as a Country distinct from it Just as Thebais is in some Authors said to be whereas it was the upper Egypt Bochart hath brought a great many Arguments to prove this Particularly from Ezekiel XXIX 14. which shows clearly that Pathros belongs to Egypt For the Prophet foretelling that God would bring again the Captivity of Egypt he saith he would cause them to return into the Land of Pathros into the Land of their Habitation or Nativity That is into Thebais which Nebuchadnezzar had principally afflicted carrying most of the Inhabitants of Thebes into Captivity This seems a more probable Account of the Pathrusim than theirs who take them to be the Pharusi as Grotius doth or Phautusii who were a People of Aethiopia Casluhim or Casluchim These were the Colchi who though they lived far from Egypt from whence they are said here to descend yet there are a great many Arguments that they had their Original from that Country For several ancient Authors say so as Herodotus Diodorus Strabo and Ammianus All of great Credit And there are many Reasons whereby Herodotus proves it as Bochart shows in his admirable Work often mentioned L. IV. Phaleg c. 31. they agreeing in so many things especially in their Manners and Language that one can scarce have any doubt of it These People were seated at the East-end of the Euxine Sea Out of whom came Philistim They were the off-spring of the People of Colchis as will appear in what follows And Caphtorim These were a People near to Colchis as appears from hence that the Philistim who are said here to come from Casluchim in other places are said to have come from Caphtor Jer. XLVII 4. Amos IX 7. And Moses himself relates how the Avims nigh to Gaza a famous City of the Philistim were driven out by the Caphtorim Deut. II. 23. All the Ancients therefore are in the right who take the Caphtorim for the Cappadocians Yet not all the Inhabitants of that Country part of which was possessed by other People as was said before but that part of Cappadocia which was next to Colchis viz. About Trapezund where Colchis ended For there we find the City called Side and the Country Sidene mentioned by Strabo Now Side in Greek as Bochart ingeniously observes signifies the same with Caphtor in Hebrew viz. Malum punicum And therefore in all likelihood the same Country was called by the Hebrews Caphtor and by the Greeks Sidene What invited the Caphtorim out of Egypt into this Country is hard to tell at this distance of time But Strabo thinks it was the Fame of the Gold wherewith this Country abounded And as this drew them thither so perhaps the coldness of the Country very much different from that wherein they were born or else their Neighbours the Scythians and Mesech and Tubal viz. the Moschi and Tibareni who dwelt near them and might be troublesome to them made them think of returning back again And in their way through Palestine they fell upon the Avim whom they dispossessed of their Country and setled there Deut. II. 23. by the Name of Philistim Ver. 15. And Canaan Now follows an Account of the Posterity of Ham's youngest Son Sidon Was his first-born Who was the Founder of the famous City called by his Name Sidon Which Trogus saith was so called from plenty of Fish on that Coast And so the present Name of it Said signifies Fishing or Fishery As the Town in Galilee called Bethsaida is as much as the place of Fishing For that Sea upon which it lies the Hebrews say abounded with Fish However the Sidonians came from this Son of Canaan and some of them if he did not found it himself called the City by this Name in memory of him It was far more ancient and famous than Tyre For we read of it in the Books of Moses and Joshua and the Judges But nothing of Tyre till the Days of David Nor doth Homer mention Tyre though he speaks of Sidon and the Sidonians in many places Heth. His second Son was the Father of the Hittites or the Children of Heth often mentioned in Scripture Who dwelt about Hebron and Beersheba in the South of the Land of Canaan They were a very Warlike People and struck a Terror into their Neighbours From whence the word Hittha seems to be derived which signifies fright and sudden Consternation such as came upon the Syrians when they thought the Kings of the Hittites were coming against them 2 Kings VII 6. This was the Country of the Anakims For from Arba who was an Hittite descended Anak and from him those three Giants Ahiman Sheshai and Talmai and the rest of the Anakims Numb XIII 22 33. Josh XV. 13 14. Ver. 16. The Jebusite This People who were situated near to the former descended from Jebus the third Son of Canaan And were a very Warlike People also for they kept Jerusalem and the Fortress of Zion to the times of David notwithstanding all the Power of the Benjamites And when David besieged it they mock'd at his Attempt 2 Sam V. 8. And the Emorite They came from Emor the fourth Son of Canaan and are commonly called Amorites Who possessed the Mountainous parts of Judaea and many of them passed over Jordan and making War upon the Moabites and Ammonites seized upon Bashan and Heshbon and all the Country between the Rivers of Jabbok and Arnon Numb XIII 29. Josh V. 1. In memory of which Victory some Canaanite Poet made a Triumphing Song which Moses hath recorded Numb XXI 27. What a mighty People these were we learn from Amos II. 9. Gergasite There was a Remnant of this People about Gerasa or Gadara beyond Jordan in our Saviour's time Matth. VIII 28. Mark V. 1. Luke VIII 26. And they were called perhaps by this Name from the fat clayie Soil of the Country where they lived for garges in Hebrew is white Clay Ver. 17. And the Hivite or Hevite They lived in and about Mount Hermon as we read Josh XI 3. which being toward the East of the Land of Canaan they are call'd Radmonites i. e. Orientals or Easterlings Gen. XV. 19. The Gibeonites and Sichemites were Colonies from them Josh XI 19. Gen. XXXIV 2. who dwelt more Westward The former of them Neighbours to Jerusalem and the latter to Samaria Arkite This People Bochart thinks inhabited Mount Libanus where Ptolomy and Josephus mention a City called Arca or Arce In which he thinks was the Temple Veneris Architidis worshipped by the Phoenicians as Macrobius tells us L. I. Saturn c. 27. Pliny also Mentions Arca among the Cities of the Decapolitan Syria and saith it was one of those which had a Royal Jurisdiction under the Name of a Tetrarchy as Salmasius observes in his Exerc. in Solin p. 576. Sinite St. Hierom saith that not far from Arca there was a City called Sin where we may suppose these People to have dwelt But Bochart rather by the Sinites understands the Peleusiots whose City was called
