on their faces and interceeded with the Lord for them God by his Spirit informs Moses That he had sent a Plague among them and directs him what course to take for the stopping of it Hereupon he calls to Aaron to take his Censer and to put fire into it from off the Altar and to put Incense thereon and to run quickly and make atonement for the people and to stand between the living and the dead (b) Incense was only to be offered upon the Altar of Incense in the Tabernacle but this was done upon an extraordinary occasion and by an extraordinary warrant of divine Inspiration for he tells him Wrath was gone out from the Lord the Plague was begun And Aaron did as Moses commanded him yet the Plague ran so swiftly among the people like fire in a field of Corn that before Aaron could interpose himself to make atonement wherein he was a Figure of Christs Intercession there fell fourteen thousand and seven hundred of those rebellious Murmurers see 1 Cor. 10.10 and then the Plague was stayed and Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Tabernacle to acquaint him how he had sped and to return thanks unto the Lord who had so graciously accepted the work of his hands Numb 16. whole Chapter SECT LXIV THat none might for the future presume to usurp the Office of the Priesthood or aspire to it besides Aaron and his Sons God was pleased to enjoyn Moses to take of each Prince of the twelve Tribes a Rod or Staff such as they did usually carry in their hands which were it seems according to the Custom of those times made of Almond-Tree and to write every Princes Name on his Rod and to write Aaron's Name upon the Rod of the Tribe of Levi. He tells him That the mans Rod whom he did choose to serve him in the Priesthood should blossom and the rest remain dry And God orders Moses to lay all the Rods up in the Tabernacle in the most holy place before the Ark of the Testimony where the Lord did use by glorious signs to testifie his Presence and make known his Will unto them see Exod. 25.22 For upon such extraordinary occasions we need not doubt but Moses used to go into the most holy place Accordingly next morning Moses went in thither and he found that the Rod of Aaron had shot forth branches and some of them had buds on them and some blossoms and others yielded Almonds but all the rest of the Rods remaining dry as they were before Then Moses brought out all the Rods and shewed them to the Children of Israel and the Princes took every man his Rod and found them dry sticks as before but Aaron's Rod flourished and had brought forth Buds Blossoms and Fruit by which Miracle they were convinced that God had chosen Aaron and his Sons to be the only Priests that should serve Him at the Altar And hereupon God orders Moses to lay up Aaron's Rod again in the most holy place before the Ark to be kept there * See Apostol Hist on Heb. 9.6 as a Testimony against any such Children of Rebellion as should ever after presume to usurp the Office of the Priesthood And by this means also he might prevent the murmurings and complainings of the people which if they went on in they would thereby bring certain destruction upon their own heads The people hearing these things and being exceedingly terrified with this threatning and the remembrance of those late dreadful Judgments that had carried away so many among them they cry out unto Moses Alas we die we perish we all perish that is we see we are in continual danger of being swept away with terrible Judgments And as men terrified are wont to conceive their danger to be greater than indeed it is they now apprehend that it would be exceeding dangerous for them to come near the Tabernacle or to be present at any Worship or Service there performed and seem to fear that God would not withdraw his Indignation from them until he had destroyed and consumed them all Ch. 17. whole Chapter SECT LXV THe people being under such a fear and consternation the Lord hereupon takes order for the guard of the Sanctuary and injoyns that every one should remain within the Verge and Limits of his duty and so they should be safe and he tells Aaron That He and the Priests and Levites shall bear the iniquity of the Sanctuary that is if any pollution (c) Thus the Lord shews himself reconciled and makes the Priests watch a ground of appeasing both the fear and envy of the people came to it by the people they should answer for it and bear the punishment thereof if they did not take care to prevent it and the Priests should bear the punishment of all Iniquity committed about their Priests Office if they did carry themselves amiss in it or suffer a stranger or Levite to meddle therein He tells them he had joined * Here is an allusion to Levies name which signifies joyned the Levites to them to minister to them in the outward Services of killing and slaying the Sacrifices c. but they themselves only should serve at the Altar and within the holy place before the Ark of the Testimony and the Levites shall observe the Precepts and Charge which he hath given them concerning their Ministry and concerning the sacred things of the Tabernacle which are committed to their Care that so every one keeping his station and doing his duty there may be no wrath any more upon the Children of Israel only they shall not meddle with the Service of the Sanctuary and Altar lest they die And if the Priests did not endeavour to prevent any such Errour or Miscarriage in their Brethren the Levites they should also incur the like danger Thus he appoints the Levites to minister to the Priests and orders that he that is not of the Tribe of Levi shall not be admitted to serve and minister unto them For God having taken the Levites instead of the first-born of the Children of Israel to himself he had given them unto Aaron and his Sons for his own Service and the Service of the Tabernacle Therefore he and his Sons should exercise their Priests Office in all things that concern the Altar of Burnt-Offerings and in all things which are to be done within the outward Veil whereby the holy place is divided from the Court the High Priest in the most holy place and inferiour Priests within the Sanctuary or holy place And God tells Aaron and his Sons That 't is his free Gift and favour to them that he had made choice of them before others for the Priestly Office and that He had ordained That whoever is not of Aaron's Line and goeth about to meddle with the Priestly Office shall be put to death from vers 1. to 8. The Lord having thus set down the Office and Work of the Priests and Levites he
Jacob rejoyces at the sight of the Waggons Sect. 43. Jacob goes into Egypt His joy to see his Son Joseph Sect. 44. Joseph brings five of his Brethren to Pharaoh Obtains Goshen for his Brethren Introduces his Father Sect. 45. Joseph's prudent administration in the severe famine He is sent for by his Father Sect. 46. Ephraim and Manasseh blest Jacob's gift to Joseph Sect. 47. Jacob blesses his Sons in order His death Sect. 48. The mourning for and burial of Jacob. Joseph's death Sect. 49. The History of Job Sect. 50. Levi and Amram die Sect. 51. Israel increases Task-masters appointed Sect. 52. Aaron's birth Sect. 53. The Midwives commanded to destroy the Male-children Sect. 54. Moses born He is taken up and educated by Pharaoh's daughter Sect. 55. Moses after forty years leaves the Court and flys into Midian Sect. 56. Moses's marriage His two Sons Sect. 57. Caleb's Birth Sect. 58. The Lord appears to Moses commissions him to deliver Israel enables him to work miracles Sect. 59. Moses confirm'd and encouraged commanded to go to Pharaoh Sect. 60. Moses stopt in his journey His Son circumcised Sect. 61. Aaron meets Moses They declare their commission to the Elders of Israel Sect. 62. They go to Pharaoh The oppression of the Israelites increased Sect. 63. Moses and Aaron go again to Pharaoh The Magicians call'd in Sect. 64. The ten Plagues Chap. IV. From the Israelites departure out of Egypt to the laying the foundation of Solomon's Temple Sect. 1. THe Israelites depart out of Egypt Sect. 2. The Paschal Lamb and Passover appointed Sect. 3. The Lord conducts the Israelites by a Pillar of cloud and fire Joseph's bones carried with them Sect. 4. They encamp at Pihahiroth Pass through the Red-sea The Egyptians drown'd Sect. 5. Moses's Song Miriam a Prophetess Sect. 6. The people marching through Shur murmur for want of water Sect. 7. The twelve Wells and seventy Palm-trees Sect. 8. They turn from Elim to the Red-sea Sect. 9. The people murmur Quails given for one meal Manna falls Sect. 10. Water gushes out of the rock Sect. 11. Moses praying Joshua fights Amalek The Altar call'd Jehova-Nissi Sect. 12. Jethro's story defer'd to Sect. 51. Sect. 13. Moses call'd up to the top of Mount Sinai The terrible sight Sect. 14. The Promulgation of the Law Sect. 15. The people in fear Moses encourages them Sect. 16. Similitudes of God forbidden The Materials for Altars Sect. 17. The Judicial or Political Laws Sect. 18. The Angel of the Covenant promised to guide them The bounds of Canaan Sect. 19. Moses erects an Altar and twelve Pillars Sect. 20. Moses continues in the Mount forty days and forty nights Sect. 21. Directions concerning the Tabernacle and all its utensils and appurtenances Sect. 22. The Golden Calf Sect. 23. Moses comes down breaks the Tables Gods anger Moses intercedes for the people and sees the glory of God Sect. 24. Two new Tables of stone Sect. 25. God renews the Covenant upon Moses's prayer Moses's face shines Sect. 26. The Sabbath anew enjoyned Contribution to the Tabernacle Sect. 27. Bezaleel and Aholihab appointed chief workmen of the Tabernacle Sect. 28. The Tabernacle finished being set up is filled with Gods Glory Sect. 29. Laws given concerning the several sorts of sacrifices Sect. 30. Aaron and his Sons consecrated Sect. 31. Aaron enters upon his office Fire from the Lord. Sect. 32. Nadab and Abihu slain by fire from heaven Sect. 33. Of clean and unclean creatures Sect. 34. Womens separation Sect. 35. Laws concerning Leprosie Sect. 36. Ceremonial uncleanness in men Sect. 37. The Passover celebrated Sect. 38. Several sorts of Laws given Sect. 39. Blasphemy punished in the Son of Shelomith The Law of retaliation Sect. 40. Divers other Laws given Sect. 41. Promises and threatnings More Laws given concerning divers matters Sect. 42. The Book of Numbers Sect. 43. The Encamping of the Tribes Sect. 44. The Levites Charge Sect. 45. The Levites consecrated Sect. 46. The Offerings of the Princes Sect. 47. Laws concerning Jealousie Sect. 48. Concerning Nazarites Sect. 49. The solemn blessing Sect. 50. The Silver Trumpets Sect. 51. Jethro's story and advice Sect. 52. The Camp of Israel marches Jethro leaves them Sect. 53. Upon the moving of the Ark Moses pronounces the blessing Sect. 54. The people murmur at Taberah Sect. 55. Quails given for the space of a month A Plague follows Sect. 56. Miriams Leprosie Sect. 57. Spies search the land Sect. 58. Their different report Sect. 59. The ten Spies smitten Sect. 60. Israel defeated by the Amalekites and Canaanites Sect. 61. The ninetieth Psalm composed Sect. 62. Some Laws explained Sect. 63. The Rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram Sect. 64. Aaron's Red blossoming Sect. 65. The work and portion of the Priests and Levites Sect. 66. Water of Purification Sect. 67. Miriams death Sect. 68. They murmur at Kadesh for want of water Moses strikes the Rock in anger is doomed not to enter into Canaan Sect. 69. The King of Edom refuseth them passage Sect. 70. Aaron dies and is buried upon Mount Hor. Sect. 71. Arad the Canaanite vanquished Sect. 72. The Brazen Serpent Sect. 73. Several stations of the Israelites Sect. 74. The Miraculous Well Sect. 75. Sihon slain Sect. 76. Og totally subdued Sect. 77. The Encamping at Abel-shittim Sect. 78. Balaam sent for to curse the Israelites His Ass speaks Sect. 79. Balaam attempts to curse Israel Sect. 80. The Idolatry and Whoredom of the Israelites at Mount Peor Sect. 81. Midian Conquered Sect. 82. Moses and Eleazar number the people Sect. 83. Zelophehad's daughters Sect. 84. Joshua appointed Successor Sect. 85. A repetition of the Law of sacrificing Sect. 86. Laws concerning Vows Sect. 87. The Reubenites and Gadites desire a possession on that side Jordan Sect. 88. The Journal of Israels Travels Sect. 89. The Limits of Canaan Sect. 90. The Levites Cities Sect. 91. Orders concerning the Marriage of Zelophehad's daughters Sect. 92. The Book of Deuteronomy containing Moses's dying speech to Israel Sect. 93. Moses's death Israels mourning for him Sect. 94. Joshua begins his Government Sect. 95. They come near unto and pass the river Jordan Sect. 96. Circumcision enjoyned them Sect. 97. The first Passover in Canaan Manna ceases Sect. 98. Jericho taken burnt and cursed Sect. 99. The Israelites defeated at Ai. Sect. 100. Joshua marches against Ai. Sect. 101. A Monument of stone and an Altar erected and Blessings and Cursings pronounced at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal Sect. 102. The League with the Gibeonites Sect. 103. Adonizedek and his allies besiege Gibeon Their discomfiture Prodigious Hailstones The Sun and Moon stand still at the prayer of Joshua Sect. 104. Several Kings vanquished and their Cities taken Sect. 105. The rise of the Sabbatical year Sect. 106. Joshua's war with the Northern Kings His victory over them Sect. 107. Joshua's rest from war Sect. 108. Joshua divides the land Sect. 109. Joshua and the Elders proceed to divide the land Ephraim and Manasseh complain Sect. 110.
atonement was appointed for them Lev. 5.2 But those that hate to be reformed God will not reckon them among his people In like manner those that partake of the Signs and Seals of Grace unworthily eat and drink judgment to themselves 1 Cor. 11.27 28 29. and presumptuously eat of the Peace-Offerings such persons shall be Excommunicated and cut off from the Communion of Gods people or as some understand it by Divine Vengeance Further God Commands Moses to charge them to forbear eating the fat of any of those Cattel that were appointed for Sacrifice but the fat of such Beasts if they died of themselves or were torn in pieces might be employed to any other use but that kind of fat which we call Suet they might not eat though other fat that was mix'd with the flesh they might eat of And as they were to forbear eating fat so also blood for the Reasons mentioned before Ch. 3. vers 17. see also Gen. 9.4 and Levit. 17.14 Lastly Moses from the Lord gives them this Command that whosoever offered a Peace-Offering should bring it himself in his own person and not another for him and He shall himself with his own hand present that part which is to be an Oblation to the Lord viz. the fat with the Breast and right Shoulder then the Priest shall burn the fat upon the Altar but the Breast being waved before the Lord and the Shoulder elevated or lifted up shall be his Portion See Exod. 29.22 For this He tells them is the portion and reward appointed by God to Aaron and his Sons by virtue of their Vnction to the Priestly-Office and to be paid them by the Children of Israel from the day of their anointing Levit. Ch. 7. whole Chapter SECT XXX MOses now by direction from God gathering the Children of Israel together spends seven days in consecrating Aaron and his four Sons observing the manner and Ceremonies prescribed for their Consecration Exod. Ch. 28. 29. * See Sect. 21. partic 12. viz. 1. He washes them with water 2ly He puts the High Priests Vestments and rich attire upon Aaron 3ly Anointeth the Tabernacle with the Altar and Laver and sprinkles the Altar seven times with the Oil of Consecration because it was consecrated to a more special use than other parts of the Tabernacle 4ly He anointeth Aaron 5ly He puts the holy Garments upon his Sons 6ly He offers for them all a Bullock for a Sin-Offering one Ram for a Burnt-Offering and another Ram for a Sacrifice of Consecration 7ly With the blood of the Ram He sprinkled certain parts of their bodies and their Garments as was prescribed Exod. 29. 8ly He offered a Meat-Offering for them as a Thanksgiving to God for that great favour vouchsafed to them in setting them apart to this holy Function 9ly He charges them to boil and eat their portion of the Sacrifice at the door of the Tabernacle and to continue there seven days and nights to consummate the time of their Consecration All which they perform'd accordingly Levit. Ch. 8. whole Chapter SECT XXXI ON the very next day after the seven days of the Priests Consecration were ended Aaron and his Sons entred upon the Execution of their Office And Aaron first offered for himself a young Calf for a Sin-Offering and a Ram for a Burnt-Offering which intimated that the High Priest was Himself a Sinner and not fit to stand as a Mediator between God and the people 2ly He offered for the people a Kid of the Goats for a Sin-Offering and a Calf and a Lamb for a Burnt-Offering to which was added the Meat-Offering and a Bullock and a Ram for a Peace-Offering Then Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people and blessed them see Numb 6.23 Moses now goes with Aaron into the Tabernacle that He might instruct him concerning the Service he was there to perform viz. about the Lights the Table of Shew-Bread and the Altar of Incense c. And Moses and Aaron when they came out blessed the people again The Glory of the Lord now appeared to all the people and ratified the Priests Consecration and entrance into their holy Function by sending Fire (m) Moses at the Consecration of Aaron and his Sons sacrific'd with common fire as appears Ch. 8.20 21. But upon Aarons first sacrificing Ch. 9.24 Fire came out from the Sanctuary or from Heaven which was not to be suffered afterwards to go out according to Gods appointment Ch 6.13 And therefore as some conceive this Fire was charily carried in some Vessel for the purpose when they journied in the Wilderness and so it continued until the Temple of Solomon was built and then Fire came down again from Heaven 2 Chron. 7.1 which continued unto the Captivity of Babylon and is said to be miraculously renewed 2 Maccab. 1.18 but whither it was or no is uncertain from his glorious Presence that is either from Heaven 2 Chron. 7.1 or out of the Tabernacle which consumed the Burnt-Offering and the fat on the Altar which the people seeing shouted for joy and fell on their Faces giving thanks to the Lord for this great Sign of his favour and acceptance of their Sacrifices Levit. Ch. 9. whole Chapter SECT XXXII THe day following Nadab and Abihu the two eldest Sons of Aaron who went up with their Father to the Mount and had there seen the Glory of God Exod. 24.1 9 10. having undoubtedly been instructed by Moses that when they went to burn Incense in the Tabernacle they should make use only of fire taken from the Altar of Burnt-Offering which had been kindled by Fire from Heaven (n) The Devil is Gods Ape and accordingly He imitated God in his Prescriptions concerning the continual burning of the Fire upon the Altar and that in divers places among the Heathens as among the Persians who made a God of it and among the Grecians who at Delphi worshipped it in the Temple of Apollo and among the Romans who worshipped it under the Name of Vesta committing the Charge of it to the Vestal Virgins where if it went out it was held fatal to their City Rhodig Antiq. c. 14. they it seems rashly and inconsiderately forgetting or neglecting their duty in this particular took some other fire in their Censers that perhaps with which they dress'd the Flesh of their Sacrifices and putting Incense thereon set it upon the Altar of Incense and so offered strange Fire before the Lord that is Fire which he commanded them not For this their great Transression they were immediately struck dead * Tantae vindictae severitate nova disciplina merito sanciri potuit in exemplum aliorum Sanctificatus autem est Dâ—us hac poena quia tali exemplo commendatus est timor ejus inquit Augustinus Rigor hic sub initia necessarius in terrorem posteris tum carnis Laetitia turgeret Aaron Anonym in loc in the place by Fire from the Lord possibly with Lightning yet so as neither
burn Incense was within the Tabernacle at the Altar of Incense but this was an extraordinary occasion and a means enjoyned for the discovery of the Lords will whither these men or only Aaron and his Sons as formerly should enter into the Tabernacle to execute the Priests Office Corah having assembled his Confederates and the generality of the people before the Tabernacle and not finding Dathan and Abiram there as it should seem went to their Tents to talk with them see Ch. 26.10 and probably from them He went to his own Tent before Moses and the Elders came to the Tabernacle as presently they did In the mean time the 250 Conspirators on the one side taking fire from the Altar and putting it into their Censers and laying Incense thereon and Aaron near to whom Moses stood doing the like on the other God now signifies his approach and the actual manifestation of his Presence by the descending of the Cloud which used to hover over the Tabernacle to the door (x) See vers 42. of this Chap. and Ch. 12.5 thereof And the Lord spake to Moses and Aaron saying Separate your selves from among this Congreation that I may consume these Conspirators and all that joyn with them in a moment Then Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces before the Lord and said O God the God of the Spirits of all Flesh who formest the spirit of man within him Zach. 12.1 and seest and knowest the spirits and hearts of all men and art able to discern between those that sin obstinately and those that are only seduced by others and drawn hither only to see what would be done Shall one man sin viz. Corah the chief Incendiary and wilt thou be wroth with the whole Congregation Upon this intercession the Lord was pleased to spare the people that would depart from these Rebells And then imparting to Moses what He intended to do commands him to warn the Congregation to get away from the Tents of Corah Dathan and Abiram Moses accordingly rose up many of the Elders of Israel accompanying him to denounce the Judgment of God against these Conspirators and he warns the Congregation to depart from the Tents of these wicked men and to get far from them and to touch nothing of theirs as judging all that they have execrable and accursed lest they perish (y) V. 26. Lest you be consumed in all their sins that is lest you be destroyed in the Judgment that will fall upon them for all their sins the cause is here put for the effect in the Judgment which was ready to fall upon them for their great Sins and Provocations The people accordingly did so and fled from the Tents of these men but Dathan and Abiram impudently came out and stood in the doors of their Tents with their Wives and Children as if they intended to out-face Moses and scorned the Judgment he threatned against them Moses then sayed Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me and hath appointed me to take upon my self the Government of this people and hath conferred the Priesthood on Aaron and his Sons and that I have not done these things on my own head If these men die the common and ordinary death of other men then the Lord hath not sent me But if the Lord by his Almighty Power do work a new and hitherto-unheard of Miracle so that the Earth open her mouth and swallow them up quick then you must needs acknowledge that I am innocent and that these men have highly provoked the Lord. Moses having made an end of speaking the Earth immediately opened her mouth and swallowed up * An undoubted evidence of Gods concurrence with the ministry of Moses and withall an undoubted assurance of the divine truth of Moses's Writings these Rebels and all that appertained to them that were there present And the same it seems happened and probably at the same time to Corah and his Family as appeareth Numb 26.10 only some of his Children who as 't is like joyned not in their Fathers sin or if they did soon repented of it and gave over and departed from their Fathers Tent at Moses's warning were spared And of their Race came such as either composed some of the Psalms or at least were famous Singers in the Temple and Samuel also the great Prophet and Judge in Israel was of that Race see 1 Chron. 6.33 to 38. Thus perished the Ringleaders of this Rebellion All the Israelites that were near them fled at the Cry of them fearing lest the Earth should swallow up them also And as a further addition to the dreadfulness of this Judgment there came fire out from the Lord and consumed their 250 Confederates who had offered Incense and usurped the Priests Office They are punished with fire as by fire they had offended see Levit. 10.2 Moses now by Gods Command appointeth Eleazar the Son of Aaron to gather up the Censers from among the ashes of the dead bodies of these men that were burnt and consumed and to scatter the fire that was in them without the Court of the Tabernacle as shewing that God rejected it and their Service and abhorred their Sacrifice And he tells him That the Censers of these Sinners against their own Souls were now hallowed (z) Sanctificata dicuntur quia ex deputatione Dei servire deinceps debebant divina gloriae illustrandae having been presented before the Lord by his Commandment and he orders him to make broad Plates of them for a covering of the Altar (a) A parte anteriori altaris ponebantur ut a populo conspici possint of Burnt-Offerings which was covered with Plates of Brass before see Exod. 27.2 And the less need there was of them the fitter they were to be a sign of Gods Judgment against presumptuous Conspirators and of his vindicating and clearing the innocency of his faithful Servants and to be a Memorial to the Children of Israel that all Israelites and Levites excepting Aaron's Sons are to be reckoned as Strangers in respect of the Priests Office and may not aspire to it lest they perish as Corah and his Confederates did However the very next morning after those dismal Judgments had been executed all the Congregation of the people that were inclined to this Faction whose lives Moses had saved the day before by praying to the Lord for them murmured against Him and Aaron and peremptorily told them That they had killed the Lords people Moses and Aaron being thus injuriously charged looked up to God as having no other Refuge or Shelter to fly unto and immediately behold the Cloud descended upon the Tabernacle as a sign of the approach and actual manifestation of the glorious Presence of God and that he intended to speak something unto them Moses and Aaron presenting themselves before the Lord the Lord bad them get them up presently from among this rebellious Company that he might consume them in a moment But they fell
was going to destroy that City David and the Elders thereof being clothed in sackcloth lift up their eyes and saw the Angel standing between Heaven and Earth near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem whereupon they fell on their faces and Araunah and his four Sons saw the Angel also and his Sons hid themselves through fear Then Then David spake to the Lord saying It is I O Lord it is I that commanded the people to be numbred It is I that have sinned but as for these sheep what have they done Let thy hand I pray thee be on me and my Fathers house but not on thy people that they should be plagued Then the Angel commanded Gad to speak to David that he should presently set up an Altar in the threshing floor of Araunah and thereon offer sacrifices intimating to him that there was no other way for them to obtain the pardon of their sins and the removal of the present judgment but by faith in that propitiatory sacrifice which their promised Messias was to offer up for them The Tabernacle and the Altar of Burnt-offerings was at this present at Gibeon but David could not now go thither for fear of the slaughter and dreadful execution that might be made by the Angel in the mean time therefore no place at present was fitter to rear an Altar in than that where the Angel appeared with a drawn sword and the Lord it seems would have that place as it were consecrated and endeared to the people by a sacrifice that should procure a very great blessing for them namely the staying of this raging plague because he determined in that very place to have his Temple built See 2 Chron. 3.1 David accordingly went forthwith to Araunah (a) This Araunah or Ornan seems to be descended of the Royal blood of the Jebusites and now was the chief of the Jebusites that enjoy'd Estates in and about Jerusalem under a Tribute who seeing the King come to him attended with his servants went out towards him and bowed himself to the ground and said Wherefore is my Lord the King come unto me The King said I am come to buy of thee thy threshing floor there to build an Altar to the Lord that the plague may be stayed Araunah answered Let the King freely take it and offer up there what sacrifices he pleases Behold here be also my oxen which thou maist take for burnt offerings and take also the wooden instruments which are used in this work which being dry will soon take fire and expedite the business and take wheat also for a Meat-offering I freely give thee all All these did Araunah as free as a Prince profer unto David adding the Lord graciously accept thee and the sacrifices thou art about to offer But the King said Nay but surely I will buy it of thee at a price neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord of that which cost me nothing So David bought of him the threshing floor and the oxen and materials for sacrifice for fifty shekels of silver and David built an Altar there to the Lord and called upon the Lord and offered burnt-offerings which were miraculously consumed by fire from heaven whereby God testified his acceptance of the sacrifice and granted his desire for the staying of the Plague and the Lord repented (a) That is did as men do when they repent viz. cease to proceed on so the Lord ceased from punishing the people neither was there any change in Gods Decree for he decreed to cease punishing when he had brought David and the people to unfeigned repentance him of the evil and punishment he had brought upon them and said to the Angel It is enough stay now thine hand and put up thy sword into the sheath So the Lord was intreated for the land and the plague was stayed Then David offered Peace-offerings on the same Altar by way of Thanksgiving for so great a mercy And possibly God made known to David by Gad at this time that in that very place (b) This was upon mount Moriah where Abraham intended to have offered up Isaac who was a Type of Christ he would have the Temple built and thereupon David purchased of Ornan the whole place or plot of ground with all the buildings gardens and all things belonging to it containing a large compass and a sufficient circuit of ground for the building of the Temple upon it with all the Courts thereof and for this he gave him six hundred shekels of Gold whereas the meer Threshing-floor with the oxen and materials of Sacrifice cost him but fifty shekels of Silver as we said before And possibly David might give more for it than the real worth out of his Royal bounty 2 Sam. Ch. 24. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 21. whole Chapter SECT CCV DAvid now knowing that this Threshing-floor of Araunah which he had purchased was the place where the Temple was to be built he said of it This is the house of the Lord and this is the Altar of the Burnt-offering for Israel that is this is the place of which God long since spake by his servant Moses that he would have an house there built which should be the setled place of his Worship and where there should be an Altar not this I have now set up but another whereon only they should offer Sacrifices unto him see Deut. 12.11 Not long after it seems he received from the Lord by the illumination of his Spirit * Except we may suppose that this pattern set down in writing was brought him by some Prophet See 2 Chr. 29.25 the pattern or model whereby the Temple was to be built and this he set down in a draught or plat-form and afterwards delivered it to his Son Solomon as we shall see 1 Chron. 28.11 12 13. In order therefore to the carrying on of this great work David prepared materials in great abundance and called the strangers that were in the land and employ'd them in hewing of stone and timber and such like works He also prepared iron in abundance and brass without weight that is it was so much they would not trouble themselves to weigh it Also abundance of Cedar-trees which he had from the Tyrians and Zidonians And he said Solomon my Son is yet young and tender and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceeding magnificent and must excell all others †Thus it was in the service it self and in the ornaments appertaining thereunto It was one of the worlds wonders It was far more excellent than the Tabernacle and in its dimensions far exceeding it There were some greater Buildings in the world yet there was never any that had such costly materials such curious workmanship such divine services such representations of Gods Majesty and mercy and which prefigured such Mystical Spiritual and Caelestial things as this Temple had that
