Prince of this Tribe whom Phineas of the Tribe of Levi slew in his Zeal for the Lord Numb XXV 11 14. Ver. 8. Judah thou art he whom thy Brethren shall praise Or thou art Judah and well maist thou be so called for thy Brethren shall praise thee The Name of Judah signifies Praise unto which his Father alludes It was given him by his Mother in thankfulness to God for him XXIX 35. and now his Father gives another reason of his Name because all his Brethren should applaud his worthy Acts and praise God for them Which is not spoken of Judah's Person but of his Family or Tribe Who in future times were very famous Thy Hand shall be in the Neck of thy Enemies To overthrow them and bring them under Which was eminently fulfilled in David as he himself acknowledges Psalm XVIII 40. And so were the foregoing words when all the Daughters of Israel came forth of their Cities singing his Praises in such an high strain as offended Saul 1 Sam. XVIII 6 7. Thy Father's Children shall bow down to thee Acknowledge thee their Superior Ver. 9. Judah is a Lions whelp c. He sets forth in this Verse the Warlike Temper of this Tribe and their undaunted Courage and Terribleness to their Enemies And he seems to express the beginning increase and full growth of their Power by a young Lion a Lion and a Lioness which is the fiercest of all other A Lion's whelp This Tribe gave early proof of their Valour being the first that went to fight against the Canaanites after the death of Joshua Judg. I. 1 2. And David who was of this Tribe when he was but a Youth killed a Lion and a bear and the great Giant Goliah From the prey my Son thou art gone up He speaks as if he saw them returning in Triumph with the Spoils of their Enemies Alluding unto Lions who having gotten their prey in the Plain return satiated to the Mountains As Bochartus observes P. I. L. III. cap. 2. Hierozoic He stoopeth down he coucheth as a Lion The Hebrew word Ari signifies a grown Lion come to his full strength By whose stooping down bending his Knees the Hebrew word signifies and
Bread and Wine This he did as a King not as a Priest For it was not an act of Religion but of Hospitality Thus Heathens themselves understood this History as we find by Eupolemus quoted by Eusebius L. IX c. 17. who saith he received Abram as they were wont to do strangers in a City called Argarizin which he interprets the Mount of the most High We know not in what Language it so signifies or whether it be misprinted for Harelion But I think the plain Sence is that he treated Abram and his followers by causing Provisions to be brought forth for their Refreshment after the Fight For Bread and Wine comprehend all sort of Provision for their Repast As to eat Bread with another in this Book is to feast with him XLIII 25. And thus Tertullian it is certain understood it who saith expresly he brought them forth to Abram and offered them to him and not to God L. adv Judaeos c. 3. And Epiphanius observes that the word in the Greek is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not he offered but brought out So it seems his Copy had it Ver. 19. And he blessed him This he did as a Priest which Office is just before mentioned as he did the other as a King Blessed be Abram of the most high God He prayed God to confirm the Blessing which he had pronounced upon him Possessor of Heaven and Earth Rather Creator as the LXX and vulgar Latin translate it See Dr. Spencer L. I. De Leg. Hebr. c. 4. § 10. and Lud. de Dieu before him in his Notes on this place and Hotting Smegma Orient p. 87. By this and the next Verse wherein he gives Glory to the most high God for Abram's Victory it is apparent that he was a worshipper of the One only True God the Maker and Governor of all things To whom he also ministred in the Office of a Priest who blessed Men in his Name And he gave him i. e. Abraham gave to Melchizedek as the Apostle explains it Hebr. VII 2. But the words are so doubtful as they lie here that Eupolemus in the place above-mentioned thought Melchizedek had bestowed Gifts upon Abram Tithes of all He doth not say of what all but that which goes before leads us to think he means Tithes of all the Spoil which he had taken from Chedorlaomer c. For he had nothing else there to Tithe unless it were the remainder of the Provisions he had carried along with him in this Expedition All the rest of his own Estate being many Miles off at Mamre And thus Josephus interprets it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tithe of what was gotten by War And thus the Apostle himself seems to expound it Hebr. VII For having said Verse 2. he gave him the tenth part of all When he comes to argue from this he calls it the tenth part of the spoils Verse 4. And indeed it was a very ancient Custom to offer to God whose Priest Melchizedek was the tenth part of what they took in War Diodorus Siculus reports it of the Greeks and many Authors of the Romans From whence we cannot inferr that they gave only Tithe of such things but rather that these were extraordinary Acknowledgments of God's Mercy to them Which it was usual to make out of those Possessions which he had blessed them withal For why should they give Tithe of the Spoils if they were not wont to pay Tithe of other things And therefore St Chrysostom makes this Reflection upon this Practice of Abram That it should teach us to be willing and ready to offer unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First-Fruits of all that he hath bestowed on us This is confirmed by the Story of Jacob Which together with this of Abram shows plainly the Custom of paying Tithes was before the Law of Moses And that not only of the Spoils of War but of their Flocks Corn and other Fruit which Jacob vowed unto God XXXVIII 22. See there Ver. 21. Give me the Persons c. A truly generous Disposition becoming a King to love the Persons of his Subjects better than their Goods Ver. 22. I have lift up my Hand i. e. Sworn as the Phrase is used in many places Exod. VI. 8. Numb XIV 30 c. Possessor of Heaven and Earth See Verse 19. Ver. 23. I will not take from a Thred c. i.e. The meanest thing I have made Abram rich He would have this to be only the Work of God who promised a great while ago to bless him and had now renewed his Promise by Melchizedek And he would not have it thought that love of Spoil had carried him to the War but only love of Justice In short here is a most noble Example as Maimonides observes P. III. More Nevoch c. 50. of Contentedness with what he had of despising Riches and seeking Praise rather from Vertue Ver. 24. Except only that which the young Men i. e. the Soldiers have eaten For which he did not think it reasonable they should pay And the Portion of them that went with me He could not bind his Confederates by his own Act but left them to deal with their Countrymen as they pleased In either keeping their share of the Spoil or parting with it as he had done The Jews truly observe that they who staid with the Stuff and Carriages had their Portion equal with those that fought As we read in the Story of David 1 Sam. XXX 25. But it is not certain that this Custom was as old as Abram's time which they would gather from this place For here they take the young Men for those who fought and pursued the Enemy And Aner Eshcol and Mamre staid to guard the Carriages But I see no ground for this it being most probable as I observed before that they attack'd the Enemy as well as Abram's Servants and thereby acquired a Title to part of the Spoil But whether we consider it this way or the other Abram could not give away their Right when he generously parted with his own CHAP. XV. Ver. 1. AND after these things After this great Victory and his generous refusal of the King of Sodom's offer The Word of the LORD came to Abram God revealed himself more clearly to him For this is the first time we read of the Word of the LORD coming to him and of his having a Vision That is being made a Prophet and that in an high Degree God revealing his Mind to him not in a Dream but in a Vision when he was awake but having his Senses as Maimonides explains it bound up from their ordinary Functions during the time that the heavenly Influence came upon his Mind and diffused it self to his Imagination where it represented several things to him More Nevochim P. II. c. 41. But these words may be understood of his having these things represented to him by the Divine Majesty when he was perfectly awake and used all his