asks Who among them and how many of them did they desire should go Moses tells him They would go up All with their Old and with their Young with their Wives Sons and Daughters with their Flocks and with their Herds For they must make use of some of them for Sacrifice and of part of these Sacrifices they must keep a Riligious Feast unto the Lord. Pharaoh being angry at this motion that they should desire their Children should go also whom he intended to keep as Hostages for their coming back he said in a passion I wish you might find no more savour from God than you are like to find from me in this your Suit to let your Children go also Look to it if you will presume to go in this manner at your own peril be it I shall never consent that you should All go But as for you that are men grown I care not if I permit you to go For that was all as I understood (t) Pharaoh either mislook or perverted the words of Moses and Aaron For they demanded they might all go but they desiring at first that they might go to Sacrifice to the Lord it seems Pharaoh thought that only the men meant to go and not the Women and Children also that at first you desired Moses and Aaron not accepting of this Pharaoh caused them to be driven out of his presence Then Moses stretched forth his Rod over the Land of Egypt and the Lord sent an East-wind which blew very fiercely all day upon that Land and the next morning it brought a vast Army of Caterpillars and Locusts very grievous such as had never been seen there before nor are like ever to be again and they were so many that they in a manner covered the face of the Earth where there was any Herbage and by flying so many together like a Cloud they in a manner darkned the Air and they devoured all the Corn and Grass and Herbs that the Hail had left See Psal 78.46 and Psal 105.34 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in hast and said to them I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you in using you as I have done However pardon the wrong that I have done you and once more intreat the Lord to be favourable to me and remove this deadly Plague from me which consumes and destroys all and is like to bring a grievous and general Famine upon us And Moses went out and intreated the Lord for Pharaoh and the Lord sent a strong West-wind that carried the Grashoppers and Locusts away and cast them into the Red-Sea where they all perished But though this dreadful Judgment was removed yet Pharaoh's hardness was not for he would not yet let the people go Ch. 10. from vers 1. to 21. The Month Abib otherwise called Nisan answering to part of our March and part of our April which before had been the seventh Month as we shewed before was from this time forward made the first Month (u) In rememberance of their miraculous Deliverance out of Egypt they were appointed to begin the Year with this Month. Yet this account was afterwards kept only in Ecclesiastical Affairs For the Jubilees and such other Civil affairs it began as it had done before Lev. 25.8 9 10. of the year and upon the tenth day of this Month or a little before was instituted the Feast of the Passover In Commemoration of God's passing over them and not involving them in the Common Plague that smote the Houses of the Egyptians Touching which Passover several Laws and Directions are given to Moses 1. Concerning the Sacrifice it self or the matter of the Feast viz. a Lamb or Kid of the first year a Male without blemish 2. This must be set apart on the tenth day (x) No mention made of separating the Paschal Lamb from the Flock four days before the Feast in other places where the Passover is commanded of this Month. Thus it was ordered at this time that it might be in readiness and not to seek when they were encumbered with business about their going away 3. If one Houshold was too little for a Lamb they were to joyn the next Houshold to them and they were to make their account proportionably to the Lamb and to the persons that were to eat of it taking care that there might not be too few nor too many for it (y) Which number Josephus reckons to be ten men besides women and children 4. They were to keep the Lamb to the 14th day of the same Month. 5. Every Master of a Family of all the Congregation of Israel whom it especially concerned was appointed to kill it on the 14th day between the two Evenings (z) About that time our blessed Saviour the true Paschal Lamb was put to death Mat. 27.46 that is between our three a Clock in the Afternoon and Sun-set (a) The natural day from Sun to Sun the Jews divided into four parts The first from Sun-rising to nine in the fore-noon called the third hour The second from nine to twelve called the sixth hour The third from twelve to three in the afternoon called the ninth hour The fourth from three in the afternoon to Sun-setting called the twelfth hour 6. They were to strike and sprinkle with a bunch of Hyssop dipped in the bloud (b) To direct the Faith of the Israelites to the bloud of their great Redeemer thereof the two side-posts and upper door-posts of the door of the House where they did eat it (c) This seems peculiar to the Passover in Egypt 7. None of them were to go out of the House where they did eat it till the morning 8. They were not to break a bone of it 9. They were not to eat it raw or sodden but roasted with fire And they were to rost it whole Head and Leggs with the appurtenance that is the inwards being first taken out and washed 10. They were to eat it with unleavened (d) Leaven haing two Properties to sowr and puff up might well signifie malice and pride which must be laid aside Bread and bitter Herbs 11. They were to eat it with their Loins girded their Shooes on their feet and their Staff in their hand like men in hast and ready to be gone and march out of Egypt (e) These Ceremonies were peculiar to that Passover in Egypt 12. They were to let nothing of it remain unto the morning but if any thing were left after they had eaten it was to be burnt with fire These things being observed by them Moses tells them The Lord intended to pass by all the Houses of the Israelites where the Paschal-Lamb was thus eaten and the doors thus sprinkled but He would smite by his holy Angel all the First-born of the Land of Egypt both of Men and Beasts that remained And he would then execute Judgment on all the Gods of Egypt that is either some such notable Judgment or
versum in fighting against his peculiar people whose King and Soveraign he had undertaken to be therefore the Lord would have his people maintain a truceless War with Amalek from Generation to Generation Exod. 17. from vers 8. to the end SECT XII THis Story of Jethro contain'd in the next Chapter viz. the 18th seems not to lie in its proper place but ought to come in between the 10th and 11th verses of Numb 10. For in Exod. 18. vers 12. 'T is said Jethro took Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices for God whereas the Law for Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices was not yet given And vers 13. 16. 'tis said Moses sat to judge the people and to make them know the Statutes of God and his Laws whereas the Statutes and Laws of God were not yet given to Moses And further the chusing of Judges and Elders which was upon Jethro's Counsel was not till after their departing from Sinai Deut. 1 7 8 9 See Lightfoot pag. 95. c. whereas 't is here set as before their coming thither Therefore we shall reserve this History till we come to the 10th of Numbers SECT XIII FRom Rephidim which was over against Horeb in the third month after their coming forth out of Egypt they removed to the Desart over against Sinai (k) It seems these were either two Mountains near together or else two tops of the same Mountain one called Horeb the other Sinai which was their Twelfth Encamping where they continued for the space of almost an whole Year The Cloudy Pillar now resting on the top of the Mountain God out of it calls Moses to come up to Him and Commands him to set before the people what great things He had done for them and how he had born them on Eagles wings and carried them as an Eagle doth her young ones on her back viz. speedily and safely out of Egypt and had now brought them unto Himself that is to this place of his Presence and convenient for them to serve him in If therefore they would carefully observe the Covenant which he now intended to make with them they should be his peculiar Treasure his Segullah (l) Deut. 7.6 7 8. Psal 135.4 above all people For all the Earth is His and he can chuse what Nation he pleases to be his peculiar People to serve him and they should be to Him a Kingdom of Priests that is among them he would Reign and set up his Kingdom 1 Sam. 8.7 and they should not be a profane State such as other Kingdoms were but a Kingdom of Priests to Worship Him according to his own Will and to offer the Sacrifices to Him which He should appoint and they should be separated from all other Nations unto Him and his Service Moses comes down and acquaints the people herewith and they readily and with one accord answered That All that the Lord had spoken they would do Moses returned their Answer unto the Lord who tells him He would now speak to him speedily out of a thick Cloud upon the Mount and the people should hear Him speak to him that they might never after doubt or disbelieve that God had sent him to them Then he Commands Moses to go down and to sanctifie and prepare the people two days for their reverend receiving his Law on the day after and that he should give them Orders and Directions how they should behave themselves at that time Moses accordingly commands the people to sanctifie themselves to wash their Cloaths and to forbear the company of their Wives vers 15. till the time appointed signifying how careful they should be to keep their Minds from being distracted with carnal affections and to cleanse themselves from all filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit especially when they were to present themselves so solemnly before the Lord. Then he sets bounds and limits round about the bottom of Mount Sinai shewing them how near they should approach to the Mount and no further declaring that whatever Man or Beast passed those bounds and touched the Mountain should be stoned or shot to death This was commanded to strike their hearts with the greater Reverence of God and to bridle their Curiosity from searching into Gods Secrets and to teach them to be content with the bounds that he had set them On the third day in the morning after Moses had given them this Charge concerning sanctifying and preparing themselves which as some think was the (m) Sic Jansenius Masius autem quarto die mensis sixth day of the month and fifty days after the Passover on which the Feast of Pentecost was afterwards kept by the ministry of Angels the Trumpet sounded exceeding loud and the people trembling advanced under the Conduct of Moses towards (n) V. 13. Tunc ascendent in montem i. e. adversus montem alioquin repugnaret v. 12. the Mountain so far as their limits and bounds extended Then the Air being fill'd with dreadful Thunderings and Lightnings and the Mountain quaking and trembling and smoaking like a Furnace Psal 68.8 and the Trumpet sounding lowder and lowder the Lord (o) V. 20. Descendit Dominus sâ—u Angelus Dominum repraesentans descendit ex loco aeris celsiore in ipsum montis verticem descended on the Mount that is He there manifested his Glory in a flame of Fire The fight was so exceeding terrible that Moses said I exceedingly fear and tremble Heb. 12.21 The Lord hereupon answered him by a Voice and so in a less terrible manner than by Thunder yet so loud that the people might hear him speaking to him see vers 9. By that Voice the Lord commanded Moses to come up to Him to the top of the Mount And Moses did so The Lord Commands him to go again to the people and to Charge them that they did not break thorow the bounds set them to see and gaze as Moses himself was ready once to do Exod. 3.3 till He was stayed of God lest many of them should thereupon perish see Sam. 6.19 and to Charge the Priests more particularly who used to come near to minister before the Lord that is the First-horn the young men of the Children of Israel whom God had hallowed to himself and who before the separating of the Tribe of Levi for the Priesthood used to administer that Office in their several Families Numb 8.16 Exod. 13.2 Lev. 3.12 and Exod. 24.5 that they especially take care to sanctifie themselves and to be devoutly and holily prepared for this great appearance of God and to keep themselves from being defiled with Sin by touching the Mount presuming too far by reason of their Priviledge lest the Lord break forth in wrath upon them Moses humbly Answers O Lord the people by reason of thy former Prohibition dare not come up to the Mount For thou saidst Set bounds to the Mount and Hallow it that is let the people know that they are to account this Mountain holy by reason of the manifestation of
my glorious Presence here and therefore they must not presume to come to up to it However the Lord chargeth him instantly to go down to them and to urge the same again upon them after which He himself should come up again and should bring Aaron (p) Aaron quoque advocari debibat ut sacerdotium ejus quoque divinitâ—s institutum Constaret Jans with him Exod. 19. whole Chapter SECT XIV THe Lord now with an audible Voice and with great Majesty and Terrour Proclaimed and Promulgated his Moral Law (q) Which nevertheless disanull'd not the promise of Grace made to Abraham 430 years before Gal. 3.17 or Ten Commandments containing the prime Dictates of Natural Reason the chief Rules of Piety towards God Equity towards our Neighbour and Sobriety Chastity and Temperance in the government our Selves (r) This Law is expresly call'd a Covenant with that people He declared unto you his Covenant says the Text which he commanded you to perform even Ten Commandments Deut. 4.13 and accordingly was reposed in the Ark hence as it seems named the Ark of the Covenant Deut. 10.2 He wrote upon the Tables the words of the Covenant the Ten Commandments Exod. 34.28 The end and design of these Precepts was to ground them in the true notions of Piety and Religion and to dispose them to the practice of universal Righteousness Our Saviour did not derogate from this Law but declared his intention only to expound it or to ampliate and extend it There is no Commandment herein howsoever accoding to its immediate sense seeming peculiar to that people which according to good analogy or parity of reason doth not concern us also And therefore 't is said Nehem. 9.13 Thou camest down upon Mount Sinai and gavest them right Judgments and true Laws good Statutes and Commandments And the Apostle Rom. 7.12 says The Law is holy the Commandment holy just and good We shall therefore set down these Laws particularly and give a short Paraphrase of them God spake all these words saying that is God Himself declared his own Mind and Will by a loud Voice distinctly audible and intelligible miraculously formed by himself Deut. 5.24 Behold say the people the Lord our God hath shewed us his Glory and his Greatness and we have heard his Voice out of the midst of the Fire we have seen this day that God doth talk with man and yet he liveth I am the Lord or I am Jehovah thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage I am Jehovah who indeed am what this my Name importeth the only true and real God Eternal Independent Indefectible in Essence I am that Jehovah to whose words upon all accounts thou owest Submission Attention and Obedience I am Thy God having chosen thee to be a peculiar people to my Self above all people that are upon the face of the Earth and who in pursuance of my singular Favour towards thee and of my Covenant made with thee have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage I then being Jehovah the only true God and thy God by Covenant and particular Engagement do now propound my Will unto thee and upon all accounts of Reason Justice and Gratitude do require thy regard and observance of the Precepts I now intend to give thee I. Commandment Thou shalt have no other Gods before me THis Precept as most of the rest is Negative and Prohibitive but supposeth and implyeth some thing Affirmative and Positive as the rest may also be conceived to do It implies this Affirmative Precept Thou shalt have me for thy God and shalt Serve Worship and Love Me with all thy Heart Soul Mind and Might and shalt trust in Me as a Being endued with Attributes and Perfections superlatively excellent and thou shalt not own nor acknowledge any other for God besides Me. Take heed therefore of imitating them who acknowledge not nor Worship any God at all and such are Athiests or acknowledge and adore many Gods and such are Polytheists Take heed also of framing in your Minds any untrue Idea of Me disagreeable to my most excellent Being and infinite Perfections Take heed also of inordinately loving or relying upon any Creature and so making that your God II. Commandment Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image c. THe First Commandment determined the right and true Object of our Worship The Second directs and limits the manner of expressing and exercising it and forbids the manner practised by Heathens of Worshipping their false Gods by Images and Corporeal Shapes and Representations (s) To worship an Idol instead of God is Idolatry forbidden in the First Commandment When the true God is worshipped in or by an Image 't is Idolatry forbidden by the Second Inward Idolatry is opposed to the First Commandment and Outward to the Second We ought not to think says the Apostle Acts 17.29 that the Godhead is like unto Gold or Silver or Stone graven by art or man's device Most reasonable therefore is this Prohibition of making any resemblance of what kind soever by Picture Sculpture or Tusion to represent God or for Religious use (t) The civil use of Images is not forbidden but Images made and used for Divine Worship Neither are those Images only forbidden which are the Images of false Gods but of the true also Papists by worshipping Saints and Angels offend against the first Commandment By making Images of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and worshipping these Images or worshipping God by these Images they offend against the Second As for the Cherubim made by Solomon and the brasen Serpent by Moses they were made by God's special Command but not to be worshipped The Cherubim seem intended as an Emblem to represent the natures and services of the holy Angels and not any likeness of God they being full of zeal and always upon the Wing as it were and ready to obey God's Will The brasen Serpent was made not to be worshipped but as a Type of Christ and now Christ is come all Types are to vanish and to bow down or Prostrate our selves before it For there being but one true Object of our Worship the Eternal Invisible God whose glorious Excellencies infinitely transcend our Comprehension and consequently of whom we cannot devise any resemblance not infinitely beneath him unlike to him and unworthy of him It must needs be therefore a great prophaneness to pretend the representing Him by any Image Moses Deut. 4.15 reports to the people of the Jews the ground of this Prohibition Take good heed to your selves says he for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake to you in Horeb out of the midst of the Fire lest you corrupt your selves and make you a graven Image No shape representing God did then appear at his uttering of these Laws to prevent their framing any resemblance of Him and practising this sort
and no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him So that all malice spight envy hatred rancor immoderate anger and animosity are here also forbidden VII Commandment Thou shalt not commit Adultery THis Commandment injoyns Chastity of Mind Heart and Body and the preservation of it in our selves and others Whosoever shall attempt the Affection or Chastity of another mans wife highly sinneth against God commits a great trespass against his Neighbour and defiles himself with the foulest turpitude He violates an Institution to which God hath affixed especial marks of respect and sanctity He wounds his Neighbour's Honour and ruines Him in that wherein the great content of his mind and comfort of his life is wound up He offendeth against the welfare of Families breeding horrible Confusions and Dissentions in them Adultery therefore is a lothsome Vnrighteousness most odious to God and a fire that consumeth unto destruction Further this Commandment forbids all sorts of unlawful and irregular satisfactions to lustful Appetite and all kinds of Impurity and Lasciviousness not in act only but in thought in desire (f) Our Saviour extends this Commandment to forbid all unlawful lustings or desires or Inclinations of the heart Mat. 5.28 I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her in his heart in speech or in gesture and what ever tends to foment the fleshly Concupiscence which we ought to endeavour by all good means to quench and suppress VIII Commandment Thou shalt not Steal THis Commandment injoyns that every man should quietly enjoy those supports and conveniencies of his life which in any honest way he hath right unto or is possessed of And it prohibits all Invasion or Vsurpation by any means what ever either by open Violence or by clandestine Fraud of our Neighbour's Goods or Rights Many sorts of Vnrighteousness are reducible to this Commandment as fraudulent Dealing false Weights and Measures over-reaching in Contracts unfaithfulness in matters of Trust Exaction Oppression Extortion and not making Restitution of ill-gotten Goods when there is ability The Positive Duties to be understood are Diligence and Industry in our Callings whereby with God's blessing we may support our selves and prevent the importunate Temptations of Want and Need and may be able to relieve others that are in want and may be well content with our own estates trusting in God and relying on his Providence to take care of us IX Commandment Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour BEaring false Testimony against our Neigbour especially in matters Capital and wherein his life is concern'd is here prohibited And not only that but also defaming him or unjustly detracting from him and breeding in the minds of others an ill opinion of him We are therefore here forbidden to wrong our Neighbour in his Credit and good Name as well as in his Estate We are forbidden to hurt him either in word or deed Charity obligeth us to think the best of our Neighbour to be candid in our Opinions and Discourses concerning Him to forbear all rash and harsh Censures of Him and to abhor affixing any faults upon Him of which He is not guilty To walk Vprightly and to work Righteousness and speak the truth from our hearts are the good man's Character Psal 15. v. 2. X. Commandment Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours House nor his Wife nor his Man-Servant nor his Maid-Servant nor his Ox nor his Asse nor any thing that is thy Neigbours THis Law is very Comprehensive prescribing universal Justice towards our Neighbour and that not only in outward deeds and dealing but in inward thought and desire prohibiting us unlawfully or irregularly to desire any thing that is his to his detriment We are to be so far from depriving our Neighbour of any good thing belonging to him that we are not so much as irregularly to wish or desire it We are not only to abstain from injurious Actions but to repress in our selves all covetous and injurious Inclinations And the Positive Duty here implied is That we should have a delight and complacency in our Neigbour's good not envying him any of his Enjoyments being in our minds well content with the portion God is pleased to vouchsafe to us and intirely trusting in Him that he will supply us with what is needful and fitting for us without the damage of our Neighbour Thus we see that God's Law is as St. Paul observes Spiritual not only restraining exteriour Acts but regulating our inmost Thoughts quelling all inordinate Appetites and Affections of Heart within us And all these Precepts both of the first and second Table are reduced to these two Heads of loving God with all our Hearts Souls and Spirits and loving our Neighbour as our selves SECT XV. THus was this Law promulgated and proclaimed At the dreadful manner whereof of the people were so greatly terrified that they removed and stood afar off from the Mount Then the Heads of the â—ribes and Elders came to Moses and said Behold the Lord our God hath shewed us his Glory and his Greatness and we have heard his Voice out of the midst of the Fire and have seen this day that God doth talk with Man and yet he remaineth alive This is matter of great wonder to us But yet we are afraid that if we should hear the Voice of the Lord our God again speaking to us in such a dreadful manner the very terrour of it would kill us We are afraid we should be consumed by that great and dreadful Fire out of which we heard the Lord speaking to us For what man is there that ever heard God speaking out of the midst of the Fire as we have done and yet lived Since therefore the Lord hath hitherto been so gracious and propitious to us we humbly intreat him to regard our Infirmity which makes uncapable of enduring his terrible Presence Go thou therefore near unto him and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou (g) This is still the work of the Law to scare men and drive them to seek for a Mediator between God and them And by this Interposition of Moses was figured the necessity of the great Mediator between God and Man Gal. 3.19 Who was also promised on this occasion Deut. 18.15 16. unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it But let not the Lord speak to us any more immediately by Himself lest the terrour of his Presence kill us Moses encourages them and tells them They should not be so much dismayed and affrighted For God had spoken to them with so much terrour to prove them that is to try whether this terrour would produce in them a holy fear and reverence of his Majesty which is the true spring of Obedience that so they might be afraid to sin against Him Then the people standing aloof off Moses drew near to the thick Darkness on
See Isa 53.6 And Moses himself who was a Levite till Aaron and his Sons were fully consecrated for the Service of the Priesthood was by extraordinary Warrant from God to perform the Work of the Priest in offering these Sacrifices See Psal 99.6 And he was to take of the bloud of the Bullock and put it upon the Horns of the Altar of Burnt-Offerings which stood in the Court of the Tabernacle to purifie consecrate and sanctifie the Altar it self and make it holy to the Lord and so to set it apart for holy Uses that whatsoever was offered thereon according to Gods Institution might be sanctified made holy and accepted as holy by the Lord. See Ch. 30.29 and Matth. 23.19 And the flesh of the Bullock and his skin and dung were to be burnt without the Camp to shew how destable the sin was that was laid as it were upon this Bullock and that the true Sacrifice for our Sins should suffer without the Gates of Jerusalem Heb. 13.11 12 13. 2ly The Sacrifice for Sin being thus first offered he was to offer one Ram for a Burnt-Offering (y) By the Burnt-Offering some understand the ardent love of Christ quo totus in cruce conflagravit and as the Burnt-Offering ascended up in fire so Christ ascended into heaven to make Intercession for us as a savour of rest that is that God being thereby appeased might cease from his anger Not as though the Lord was affected with Smells but it is said to be an acceptable Savour to Him in regard of their Obedience and willing mind and God is is said to be delighted with it when they offered it with Faith and true devotion 3ly He was to take another Ram for a Peace-Offering These were to be offered either to obtain some Blessing or to give thanks for some Blessing already received In both these respects this was offered at the Priests Consecration both by way of thankfulness for the honour done them in calling them to this Dignity and Office as also by way of Supplication humbly to intreat the Lord that he would prosper them in the execution of it Thus at the Consecration of Aaron and his Sons divers sorts of Sacrifices were to be offered because they were ordained to offer them all In this Eucharistical Sacrifice that was now to be offered Moses was only to have the Breast Exod. 29.26 but the right Shoulder and the fat and one loaf of Bread and one Cake of oiled Bread and one Wafer out of the Basket vers 3. were to be waved or shaken towards all the four Quarters of the World to signifie that God is the Lord of the whole Earth and then to be burnt by Him upon the Altar of Burnt-Offering for a sweet savour before the Lord. And upon this occasion an Ordinance is inserted that in Eucharistical Sacrifices namely such as these whereby Aaron and his Sons were to be consecrated for the future the Priests were to have the shaken Breast and the right Shoulder (z) Hinc humerus pectusque populo destinent Sacerdotes Anonym that was lifted up * The rest of the Peace-Offering besides what was the Priests belonged to the Offerer namely to God as his Right and assigned by Him as a Portion to the Priests Levit. 7.31 whereby possibly they were taught that with all their Heart and all their Strength they should give themselves to the Service of the Lord. Another Ordinance is also inserted That the holy Garments of Aaron shall be his Sons after him that He may be anointed and consecrated in them Thus though the High Priest died yet his Son was to appear before the Lord in the same Garments And as the Consecration of Aaron and his Sons continued seven days vers 35. during which time they were to abide at the door of the Tabernacle day and night to keep the Watch of the Lord Levit. 8.33 35. and as on each day of the seven the same Sacrifices and Ceremonies were to be observed as had been on the first day So this Order of Consecration was to be practised towards their Successors when they came into the Land of Canaan and had a setled state there Lastly It is appointed that that part of the Ram of Consecration which should be left after part had been burnt and Moses had had his portion should be sodden in the Court of the Sanctuary and should be eaten there by Aaron and his Sons with the bread that was left in the Basket vers 2 3. Levit. 8.31 And no Stranger viz. None but a Priest was to eat of it whereas in other Peace-Offerings the Offerer did partake And if any part of the Bread or Flesh remained until the Morning they were to burn it with fire This was required lest by reserving any part thereof either they might grow into contempt of holy things making no difference between them and their ordinary Food which they might reserve at their pleasure or lest that which remained might be abused to Superstition And whereas in ordinary Peace-Offerings they might eat of them the next day but not upon the third day see Levit. 7.18 no part of this must be eaten the second day This was to shew that this Ram of Consecration was a more holy thing than their ordinary Peace-Offerings Exod. 29. from 1. to 38. 13ly Touching the holy anointing Oil and the Ingredients of which it was to be made viz. of principal Spices Myrrh Cynamon sweet Calamus (a) Those sweet Odours signified the joyful Graces of Gods Spirit and the anointing therewith the powring out of the holy Spirit upon Christ his Church and Ministers and Cassia and of Oil-Olive And the things to be anointed therewith to Consecrate them to Gods Service and to separate them from common uses were the Tabernacle the Ark the Table the Candlestick with all their Vtensils the Altar of Incense the Laver the Altar of Burnt-Offerings so that whatsoever was brought as an Oblation if it touched any of the hallowed things of the Sanctuary it should be holy to the Lord. Aaron also and his Sons and Successors were to be anointed with this holy Oil but upon no mans flesh else was it to be powred It was not to be used for any civil use as for delight or the like even by the Priests themselves nor any of it to be powred upon Strangers nor any to be made like unto it for any such purposes under penalty of being cut off Exod. 30. from vers 22. to 34. 14ly Touching the half Shekel that all the Children of Israel from 20 years old and upwards when they were numbred were to pay for the ransom of their Souls acknowledging thereby that they held their lives of God and that he had redeemed them out of the House of Bondage And this they were to do that so the Lord might not be provoked for their Ingratitude to send a Plague among them This Didrachma or half Shekel * The Standard of all
the Principal according to the estimation of the Priest and given to him to whom it appertained And then the Transgressor shall offer for his atonement a Ram without blemish for his Trespass-Offering So that upon the whole matter where either God in the external Duties belonging to his Worship or their Brethren in civil affairs were any way damaged by the Offendor there a Trespass-Offering (k) See further concerning Trespass-Offerings Levit. 7. from 1. to 9. was to be offered for other Transgressions the Sin-Offering sufficed All the remainder of the Sin and Trespass-Offering besides what was offered to the Lord the Priest was to have Skin and all whereas in the Burnt-Offerings he had only the Skin Levit. 6. from 1. to 8. Hitherto the substance and matter of the several sorts of Sacrifices hath been prescribed now the several Rites belonging to each of them are set down more particularly And 1. concerning the daily Burnt-Offering which was to be offered first every Morning and last every Evening see Exod. 29.38 39. and Numb 28.3 The Priest was to burn it with a slow fire and by so many pieces one after another that it might last all night which required his intentive care and vigilancy upon the Service and the fire of the Altar was to be nourished continually and never suffered to go out The Priest also putting on his linnen Garment was to carry forth the ashes without the Camp unto a clean place 2ly Concerning the Meat-Offering whereof the Priest was to burn an handful upon the Altar and the remainder Aaron and his Sons were to eat unleavened in the Court of the Sanctuary And upon this occasion we have the Offering set down that Aaron was to offer to God in the day of his anointing and which his Sons successively who shall come to be High Priests after him shall offer to the Lord in the day of their Consecration viz. the tenth part of an Epha of fine Flower half in the Morning and half at Night and it was to be wholly burnt on the Altar 3ly Concerning the Sin-Offering of which the Priest that offered it might eat except of such Sin-Offerings whereof the blood was to be carried into the Tabernacle viz. for the Transgression of the High Priest or of the whole Congregation Levit. 4. v. 5.16 or the yearly Sin-Offering on the day of Expiation Levit. 16.17 for these were to be burnt without the Camp but of other Sin-Offerings the Sons of Aaron might eat * Nihil cedebat offerentibus ex hostiis pro peccato delicto if they were free from legal uncleanness And if any of the blood of the Sin-Offering was casually sprinkled on any of the Garments of the Priest they were to be washed clean again in the Court of the Tabernacle where the washing-Laver stood If the flesh of the Sin-Offering was boiled in an Iron or Brass-pot it was to be rinsed or scoured but if in an Earthen pot because the liquor might possibly soak into it it was to be broken all which things seem to be appointed to shadow forth the Contagion of Sin Levit. 6. from 8 to the end 4ly Concerning the Trespass-Offering of which every male among the Priests might eat in the holy Place The Text says As is the Sin-Offering so is the Trespass-Offering there is one Law for them both that is the Priest was to have of this as He had of the other As to the Meat-Offerings they were to accompany those Sin and Trespass-Offerings if they were baked or fried and so to be eaten hot they were the Priests portion that offered them who might eat them presently but if the Meat-Offerings were mingled with Oil or were dry Flower not mingled with Oil such as was the Meat-Offering for Sin Ch. 5.11 these might be reserved to be dressed afterwards at their leisure and were equally to be divided among all the Priests 5ly Concerning the Peace-Offerings of which there were three sorts First Thank-Offerings for particular Mercies received which were to be accompanied with unleavened Cakes mingled with Oil and unleavened Wafers anointed with Oil and Cakes mingled with Oil of fine Flower fried And besides these Cakes the Offerer was to offer with his Sacrifice leaven'd bread For because this Meat-Offering was only for food to be eaten and no part of it to be burnt upon the Altar leaven is here allowed though otherwise forbidden as we may see Levit. 2.11 And it was allowed possibly that it might be a sign and intimation that this Oblation was before thought upon solemnly prepared and not suddenly offered And out of the whole Oblation the Offerer is appointed to offer one leavened Loaf for an Heave-Offering to the Lord and it was to go to the Priests that sprinkled the blood of the Peace-Offerings the rest was for the Offerer and his Family as the remainder of the Flesh after the Priest hath had his share was to be also Deut. 27.7 and Deut. 12.6 7. But the flesh of the Sacrifice of this kind of Peace-Offering was to be eaten the same day whereon it was offered both by Priest and people and not any of it to be kept until the next Morning 2ly Peace-Offerings that were offered by way of Vow that is which men vowed that they would give unto God if He would please to grant them such or such a Mercy and which when God had satisfied their desires they were to pay unto Him accordingly For these they had two days allowed them for the eating of them and what was left to the third day was to be burnt with fire * God possibly might intend hereby to teach them that He would be worshipped as He himself appointed and not as they in their own reason might think fit which if they did not observe their Sacrifice should not be imputed or reckoned to them as an acceptable Sacrifice by the Lord but rather as an abomination and such persons should be punished for their Iniquity 3ly Such Peace-Offerings as were brought as a voluntary offering by way of acknowledgment of the Lords goodness to them in the general Now the flesh of the Peace-Offerings not being to be eaten in the holy place but carried out thence after it had been killed at the Tabernacle and the fat burnt upon the Altar and eaten elsewhere see Levit. 10.14 if it were casually touched by any unclean person or thing order is here given that it should not then be eaten as an holy Sacrifice but burnt with fire because being so defiled it was not fit to represent Christ who was perfectly holy and pure But as to the flesh of the Sacrifice which remained clean and fit to be eaten all both Priests and Owners that were clean themselves might eat of it But if any being unclean either by reason of any natural uncleanness that was then upon them or by touch of any unclean thing did yet wittingly (l) If they did it ignorantly and unwittingly a Sacrifice of
(i) Qui perfecte legem impleverit adipiscetur vitam aeternam At quis hoc praestat non ergo vitam possumus consequi justitia operum seu legis sed fidei in them See Rom. 10.5 that is the man that doth all things prescribed in the Law exactly and perfectly without ever failing in any one particular shall live thereby that is shall obtain eternal life And on these and no other terms doth the Law promise eternal life which now are not possible to be performed by any meer man since Adam's Fall But this Obedience God required of them as a due debt and to direct them whether to have recourse viz. from the Law to the Messias (k) See Gal. 3.24 by whose Merits and Mediation they may be acquitted when by the Law they are condemned That therefore they may walk in the Statutes and Ordinances of God and not conform to Idolaters they are commanded first to beware of Incestuous Copulations and Marriages or approaching to such of their near Kindred as are here forbidden 1. A man must not marry or lie with with his Fathers wife his Mother in law or his own Mother Levit. 18. v. 7. See 1 Cor. 5.1 Gen. 35.22 Deut. 22.30 27.20 2. Nor with his Sister whether she be Daughter both of Father and Mother or of his Mother only and whether born in Marriage or out of Marriage i. e. by Fornication before Marriage v. 9. 3. Nor with his Grand-daughter by Son or Daughter v. 10. 4. Nor with the Daughter (l) Hoc probibitum erat v 9. Sed vel claritatis vel inculcandi gratia more Scripturae repetitur ut nota Aug. quaest 59. of his Fathers wife begotten by his Father for she is his Sister though begotten of a Mother in law but if his Father marry another wife and she hath a Daughter by another man that Daughter is lawful for him v. 11. 5. Nor with his Aunt the Sister of Father or Mother v. 12 13. 6. Nor with his Uncles wife (m) Wherefore it seems more unlawful for the Uncle and Neice to marry together v. 14. 7. Nor with his Daughter in law his Sons wife v. 15. 8. Nor with his Brothers wife From this Law was excepted (n) See the reasons for it Sect. 35. Ch. 3. afterwards the case of a Brothers dying without Male-Issue for then the next Brother or Kinsman was to marry the Widow of the deceased v. 16. Levit. 20.21 9. Nor with his wives Daughter viz. Step-Daughter nor Step-Sons Daughter or the Daughters descending from her vers 17. 10. A man ought not to take one wife to another (o) Polagamy seems here forbidden so Deut. 17.17 that is to have two wives together in marriage that the one may not be a vexation * See 1 Sam. 1. the case of Elkanah a Levite having two wives to the other which is like to be more where two Sisters are so conjoyned as may be seen in Jacob's case Gen. 30. And though some of the Fathers did practise Polygamy and God bore with them yet it was not so from the beginning as our Saviour tells us Mat. 19.8 out of Gen. 2.24 and in the N. T. it is quite abolished vers 18. 2. A man was not to lie with his own wife when she was to be separated by reason of her uncleanness vers 19. See Ch. 12.2 and Ch. 15.24 25. and Ch. 20.18 3. Adultery is forbidden or defiling another mans wife vers 20. 4. Offering their Children to Molech the Idol of the Ammonites called also Milcom 1 Kings 11.5 7. for whose honour and worship the besotted Parents caused their own Children to be burnt alive or as some write to pass betwixt two great Fires to be cleansed or purified thereby as they conceived and as a sign of their Consecration to that Idol And it was a horrible vilifying of the Lord thus to forsake him and to yield such honour to such a base Idol-god See Amos 5.26 'T is thought to be the same Idol that in Scripture is ordinarily called Baal as may appear by comparing 2 Kings 23.10 Jer. 19.5 together See Psal 106.37 38. Levit. 20.3 5. 5. All unnatural Lusts and Copulations From all which sins God dehorts them by telling them that these were the Abominations which He intended to visit upon the Land of Canaan and for which she should vomit and spew out her Inhabitants Therefore they must take heed to themselves that they do not provoke Him by the like sins See Levit. 20.22 23 24. Levit. 18. whole Chapter 4. Sundry Laws are repeated and reinforced Ch. 19. with directions how the Violators of them shall be punished Ch. 20. Some relating to the Moral Law as particularly to the 1. Com. Viz. Not to use Inchantments nor superstitiously to observe times counting some days lucky others unlucky Ch. 19. vers 26. Not to go after Wizards or such as have familiar Spirits Ch. 19.31 Ch. 20.6 for such were to be stoned to death Ch. 20.27 See Exod. 22.18 Not to offer their Children to Molech for such as did so were to be stoned Ch. 20.2 3 4 5. And those that connived at their Idolatry God threatens to set his Face against and to destroy those men and their Families 2. Com. Not to turn to Idols nor make to themselves molten Gods or any Images of Stone to bow down to them Ch. 19.4 See Ch. 26.1 3. Com. Not to swear by Gods Name falsly nor profane His holy Name Ch. 19.12 4. Com. To keep the Sabbath and reverence the Sanctuary that is to come thither with an inward awe and fear of Gods Presence and not to approach it in their uncleanness or any other way to pollute it Ch. 19.3 30. Ch. 26.2 5. Com. Ye shall fear and reverence every man his Mother (p) The Mother is set in the first place because Mothers are usually most despised and his Father Ch. 19.3 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary Head and honour the Face of the old Man Ch. 19.32 He that curseth Father or Mother shall surely be put to Death Ch. 20.9 See Exod. 21.17 Deut. 21.18 19 20 21. 6. Com. Thou shalt not curse or speak evil of the Deaf nor put a Stumbling-block before the Blind that is do Injuries to men in confidence that the injur'd persons shall not know who wrong'd them nor be able to right themselves Ch. 19.14 Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him Ch. 19.17 See 1 John 3.15 Thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy Neighbour that is stand up in Courts of Justice to take away his life either as a false Accuser or as a false Witness Ch. 19. v. 16. Thou shalt not avenge thy self nor bear any grudge against thy Brother but love thy Neighbour as thy self (q) That is in the same manner heartily sincerely constantly as thou lovest thy self though not
long attendance and so will go to their several Tents and Dwellings in peace having their minds quieted Moses consulting with the people about this Proposal they liked it very well see Deut. 1.13 14. and so he immediately put it in practice substituting such Governors under himself so that every Tribune appointed to Judge over a thousand Families had under him ten Centurions or Judges that were over an hundred Families a piece and every Centurion had under him two Rulers that were over fifty Families a piece and every Ruler over fifty had under him five Rulers which were set over ten (e) Parallel to this was the original Institution of our English Tything-men a word still in use in the West-Country being an Officer to oversee ten men with their Families This Tythingman is the same Officer which in other places is call'd the Petty Constable Families a piece And so it is like the inferour Officers gave account of those under their Care to their immediate Superiors Deut. 1. from 9. to 19. Exod. 18. whole Chapter SECT LII ON the 20th day of the second month of the second year after their coming out of Egypt the Cloudy-Pillar arising from off the Tabernacle and going in the forefront of their Camp the Israelites removed from Sinai where they had staid in that their 12th station a whole year (f) They came into the Wilderness of Sinai in the beginning of the third month of the first year see Deut. 1.6 7 8. and Sect. 13. of Ch. 4th within 13 days see Exod. 19.1 towards the Wilderness of Paran (g) In this Wilderness they journied a long time and in several places of it pitched their Tents They marched in such order and array as God had appointed by the direction of Moses Their Camp was divided into four Squadrons every Squadron consisting of three Tribes In the Van marched the Tribe of Judah with its associate Tribes Issachar and Zebulon under their respective Commanders of Thousands and Hundreds with a Standard having the figure of a Lion Immediately after them marched the Gershonites and Merarites who had the charge of the outward Tabernacle They marched formost of all the Levites that so they might be ready when the Army stayed to set up the Tabernacle against the Ark and the other holy things came that were carried by the Kohathites The Tribe of Reuben led the second Squadron in like manner with its associate Tribes Simeon and Gad with a Standard bearing the figure of a man as the Jewish Writers tell us Next to this Standard and so in the middle of the Camp marched the Kohathites bearing the Ark and the most holy Vtensils of the Tabernacle on their shoulders The Tribe of Ephraim led the third Squadron with their associate Tribes Manasseh and Benjamin with a Standard bearing the figure of an Ox. The Tribe of Dan with their associate Tribes Asher and Naphtali made up the fourth Squadron and brought up the Rear with a Standard bearing the figure of an Eagle The Army being thus set in Order and ready to march Moses desires Jethro * Called also Hobab see Sect. 56. of Ch. 3. his Father-in-law to go along with them telling him They would do him good and no hurt for God had promised to be gracious unto them and to own them for his people But Jethro refused to go telling him He would return to his own Country Moses presses him again to go with them telling him He might be in stead of Eyes to them in that howling Wilderness thorow which they were to march that is his prudent Counsel of which they had newly had experience might very much advantage them especially in things not particularly directed by God And if he would please to go along with them what goodness and bounty the Lord should shew to them he should share in and partake of But it seems he refused to go along with them being desirous to return to his own Countrey see Exod. 18.27 However either He or some of his Family returned afterwards unto the Israelites For his Posterity in after-times dwelt among the Israelites in the Land of Canaan as we may see Judg. 1.16 and Judg. 4.11 17. and 1 Sam. 15.6 Numb Ch. 10. from 11. to 33. SECT LIII MOses and the Children of Israel now depart from the Mount of the Lord viz. from Sinai and Horeb where He had appear'd so Eminently to them and given them his Law and the Ark (h) Profecta est in conspectu eorum i. e. arca in mediis castris a sacerdotibus gestata versabatur in oculis omnium Malvenda Pro uno reputantur arca columna cum arca semper sub Columna procederet Bochart went before them or in their sight and the Cloudy-Pillar over that for three days together when they marched to find out a fit place for them to pitch their Tents in And when the Cloud was lifted up and the four Squadrons with the Ark set forward and marched Moses said Arise O Lord and let thine Enemies be scattered and let them that hate thee flee before thee And when the Ark rested according to the direction of the Cloud he said Return (i) Revertere respondet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surge Nam qui surgit quasi abiturus surgit Certo Nubes cum se attolleret abire videbatur Dr. O Lord unto the many thousands of Israel that is Return I pray thee and remain among thy people for in thy presence their chief joy and safety consist see Exod. 33.14 15 16. Numb 10. from the 33. to the end SECT LIV. THe people being now wearied with their three days march it seems some that were in the rear of the Camp began to murmur that they were forced to so long and tedious marches whereupon the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and He either poured down fire upon them from Heaven or caused it to break forth upon them from the Earth and it consumed many of them see Psal 78.21 The Israelites not knowing what to do run to Moses having a great opinion of his holiness and especial interest in the favour of God and intreat him to intercede with the Lord for them which he accordingly does and so the fire ceased The place where this Judgment was executed was hereupon called Taberah signifying a burning because the fire of the Lord here brake out upon them and consumed many among them Numb Ch. 11. from 1. to 4. SECT LV. THe people not having now any other Food but Manna to eat the mixt multitude among them of which see Exod. 12.38 not being sufficiently warned by the former Judgment began to loath it and to murmur that they had nothing else to eat And the Israelites it seems soon joyned with them in this their Complaint and murmuring saying in a discontented humor Who shall give us flesh to eat as if they had said we had plenty of Flesh in Egypt and great variety of Fowl We
be a prey to their Sword And therefore like persons almost distracted they said one to another Come let us chose to our selves a Captain and under him let us march back again into Egypt see Nehem. 9.17 But they did not consider the difficulties they must needs meet with had they proceeded in such a resolution They could not reasonably expect to be fed with Manna from Heaven in their return being in Rebellion against God nor to have the Red-Sea divided for them again And if they should though very unlikely ever get back into Egypt what scorn and cruel Bondage must they there expect If the Egyptians oppress'd them before how much more hardly and severely would they deal with them now remembring the death of their First-born and the drowning of Pharaoh and his Army in the Red-Sea But men in passion usually lose all consideration Moses and Aaron seeing them in such a rage and mutiny fell down on their faces before them intreating them to desist from such a desperate purpose Moses earnestly perswaded them not to dread the Canaanites for God would go before them and fight for them Deut. 1.29 30 31. and Caleb and Joshua rent their Clothes testifying that their hearts were rent with Grief and Indignation at those blasphemous Speeches the people had uttered against God They tell them the Land they went to search was an exceeding good Land and if the Lord delighted in them He would bring them into it Therefore they should take heed lest by their Rebellion they provoked him to deprive them of it As for the people of the Land they tell them They need not be afraid of them for they were but as bread for them that is their Sword should easily eat and devour them for their defence was departed from them that is God who had hitherto preserved them from being destroyed because their Iniquity was not then full Gen. 15.16 had now upon their great Provocations withdrawn his defence from them and would certainly give them up to destruction And alas say they what are strong Cities or high Walls to defend a people whom God hath forsaken These Discourses of Caleb and Joshua though very rational nothing pacified the inraged multitude but instead thereof like mad men they cried out Stone them stone them see Exod. 17.4 The Lord seeing what danger his faithful Servants and Witnesses were in suddenly caused the Cloud the usual sign when He meant to speak to Moses concerning the people to descend upon the Tabernacle and possibly in a more glorious manner then ordinary thereby to astonish the people and to stop them in their furious attempt And the Lord said unto Moses How long will this people provoke me and how long will it be ere they believe me notwithstanding all the signs and wonders I have shewed among them I am even ready to smite them with the Pestilence and quite disinherit them and deprive them of this good Land I promised to their Fathers and in their stead to make of thee a greater Nation than they Moses humbly intercedes for them and makes use of several Arguments to prevail with the Lord for them First He says Lord if thou shouldest destroy all this people as if they were but one man the Egyptians will hear of it and will take occasion thereupon to reproach thy Name They will say because thou couldst not bring them into the Land which thou swarest to give them therefore thou hast slain them in the Wilderness though they know thou broughtest them by thine Almighty Power out from among them however they will talk insultingly thereof to the Nations who have heard the fame of thee and know that thou art among this people and hast manifested thy presence frequently and apparently among them and that thy Cloud standeth over them and that thou goest before them in the day-time in a Pillar of a Cloud and in a pillar of fire by night 2ly He humbly desires of the Lord that the greatness of his Power and Mercy may be manifested in pardoning this people who by so many and great sins had so highly provoked him according to what he himself had spoken Exod. 34.6 saying The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and by no means clearing the Guilty visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation By which words whilst Moses sues for mercy to many of them he seems to intimate an assent to the justice of God If He please to execute it upon some principal Offendors among them which if cut off there would be more safety for the rest Only he desires he would in the midst of Judgment remember Mercy and would manifest as great a willingness and readiness to pardon them now as He had done from Egypt until that time The Lord was pleased to give a gracious Answer to Moses's prayer and accordingly said to him I have pardoned them according to thy word I will not destroy them all as one man at this present I will not cut off the whole Nation as at first I threatned He further tells Moses That He intended to get unto his Name great Glory by the miraculous things that he would do for his people in carrying them into the Land of Canaan and yet withall He would magnifie his Justice and Severity in cutting off those who having seen the Miracles He did for them in Egypt and in the Wilderness had yet tempted Him ten times * 1. At the Red-Sea Exod. 14.11 2. At Marah Exod. 15.23 3. In the Wilderness of Sin Exod. 16.2 4. When they kept Manna till it stank Exod. 16.20 5. When they went out to gather Manna on the Sabbath day Exod. 16.27 6. At Rephidim for want of water Exod. 17.2 7. When they made the golden Calf Exod. 32.1 8. At Taborah Numb 11.1 9. At Kebroth-Hattaavah longing for Quails Numb 11.4 10. At this time after the return of the Spies and therefore they should not enter into the Land but all of them that were twenty years old and upward should die in the Wilderness excepting only Joshua and Caleb who were acted by a better spirit and had followed him fully and done what he required of them see Numb 32.12 These two should enter into the Land and their Seed should possess it but as for the rest of the Murmurers and Mutineers their Carkasses should fall in the Wilderness and their Children that they said would be a prey to the Amorites these He would bring in and they should know and enjoy the good Land which their Fathers had so reproachfully rejected Yet he tells them Their Children should wander in that Wilderness forty years that is till they have made up the years of their wandering in the Wilderness from their coming out of Egypt full forty years and he tells them that during this time These Children should bear their Fathers Whoredoms that is their Fathers Vnfaithfulness Disloyalty and Disobedience
of the Lord concerning the matter and by Gods own Sentence he was adjudged to be stoned (t) Prudens est Cajetani observatio severius semper Deum animadvertisse in primos legum snarum transgressores by the Congregation without the Camp which was done accordingly from 32. to 37. 7ly A Law is given injoyning them to make Fringes with blue Ribbands or Laces on the borders of their Garments that by looking on them they might remember all the Commandments of the Lord and do them These Fringes were to mind them that they ought to be content with what was commanded injoyned and limited by the Law of God and must not run out into any superstitious Inventions Additions or Devices of their own in his Worship Which Inventions being delightful to their eyes and hearts He knew they were very prone to go a whoring after them and therefore more strictly forbids And another reason why He injoyned these Fringes was that they might be distinguished in their habit from strangers and those that were Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and might remember that they were a people federally holy and peculiarly devoted to God Numb 15. whole Chapter SECT LXIII COrah Dathan and Abiram and On with 250 others of prime note and authority among the Israelites rise up now against Moses and Aaron envying Moses the Government and Aaron the Priesthood Corah it seems was the Ringleader and first Mover of this Sedition which is therefore called the gain-saying of Corah Jude v. 11. 23. He was a Levite and Cosin-German to Moses and Aaron For Amram the Father of Moses and Aaron and Izhar the Father of this Corah were Brothers the Sons of Kohath Exod. 6.18 The Jewish Writers say That this Corah had long since taken offence that Elizaphan was by Moses preferred to be Prince of the Families of the Kohathites see Numb 3.30 whereas Elizaphan was descended of the youngest Brother Vzziel and He was of Izhar who was elder than he which grudge though it lay buried for a time in his breast yet now it brake forth and nothing less than the Priesthood will content him and his Abettors As for Dathan Abiram and On they were all descended from Reuben and therefore possibly under the pretence of Reuben's Birthright they were the more easily drawn to oppose Moses as supposing that the Government belonged to them and not to him These Conspirators now come to Moses and Aaron and in an high and proud manner tell them They took too much upon them seeing all the Congregation were holy and therefore might approach to God and offer their own Sacrifices themselves as well as they and they saw no reason that the Priesthood should be tied to Aron's Posterity only Then the Reubenites under pretense of Reuben's Birthright seeking as 't is probable to wrest the Supream Magistracy from Moses to themselves they also Charge both Moses and Aaron for taking too much upon them and ask them Wherefore they lifted themselves above the Congregation Moses at this carriage of theirs was exceedingly troubled and withdrawing himself as it seems into privacy He fell down on his face before the Lord in prayer seeking direction from Him what he should do on this important occasion and there it was revealed to him what he should say unto Corah and his Accomplices Moses accordingly coming out to them tells them That on the morrow God would decide this Controversie and shew who were His and who were the Men that He had separated to the Priests Office and would allow to come near and to minister unto him He bids them therefore to come to morrow with their Censers and to put fire in them and Incense upon them and come with them before the Lord seeing they thought themselves so fit for the Priesthood and then they should soon see who it was that God had chosen to be a Priest (u) V. 7. Erit sanctus i. e. segregatus ad sacerdotium unto him by accepting his Incense and they should know to their Cost that not He and Aaron but that they the Sons of Levi had taken too much upon them in aspiring to the Priesthood What says he seems it a small thing to you Ye Children of Levi that God hath separated you from the rest of the people of Israel to bring you near to Himself to do the Service of the Tabernacle as Assistants to the Priests to stand before the Congregation to minister for them that is to do in their name and stead what they themselves were otherwise bound to have done in the Service of God What! is all this so small a thing in your eyes that it will not content you but you must have the Priesthood also And what is Aaron I pray you and what hath he done or what hath he assum'd to himself that the Lord hath not freely given him Therefore if you murmur against him you murmur against God himself See Exod. 16.7 8. After this first attempt of theirs was over it seems Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram possibly thinking to deal with them privately and to perswade them to desist from this wicked undertaking But they do not only refuse to come but return him a bitter and scornful answer They scoff at his promise of bringing them into a Land flowing with Milk and Honey and giving them Fields and Vineyards They tell him He had indeed brought them out of such a Land as did really flow with Milk and Honey which was Egypt and had brought them into a dry and barren Wilderness and here He had made himself a Prince and a Ruler over them And did he now think to put out their eyes and the eyes of those that joyned with them in this Complaint that they should not see and perceive the wrongs and injuries he had done them Moses at this was very wroth and prayed unto the Lord saying I pray thee O Lord accept not the Incense which these wicked Conspirators shall offer before thee to morrow but declare by thy refusing of it that thou disallowest this their rebellion As for me thou knowest I have not usurped Authority over them neither have I abused my Authority in the least by doing them any manner of wrong I have not taken the vilest Beast no not so much as an Asse from any of them neither can they justly Charge me with any injury I have done them On the next morning Corah having gathered together not only his 250 Accomplices but the people in general to be Spectators of the business in hand perswading them 't is like that God would own their Cause and give Judgment on their side and these 250 having as it should seem got such Consers as they could provide since the time Moses had appointed this way for the deciding of this Controversie they came with them to the door of the Priests Court whither the people used to bring their Sacrifices 'T is true the appointed place for the Priests to
and so the Israelites possessed themselves of all their Cities utterly destroying all the Inhabitants thereof and his Country unto the borders of the Amorites which was strong and therefore Sihon had not encroached upon their Country as he had upon the Moabites at least not beyond the River Jabbock Among other Cities which they took Heshbon was one which Sihon took from the former King of the Moabites who was King before their present King Balak and so both Heshbon and the Country adjoyning was the possession of Sihon when the Israelites took it To prove this Moses alledgeth the proverbial or aenigmatical Song which it seems was first made and used by the Amorites by way of triumph over the vanquished Moabites Come into Heshbon let the City of Sihon be built and prepared implying that though Heshbon perished * Vers 30. being in Moabs hands yet now it should be more fairly built and fortified being in Sihons hands For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon a flame from the City of Sihon it hath consumed Ar of Moab and the Lords of the high places of Arnon that is the fury of War which was kindled and began in the subversion and laying waste of Heshbon brake out from thence and consumed the Country of the Moabites as far as Ar a chief City of theirs and the Lords of the high places of Arnon that is their great men and Priests that sacrificed in their high places Woe unto thee O Moab thou art undone O people of Chemosh In this clause of their Song the Amorites scoff at Chemosh the God of the Moabites (n) See Jer. 48.7 13. The Ammonites god was Milcom 1 Kings 11.5 1 Kings 11.7 because he was not able to help them but had permitted those of them that escaped the Sword to be taken Captives by Sihon They further triumphantly add We have shot at them that is all their Country between Heshbon and Dibon one of their high places in the Land of Moab we have taken from them And we have wasted their Country even unto Nophah which reacheth unto Medeba (o) See Isa 15.2 Jer. 48.18 22. another City in the Land of Moab Numb 21. from 18. to 31. SECT LXXVI AFter this Moses sent his Spies to Jaazer a City also that had been Moabs Jer. 48.31 32. but now was the Amorites which they took with the Towns thereunto belonging and cast out thence the Amorites from the River Arnon which is the bound of Moab to the Brook of Jabbock which parteth it from Arnon yet medled not with the Country lying upon the River Jabbock neither with any of the Lands belonging at that time to the Children of Ammon or Moab as God commanded them After this the Children of Israel marched to Bashan a rich Country famous for its huge Oaks Ezek. 27.6 and rich Pastures which nourished strong and great Cattel Deut. 32.14 Amos 4.1 Og King of this Country being a remnant of the Giants whose Bedsted was of Iron nine Cubits in length and four in breadth Deut. 3.11 came out against them and fought with them at Edrei and was there with all his people utterly vanquished and destroyed by Moses and the Israelites whom God encouraged to go out against him and they possessed themselves of all his Country to wit sixty Cities and all that Coast as far as Argob Deut. 3. from vers 1. to 18. Numb 21. from vers 31. to the end SECT LXXVII AFter these Victories the Israelites encamped in the plains (p) So called becase they had been sometimes Moabs though since the Amorites and now the Israelites by Conquest of Moab on this side of the Ford of Jordan right over against Jerico at Abel-Shittim which was their 42d Encamping Here they continued till after Moses's death and till under the Conduct of Joshua they passed over Jordan unto the Land of Canaan In which time many notable things fell out even all recorded from this place to the end of Deuteronomy Numb 22. vers 1. SECT LXXVIII THe Moabites had no reason to be afraid of the Israelites because God had commanded them not to meddle with them and accordingly they had peaceably passed by their Country Yet their minds were stricken with such a terrour from God that all this could not quiet them They saw the Israelites were a numerous and mighty people They had already vanquished two Kings they were still upon their borders Thus God made good his Promise to his people Exod. 15.15 As for the mighty men of Moab trembling shall take hold upon them all the Inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away and Deut. 2.25 This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the Nations that are under the whole Heaven who shall hear report of thee and shall tremble and be in anguish because of thee Balak King of Moab and his people being under these fears they send to the Elders of the Midianites to joyn with them against the Israelites telling them That this vast Company were like to lick up all about them as the Ox licketh up the grass of the field 'T is very plain that the Midianites had no manner of reason to joyn with them For first They were allied to the Israelites being the Posterity of Midian who was the Son of Abraham by his wife Keturah Gen. 25.12 Secondly The Israelites had not hitherto medled with them Thirdly The Israelites Conquest of the Amorites was an advantage to them because they were by this means freed from Sihons Tyrannical Yoke under whom as it appears they were before in bondage However after Consultation it seems they joyned together in this business and Balak and they sent for Balaam a Southsayer who was at that time famous for his Inchantments and Divinations and dwelt at Pethor a City in Mesopotamia his native Country (q) In Mesopotamia or Aram Abraham first dwelt Acts 7.2 Gen. 24.4 10. and there he served strange Gods Josh 24.2 In this Country all the Patriarchs the Sons of Jacob except Benjamin were born and brought up Gen. 35.26 till Jacob their Father fled the Land Gen. 31.21 Jacob's Posterity hereupon professed their Father to be an Aramite Deut. 26.5 And from Aram is now Balaam sent for to curse them The Eastern-Country was infamous for Divination and such like Arts Isa 2.6 scituate upon the River Euphrates to come and curse the Israelites purposing afterwards to make War upon them The Messengers carrying with them large Presents to satisfie him for his Divinations call'd by the Apostle the wages of unrighteousness 2 Pet. 2.15 come to Him and tell him That there was a mighty great people come out of Egypt which covered the face of the Earth and they were now encamped over against Moab They tell Him they came to him from Balak King of Moab and from the Midianites to desire him to come over and curse this people For they were confident he was able by his Curses and
Priest should have come to him and his by descent because he was the eldest Son of Eleazar Aaron's eldest Son yet that it should not be removed to another Family for want of Issue that was of Gods special goodness and is here promised as the reward of Phineas's zeal Yet we must not understand this Promise so absolutely but that his Posterity might by their sins for a time deprive themselves of this Dignity as it afterwards fell out when Eli was made High Priest who was of the Family of Ithamar see 1 Chron. 24.3 God having thus manifested his favour to Phineas for this heroick act of zeal which was counted to him for righteousness Psal 106.31 and having punished his own people for their sins he now decrees Vengeance against their Enemies And accordingly he commands the Israelites forthwith to vex the Midianites that is to make War upon them which Command implyed also a promise of Victory For their newly professed Friendship towards them was but feigned and they plotted their ruine according to the Counsel of Balaam and distressed them with their wiles and devices though not with War neither need it seem strange that the Israelites are not commanded to War against the Moabites * Nondum completa erat mensura Moabitarum as well as the Midianites because God had expresly forbidden them Deut. 2.9 And 2ly Because the Midianites seem to have had the chief hand in this mischief as seems probable from Balaam's stay among them Numb 25. whole Chapter SECT LXXXI GOd now to shew unto Moses how tender he was of his own people and how severe against all those that did seek to hurt them he commands him to make War and to avenge his Quarrel upon the Midianites (x) Scopus enim Midianitarum fuit ut a Domini culta per filias suas avellerent Israelitas in Idololatriam impingerent quae vero Duâ— maxime injuriosa Jans who had been the occasion of so much mischief to them And when that was done he tells him He should be gathered to his godly fore-Fathers long since dead that is to the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 Moses hereupon having received as it seems particular directions from God that he should send out but 12 thousand of the Israelites against them that the hand of God in the Victory might more eminently appear see Judg. 7.2 and should take them equally out of every Tribe one thousand that no one Tribe might exalt it self above another for this Victory He accordingly did so and appointing Joshua as 't is probable for General he likewise sent Phineas with them to encourage them who had lately manifested his zeal against that Midianitish Harlot Ch. 25.6 with one of the holy Instruments that is a silver Trumpet in his hands see Ch. 10.2 Hereupon these twelve thousand of the Israelites ingaging with the Midianites they slew all the Males of them that they could lay their hands on (y) Many of them running for â—efuge into other Countries escaped for the present and afterwards in the time of Gideon returned and vexed the Israelites see Judg. 6. and among them five Kings of Midian who were formerly as it seems Vassals to Sihon and therefore are called only Dukes of Sihon Josh 13.21 but Sihon himself being sometime before slain it seems they became now absolute Kings among whom was Zur the Father of Cozbi whom Phineas slew Ch. 25.15 Balaam also fell with them in this battel who being their Counsellor in sin became now a Partner with them in their punishment As for the Midianitish-Women and Children the Israelites took them Captives and burning their Cities and Castles they carried away great Spoils of their Goods and Cattel All these Captives and Spoils they brought to Moses and to the Camp of Israel now encamped in the Plains of Moab Moses was angry with the Officers of the Army for saving the Women alive who had before insnared the people and therefore above all others should have been slain He thereupon gives order undoubtedly by Gods special direction that all the male Children (z) Etiam parvulos ad majorem detestationem facinoris Parentum in ipsis punitionem ne parvuli Parentum necem ulciscerentur should be put to death as also all the Women that were of years fit for the knowledge of Man only the Women-Children should be spared to wit to make them Servants or Wives if they would learn the knowledge of the true God Moses also injoyns the Souldiers to abide out of the Camp seven days to purifie themselves their Captives and Spoils and shews them the manner how it must be done namely Gold and Silver and such things as could pass thorow the fire * Duo credita vim habere purgandi ignis exurendo aqua eluendo Grot. should be purified by fire and they themselves should be cleansed with the water of separation see Ch. 19.11 c. And Eleazar tells them That God had given Moses an express Commandment concerning these things which himself as the Lords High Priest was to make known unto them and to see them observed accordingly Moreover the Lord Commands Moses That the Prey taken in this Expedition which was very great viz. of Beasts and Women-kind 800 and 40 thousand should be divided into two equal parts the one for those that went out to the War which were twelve thousand and the other for the rest of the people that stayed at home which were a vast multitude as appears Ch. 26.51 And further that he should levy a Tribute for the Lord out of both parts which He being the Inheritance of the Priests and Levites intended for them see Gen. 14.20 orders him to take out of their part that went to War but one in 500 either of Persons or Cattel but out of the othâ—r part one in 50. And accordingly the smaller levy out of their half that went to War was given to Eleazar that is to him and the rest of the Priests who being but few had therein a liberal share But the greater levy out of the peoples half was given to the Levites because they were many So that the Levites had one in 50 the Priests only one in 500 the same proportion being observed here that was observed in their Tythes the Levites having the Tythes or Tenths of the people and the Priests but the tenth of their Tythes see Numb 18.21 These things thus done the Captains of Israel numbred their Souldiers and found that they missed not a man which might sufficiently shew them that it was the Lords doing that the Midianites were thus vanquished and might be a great encouragement to them resolutely to go on and to fight the residue of the Lords battels They therefore having besides the Cattel above mentioned which were brought to a common Stock gotten every man for himself very rich spoils of Jewels Bracelets and Chains of Gold c. in testimony of their great thankfulness to
whom was the Spirit of God and an extraordinary measure of Grace he employs that short time in faithfully instructing the people and earnestly exhorting them to walk steadfastly in the ways of God He rehearses to them several remarkable Occurrences and passages of divine Providence which had happened to them during their forty years travels in the Wilderness not binding himself always to exact order as to times and places in his Narration that they might remember them for their benefit And this being for the most part a new Generation the old rebellious Stock having perished in the Wilderness He sets himself to instruct them in the Laws and Statutes of God not only repeating them to them but explaining and amplyfying many of them and adding some new ones * Hence this Book is call'd Deuteronomy or a second Declaration of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi secunda vel secundaria Lex Repetitio est praecipuarum Legum ac monitorum in eorum gratiam qui tempore promulgatae Legis aut nondum nati aut per aetatem intelligendi incapaces erant Cum quibus Moses hic instaurat foedus praeterea quaedam hic nova addita to them He causes them to enter into a solemn Covenant to serve the Lord faithfully He Predicts and foretells what would befal them hereafter and solemnly blesses them before his death Chap. I And first He reminds them of Gods calling Israel from Horeb to march towards Canaan He tells them how when they had continued well nigh a full year at Horeb * In journying from Egypt to Kadesh-barnea they spent about two years and from thence to the fields of Moab about 38 years whereas from Horeb or Sinai to Canaan it was but about 11 or 12 days Journey had they not provoked God by their sins to keep them wandring in the Wilderness so long God commanded them to march towards Canaan the borders of which he describes towards the South West North and East Deut. Ch. 1. from 1. to 9. 2. He reminds them how about that time by the advice of Jethro his Father-in-law he set Judges and Officers over the people For says he finding my self not able to bear the weight and burden of governing so great a people alone I said unto you The Lord hath multiply'd you as the Stars of Heaven and the Lord God of your Fathers make you a thousand times so many more as you are and bless you choose out therefore from among you wise and understanding men and I will make them Heads over you I will Constitute some of them to be Rulers over Thousands others to be Rulers over Hundreds others Rulers over Fifties and others to be Rulers over Tens And I charged the Judges at that time that they should judge rightâ—ously between man and man and not respect persons in Judgment but should hear the small as well as the great that they should not be afraid of men for the Judgment is Gods that is it is ordained by him and to be executed in his Name and the Judges representing his Person and sitting in his Seat should in judging follow the Rule by him prescribed and should judge justly as God Himself would do see 2 Chron. 19.6 And I further said If ye find any Cause too hard for you to determine bring it unto me And many other things I delivered and taught the Judges their duty in a more full and ample manner than now I express Deut. Ch. 1. from 9. to 19. 3. He shews them that when they left Horeb they marched thorow all that great and terrible Wilderness a Land where no man dwelt and wherein were fiery Serpents and Scorpions Deut. 8.15 a Land extream barren and destitute of all things necessary for the sustenance of man except by miraculous supply and came to Kadesh-Barnea Then says he I said unto you Ye are come to the Mountain of the Amorites the border of the Land which the Lord our God hath given unto us Go ye up therefore and possess it as God has commanded you fear not nor be discouraged But ye desired that Spies * Atque hic certum est Exploratores esse exigente populi incredulitate missos Deum Ducem sequi dâ—bebant Cananaeos fidenter aggredi Sed Dei promissis fidem non habebant Deut. 9.23 might first be sent to search the Land and to inform you concerning it and concerning the way wherein you must go up to take possession of it and what Cities you must first assault And I having inquired of the Lord concerning it Numb 13.3 and the Lord giving way to it or at least permitting it I was content with it and took twelve men one of a Tribe and they went up into the Mountain and came to the Valley of Eshcol And the Spies brought back some of the fruits of the Land namely Grapes Pomegranates and Figgs and said The Land was a very good Land But ye refused to go up and so rebelled against the Commandment of the Lord. And ye murmured in your Tents and said Because the Lord hated us he hath brought us forth out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites and to destroy us You further said Our Brethren whom we sent as Spies have discouraged us viz. all of them but Caleb and Joshua They tell us The people of that Land are greater and taller then we their Cities are great and walled up to Heaven moreover they tell us That the Sons of the Anakims those great Giants are there Then said I dread them not nor be afraid of them For the Lord your God goeth before you and will fight for you as he did in Egypt and as he hath hitherto done for you in the Wilderness there you have seen how the Lord by his Almighty Power hath born you as a Father takes up and carries his Child in his arms and hath born with your manners and perverseness as a tender Father doth with a froward Child Yet notwithstanding this incouragement you did not believe * This unbelief the Apostle notes to be the cause why they entred not into the Land of Promise Heb. 4.6 in the Lord your God who went before you to search out a place for you to pitch your Tents in in a Pillar of Cloud by day and a Pillar of Fire by night And the Lord was angry at your Murmurings and Vnbelief and sware there should not one of that evil Generation see that good Land Numb 14.23 save Caleb the Son of Jephunneh who followed the Lord fully and Joshua the Son of Nun Numb 14.6 30 38. And says he the Lord hath since that time at the other Kadesh been angry with me for your sakes For being moved with your Provocations I offended both in unadvised Speeches and distrust and thereupon the Lord said I should not go into the Land Numb 20.1 2 12. But Joshua who is continually about me to minister unto me He should go into it therefore
hear and rightly consider these Statutes and they will say Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people For what other great Nation is there which hath God so nigh unto them and always dwelling among them as these Israelites have as is evident by the miraculous signs of his Presence among them and his readiness always to hear their prayers and to defend and protect them from all evils And indeed what other Nation is there that hath Statutes and Judgments so righteous * Ex legibus de populis fit juditium as is this Law which I am to set before you this day You ought therefore to take heed lest you forget the great things God hath done for you and that they may never be forgotten I exhort you to teach them your Sons and your Sons Sons And especially remember the day when you stood †Most of those that stood then at Horeb were dead see Ch. 2.14 15 16. But many that were then young were now alive before the Lord in Horeb when God commanded me to gather the people together to hear his words that they might learn to fear Him all the days of their life and might teach them unto their Children And ye came near and stood under the Mountain and the Mountain burnt with fire unto the midst of Heaven * Per hyperbolen significat quod vehementer altissime flammas evomeret and there were great Tempests and thick darkness And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire Ye heard the voice of his words but saw no Similitude of Him at all And he declared unto you his Covenant viz. the Condition required on your part namely Obedience and Observance of his ten Commandments which He wrote upon two Tables of stone And besides those ten Commandments which the Lord himself gave you He not long after that time gave me other Statutes and Judgments viz. the Ceremonial and Judicial Laws which he commanded me to teach you Take heed therefore unto your selves lest you corrupt your selves by Idolatry or by making any Image of God for remember you saw no manner of similitude of Him at Horeb or any figure of Man Beasts Birds creeping things or Fishes to represent Him Take heed also of worshipping the Host of Heaven the Sun Moon and Stars which are so far from being Gods that God hath created them for the common use of man and the service of all Nations And you Israelites ought above all people to be careful not to dishonour God by such gross Idolatry because He hath brought you forth by an out-stretched Arm out of the Iron-Furnace of Egypt and hath taken you to Himself as his own peculiar people and as his own Possession as you see this day Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes and sware that I should not go over Jordan but should die in this Land However ye shall go over and possess †Moses being sure of Heaven envies not those that should inherit the earthly Canaan it Take heed therefore lest ye forget the Covenant of the Lord your God and especially take heed of Idolatry or making any graven Image to represent God which he hath so severely forbidden For God is a jealous God jealous of having the Worship due only to Himself given to any Creature He is a consuming fire to those that provoke him by their Rebellions Furthermore I advise you that when you are setled in the Land of Canaan and are mightily increased that you be not secure nor think it a small matter to corrupt your selves by Idolatry for if you do I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you this day that I faithfully admonish'd you of your danger and told you that upon such Provocations God would destroy many of you and drive the small remnant that shall be left out of the Land he hath given you to possess and would scatter you among Heathen Nations where you shall serve their Gods * Quod in patria fecistis ultro facietis attoniti pudore atque inviti exules or at lest those that did serve them viz. such Gods as are the work of mens hands and made of Wood or Stone which neither see nor hear eat nor smell But yet even then when you have thus transgressed and are thereupon under great tribulation if ye shall humble your selves before the Lord and shall seek his Face and turn to him with all your Heart †Some think those verses from 27. to 32. to be a Prophesie of the calling of the Jews and all your Soul He is so gracious and merciful that he will have pity upon you and will not forget the Covenant which he made with your Fathers And that you may remember the extraordinary engagements the Lord hath laid upon you look back upon ancient times and consult the Histories of all things that have happened since the Creation in any part of the world from the one side of the Heavens to the other and from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof and inquire whither there was ever such a thing in the world before That a people should hear the Voice of God speaking unto them out of the midst of the fire and yet live and escape as ye did yea further inquire whither ever God assayed at any time in such a manner to take unto Himself a Nation from the midst of another Nation by Temptations (e) God propounding his Will to the Israelites tried their Obedience whither they would trust in Him They were also temptations to Pharaoh to try whither he would be won to yield to God and let the people go Signs Wonders by War (f) Against Pharaoh whom with his Host He destroyed in the Red-Sea and by a mighty Hand and out-stretched Arm and by great Terrours as he hath done you when he brought you out of Egypt Before your eyes were those great things done that you may know that the Lord he is God and there is no other besides him Out of the Air from on high he made you to hear his Voice to instruct you and upon Mount Sinai he made you see his great fire and you heard his words out of the midst of it And because of his own free Grace and Love and not for any desert of theirs he chose and loved your Fathers and chose their Seed after them for his peculiar people therefore he brought you by his Almighty Power out of Egypt in his sight that is the eye of his Providence being still fixed upon you even as a Father causes his Child to go before him that he may preserve him from danger Exod. 14.19 * Ante se in exitu ex Aegypto retro se posuit ut eos intueretur And he brought you out of Egypt that you might drive out other Nations greater and mightier than you and take their Land to your selves for an Inheritance as you
have in part experienced already in your having conquered Sihon and Og Kings of the Amorites and gained their Countries Which Conquests may be an earnest to you of further Victories over your Enemies Know you therefore this day and consider it well in your hearts that the Lord He is God both in Heaven above and in Earth beneath and there is none besides him Therefore diligently keep his Statutes and Commandments which I command you this day that it may go well with you and your Children after you and that you may live long and happily in the Land which the Lord God giveth you from vers 1. to 41. 9. He comes now to set before them the Law of God viz. the ten Commandments Chap. V and the Testimonies that is the particular Articles or Points of the Covenant which God made with them at Horeb whereby he testified his mind to them and the particulars in which he required Obedience from them He shews how they were terrified at the dreadful manner wherein the Law was delivered and desired Him to mediate between God and them Then calling all the Elders and Chief of the people of Israel together He said Hear O Israel the Statutes and Judgments which I speak in your ears this day that you may learn them and keep and do them The Lord our God made a Covenant with us in Horeb. He made not this Covenant with our Fathers in Egypt nor with the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob for though he made the same Covenant with them for substance and they were obliged to believe in the Messias and to keep the Law so far as it was revealed to them yet this Covenant was not revealed to them with all its Circumstances and particular Laws nor in that form and manner wherein it was revealed to us on Mount Horeb with whom God entred into Covenant as with a Body Politick and a People whom he had separated from all other Nations unto his own Worship and Service You (g) Plurimi eorum qui tempore Legislationis in Horeb fuerunt infra 20 annos poterant eorum meminisse quae ibi gesta dicta fuerunt may remember says he how God when he gave you the Ten Commandments talked with you face to face (h) V. 4. Facie ad faciem loquutus est nobis i. e. praesens praesentibus fine ullo internuncio that is immediately by himself and not by an Internuncio or Messenger But after God had spoken to you the Ten Commandments out of the fire I was fain to stand as a Mediator between the Lord and you for you were afraid to hear the Voice of the Lord immediately any more Now the Ten Commandments the Lord spake to you in Horeb you may find recorded in the 20th Chapter of Exodus (i) Some words are here added by Moses in this fifth Chapter of Deuteronomy to those uttered by God on Mount Sinai Exod. 20. as an explanation of them In the fourth Commandment as it was there delivered by the Lord the Worlds Creation and Gods resting on the seventh day was mentioned as a main ground of it Exod. 20.11 But here Moses omits that and presseth their deliverance out of Egypt as a chief reason of Gods injoyning them to sanctifie this day Deut. 5.15 because by their redemption out of Egypt they were bound to Consecrate themselves wholly to Gods Service as his peculiar people whereof the holy employment of the Sabbath might be a notable memorial and sign and secondly because of that particular charge of suffering their Servants to rest on the Sabbath-day their former Bondage in Egypt being a strong inducement to move them to it ut requiescat servus tuus c. Exod. 20.17 God forbids the coveting of our Neighbours house and then next the coveting of his wife Here the coveting of our Neighbours wife is first forbidden and then afterwards the coveting of his house c so that they that would divide this last Commandment into two as the Papists do cannot justly say which is the ninth Commandment and which is the tenth because one branch of it is first in Exodus and another is first in Deuteronomy and we cannot reasonably think that Moses would pervert the order of the ten Commandments Paul makes but one Commandment of both branches Rom. 7.7 These are the Precepts God spake immediately by himself to you and he added no more moral Precepts and He wrote them in two Tables of stone and delivered them unto me And after this dreadful delivery of the Law the Elders of your Tribes came to me and said Behold the Lord our God hath caused us to see his Glory and Greatness and we have heard his Voice out of the fire and we have seen that God doth talk with man and yet he remaineth alive But you intimated that your present safety was a matter of great wonder to you and though you had escaped that danger for the present yet you were not willing to be exposed to the like danger again For the very terrour of it you apprehended would kill you if God should speak to you again immediately by himself and you said What man is there that ever heard God speaking out of the fire as we have done and yet lived Therefore you desired me to receive from the Lord all that He should command you and to deliver it unto you and you would hear it and do it And the Lord approved of your motion and further said O that (k) Humanitas optanda non speranda designat there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my Commandments always that it might be well with them and with their Children for ever Therefore God commanded you to betake your selves unto your Tents again and commanded me to stand before him and to receive from him all the Commandments Statutes and Judgments which I should teach you and which you should observe in the Land which He intended to give you that you may walk in them and that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days and that you may increase mightily as the Lord God of your Fathers promised you should do in that good Land that floweth with Milk and Honey Chap. VI 10. Moses now enters upon the explanation of the first Commandment Hear O Israel the Lord thy God is one Lord one Eternal Almighty and divine Essence one in substance though three in persons and alone to be adored and worshipped And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy Soul and with all thy might And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart and so imprinted in thy mind and memory that upon all occasions thou mayst know what thou art to do And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou fittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest
down and when thou risest up And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine head and they shall be as Frontlets (l) Scopus hujus praecepti est non ad hujusmodi Ceremonias praecisas obstringere sed continuam Legis recordationem inculcare Jans vide Exod. 13.9 The Pharisees followed the literal sense in their Phylacteries which were some written Schedules of Parchment which were fastened to their Foreheads and Arms to keep the Law of God in remembrance see Matth. 23.5 between thine eyes that is thou shalt use all means to keep them in continual remembrance and to set them before the eyes of thy Children that they may live according to them And thou shalt write them on the posts of thy House and on thy Gates see Ch. 11.18 19 20. And when the Lord shall have brought thee into that good Land which He sware unto thy Fathers to give thee and into great and goodly Cities which thou buildest not and into Houses full of all good things which thou filledst not and to Wells digged which thou digedst not and to Vineyards and Olive-Trees which thou plantedst not when thou hast eaten and art full then beware lest thou forget the Lord that brought thee forth out of the Land of Egypt from the house of Bondage Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and sware by his Name that is when thou hast a lawful Call to sware thou shalt perform this religious act by the Name of the only true God and not of any Idol nor by any Creature whatsoever Ye shall not follow after other gods nor worship or serve the gods of other Nations that are round about lest the anger of the Lord who is a jealous God be kindled against thee and He destroy thee from off the face of the Earth Take heed also lest you provoke the Lord by your distrust and murmurings and limiting the holy One of Israel as you formerly did at Massah Exod. 17.2 Psal 78.41 And see that ye diligently observe the Commandments of the Lord that ye may go in and possess the good Land which he promised to your Fathers to give you And when your Children shall ask you in time to come what mean the Testimonies Statutes and Judgments which the Lord our God hath commanded us you shall say We were bondmen in Egypt and the Lord brought us out with a mighty hand and the Lord shewed Signs and Wonders great and sore upon Egypt upon Pharaoh and his Houshold before our eyes and the Lord commanded us to observe all these Statutes and to fear Him for our good always that he might preserve us alive as he hath done to this day And if we carefully observe these Laws as he has commanded us it shall be our Righteosness that is an evidence and manifestation of our Integrity and Vprightness before the Lord and though our Obedience be weak and imperfect yet if it be sincere God in and thorow the Messias will accept of it and will mercifully reward us for it 11. He goes on to give them some further explanation of the first Commandment Chap. VII injoyning them to extirpate the Canaanites and their Idolatry and to have no Communion with them lest they should be seduced by them to the worship of other gods They should remember they were a people holy to God whom he freely chose and will severely punish if they prove unfaithful but if they be faithful he will give them victory over their Enemies He further says to them When the Lord shall have brought you into the good Land he hath given you to cast out the seven Nations of the Canaanites that are greater and mightier than you and hath delivered them into your hands then you shall smite them and utterly destroy them you shall make no Covenant with them nor shew mercy unto them unless they become Proselytes and Converts to the true Religion which I have established among you Neither shall you make Marriages with them your Daughters you shall not give to their Sons nor their Daughters shall you take to your Sons for they will be apt to turn them away from following after the Lord your God and intice them to serve other Gods so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you that he will destroy you suddainly But you shall destroy their Altars and break down their Images and cut down their Groves which they have planted for Idolatrous uses and burn their graven Images with fire For you are an holy people unto the Lord your God the Lord hath chosen you to be a peculiar people to Himself above all people that are upon the face of the Earth And the Lord did not set his love upon you and choose you because ye were more in number than any other people as in worldly Kingdoms Dominion over a great and populous Nation is more desired than over few For the truth is you were very few till God made such a miraculous multiplication of you in Egypt The Lord loved you freely and chose you of his own free Grace not finding any thing in you more than in others to move him so to do And because the Lord loved you and intended to keep the Oath which He had sworn unto your Fathers He hath brought you out of the house of Bond-men out of Egypt with a mighty hand Know therefore that the Lord your God he is the only true God the faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments to thousand Generations and repayeth them that hate him to their face that is will so apparently take Vengeance on them and will not be slack or slow to do it that they shall plainly perceive as men do a thing set before their face that he doth it for their wickedness Wherefore if you shall carefully observe the Commandments Statutes and Judgments which I command you this day from the Lord then will He keep and perform unto you the Covenant and Mercy which he sware unto your Fathers and will love you and bless you and exceedingly increase you Will bless you in the fruit of the Womb and your Corn Wine and Oil and the fruit of your Cattel shall be increased You shall be blessed above all people There shall not except very rarely be any Male or Female barren among you or among your Cattel And the Lord will take away from you all sickness and will not inflict upon you any of those dangerous and noisome Diseases wherewith as it is well known to you he punished the Egyptians for your sakes Exod. 9.10 and wherewith the Inhabitants of that Country were usually troubled Deut. 28.27 but will lay them upon all them that hate thee You shall therefore destroy all the Nations that the Lord your God shall give into your hands you shall have no pity upon them neither shall you serve their Gods for that will be a snare to you and a cause of your
epulis Deut. 12.12 17. praecipue 14. 22. 3. Decima de decimâ quae â—at sacerdotum 4. Decima trieterica tertio quovis anno from him which were to be the means of his livelihood all the time they should live upon the Land He shews they might kill and eat for their own refreshing whatsoever they desired at home and when they had a purpose to offer Peace-Offerings and by way of thankfulness to God for some eminent mercy to rejoyce together if the holy place were too far from them they might feast together upon their Cattel which they might kill for food only then they must be sure not to eat them as holy things but even as they would eat the Roe-Buck or Hart. Only says he as I said before be sure you eat not the blood for the blood is the vehicle of the animal life and therefore you may not eat it with the flesh And you must observe this Precept that it may go well with you and your Children (g) A man cannot better bless his Children than by his own Obedience to his heavenly Father after you continually As for their Burnt-Offerings He shews them they must offer the flesh and blood together upon the Altar and the blood of their other pacifick Sacrifices and Peace-Offerings must be poured out upon the Altar and then they might eat of the flesh of * For only the fl sh of these Sacrifices was to be eaten by the Owners Levit. 15. them Further he shews them That when the Lord their God shall have destroyed the Nations before them whose Land they go to possess then they must especially take heed that they be not insnared by following their Idolatry Therefore says He I advise you not to inquire after their gods or how they worshipped them thinking to serve the true God as they served their Idols For they use to perform such Rites and Services to their Idols which are most abominable to the Lord particularly they burn their Sons and Daughters * Of this abomination practis'd by the Heathâ—n and imitated by the backsliding Jews see Jer. 7.31 19.5 in the fire to their gods Take heed therefore of following them in these or any other of their abominations do what I command you from the Lord neither add it to it nor diminish from it 18. He comes now to expound and dilate upon the Third Commandment The Third Commandment by prohibiting Chap. XIII the abuse of the Lords Name which was profaned by false Prophets Revolters and Inticers to Idolatry Having given the people warning to take heed of being seduced to Idolatry by Strangers of other Nations here he gives them the like warning to take heed of being seduced by any that should arise among their own Brethren If there shall arise saith he among you any that shall pretend himself to be a Prophet and shall say that God hath appeared to him a Vision or a Dream and he giveth you a sign or wonder (h) Such as the cleaving Jeroboam's Altar which the Prophet told them of before hand 1 Kings 13.3 as a sure sign that God had sent him that is laboureth to confirm what he saith he had by Vision or Dream by foretelling some wonderful and supernatural thing that shall come to pass though this sign and wonder come to pass yet if withall he shall perswade you to worship false gods or to worship the true God in a false manner you shall not because of his signs and wonders regard what he saith if his Doctrine be not according to the truth which God hath taught you For the Lord may by the Spirit of Prophesie reveal things to come to wicked men and false Prophets as he did to Balaam and Caiaphas He knowing how thereby to bring Glory to Himself though they intend only to corrupt and seduce thereby For the Lord may suffer the Devil and false Prophets thus to abuse men to try and make known whether they love the Lord their God with all their Hearts and Souls and will cleave to him For those whose hearts are upright towards God will not be drawn away from the true Doctrine he hath taught them by such delusions see Gal. 1.8 Therefore he injoyns them to put to death every Dreamer or false Prophet that shall endeavour to seduce them from the true Worship and Service of God unto Idolatry and in so doing they shall not only justly punish evil doers but prevent the hurt which they would do among the people And He tells them That not only the false Prophet but all others whatsoever were to be put to death that should seduce them though secretly to Idolatry and they were not to spare those that were dearest to them in this case If thy Brother says he or thy Son or Daughter or the Wife of thy bosome or thy Friend which is as thine own Soul entice thee secretly saying Let us go and serve other gods of what Nation soever thou shalt not consent and hearken unto him neither shall thine eye pity him neither shalt thou spare or conceal him thou shalt certainly procure his death by declaring the thing to the Magistrate and informing and bearing Testimony against him and procuring justice to be executed upon him according to this Law and as his just Accuser thou shalt throw the first stone at him see Deut. 17.7 and then the rest of the people shall stone him And all Israel shall hear and fear and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you Further that he may manifest Gods extream hatred and detestation of Idolatry he tells them That if in any of their Cities they shall hear of the revolt of any other of their Cities through the instigation of some wicked men Sons of Belial that went out from among them separating themselves from Gods people in point of Religion they must first inquire diligently concerning the truth of the thing and if they find it certain that such abomination is wrought among them then they shall smite the Inhabitants of that City with the edge of the Sword destroying it utterly and all that is therein and the Cattel thereof and they shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof and shall burn with fire the City and all the spoil thereof every whit for the honour of God and in Obedience unto his Command thereby offering it up as a Sacrifice to Him and that City shall be a ruinous heap for ever and shall not be built again They must not take to themselves or their own use any part of the accursed goods of the City see Josh 6.17 that so the Lord may turn from the firceness of his anger which oftentimes is kindled not only against the Sinners themselves but all Israel for their sakes see Joshua 7.1 11 12. Chap. XIV 19. He comes now to give them some Precepts concerning their Conversation among themselves which he shews should be holy
one whom the Lord should choose * Which was observ'd accordingly in Saul but fully in David and his Progeny And this was thus appointed because the Kings of Judah were to be Types of Christ 2ly The King thus chosen was not to multiply horses to himself viz. in a greater proportion than the state of a King requires lest he should put confidence in worldly strength whereof horses for War were a principal part and not in God And that he might not hereby be puffed up and exalted in mind to the despising and perhaps oppressing of his Subjects and might not by the excessive Charge thereof be burdensome to his people (s) Herein Solomon did not keep so close to this Rule as he ought to have done in that he had forty thousand stalls of horses for his Chariots and twelve thousand horse-men 1 Kings 4.26 and in that he fetched his horses out of Egypt 2 Chron. 1.16 He shall not cause his Subjects to go down into Egypt to buy horses where there was great plenty of them and they counted the strength of their Country lest they be corrupted with the Idolatry and other sins of the Egyptians * So Jeremy from the Lord disswaded the Jews from going into Egypt Jer. 42.15 c. For God would have them to have such a sense of their former Deliverance out of that Bondage as to abhor the very thought of going thither again For besides all former intimations from the Lord to the same purpose (t) See Exod. 13.17 the Lord had now commanded him to say unto them That they should henceforth return no more that way viz. which leadeth down to Egypt Further he injoyns That their King shall not multiply Wives (u) Si ne Regi quidem permissa sit polygamia quid aliis indultum credimus Confer Lev. 18.18 to himself that his heart turn not away from the Lord to sensual pleasures nor to Idolatry by the allurement of his Wives as Solomons did 1 Kings 11.4 Neither shall he too too excessively desire to multiply to himself Silver and Gold lest by such an extraordinary greediness after riches he oppress the people and heap up Gold and Silver by rapine and unjust exactions and so his mind be pufft up with pride by reason of his wealth Further he was to send for the Original Copy of this Law which was to remain with the Priests and to be kept in the Sanctuary Deut. 31.26 and to write or cause to be written a Copy of it for his own use and he was to read therein all the days of his life that he might learn to fear the Lord and to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them That his heart be not lifted up above his Brethren and that he turn not aside from the Commandment to the right hand or to the left and that he may prolong his days Chap. XVIII In the next place he shews them that seeing the Priests are to have no part nor Inheritance with the rest of the Tribes they shall eat of the Offerings made by fire on the Altar as the Meat-Offering Sin-Offering and Trespass-Offering Numb 18.9 and of all other things (x) Of these see Numb 18. where as some reckon 24 Gifts were bestowed on the Priests which the Lord challengeth to himself as his Right and Inheritance and hath reserved for his Service and the sustenance of his Servants the Priests for God would not have them cumbred with the affairs of this life lest by them they should be hindred from doing their duties Therefore he declares that He himself will be their Inheritance and will supply all their wants out of his abundance And this shall be the Priests due from them that bring a Sacrifice of a Peace-Offering They shall give to Him the Shoulder the two Cheeks and the Maw The wave-breast mentioned elsewhere is here left out possibly as comprehended under the Shoulder to which it is joyned in the Sheep being both parts of the same quarter But the Maw and two Cheeks added here are no where else mention'd Further he tells them They were to give to the Priest the first fruit of their Corn of their Wine and Oil and the first of the fleece of their Sheep see Exod. 22.29 Numb 18.12 Because the Lord hath call'd them to stand and minister in his Name that is by authority received from him see Deut. 10.8 Further he orders That when ever any of the Tribe of Levi out of his own voluntary devotion had an earnest desire to come and serve in the Tabernacle or Temple they should be admitted to live of the holy things there even as the rest did that in their turns (y) There seems some order observ'd in this at first though by David afterwards this was more exactly contriv'd when they were divided into 24 Courses 1 Chron. 23. did serve in that place For such as out of singular devotion to the Service of the Sanctuary did go up to serve there God would have them to live of the Altar and not be put thereby to spend their own private estate what ever it was or that money which came of the sale of their private Patrimony (z) Forte Levitae morantes in loco Tabernaculi negarent illi partem suam quod secum haberet pecuniam sive pretium rei domus vel agri venditae Statuit ergo Lex sive habeat pretium sive non habiturum tamen portionem suam q. d. Ne exluditor a parte commodi quod habeat unde se alere possit Fruatur ea pecunia propria insuper portione ei ex ministerio debita quia qui Sacris ministrat is debt ex Sacris non ex bonis paternis vivere quia rem venditam redimendi jus perpetuum habet Levit. 25.32 redimere autem non possit si absumeretur pretium rei venditae from 1. to 9. In the next place he exhorts them to take heed of doing after the abominations of the Canaanites Let not there be found among you any one says he who makes his Son or Daughter to pass through the fire to Saturn or Moloch (a) Haec hostia petita est partim ab exemplo Abrahami partim quod audierint non nisi sanguine humano humanum scelus olim expiandum Inde Galli teste Caesare lib. 6. de bello Gallico Diti suo quam maxime innocuos immolabant see Levit. 18.21 2 Kings 16.3 or that practices Divination (b) This sin was common among the Heathen practis'd among the wisest of them Numb 24.1 1 Kings 20.33 see 1 Sam. 6.2 Ezek. 21. 21 22. by making use of familiar Spirits 1 Sam. 6.2 1 Sam. 28.8 or an Observer of Times crying up some days for lucky others unlucky or an Inchanter using Songs or Verses or other words or Ceremonies to produce supernatural Effects or a Witch or a Charmer or a Consulter with familiar Spirits or a Wizard or a
Therefore says he keep your selves all of you from the accursed thing Take none of the accursed banned things to your own use lest you bring a Curse upon your selves and upon the Camp of Israel thereby Joshua having given the people these Instructions he gave order to the Army to march round about the City seven days in the manner that was prescribed the Sabbath-day being one of them and that by Command of him who is Lord of the Sabbath The armed-men marched before the Ark and the remainder of the people that were in the Rear not armed followed after and thus they did six days on the seventh day they rose early and compassed the City after the same manner seven times and at the seventh time when the Priests that blew with the Trumpets made a long blast Joshua bad them shout for the Lord had given them the City The people hereupon gave a great shout and the wall of the City fell down flat viz. all that part of it over against which the Israelites in a long train marched and so all the armed men went up every man right from the place where they were and entred in at the breach into the City And they utterly destroyed all that was in the City Men Women young and old and the Oxen and Asses and Sheep and what ever they met with excepting Rahab and her Family whom Joshua sent the two Spies unto whom she had preserved to bring them forth and to leave them without the Camp till they were cleansed from their former pollutions according to the Law Numb 31.19 and were instructed in the Israelites Religion and admitted into the Congregation and so they and their Posterity continued among the Israelites and Rahab was afterwards married to Salmon a Prince of the Tribe of Judah one of Christs Progenitors Matth. 1.5 Luke 3.32 Then they burnt the City with fire and all that was therein excepting only the Silver and Gold and Iron and Brass which were reserved to be put into the Treasury of the House of the Lord none of them offering to meddle with one jot of the Spoil save only Achan of whom more presently In the judgment of reason one would have thought it must needs be grievous to the Israelites to destroy so brave a City and so goodly Houses wherein they might so conveniently have setled themselves and the Prey and Spoil of so fair and rich a City whereby they might have so greatly inriched themselves The more remarkable therefore and commendable was their ready Obedience herein to Gods Commands And Joshua by a special Inspiration of the Holy Ghost adjured them not to go about to build that City again and pronounced a Curse upon that man that by rebuilding it should as it were endeavour to blot out the memorial of this miraculous Work of God in giving this Idolatrous City after so strange a manner into their hands Whosoever shall go about to do it says He he shall lay the Foundation thereof in his First-born and in his youngest Son shall he set up the Gates thereof that is it shall cost him the loss of his Children of the first when he begins it of the other as he goeth forward with the work and of the youngest when he finisheth it and hangeth up the Gates thereof This Curse afterwards fell upon Hiel the Bethelite who in Ahab's Reign built this City again 1 Kings 16.34 This man was very ignorant if he knew not of this Curse but if he did know of it he was very audacious and impudently profane in not regarding it But though he was in his own particular severely punish'd for thus transgressing Gods Command and neglecting this Curse yet the City being rebuilt it was afterward allowed for a fit Habitation even for good men to lodge in as Elijah and Elisha 2 Kings 2.4 18. yea our Saviour himself did honour this City with his presence and Miracles Luke 19.1 5. Josh Ch. 5. from 13. to the end Josh Ch. 6. whole Chapter SECT XCIX JOshua now sent Spies to Ai not to go into it as those sent to Jericho did but to bring him Intelligence in what posture the City and Country thereabout was The Spies return and make a Report as if the place were of no great strength and might easily be taken by a few of the Israelites and therefore there was no need to carry up the whole Host of Israel against it Let only about two or three thousand say they go up and finite it Joshua accordingly sent up about three thousand against it But the men of Ai couragiously sallying out upon them the Israelites fled presently before them which plainly shewed that God being offended with them for something amiss among them did in an extraordinary manner strike them with fear and astonishment The men of Ai chased them from their City Gates to Shebarim and killed 36 of them in the going down of the Hill so that it seems the Israelies fled at the first On-set and were slain only in flying The whole people of Israel were extreamly terrified and dismaid at this For God seemed to have withdrawn his supporting Hand from them and in such a case the most stout and valiant will soon shrink and be afraid Joshua and the Elders of Israel hereupon rent their Clothes * A Ceremony used in great Mournings see 2 Sam. 1.11 Job 2.12 Ezek. 27.30 put dust upon their Heads and fell to the earth on their faces before the Ark. Neither was it their loss so much as the apprehension of Gods displeasure that so much afflicted them God had promised that no man should stand before them Ch. 1.5 and that they should drive out the Inhabitants out of the Land Their flying therefore now before the Enemy especially in such an inglorious manner was a plain Demonstration that God was offended with them and had withdrawn his gracious presence from them And the smallest Affliction if it be looked upon as an effect of Gods anger is very dreadful Joshua lying thus prostrate before the Lord said Alas O Lord God wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us I wish we had been content to have staid and dwelt on the other side Jordan * Joshua seems here a little too much transported thorow humane frailty O Lord what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs before their Enemies For the Canaanites the Inhabitants of this Land will hear of it and will inviron us round and cut off our Name and Memorial from off the Earth and what wilt thou then do to thy great Name How wilt thou preserve thy Glory when the Canaanites shall say Thou hadst not power to subdue them nor defend us against them and thou wast not able to give us this Land which thou hadst promised us See Deut. 33.27 Then the Lord spake to Joshua saying Get thee up why liest thou prostrate on thy face
Thou maist be sure that something is amiss among you that hath provok'd Me to forsake you Know therefore that one of the Children of Israel hath committed a high Trespass against Me He hath reserved a part of the Spoils of Jericho which as accursed things should have been burnt He hath taken of that which I reserved to my Self viz. Gold and Silver and hath done this closely and cunningly carrying the matter so as if he had done no such thing or had not considered or regarded my Omniscience and he hath put what he stole among his own stuff the more to conceal it And this is the cause why the Children * The people being considered here Conjunctim as one intire body that which was done by one of the members is here ascrib'd to the whole body of Israel see Josh 22.20 of Israel could not stand before their Enemies because one of them hath transgressed in the accursed thing And you must know that I have alwayes just cause to punish any of my people for Sin in themselves though I take occasion to strike them sometimes for the sins of those among whom they live Therefore I tell you there is an accursed thing in the midst of you and you cannot stand before your Enemies till it be taken away I will not be with you any more except you destroy from among you the person that is found guilty of stealing the accursed thing and who is thereby become accursed himself He commands Joshua therefore to go and call upon the people to sanctifie themselves by legal Purifications washing their Clothes Abstinence Prayers Devotions and much more by purity of Heart and Affections see Exod. 19.10 that they being thus prepared to appear in Gods presence the Offender might be discovered and punished and the people freed from the Curse which he had brought upon them The Lord further directs Joshua how to find out the Offendor viz. by casting lots first to find out his Tribe then to cast lots upon the several Families in that Tribe to find the guilty Family then to cast lots to find the particular Houshold in that Family and lastly to find out the particular person in that Houshold that had offended whom he orders when discovered to be burnt with fire as the things anathematiz'd and accursed were to be after he hath been stoned as a presumptuous Transgressor of Gods Commandment see Numb 15.30 35. and that he and all that he hath shall be so served because he hath trangressed the Covenant of the Lord viz. the Commandment that he gave them Ch. 6.18 and which they accepted of with a voluntary submission to the punishment therein threatned in case of Transgression and because he had wrought folly and wickedness in Israel And possibly the Lord was pleased to appoint this long way of trial to try whither Achan would come in voluntarily and confess his sin and therefore by his holding out so long even till the lot fell upon his own person there was a notable discovery made how hardly men are brought to confess their secret sins and how prone they are to flatter themselves that their secret sins shall not be discovered Hereby also the Lord made known how the most casual things even casting of lots are governed by his Providence see Prov. 16.33 a truth the fitter to be cleared to this people because the Land was shortly to be divided to them by lot Joshua the next morning calling the Tribes together and proceeding in the way and method before prescribed Achan (a) He is called Achan 1 Chron. 2.7 which signifies a Troubler and the place of his Execution is called the Valley of Achor v. 26. that is the Valley of Trouble He was the Grandchild of Zabdi otherwise call'd Zimri 1 Chron. 2.6 the Son of Carmi the Son of Zabdi the Son of Zerah of the Tribe of Judah was taken Achan being thus taken Joshua said unto him My Son give I pray thee Glory to the Lord God of Israel in acknowledging his Omniscience and make an humble and penitent confession to him of thy sin and tell me truly what thou hast done hide it not from me Achan said I have sinned against the Lord when I saw among the Spoils of Jericho a goodly Babylonish-Garment and two hundred Shekels of Silver and a Wedge of Gold of fifty Shekels then I coveted them and took them and behold they are hid in the earth and the Silver under the Garment Joshua sent Messengers to the Tent and they found the things which Achan had confessed and brought them to Joshua and the Elders of Israel and exposed them to the view of all before the Tabernacle of the Congregation where the Ark was the Emblem of Gods presence among them Then Joshua and the Israelites took Achan with the things he had stolen together with his Children and his Oxen * From hence we may see that he had before a good Estate and did not steal for want but out of covetousness Asses and Sheep his Tent and all that he had and carried them down to the Valley called afterwards upon this occasion the Valley of Achor And Joshua then said to him Why hast thou troubled us the Lord shall trouble thee this day Then they stoned him and his Children who 't is probable (b) Gods judgments are many times unsearchable but always just see Deut. 24.16 see Josh 22.20 Verisimile est Domesticos ejus fuisse Criminis Conscios Estius in loc Besides his Children had sin enough in them otherwise for Gods justice to work upon though they had no hand in this sacrilegious act either assisted him in what He did or living in the same Tent with him knew what he had stolen and hidden and concealed it and so tacitly consented to it and afterwards burnt him and his Children and his Cattel and all that he had stolen and all that he had and they raised over him a great heap of stones as a Monument to warn Posterity not to provoke God by transgressing his Commandments as Achan had done which Monument remained when this History was written And thus the Anger of the Lord was turned away from Israel Ch. 7. whole Chapter SECT C. THe Lord now encourages Joshua and commands him to take the whole Army with him for the better heartning of the people and to go against Ai for he would give the City and the Land belonging to it into his hands And he should utterly destroy it and the King and the Inhabitants thereof as they did to Jericho only the Spoil thereof and the Cattel thereof they should take to themselves And possibly the whole Army was commanded to go up because they were all to participate in the Spoil of the City But God would not have them as yet possess any fortified Towns or Cities lest they should put confidence in the strength of those places and not wholly rest and rely on his Providence Joshua hereupon marched with all
Thummim whither they should go up any more against the Benjamites The Lord bids them go up for to morrow he would deliver the Benjamites into their hands The Israelites having this Promise from God undoubtedly were much encouraged thereby however they resolved not to neglect any good means to obtain the Victory but by Policy and Military Stratagems to get all advantage they could of their Enemies Accordingly they divided their Army into three parts the one was laid in Ambush in the Medows of Gibeah vers 33. the second was sent against Gibeah with Orders that they should presently fly before the Benjamites that so they might draw them far off from the City vers 30 31. and the third which was the main body was to stay at Baal-tamar and to renew the battel when the Benjamites came thither in pursuit of the Israelites that fled before them Things being thus ordered that part of the Army that was to make the first On-set upon the Benjamites and then presently to fly and give back * See a like Stratagem in the taking of Ai Josh 8. marched up against the City and accordingly flying when the Benjamites came out against them the Benjamites eagerly pursued them and killed about thirty men and thought they should have cut them down as they did before But being drawn a good way off from the City the Ambush arose being ten thousand men and suddenly took the City and set it on fire which when they had done they put themselves between the City and the Army of the Benjamites to hinder their retreat The Benjamites that pursued the Israelites little thought of this or that evil was so near them For on a suddain the flying Israelites turned head and with the main body of the Army that stayed at Baal-tamar renewed the battel with great Courage and Violence The Benjamites looking back saw the smoke of the City ascending at which being much terrified they fled before the Israelites who destroyed eighteen thousand †V. 15. The Children of Benjamin were twenty six thousand and seven hundred Of these the Israelites slew when they prevailed against them twenty five thousand and one hundred v. 35. six hundred of them only saved themselves in Rimmon It seems therefore that the other thousand was slain in the two first battels wherein the Benjamitâ—s overcame the Israelites for 't is not like they could conquer them in two battels without some loss of them in the chase those that came out of the Cities to assist the Israelites hemming them in on every side vers 42. and vers 44. and five thousand more of them they killed in the High-ways as they found them in the pursuit scattered here and there vers 45. and two thousand more they slew at Gidom vers 45. and the odd hundred * Vers 46. Here the greater or round number is only expressed and not the odd 100. which is not expressed in particulars was slain as it seems some in one place and some in another so that of the Benjamites there fell that day twenty five thousand and one hundred six hundred of them only escaping who fled to Rimmon a City built on a Rock betwixt Gibeah and Bethel and abode there four months The Israelites not satisfied with the slaughter of the men of Gibeah and the Benjamites that came to fight in their Defence they fell upon all other Cities in that Tribe because they had sent Aids and had assisted their Brethren in this War and in their Rage slew Man Woman and Child and even the very Beasts and setting fire on their Cities spared no living thing that came in their way being transported with Fury that the Benjamites had undertaken the Defence of so horrible a Villany and that they had slain no less then forty thousand of the Israelites in this War Thus when the Lord had made use of Benjamin to execute his Justice upon Israel for not punishing Idolatry and for their other sins He then uses Israel to punish Benjamin for not delivering the men of Gibeah up to justice Judg. 20. whole Chapter SECT CXXXII THe Israelites having thus destroyed all the Men Women and Children of Benjamin excepting only those six hundred that fled to Rimmon they now began to consider into what a strait they had brought themselves For having slain all the Women of Benjamin and having made a Vow that none of them should give their Daughters in marriage to the Men of that Tribe either those six hundred men must take themselves Wives from the Heathens which was unlawful and the holy Seed would be thereby polluted or else a Tribe must perish from Israel and so their Body Politick which God had formed would be dismembred or themselves must break an Oath which they had solemnly taken in the presence of God Being exceedingly perplexed about this matter they thereupon went with their whole Army to the House of God in Shiloh there to bewail their Case and to inquire of the Lord what they should do in these Difficulties They rose therefore early the next morning and built there an Altar and offered thereon Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings because the Altar in the Tabernacle was not sufficient for the Offering up such a vast multitude of Sacrifices as were now brought in by the people after they had prevailed against the Benjamites see a like thing done 1 Kings 8.64 and the rearing Altars upon such extraordinary Occasions was not unlawful see Exod. 20.24 Then they began to consider what City or Town in all their Tribes had sent none to help them against the Benjamites For there had been a solemn Oath sworn by them all at Mizpeh before they engag'd in this War and it was taken with a severe Execration against any that should break it that whatsoever City or Town did not come in to help and assist them in this Quarrel should be destroyed Upon inquiry they found that Jabesh-Gilead on the other side Jordan had sent none to their assistance Hereupon they sent twelve thousand valiant men to destroy that City giving them order that they should destroy all the Men and all the Women thereof that had known man but the Virgins that were marriageable they should spare not doubting but of those there would be enough found to make Wives for the six hundred Benjamites But it seems there were were only four hundred such found in that City So that there being not Wives enough for them the Israelites much blamed themselves that they had in their rage destroyed all the Benjamitish-Women see vers 22. These four hundred Virgins being brought to Shiloh the Israelites sent a kind Message to the Benjamites at Rimmon to come to them who accordingly coming they gave to four hundred of them these four hundred Virgins to make them Wives wherein they conceived that they broke not their Oath because they were not their own Daughters But these being not enough for the remaining Benjamites the Israelites much repented their
Israel many years He had many Wives by whom he had sixty nine Sons and one Concubine who dwelt at Shechem whom he took as a secundary Wife and in an inferiour degree having been before his Maid-Servant Ch. 9 18. by whom he had Abimelech At length Gideon died in a good old age and was buried in the Sepulchre of his Father at Ophra Ch. 8. from vers 22. to the 33. SECT CXLI PResently after Gideon was dead the Israelites fell to Idolatry again and went a whoring after Baalim and worshipped Baal-Berith for their god the Idol of the Shechemites signifying the Lord of the Covenant so called possibly because when they made choice of him to be their Idol-god they bound themselves by Covenant to serve him which possibly the Devil put them upon in imitation of God and so by adhering to him they broke their Covenant with God And they were now so besotted with Idolatry that they forgot the only true God their great Deliverer and wholly neglected his Worship and Service and worshipped only Idols Neither shewed they themselves grateful to Gideon who had deserved so well of them neither did they shew kindness or seek the good and welfare of his Family The people being thus generally corrupted as the Lord had formerly punished their Idolatry and Apostacy by suffering some of the Neighbour-Nations to Invade them and sorely Afflict them so now he resolved to punish them by the Tyranny of One from among themselves even by Abimelech the Son of Gideon their late Judge who upon his Fathers death attempted to get to himself the Regal Power which his Father had so lately refused To make way hereunto he went presently to Shechem and there began to tamper with his Vncles his Mothers Brothers and the rest of her Kindred and employed them as his Instruments being possibly of some Rank and Esteem in Shechem to see if they could draw the Inhabitants of that City to Aid and Assist him in his Project not doubting but if he could effect this he should be able well enough to accomplish the rest of his Design And thus by the Miseries which this Son of a Concubine brought upon his Fathers House and the whole Kingdom we may see that God did even in those Times testifie his Displeasure against their having several Wives and Concubines though for the present He did permit it But to proceed Abimelech being come to Shechem and addressing himself to his Kindred and acquainting them with his Design He desires them to perswade the men of Shechem to make him King He tells them That though his Father had in modesty refused the Kingdom yet it was fit now according to their Profer they should settle it upon his Posterity Secondly He perswades them that his Brethren had a Plot upon the Kingdom to divide it among themselves though it does not appear they had any such thought and he shews them that it were better for them to settle the Government upon Him alone then to suffer themselves to be under the Command of all Gideon's Sons 3ly He tells them He was bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh and being of their own blood they might expect all kindness and favour from him and further it would be a great honour and advantage to them to have a King so nearly allied to them Abimelech's Kindred seemed much pleased with what he had said to them and accordingly moved the business to the rest of the men of Shechem whose hearts readily inclined to favour Abimelech's design because he was their Kinsman And in order to the carrying on thereof they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the Treasure of their Idol-god Baal-Berith wherewith he hired vain and light persons to follow him and these he armed that he might by their Aid and Assistance accomplish what he had designed And thus the money that had been given to their Idol-god became the first fewel for the kindling of that fire in the Land wherewith the Lord intended to punish the Idolatry and other Sins of the people With these Forces and the assistance of some of the Shechemites V. 5. Being threescore and ten persons 'T is usual in Scripture to put a perfect and round number for an imperfect see Gen. 42.13 Numb 14.32 33. 1 Cor. 15.5 Abimelech went to Ophra and there seizing all his Fathers Sons excepting Jotham the youngest and pretending something against them under a pretence of Justice as if they had had some Plot upon the State tending to the ruine of it he put them all to death and executed them all in one place upon one Stone This being done the men of Shechem gathered themselves together and the Magistrates of the City who were wont to meet in a Town-House or Common-Hall called the House of Millo and made Abimelech King Abimelech the Fifth Judge if at least He may be so esteemed seeing He was not set up by the appointment of God and so proclaimed him in the Field near Shechem where Joshua in former time had erected a great stone under an Oak Josh 24.26 Indeed it may seem strange that the Inhabitants of one City should dare to do this alone of themselves it being expresly also against the Law of God Deut. 17.14 15. Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse But though the Shechemites possibly at first made him King only over their own City yet afterwards it seems many other Israelites of other Towns and Tribes did come in moved by their Example and Perswasion and joyned with them and accepted him for their King and the rather because they generally began to be weary of the Government God had established among them and longed to be like other Nations in having a King to Reign over them Abimelech therefore daily gathering more and more strength at last he usurped the Title of King over the whole Nation whence he is said to have reigned three years over Israel vers 22. The Lord now intending to punish Abimelech and the Shechemites for changing the Government which he had established among them and especially for the barbarous Murther committed upon the Sons of Gideon by a special Instinct of his Spirit He moved Jotham who of all the Sons of Gideon had escaped the hands of Abimelech to go to the Inhabitants of Shechem and to give them warning before-hand of the Calamities and Judgments that were like to befal them if they did not repent of this their great wickedness Accordingly going to Mount Gerizim which was near Shechem and at a time as it seems when the Shechemites upon some publick Festivity or such solemn occasion were there * From the Mountain of Blessings they now hear a Curse denounced against them met together He lift up his Voice and spake to them saying Hearken to me ye men of Shechem that God may hearken unto you intimating to them that God had sent him to them with that
these slain men with which he paid his forfeiture But being inwardly and heartily vexed at the fraud of his Companions and the treachery of his wife he left them both and return'd to his Fathers house Judges Ch. 14. from 1. to 20. SECT CXLIX SAmson thus going away from his wife and her friends in a great discontent though he intended not finally to forsake her it seems she was in his absence very injuriously given in marriage to one of those his thirty Companions or Bridemen and probably to him that was chosen to be the first and chief of them and to be nearest to the Bridegroom and therefore call'd the friend of the Bridegroom by way of eminency Joh. 3.25 Possibly she suffered her self to be given to him apprehending that Samson would never be reconciled to her for her treachery against him Samson sometime after knowing nothing of this but intending a reconciliation with her went to visit her and carried a Kid to present her with thereby to express his love and kindness to her Being come to the house and meeting his wifes Father he told him he would go into his wifes Chamber to see her But her Father would not suffer him telling him that he verily thought he had been irreconcileably angry with her and had forsaken her and therefore says he I have disposed her in Marriage to thy Companion But her younger sister is fairer than she I pray thee take her instead of her Samson being extreamly enrag'd that he should be thus used he said within himself Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines if I do them a displeasure intimating that he had just cause to be revenged on them for so great an injury He contrives accordingly how to do it It seems it was at this time their Wheat-Harvest Samson therefore resolves to burn their Corn in order hereunto that Country being full of Foxes See Cant. 2.15 Neh. 4.3 't is probable he employed those of his own Tribe of Dan to assist him in catching all the Foxes they could and so three hundred were taken * Samson is said to have taken them because what a man doth by another whom he employs he may be said to do himself and brought to him Neither will it seem incredible that such a great number should be taken if we do but suppose that the Providence of God who suggested to Samson the taking this kind of revenge on the Philistines did remarkably concur hereunto For all the wild beasts of the field are his Psal 50.11 He by his over-ruling Providence caused all kinds of living creatures to come to Noah to be preserved in the Ark Gen 6.20 He brought a vast and unconceivable number of Quails to the Israelites all at one time Numb 11.31 He brought such a great multitude of Fishes to Peter's Net that the Net brake Luk 5.6 7. and therefore he could easily bring so many Foxes in a land that abounded with them to Samsons and his friends Nets These Foxes therefore being brought to him he tyed two of them together tayl by tayl and tyed a lighted Torch between their tayls parr of which 't is probable dragged on the ground and so let them loose into the standing corn now ripe and so burnt that and what was cut and shockt as also the Vineyards and Oliveyards 'T is true their corn might have been set on fire other ways but it pleased the Lord to direct Samson to do it this way that their punishment coming upon them in such a ridiculous way and by an act of such scorn and contempt might the more incense them And therefore we are more especially to look at the Providence of God in this matter who ordered and disposed it as was most fit for the effecting of his own will The Philistines whose corn was burnt understanding that Samson had done it in revenge because his wife was so unjustly taken from him by his Father-in-law and given to another they came up and in a rage burnt him and his daughter together and thus she brought on her self and her Fathers house that misery †Prov. 10.24 The sear of the wicked shall come upon them and mischief which she thought by her treacherous discovery of her husbands secret to prevent See Ch. 14.15 Samson understanding what they had done said that though they had done this yet because they had done it with a wicked mind and in an unjust and tumultuous manner having respect therein only to their own losses this should not serve their turn he would proceed further in executing vengeance upon them who were the enemies of God and his people and then he would cease for a time till he were further provoked by them All which shews that what Samson did he did not by way of private revenge but as one raised up by God on purpose to be a scourge to the Philistines So Samson fell upon them and smote them Hip and Thigh that is some in one part of the body and some in another but where ever his blows fell they mauled them and made them sure for stirring any more and so he made a great slaughter of them at this time and then went and dwelt on the Rock of Etam in the Tribe of Simeon which it seems was a place of strength and possibly he retired thither that he might not be suddenly surprized by the Philistines who he knew in all likelihood would seek to revenge themselves upon him and accordingly so it happened for the Philistines soon after invaded Judah with a great force and spread themselves in Lehi a place afterwards so called upon the Exploit there done by Samson with the jaw-bone of an Ass v. 17. The men of Judah sent to them to know why they were come up in such an hostile manner against them seeing they had not offended them but liv'd in quiet subjection to them and paid them tribute They tell them they came for Samson who had done them much wrong and requir'd he should be delivered bound into their hands that they might do unto him as he had done unto them viz. that they might put him to death as he had slain many of their people Then three thousand of the men of Judah went up to Samson at the Rock Etam and told him he could not but know that the Philistines were at this time their Rulers and had them under their power and therefore he could not be insensible what a great mischief he had brought upon them by thus provoking them He replied that as the Philistines had done to him so he had done to them They had done him great wrong and he had made them suffer for it Then the three thousand men of Judah told him that though they had no quarrel against him for any injury done to themselves yet he having thus provoked the Philistines which was like to tend to their great hurt they must needs take him and bind him and deliver him into their hands
of the Giant Rapha Jonathan the son of Shimea called Shammah 1 Sam. 16.9 slew this vast Giant These four fell by the hands of David and his servants For though David did not kill any of them himself yet their death is ascrib'd to him as well as to his Captains because they fought in his quarrel and under his command 2 Sam. Ch. 21. from v. 15 to the end 1 Chron. Ch. 20. from v. 4 to the end SECT CC. DAvid being now delivered from all his enemies on every side both within and without his Kingdom and calling to mind Gods wonderful mercies to him he in a grateful remembrance of them composed a Triumphant Song or Psalm of Thanksgiving that God might have the glory of all that he had done for him This Song is the same for substance with the 18th Psalm only there are some clauses here that are exprest there in other words and in some places a clause is now and then added in one of them which is not in the other So that possibly this Psalm was penned by him many years before when he was delivered from his mighty potent enemy Saul and is here with some little alteration repeated again In this Song first he declares his firm confidence in God and that he might shew what an alsufficient defence he esteemed the Lord to be unto him he useth variety of expressions to set it forth as not being able by one or two to express it He calls the Lord his rock his fortress his deliverer his shield the horn (a) Horn signifies power and glory Christ is call'd the horn of salvation Luk. 1.69 of his salvation by whose assistance he had been enabled both to defend himself and push down his enemies his tower his refuge and his saviour whence he infers that he will still trust in him and call upon him who was worthy to be praised Secondly he sets forth the woful straits and dangers he had been in his enemies came upon him like violent floods of water and like waves rouling one upon the neck of another threatning present death to him he acknowledges their roaring rage made him afraid but that fear drave him to God He says that death-threatning sorrows and dangers so encompassed him that there seemed no more likelihood for him to escape than there is of a sick man that hath the pangs of death upon him he intimates that Saul and his other enemies had so subtilly contriv'd his death and laid their snares so cunningly for him that all means of escaping seem'd to be prevented In these my great distresses says he I cry'd unto the Lord and he heard me and appear'd for me out of his Temple * Heaven is call'd the Temple of God 1st as being the place of his special presence 2. In regard of the the exceeding glory of Heaven which to shadow forth the Temple was built so exceeding glorious 3. In regard of the transient holiness of heaven that is out of Heaven and from thence manifested his power for my deliverance Then the earth shook and trembled and the foundations of heaven mov'd and shook because he was wroth that is the Lord in his hot displeasure fought against my enemies and poured forth his vengeance upon them This vengeance he sets forth under the similitude of a prodigious storm or tempest when the earth quakes and the air is covered with thick black and dark mists and when the Heavens send forth wind rain thunder and lightning (b) David here in sublime expressions sets forth not what historically happened but an a Poetical manner Gods mighty assistance and concurrence with him in his victories over his enemies by all which he intimates that the wrath of the Lord was evidently seen and manifested in the destruction of his enemies as if he had sent such an horribla storm and tempest upon them and so visibly destroyed them The foundations of the heavens shook and were moved In the 18 Psalm v. 7. he says the foundations of the hills moved that is the hills were shaken from their very foundations or bottoms These hills are here call'd the foundations of heaven (a) Job 26.11 calls that the pillars of Heaven because the tops of high mountains seem to touch the clouds and the heavens seem to lean upon them There went up a smoke out of his nostrils and fire out of his mouth devoured coals were kindled by it that is he gave forth such testimonies of his anger and indignation against mine enemies so vehement was his wrath that even smoke seem'd to speak after the manner of men to come out of his nostrils and so hot a fire out of his mouth that even coals were kindled by it He bowed the heavens also and came down and darkness was under his feet that is the lower part of the heavens was so affected as if God to manifest his power had come down into it and if we may describe him according to our weak apprehensions under his feet in the lower region of the air there were dark mists and clouds He rode upon a cherub and did fly yea he did fly upon the wings of the wind * See Psal 18.10 that is he used the ministry of his holy Angels and by them he raised violent and strong winds He made darkness pavillions round about him dark waters and thick clouds of the skies that is as men are wont by Tents and Pavillions to shelter themselves and to hide themselves from the view of others so did the Lord cast darkness and thick clouds about the place of his appearance Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled that is the Lord sent out his flashes of lightning with the flames whereof much combustible matter was kindled The Lord thundered from heaven and the most high uttered his voice he sent out his arrows and scattered them that is his thunderbolts out of the clouds as arrows from his bow He sent out his lightning and discomfited them The channels of the Sea appeared the foundations of the world were discovered at the rebuke of the Lord at the blast of the breath of his nostrils that is by this raging tempest the waters and waves were raised up so high that the very channels and bottom of the Sea was discovered and laid bare By these Hyperbolical expressions he signifies and sets forth the fierce anger of God against his enemies then he comes to set forth the wonderfulness of his deliverance being like a man ready to be drowned and perish in deep waters had not God as it were with his arm stretched out from heaven pull'd him out of them God delivered me says he from many enemies yea from my strong enemies such as Goliath Doeg Saul and Achitophel who would have been too strong for me if he had not of his great mercy helped me In the day of calamity and distress they thought by their subtilty to prevent me from saving my self and to
and upon this thy people and let thine ears be attentive unto the supplications we shall make unto thee and hearken to us in all that we shall pray unto thee for according to thy will For thou didst separate us unto thy self from among all the Nations of the earth to be thy peculiar people and inheritance as thou spakest by thy servant Moses Solomon having ended this his devout prayer rose up from his knees and standing with his face toward the Temple he repeated part of the 132 Psalm saying Arise O Lord and take possession of this house which I have built for thee as a resting place and fixt habitation and not an ambulatory and moving one as the Tabernacle was And let thy Ark whereon thou dost manifest thy glory (e) Psal 78.61 He delivereth his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemies hands strength and power for the good of thy people be here setled and constantly abide Let thy Priests O Lord God be clothed and adorned with such graces as may bring salvation to themselves (f) Psal 132.9 This clause is thus expressed Let thy Priests be clothed with righteousness and may enable them to be instrumental in the saving of others and let thy Saints rejoice in thy goodness and favour manifested unto them O Lord God hear me I pray thee and turn not away the face of thine anointed with shame and confusion by denying me my request but remember the promises thy mercy moved thee to make to David my Father and to his posterity Solomon having ended his prayers the Sacrifices were brought in and laid upon the Altar and immediately fire came down from Heaven and consumed them and the glory of the Lord probably covered with a cloud filled the house and such an orient splendour shone through it that the Priests could by no means enter into the Temple The people seeing the fire came down from Heaven and the glory of the Lord upon the house they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground and worshipped and praised God and sang as 't is probable the 136 Psalm as the Singers had done before the burthen or foot whereof was For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Then Solomon turned his face and blessed all the Congregation of Israel again as he had done at the beginning and said Blessed be the Lord God who hath given rest to his people Israel as he promised of old And indeed he hath not failed of performing any of his gracious promises which he made to his people by the ministry of his servant Moses Now therefore the Lord our God be with us as he was with our Fathers and let him not leave us nor forsake us but let him incline our hearts to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments * Viz. The Moral Ceremonial and Judicial Laws statutes and judgments which he commanded our Fathers And let my words wherewith I have made supplication to the Lord this day be in his mind and memory continually that he may maintain the cause of me his servant and the cause of his people Israel at all times as the matter shall require and as it shall appear just and equal to him that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord he is the only true God from whom all blessings come and that there is no other God besides him Let your heart therefore be upright and sincere before the Lord and walk in his statutes and keep his commandments as now you do Then the King the Princes and people offered abundance of Peace-offerings (a) They were call'd Peace-offerings because God having bestowed some benefit upon them seemed to be appeased towards them and they were offered as a kind of retribution and to return thanks to God for it And in offering the same they also testified their hope that God was reconciled towards them to the Lord and kept this feast of Dedication seven days During which time they offered unto the Lord two and twenty thousand oxen and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep By a multitude of Sacrifices the pious Jews were wont to testifie their zealous and grateful affection towards God and we never read of any Sacrifice like this And thus Solomon the Princes and people by their joint prayers praises and sacrifices dedicated the house of God and set it apart for his worship and service And they rejoiced before the Lord seven days and seven that is they kept the first seven days as the Feast of Dedication and the next seven as the Feast of Tabernacles And the day after Solomon dismissed the people to their own homes and they blessed the King and prayed unto the Lord for him and went home with joyful and glad hearts rejoicing in the goodness which the Lord had manifested to the house of David and to Solomon and to all the people of Israel 1 King Ch. 8. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 5. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 6. whole Chapter 2 Chron. Ch. 7. from v. 1 to 11. SECT III. SHortly after * Some read 1 King 9.1 And it came to pass when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord and afterwards finished the Kings house and all his desire which he was pleased to do that the Lord appeared to him the second time c. Solomon had made that devout prayer before mentioned the Lord as it seems appeared to him in a dream (b) Ch. 6.11 We read that the word of the Lord came to Solomon but that was by some messenger or Prophet sent unto him but this was the second time that the Lord appeared to him in a Vision as he had done before at Gibeon 1 King 3.4 5. and the Lord said I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication which thou hast made before me and I have hallowed this house and set it apart to those holy uses which thou didst intend it for and it shall be called by my name as long as it shall last and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually I will always be ready to take notice of the prayers there made and the services there performed and will graciously accept them And if I shall shut up heaven at any time so that there be no rain or send the locusts or pestilence among my people that are called by my name if they shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear in heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land And if thou wilt walk before me in integrity and uprightness as thy Father David did and keep my statutes and judgments then I will establish the Throne of thy Kingdom for ever that is thou and thy posterity shall continue time after time to be Kings over Israel so as no other stock but thine shall sit on that Throne so long as the Kingdom of Judah shall remain as I
be God follow him The people answered nothing being afraid to offend the King Then Elijah said Behold there is not a Prophet of the Lords that doth openly appear for the true God and his worship besides my self But here are four hundred and fifty of Baals Prophets that are for Idolatry let them therefore give us two bullocks and let them choose which they will for themselves and let them cut it in pieces and lay it on wood and put no fire under and I will dress the other bullock and lay it on wood and put no fire under and let them call on their gods and I will call on the name of the Lord and the God that answereth by fire and consumeth the Sacrifice let him be acknowledged for the true God The people cried out it was well spoken they were willing to put it upon that trial Then Baals Priests took the bullock that was given them and dressed it and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon and said O Baal hear us But there was no voice nor any that answered Then they danced and skipped about the Altar they had made in a frantick manner as was usual in the worship of Baal And at noon when the time limited for their sacrifice was almost ended Elijah mocked them and bad them cry aloud for possibly their god Baal was at this time talking or pursuing his enemies or in a journey or perhaps he was asleep and must be rouzed up with very loud calling Baals Priests it is like were vext at these sharp taunts of the Prophet however they cried aloud and cut themselves with knives and lances till the blood gushed out as the heathens used to do in their great sorrows See Deut. 14.1 the more to move their God to have compassion on them and not to be wanting at this time to his own honour as well as theirs But no answer could they get notwithstanding they went on praying and calling upon Baal and with many strange gestures as men inspired sang the praises of their Idol-god labouring by all means possible to prevail with him to send fire to consume their Sacrifice but all in vain There was none that answered or regarded them Then Elijah called the people to come near and mount Carmel having been one of the high places whereon they us'd to sacrifice in former times unto the Lord there were still the ruins of an old Altar which the Idolatrous Israelites had broken down see Ch. 19.14 and this the Prophet did now repair thereby intimating to them that his design was to restore and set up the worship of the true God in the land Then he took twelve stones according to the number of the twelve Tribes and with them he built an Altar in the name of the Lord to intimate to them that they ought all to be united in the worship of the God of their fathers or else it would be in vain for them to reckon themselves the Israel of God And he made a Trench about the Altar as great as would contain two measures of seed and he put the wood in order ahd cut the bullock in pieces and laid it on the wood and bad them fill four barrels with water out of the Sea that was near and pour it on the Sacrifice and on the wood He bad them do it three times which they accordingly did and the water ran about the Altar and filled the Trench so that it was evident that there was no fraud used to hide any fire secretly under the wood Then at the time of offering the Evening-sacrifice Elijah came and prayed saying Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob * To these three Patriarchs God made and ratified his promises of the good things which he did for Israel and God took this stile to himself Exod. 3.6 to move the Israelites that came from those Patriarchs to take him for their God and oft to call to mind his promises let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word and by thy command and direction Hear me O Lord I pray thee hear me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou hast appointed these things to be done to the end that their hearts may be turned from their Idols unto thee Immediately the fire of the Lord fell from heaven and consumed the Burnt-sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the Trench And when the people saw it they fell on their faces and cried out the Lord he is the God the Lord he is the God Elijah seeing them so wonderfully affected with this miracle and so clearly convinced of the juglings and deceits of Baals Priests He bad them presently apprehend those Prophets of Baal and to let none of them escape and to bring them down to the brook Kishon at the foot of Carmel and there to slay them The people being at this present under a great dread of the Majesty of God who by this miracle had testified so loudly against their Idolatry they without any fear of the King were ready to do whatever Elijah advised them unto and accordingly they took those Priests and carried them down to the brook Kishon that the place where Elijah had sacrific'd unto the Lord might not be defiled with their blood and slew them there according to the Law Deut. 13.5 18.20 The King as it seems thought it not adviseable to set himself against the torrent of the people's zeal at this time or possibly he tacitely consented to it upon hope that rain would presently be given thereupon These Prophets of Baal that were slain at this time seem to have been those that were dispersed up and down in the Villages and Towns and not the Prophets of the Groves who attended at Court and performed their Idolatrous service in the Groves planted by Ahab near Baals Temple in Samaria For after this we read Ch. 22.6 of 400 Prophets that were called together by Ahab Ahab having fasted all day to see the event of this business Elijah bids him now go eat and drink and refresh himself for he heard a sound or noise in the heavens that was some intimation to him that much rain was coming Ahab accordingly going to refresh himself the Prophet went up to the top of Carmel and there kneeling upon the ground and bowing his face down to his knees in this humble posture he earnestly prayed unto the Lord for rain For though he knew that the Lord had promised to send rain yet he knew also that it must be obtain'd by prayer Then he sent his servant seven times * He sent him seven several times to teach us that we must not be discouraged though we have not presently that which we pray for but must with patience be content to wait upon the Lord for it
to spie whether he could see any likelihood of it At last the servant discern'd a little cloud arising out of the Sea as big as a mans hand upon this Elijah presently sends to Ahab to make hast home lest he should be stopped by the rain that was now coming And immediately the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there fell a great rain Ahab getting into his Chariot went to Jezreel a City of Issachar where was one of his houses and Elijah being extraordinarily moved and enabled by God girded up his long garment and ran †V. 46. Currebat ante Ahab ut officium honorarium Regi suo praestaret Is qui caelum clauserat tanquam unus e servis currit ante Regem Neque enim viri sancti hanc externam rerum pompam assis faciunt before his Chariot to shew him how ready he would be to honour and serve him if he would proceed on to remove Idolatry out of the land and perfect that work which was so happily begun by the slaughter of Baals Prophets 1 King 18. Ahab coming to Jezebel tells her the event of that contest between Elijah and the Prophets of Baal and the unavoidable execution of the Baalites that followed thereupon and to excuse himself to his imperious wife he represents their Execution as Elijah's act not his she falling into a great rage and passion like a rash and unadvised woman sent one to Elijah to tell him that she desired the gods might do so to her and more also if she did not make his life like one of theirs by to morrow about that time And hereby she gave him as it were fair warning to be gone Elijah hereupon flies for his life to Beersheba God suffering him to be overborn with fear of Jezebel now who e're while feared not Ahab and all his Baalites that he might see his own weakness and not be exalted in mind by reason of those great miracles that had been wrought by him so he now fled into another Kingdom viz. that of Judah where good Jehoshaphat reigned yea to the uttermost Southern part of it and from thence withdrew himself into the Wilderness as fearing lest Ahab or Jezebel should send some thither to dispatch him And therefore when he went from Beersheba he left his servant there because he would not expose him to the wants of the Wilderness and going a days journey in the Wilderness and sitting under a juniper tree he even wished for death and said it is enough O Lord I have lived long enough take away I pray thee my life I know I must die at one time or other for I am not better than my Fathers that have all died before me and seeing my life is so full of troubles and miseries I desire if it be thy holy will to end my days presently Then laying himself down to sleep under the tree as he slept behold an Angel touched him and said Arise and eat And he looked and behold there was a cake baking on the coals at his head and a cruse of water by him So he did eat and drink and laid him down to sleep again The Angel awoke him a second time and bad him arise and eat again for the journey that he was to take was too great for him except he were well refreshed beforehand by that provision which God by his holy Angels had now sent him Accordingly he did eat and drink again and in the strength of that food he travelled forty days and forty nights (a) Christ Moses and Elijah who all appeared together at Christs Transfiguration did each of them fast in their several times forty days and forty nights without any sustenance without any other sustenance even to Horeb (b) Non recta via progrediebatur alioqui tantum 4 aut 5 dieram iter erat sed fugientium more vias invias inopinatas sectatus est interdum substitit quievit latuit Et forte a principio non ei erat propositum ad Horeb proficisci sed per 40 dies per desertum vagatiis eo pervenit At Deus illum huc perduxit ut ibi institueret where the Lord formerly appeared unto Moses in a burning bush Being come thither and lodging in a cave the Lord asks him what he did there he answers I have been very zealous for the honour of the Lord God of hosts For the children of Israel have forsaken thy Covenant thrown down the Altars that have been erected to thee and have preferred Baal before thee and have slain thy Prophets and I even I only am left this he speaks according to his own apprehension * See Rom. 11.2 3. and they seek my life to take it away The Lord bad him go forth and stand upon mount Horeb where he would manifest his presence to him And behold the Lord immediately passed by in some visible manifestation of his glory 1. There was a great strong wind that rent the mountains and brake the rocks in pieces 2. An earthquake 3. After that a fire but the Lord was in none of these to wit did not in these speak to Elijah nor make known his mind to him These were the dreadful foregoing signs of Gods majesty and power to prepare Elijah with the more awe and reverence to hearken to what he should say to him and to strengthen his faith in Gods power who had all creatures at his command Then there came a still and small voice It seems Elijah stood all this while in the mouth of the Cave but kept himself somewhat inward till knowing that in that still voice the Lord would speak to him then he went to the very entrance of the Cave casting his mantle about his face out of an awful fear of Gods Majesty as Moses did Exod. 3.6 The Lord asks him by this still voice the same question he did before viz. what he did there and Elijah gave the same answer he had done before The Lord to comfort and support his spirit intimates to him that he took notice of and was sufficiently displeased with the Idolatry of the Israelites and intended to punish them severely for it And in order thereunto he bids him go to the Wilderness of Damascus and there anoint Hazael to be King over Syria and to anoint Jehu the Son of Nimshi to be King over Israel that is to anoint them himself or take order they should be anointed by others at the appointed times and to anoint Elisha to be a Prophet in his room to succeed him in the Prophetick office And the Lord tells him that he that escapes the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay For though the greatest destruction wrought by Hazael was towards the end of Jehu's reign 2 King 10.32 and after it 2 King 13.3 yet he began to destroy Israel before Jehu's time 2 King 8.28 and many of those who escaped Hazael's hands Jehu slew as Jehoram and others 2 King 9.24 And him that
did evil in the sight of the Lord but not like his Father or his Mother He put away the Image of Baal which his Father had made but cleaved to the sins of Jeroboam and upheld still the Idolatry of the Golden Calves 2 King 3. from 1. to 4. God now revealed to Elijah that he should shortly be taken up to heaven as appears Ch. 2.9 but first he commanded him to visit the Schools of the Prophets which were at Bethel and Jericho that he might both by his counsel and prayers leave a blessing among them and perhaps that he might put into their hands the Prophesie against Jehoram Son of Jehoshaphat King of Judah which some time after was to be delivered unto him whereof mention is made 2 Chron. 21.12 Elijah therefore addressing himself to this journey immediately after which he knew he was to be taken up into heaven and not knowing as it seems whither the Lord would allow any witnesses to be present to see his Ascension or desiring to be alone that he might the better prepare himself for this his strange passage to the other world or desiring to try the constancy of Elisha's love to him and to discover whither God had revealed any thing to him concerning this his assumption or whatever else the reason was when he was going from Gilgal he advised Elisha to stay there But Elisha told him As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not leave thee shewing therein his grateful faithfulness to his Master So they came down together to Bethel * In his locis erant Prophetarum conventus quos Reges Israel quamvis Idololatrae passi sunt Quod singulari Dei Providantia factum est ne populus ipsius praesidio verbi sui penitus denudaretur P. Martyr which City was indeed since the division of the Kingdom won by Abijam 2 Chron. 13.19 but it seems it was afterwards recovered and was at this present in the hands of the Kings of Israel The Sons of the Prophets that dwelt there came to Elisha Elijah probably not being by and said to him knowest thou not that the Lord will take thy Master from thy head this day †Id est brevi non enim uno die consecerunt hoc iter A capite tuo a praesentia tua vel a capite tuo i. e. sursum rapitur nempe in caelum Some think here is an allusion to the Elder Prophets sitting in high places in their Schools above the heads of the younger and the younger sitting in lower places as it were at their feet Act. 22.3 that is take him up and carry him over thy head to heaven It seems the Lord had revealed Elijah's assumption unto some of them (c) Deus eos qui cum Prophetis vivebant paulatim assuefaciebat Prophetiae nunc hoc nunc illud de consiliis suis ipsis aperiens Grot. thereby inuring them by degrees to receive Prophetical revelations They therefore ask Elisha whither he were not acquainted that Elijah should be taken up from him into heaven very shortly He tells them He knew it very well they needed not enter into any discourse with him about it Elijah would have had Elisha stay here telling him that he himself must go up to Jericho where was another School of the Prophets which he also must visit Elisha answers him as he did before viz. that he would not leave him So they came together to Jericho The Sons of the Prophets there also having Elijah's assumption revealed to them they askt Elisha the same question that those of Bethel had done and he gave them the same short answer Elijah would have had Elisha to have stayed here telling him that as for himself the Lord had ordered him to go to Jordan And hereby he tried his constancy and faithfulness to him a third time as our Saviour tried Peter's love Joh. 21.15 16 17. Elisha tells him again as he did before He would not leave him So they two went on Fifty Sons of the Prophets of Jericho knowing what was to be done went and stood though at some distance in the sight of the place where Elijah was to be taken up to heaven This was so ordered by Divine Providence that there might be many witnesses of Elijah's assumption * Thus was our Saviour taken up while many beheld it Act. 1.9 Elijah and Elisha coming to the River Jordan Elijah took his mantle and wraping it together he smote the waters and they were divided hither and thither and so they two went over on dry ground See Josh 3.17 When they were come to the other side of Jordan Elijah said to Elisha Ask what I shall do for thee as Gods instrument or what I shall crave of God for thee Elisha said I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be conferred upon me that is a great and eminent measure of the gifts of the Spirit wherewith thou art endued even double to what other Prophets usually receive seeing I am to succeed in thy room 1 King 19.16 and to be a Father to the Schools of the Prophets and to be chiefly imployed in opposing the daring corruptions of the times Elijah said to him Thou hast asked an hard thing that is a thing not easie to be obtained and which God doth rarely bestow on his servants the Prophets nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee it shall be done And this condition possibly was added to make Elisha the more heedful in observing the manner of Elijah's departure that he might be an eye witness thereof as the men of Galilee were of our Saviours Ascension Act. 1.10 11. As these two great Prophets were talking together Elijah having informed Elisha as 't is probable of such matters as should fall out in Israel after his departure behold there appeared a fiery splendid apparition not in a terrifying but in a glorious manner of a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire The holy Angels appearing in this form and shape to conveigh Elijah to heaven See Psal 104.4 And hereby the Lord did highly honour his faithful servant Elijah whose soul was inflam'd with such an heroick and servent zeal for the glory of his Creator This fiery apparition coming between these two Prophets and parting them asunder as the nearest and dearest friends must at last part Elijah went up into this glorious chariot and a whirlwind carried it up to heaven to which glorious place he was carried up in soul and body like Enoch so that he died not but was changed in a moment his corruptible body putting on incorruption and his mortal body immortality And thus he was a type of Christs Ascension and hereby God was pleased to give a clear and evident proof that he had prepared the Heaven of Heavens for the perpetual abode of his Saints and that though our bodies be laid for a while in the grave yet they shall at last be taken up into Heaven being
residue of the Prophesie A third eminent Prophet whom the Lord raised up at the same time was AMOS The Prophesie of AMOS sent principally to the people of Israel He was an Herdsman and taken from following his herd in Judea and sent to Prophesie to the people of Israel Amos 1.1 The words of Amos who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa And Chap. 7.14 Then answered Amos and said to Amaziah I was no Prophet nor Prophets Son but I was an herdsman and a gatherer of Sycamore fruits And the Lord took me as I followed the flock and said unto me Go prophesie unto my people Israel Amaziah the Priest of Bethel would have stirred up Jeroboam against him for Prophecying against his house Amos 7.10 Then Amaziah the Priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam King of Israel saying Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel the land is not able to bear all his words For he saith Jeroboam shall die by the sword and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land Also Amaziah said unto Amos O thou Seer go flee away into the land of Judah and there eat bread and prophesie there Amos being thus ill used by him pronounceth a heavy judgment from the Lord upon him ver 17. Thy wife shall play the whore and thy sons and daughters shall fall by the sword and thou shalt die in a polluted land viz. that of Assyria when Israel shall be carried away captive out of her own land Amos began to Prophesie two years before the Earthquake and foretold it before it came which happened as 't is thought about two years before Jeroboam's death He Prophesied against six Nations besides Israel and Judah First he declares Gods judgments against the neighbour Nations that were enemies to the Jews viz. 1. Damascus 2. Gaza and other adjacent places of the Philistines 3. Tyre 4. Edom. 5. Ammon 6. Moab Then he threatens the Jews for their sins speaking sometimes to Judah but principally to Israel against whom he Prophesies first in plain terms secondly in types and visions First in plain terms he threatneth them for their ingratitude and idolatry Ch. 3. Their violence and incorrigibleness Ch. 4. Their injustice and oppression of the poor their slighting Gods threatnings and their hypocritical worship Chap. 5. Their putting off the evil day and their wanton voluptuousness Ch. 6. Then his threatnings are delivered in visions and types 1. Of grashoppers and locusts signifying famine 2ly Of fire devouring the great deep signifying war 3ly Of a plum-line signifying the overthrow of the Kingdom and of the Kings house and that the Lord would deal with them according to the strict rule of justice and not in mercy as he had formerly done and he further denounces particular judgments against Amaziah the Priest and his family who accused him of conspiracy of which we have spoken before Ch. 7. 4ly Of a basket of Summer-fruits representing the ripeness of their sins and of Gods judgments * Poenae tempue maturum significat finem i. e. ultimam vindictam instare Significat populum qui velut fructus terrae est ab ea terra velut ab arbore auferendum 5ly Of smiting the lintel of the door of the Temple till the posts upholding it did shake signifying not only the destruction of the Temple but the cutting off of great and small of the people Lastly he sweetens and moderates these severe and hard Prophesies with a twofold promise 1. That God would spare a remnant in the midst of these calamities though he destroyed the prophane body of the Nation 2. That in due time he would recollect and restore the Church of Israel and would raise up a Gospel-Church from among them under Christ which he would enlarge by the addition of the believing Gentiles to it Jeroboam now dies and is buried with his predecessors 2 King 14.28 29. After Jeroboam's death under whom that Kingdom came to its full height of glory all things declined and those tumults arose which were the forerunners of the destruction not only of Jeroboams own house but also of the whole Kingdom as was foretold in Chap. 7 8. of Amos. In which troubled and tempestuous state of things they fell into a plain Anarchy which lasted about eleven years and an half For if we compare the times of these two Kingdoms together we must be forc'd to grant such an Interregnum or vacancy of a King in the land of Israel that the six months of Zachariah the Son of Jeroboam * For Jeroboam reigned 29 years in the days of Uzziah then add eleven years of vacancy till Zachariah began to reign and it will fall in with the 38 of Uzziah may fall even with the thirty eighth year and the one month of Shallum †In the space of one year viz. from 38 to the end of the 39 of Uzziah there were four Kings in Israel Jerâ—boam Zachariah Shallum Menahem who slew him with the thirty ninth year of Vzziah King of Iudah according to what we find recorded 2 King 15.8 In the thirty eighth year of Azariah King of Iudah did Zachariah the Son of Ieroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months and v. 13. Shallum the Son of Iabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Vzziah King of Iudah and he reigned a full month in Samaria The occasion of this Interregnum or vacancy * To this time Hosea seems to point Hos 10.3 For now they shall say we have no King because we feared not the Lord what then should a King do to us might possibly be the great dissentions and divisions in Israel upon the death of Ieroboam or some mislike of Zachariah his Son that was to succeed him THE Subjects of the Kingdom of Israel being wearied out as it seems with their dissentions at last setled Zachariah The 14th King of Israel ZACHARIAH the Son of Ieroboam the fourth and last of the race of Iehu in his Fathers Throne as God had promised 2 King 10.30 after eleven years vacancy as has been shewed before He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and departed not from the Idolatry of Ieroboam who made Israel to sin and reigned only six months At the end of those six months Shallum who was as it seems some great Commander in the Army such an one as Omri 1 King 16.16 first secretly conspired against him but then having got many to side with him he slew him openly and publickly in the very sight of the people they not at all opposing it or endeavouring to hinder it After whose death followed those direful calamities which were foretold by Amos Ch. 7.9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate and the Sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword And thus Jehu's race ended In the continuance of it so long we may
the twentieth of Jotham because according to them Jotham still had the title of King though he had resigned the Kingdom four years before 'T is said indeed in 2 King 17.1 that Hoshea began to reign in the twelfth year of Ahaz because though he thrust himself into the Kingdom before yet he was opposed as an usurper till the twelfth of Ahaz at which time it seems he had the Crown confirmed to him and afterwards reigned four years in Ahaz's time and five in Hezekiah's in all nine years 2 King 15.30 31. HOSHEA the Son of Ela having murdered Pekah got the Kingdom into his own hand The 19th King of Israel HOSHEA in the fourth year of Ahaz yet by reason of stirs and tumults that arose hereupon he could not quietly enjoy it but that State continued in confusion and a kind of Anarchy for the space of nine years Hoshea having at length composed all differences at home began now quietly to reign in the latter end of the twelfth year of Ahaz and reigned nine years He did evil in the sight of the Lord but not as the Kings of Israel that were before him for though he continued Jeroboam's Idolatry of the Golden Calves yet he abandoned the grosser Idolatries of many of his Predecessors And besides he suffered such of his subjects as had a mind to it to go up to Jerusalem to worship there which the former Kings of Israel would not permit For when Hezekiah had proclaimed a solemn Passover many of the Ten Tribes went up to keep their Passover in Jerusalem as we read 2 Chron. 30.11 Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulon humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem 2 King 17.1 2. Tiglath-Pileser after he had reigned nineteen years dying Salmanasser his Son succeeded him This Salmanasser * This seemeth to be that Shalman who in the Prophesie of Hosea Chap. 10.14 is said to have laid waste the house of Arbeb to wit the Country of Arbela in the land of Assyria beneath Arpad either invited by the people or taking advantage of those late broils in the Kingdom of Israel came up now against Hoshea and at length prevailed so far that Hoshea was content to become his servant and pay him tribute 2 King 17.3 But sometime after Hoshea confederating with the King of Egypt resolved to cast off his yoke and refused to pay him tribute any longer Salmanasser understanding this resolved to revenge this injury Wherefore first of all making sure of all the land of the Moabites that he might have no enemy on his back to annoy him and rasing to the ground their two chief Cities Ar and Kirharaseth according to the Prophesie of Isaiah Chap. 15. he then went through and wasted all the land of Israel and at last marched to Samaria in the fourth year of Hezekiah and seventh of Hoshea and besieged it three years viz. in the seventh eighth and ninth year of Hoshea which were concurrent with the fourth fifth and sixth of Hezekiah Isa 15. whole Chapter 2 King 17.4 5. 2 King 18.9 10. Toward the end of the third year of the siege the sixth of the reign of Hezekiah and ninth of Hoshea Salmanasser took Samaria and their King Hoshea and then shut him up and bound him in prison †2 King 17. latter part of v. 4. those words are spoken by way of anticipation as Josephus says lib. 9. and carried away the Israelites captives into his own country and planted them in Chalachochabor and Nehar-Gozan cities of Assyria whither Tiglath-Pileser had before transported the inhabitants of Perea and in the Cities of Media If any such inquire why the Lord did thus deliver up the Israelites into the hands of their enemies the reason is here fully rendred because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his Covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded and would not hear them nor do them 2 King 18.12 And 2 King 17.7 c. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharoah King of Egypt and they feared other gods and walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before them and of the Kings of Israel who made statutes for Idolatry And besides their open Idolatry they did secretly many things which were not right against the mind and will of the Lord their God and they built them high places in all their Cities from the tower of the watchmen †A Proverbial speech whereby the extent of their Idolatry is set forth to their fenced Cities And they set them up Images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree And there they burnt incense in all the high places as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away before them and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger Yea they served Idols whereof the Lord had said unto them ye shall not do this thing Notwithstanding the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the Prophets and by all the Seers whom he sent unto them saying Turn ye from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes according to what I commanded your fathers in the wilderness and which I have often since inculcated upon you by my servants the Prophets time after time But they would not hear but hardened their necks as their fathers did who did not believe in the Lord their God And they rejected his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and his testimonies †In which respect Ezek. 20.25 Gods statutes are said not to be good that is through the wickedness of the people they prov'd hurtful to them and sentenced them to death whereby he testified against their transgressions and they followed vanity and became vain and went after the heathen that were round about them concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like unto them And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God and made them molten images even two Calves and made a grove and worshipped all the host of heaven and served Baal And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire and used divination and inchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight there was none left but the Tribe of Judah only And another cause of Israels ruin was they were an ill example to Judah and infected that Nation And hereupon Judah also kept not the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made So the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them into the hand of spoilers until he had cast them
first Month in the presence of the people of Judah and Israel and the inhabitants of Jerusalem he kept the Feast of the Passover And he set the Priests in their charges and encouraged them to perform the service of the house of the Lord. And he said to the Levites that is to the Priests of the Tribe of Levi who prepared the holy things of the Lord Put the holy Ark in the house of the Lord. It seems the Ark in Amon's reign had been carried out of the most holy place possibly that some Idol might be set up in its room Or else it had been purposely carried out by some pious Priests that it might not stand there among those heathenish Idols that were brought into the Temple and now Josiah orders it to be restored to its proper place again telling the Priests that it would not now be a burden unto them it must abide in the Temple and not be carried from place to place upon their shoulders as formerly it had been before the Temple was built and they being now delivered from that burden should serve the Lord their God more faithfully and cheerfully and should serve his people also by diligently instructing them and performing those services for them that tended to their spiritual good And because several families of the Levites were appointed to attend upon the sacrifices and offerings of several families of each Tribe some being to be imploy'd in that holy service for such and such families V. 6. Prepare for your brethren Praeparate agnos pro fratribus vestris J. T. and others for others therefore he appoints them to stand in the holy place and to attend the service that was to be done according to the divisions of the families of the people and according to the division of their own families He exhorts them also to sanctifie themselves and to prepare the sacrifices for the Priests to offer that they might do their duty as God had enjoyn'd them Then Josiah gave to the people for Passover offerings viz. of lambs and kids for either of these kinds might be offered thirty thousand and for other offerings three thousand bullocks all of the herds and flocks that belonged to the King see 2 Chron. 30.24 and his Princes gave also willingly and liberally to the Priests Levites and the people and Hilkiah the High Priest and Zachariah and Jehiel who with the High Priest were Rulers over other Priests and Levites in the house of God gave to the inferiour Priests two thousand and six hundred small cattle and three hundred oxen And six eminent Levites who were Fathers and Rulers over the rest of the Levites gave unto the inferiour Levites for Passover-offerings five thousand small cattel and for other offerings five hundred oxen So all things fit and requisite for a solemn Passover were provided and made ready and the Priests stood in their place and the Levites in their order according to the Kings Commandment So they kill'd the Passover every father of a family for himself and his family and the Levites for themselves and for other Levites who were otherwise imployed and the Priests sprinkled the blood on the Altar which they received from their hands and the Levites flayed the sacrifices and they separated such sacrifices as were to be eaten from the burnt-offerings which were wholly to be consumed on the Altar that so of the rest they might give to the people partly for Paschal lambs partly for peace-offerings whereof both Priests and people were to have a share And they rosted the Passover with fire but so much of the peace-offerings as was to be prepar'd for the offerers to eat before the Lord they sod in pots and chaldrons and pans and so divided them among the people Afterwards the Levites made ready for themselves V. 15. Jeduthun is call'd the Kings Ster Heman Asaph also had this Title the reason of which see 2 King 17.13 and for the Priests who being imployed even until night in offering the burnt-offerings and the fat c. had no time to provide for themselves And the Singers stood in their places to perform their service according to the commandment of David The Porters also attended at the Gates and did not depart from their service during that solemnity and thereupon the Levites prepared for them as they had done for the Priests Thus all things that appertained to the service and worship of God and to the keeping the Passover and the offering of the burnt-offerings were duly performed that day according to the Kings command And so they kept the Passover at that time and the feast of unleavened bread seven days after And there was no Passover like to this kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the Prophet neither did any of the Kings of Israel either David or Solomon or any of the Kings of Judah since the division of the Kingdom keep such a Passover as Josiah now kept if we consider the multitude of sacrifices that were offered and freely given by the King Princes Priests and Levites and the exceeding joy of the good people that Religion was restored again to its purity among them Furthermore Josiah took away all witches and sooth-sayers all images and dunghil-gods and all abominations which were found in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem that he might perform all the words that were written in the Book that was found by Hilkiah the Priest in the house of the Lord. And there was no King that was before him in the Throne of Judah like unto him or that followed after him if we consider the fervency of his zeal for the rooting out of Idolatry and other abominations which had prevailed before his time and if we consider the innocence and integrity of his life and his diligent heeding the law of the Lord. We have indeed observed upon 2 King 18.5 that in some particulars Hezekiah excelled him but in others Josiah excelled Hezekiah as in his contrition and deep humiliation for the wickedness that prevailed before his time see 2 King 22.19 His solemn making a Covenant with the Lord and engaging his subjects therein to reform their ways his solemn keeping of the Passover his zealous purging not only Judah and Benjamin from Idolatry but the Cities of Israel under his power besides he was not puft up with pride as Hezekiah was But though Josiah was in his own person so excellent a Prince yet it seems the people though they yielded to his reformation out of awe and respect to him yet in their hearts many of them did still approve Manasseh's wicked ways * 2 Reg. 23.26 Proptet irritationes Manassis quia is Idololatriae ingentem saevitiam addiderat approbante magna parte populi and this soon appear'd after Josiah's death for all his children did quickly return to Manasseh's Idolatry and followed him in his abominations but not in his repentance and conversion The Lord thereupon said I will remove Judah out
residul exulibus insultabant tolerantia Dei abutebantur magis obdurescebant that should be valued the other as refuse that should be cast away intimating that those that went into captivity should be brought back again and established in their own possessessions and that the Lord would give them an heart to know him and to turn to him But as for those that remained in the land viz. Zedekiah his Princes and people he threatens them with exile ignominy and scorn and destruction by sword famine and pestilence Jer. 24. wh Ch. In the beginning also of Zedekiah's reign the Prophesie concerning the Elamites or Persians viz. both of their fall and rising again was uttered by the Prophet Ieremy Ier. 49. from v. 34 to the end For Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Astyages the whole Province of Elamais with the City Susa the Metropolis thereof which was seated upon the river Vlai and annexed it to the Empire of the Chaldeans as we may see from Ier. 25.25 compared with Dan. 8.1 2. But afterwards those Elamites combining with the Medes against the Babylonians see Isa 21.2 when Belshazzar was destroyed recovered their State again under Cyrus and their chief City Susa was made by him the seat of the Persian Empire as Strabo in his fifteenth Book declareth Ambassadours now come in the first year of Zedekiah but the fourth after the Sabbatical course or seventh years rest Ier. 28.1 from the several Kings of Edom Moab Ammon Tyre and Sidon to Ierusalem to visit the new King Zedekiah and to perswade him to revolt from the King of Babylon but God appoints Ieremy to deliver to every one of them bonds and yokes to be presented to their several Masters commanding them withal to submit themselves to Nebuchadnezzar and not to give ear any longer to their wizards and stargazers their diviners and dreamers who advised them to the contrary and Prophesied a lye to them in the name of the Lord though he sent them not He advises also Zedekiah to be faithful and to hold himself fast and firm to the King of Babylon and not to believe false Prophets and lastly both by threats and promises he perswades all sorts of people to submit unto and obey the King of Babylon Jer. 27. the whole Chapter In the fifth month of the same year Hananiah a false Prophet Prophesieth other manner of things viz. that the power of the King of Babylon should be broken and declares that at the end of two years all the vessels and furniture of the Lords house and Ieconiah and all the people that were carried away captive to Babylon should return and be brought home again And when Ieremy gainsaid him he took a yoke of wood which he had put about his own neck and brake it saying Thus shall the Lord break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar within two years from off the neck of all Nations which he hath brought under his power Ieremy says Amen to this Prophesie wishing from his heart it might prove true but intimates that he vehemently suspected it of falshood and refers it to the event For he shews that Prophets are to be judged whether they are true or false by the event of their Prophesies But the word of the Lord coming anew to Ieremy he declares that God instead of that wooden yoke would put an iron one upon the neck of all those Nations under which they should bow and serve the King of Babylon and to assure the people that Hananiah had prophesied falsely and had made them trust in a lye he foretelleth that he shall die that very year because he had taught rebellion against the Lord that is had encouraged the people to rebell against the admonitions given them by his Prophets and accordingly so it came to pass in the seventh month of that year Ier. 28. whole Chapter Zedekiah now sends Ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon and by them Ieremy sent a Letter to the Elders Priests and Prophets and the rest of the people who had been carried away captive in which he instructs them how to demean themselves in that condition of their captivity viz. that they should build themselves houses and plant gardens and marry wives and give wives to their sons that they might increase and multiply there and advises them that they should seek the peace of the City Babylon whither they were carried captive and pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof they should have peace Then he comforts them with promises of deliverance at the expiration of seventy years then the Lord would perform his good word towards them in causing them to return He foretels them of the grand calamities that would befall Zedekiah and those Iews that were left behind and of the miserable end that Ahab and Zedekiah two false Prophets among them should come unto he shews that for their Prophesying lyes and for their adulteries with their neighbours wives they should fall into the King of Babylons hands and he should rost them with fire and their names and memories should be used afterwards in forms of execration and cursing viz. people should say when they curs'd a man The Lord make thee like Ahab and Zedekiah whom the King of Babylon rosted in the fire Jer. 29. from 1 to 24. Shemaiah another false Prophet among the captives in Babylon sent a Letter as it seems by Zedekiah's Ambassadors when they returned unto Zephaniah who was the second chief Priest 2 King 25.18 and the rest of the Priests at Ierusalem bitterly inveighing against what Ieremy had written to them He sets before Zephaniah the duty of his place which was to punish every man that of his own head made himself a Prophet but was indeed none intimating that Ieremy was such a kind of person The Lord says he hath made thee Priest instead of Iehoiada c. that thou shouldst put in prison and in the stocks every man that is mad or a Fanatick and maketh himself a Prophet c. He reprehends him for not using Ieremiah after that manner Why hast thou not reproved Ieremiah says he who maketh himself a Prophet to you but is none He hath written to us to build houses and plant gardens and marry wives intimating that our captivity will be long and thereby thou maist see what manner of Prophet he is Zephaniah reading this Letter to Jeremy he presently denounced a heavy judgment from the Lord upon Shemaiah saying Thus saith the Lord Behold I will punish Shemaiah and his seed he shall not have a man to dwell among this people neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord Jer. 29.32 Whereby the Prophet intimates that neither he nor his posterity should live to see the promis'd deliverance And at this time as it seems were given to Jeremy those other notable Prophesies contained in the two next Chapters which he is commanded to write in a Book that they
down over the face of the whole earth and returning answer to the Angel that sat upon the red horse to wit the Son of God appearing in humane shape that all other Nations and people about Judea were at rest and ease in peace and prosperity only Gods own people the Jews could not recover themselves from their late calamities but were still under great molestations Christ upon this intercedes for the Church whereupon in the hearing of the Prophet God the Father gave a gracious answer speaking many comfortable words to the Angel who intreated him to cease his anger and fury which had been so hot against the Jews and Jerusalem and the Cities of Judah now these seventy years Ch. 1. from v. 7 to 18. 2ly He had a vision of the four Horns and four Carpenters signifying how God would break the power of his Churches enemies Ch. 1. from v. 18 to the end 3ly The vision of the man with the measuring line in his hand to measure Jerusalem intimating the reedifying the City and Temple and safety of both and that God would be their protection and a wall of fire about them and their glory To which is annexed an exhortation to the Jews yet remaining in Babylon to repair to Jerusalem Ho he come forth and flee from the land of the North saith the Lord c. Ch. 2. 4ly A vision of the continuance of the Priesthood among them in which he sees Joshua resisted by Satan whom the Lord rebukes and honours Joshua by taking away his filthy garments and setting a fair miter on his head and establishing him in the Priesthood The thing typified hereby was the Eternal Priesthood of Christ who is described by his names viz. The branch rising out of the stock of David and the stone full of eyes that is of wisdom and providential care for his Church and graven that is beautified with the Graces of the Spirit who giveth remission of sin and peace of Conscience Ch. 3. 5ly The vision of a Golden candlestick and two Olive-trees intimating that as the Candlestick was supplied with oyl naturally dropping from the two Olive-trees standing by it so God without the help of man nay notwithstanding mans opposition would raise and maintain both his material Temple and his Church Chap. 4. Zach. Ch. 1. Ch. 2. Ch. 3 Ch. 4. The Prophet hath now a sixth and seventh vision viz. that of the large flying Roll and that of the Ephab intimating that sin continued in would first bring on private calamities and having filled up its measure would also draw down publick judgments upon the whole Nation By the first vision viz. that of a large flying Roll was typified Gods judgment swiftly coming and ready to be executed upon such as were guilty of theft or perjury and that it should consume their houses and families In the second vision under the type of an Ephah or measure A Talent weighed 3000 Shekels Exod. 38.25 26. or an 125 pound and of a woman sitting in the midst of it and a talent of lead laid upon her to press her down is represented the sinful Nation of the Jews whose wickedness grew to a full measure for which Gods heavy judgments were ready to fall upon them and by the two women carrying away the Ephah with the woman in it into the land of Shinar was signified the Jews dispersion into the Eastern parts of the world viz. into Chaldea Babylon and Mesopotamia where chiefly they reside at this day though generally dispersed all over the world Zach. 5. whole Chapter Zachary hath now an eighth vision of four Chariots coming out from betweeen two mountains of brass drawn by four sorts of horses intimating Gods provident decrees and counsels immoveable as mountains of brass and his directing the Angels of Heaven those ministring spirits in the executing his will upon the enemies of his Church and so as may tend to his Church's good The Prophet is shewn also the effect of their imployment viz. the quieting of Gods Spirit in the North Country that is by their executing his wrath upon them they pacified his anger Ch. 6. from v. 1 to 8. 2ly Vnder the type of two Crowns made of silver and gold offered by strangers and set upon the head of Joshua is typified that the office of King and Priest should be united and continued in Christ who is described first by his name importing his humane nature viz. the Branch 2ly By his works building the Temple of the Lord raising the glory of the Kingly and Priestly office which till his time should be but mean uniting the Kingly and Priestly office in himself and uniting the Gentiles to the Church from v. 8 to 15. In the close of the Chapter the Prophet tells them that they should know by experience that the Lord had sent him unto them and that obedience was the only way wherein they might expect the comfortable fruits of these promises v. 15. Zach. 6. whole Chapter But to return to our History the means that the Adversaries of the Jews used for the hindring the building of the Temple proved effectual through the gracious providence of God for the finishing thereof for search being made for Cyrus's decree it was found at Acmetha in the Province of the Medes which decree was to this purpose that Cyrus in the first year of his reign had decreed that the house of God should be built at Jerusalem in the same place where the former Temple had stood and the foundations thereof strongly laid The Cubits here meant 't is like were the common cubits whereas in the 1 King 6.2 2 Chron. 3.4 the Sacred or Geometrical cubits were meant that the height thereof should be sixty cubits and the breadth sixty cubits with three rows of great stones and a row of new timber which seems to be meant of the buildings about the Priests Court and that they should be made as formerly with three galleries of stonâ— and one of timber and that the expences thereof should be allowed out of the treasure which appertained to the King in those parts And that the Golden and silver vessels of the Temple which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away should be restored This was the decree of Cyrus Darius understanding this gave command to Tatnai and Shetharboznai that they should no way hinder the building of the Temple And further the King not only ratified Cyrus's decree but made a new decree of his own whereby he enlargeth that of Cyrus with more grants and priviledges and chargâ—d Tatnai and his Companions that they should furnish the Jews with moneys out of his tribute to carry on the work as also to buy bullocks rams and lambs for burnt-offerings to be offered to the God of heaven and to buy wheat salt wine and oyl for the sacrifices that they might offer sacrifices of a sweet savour unto the Lord of heaven and earth and pray for the life of the King and of his Sons Also