yet he saw them degenerating apace into all manner of Wickedness especially into Idolatry Which would bring them he knew to utter Desolation when they had filled up the measure of their Iniquity XV. 16. Ver. 4. But go into my Country i. e. Into Mesopotamia where he lived for some time in Haran after he came from Vr Which was also in that Country as I observed upon XI 31. It seems also his Brother had removed hither Following his Father Terah's and Abraham's Example See XI 31. And my kindred The Family of his Brother Nahor which he heard lately was increased XXII 20. who though they had some Superstition among them retained the worship of the True God as appears from this very Chapter verse 31 50. And take a Wife unto my Son Isaac Which no doubt was by Isaac's Consent as well as his Father's Command Ver. 5. Must I needs bring thy Son again into the Land from whence thou camest He desires like a conscientious Man to understand the full Obligation of his Oath before he took it And his doubt was whether if a Woman would not come with him into Canaan he should be bound to go again a second time and carry Isaac to her Ver. 6. Beware that thou bring not my Son thither again He would by no means his Son should go to that Country which God commanded him to forsake That Command obliging not only himself but his Posterity See Verse 8. Ver. 7. The LORD God of Heaven c. He who Rules all things above as well as below who brought me from my own into this Country and hath promised and confirmed that Promise with an Oath that my Posterity shall inherit it will prosper thy Journey and dispose some of my Kindred to come hither and be married to my Son Send his Angel before thee Good Men were ever very sensible of God's Providence governing all things and prospering their proceedings by the Ministry of Angels Which Abraham's Servant takes particular notice of verse 40. Ver. 8. And if the Woman will not be willing to follow thee c. If it fall out otherways than I hope thou hast done thy Duty If thou bring not my Son into that Country again He speaks both here and verse 6. as if Isaac had once been there Because Abraham himself came from thence and this Servant also and a great many of his Family XII 5. who if Isaac went to settle there must have gone with him as part of his Substance Ver. 10. And the Servant took ten Camels c. Camels were of great use in those Countries as they are at this day Some of them being made for carriage of Burdens and others for swift travelling which latter sort were called by a peculiar Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dromedaries as Salmasius observes in his Plinian Exercit p. 987. These perhaps were of that kind for the greater expedition Like those we read of 1 Sam. XXX 17. For all the Goods of his Master were in his Hands He might chuse what Accommodations he pleased for his Journey having every thing belonging to his Master at his command Who being a great Person it was fit his principal Servant should be well attended as it appears he was verse 32. especially when he went upon such an â—…rand as to court a Wife for his Master's Son Most referr this to the Presents he carried along with him And R. Solomon will have it that he carried a Writing with him under his Master's Hand an Inventory we call it specifying all his Goods and Riches that they might know what a great Match his Son was City of Nahor Which was Haran from whence Abraham came XI 31. and to which Jacob went to find his Kindred XXVIII 10. How far it was thither we are not told nor how long they were going to it And Moses omits also whatsoever passed in the way as not pertinent to his Story Ver. 11. Camels kneel down The Posture wherein they rest themselves Ver. 12. O LORD God of my Master Abraham c. He had observed the Kindness of God to have been so great to Abraham and Abraham to have such a peculiar Interest in his Favour that in confidence he would make good Abraham's words verse 7. 40. he not only begs he might have good success in his Journey but desires a sign of it to confirm his Faith and such a sign as was most apposite to denote the Person that would make a good Wife by her Courtesie Humility Condescention Hospitality prompt and laborious Charity All which are included in what he desires and she did Ver. 14. Thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness to my Master He had no Confidence that God would do any thing for his own sake but for his Master 's whom God had most wonderfully blessed Ver. 15. And it came to pass before he had done speaking c. This shows it was by a Divine Suggestion that he made this Prayer which was answered immediately Such is the Divine Goodness or rather to use the words of Sam. Bochartus upon occasion of many such Instances Sic enim parata obvia esse solent Dei beneficia ita ut preces nostras non tam sequantur quam occupent alque antecedant P. I. Hierozoic L. 2. cap. 49. So forward is God to bestow his Benefits upon us that they do not so much follow our Prayers as prevent and go before them See Verse 45. With her Pitcher upon her Shoulder Behold the Simplicity Frugality and Industry of that Age. Ver. 20. Drew for all his Camels There were ten of them verse 10. and they are a very thirsty sort of Creatures And therefore she took a great deal of Pains to serve him who was but a stranger in this manner Which showed extraordinary Goodness and a most obliging Disposition at which he might well be amazed as it follows in the next Verse Ver. 21. Wondring at her held his peace c. He was so astonish'd at her Kindness readiness to do Good and laborious Diligence c. and also at the Providence of God in making things fall out so pat to his Desires that for the present he could not speak Having his Mind imploy'd in marking and observing every Passage whereby he might judge how to conclude whether this was the Woman or no whom God designed for his Master's Son Ver. 22. The Man took Gave her as the Phrase is often used But he first asked her whose Daughter she was as appears from verse 47. A golden Ear-ring Or rather as the Margin hath it a Jewel for the Forehead And so we translate the Hebrew word Ezek. XVI 12. and this Person himself expounds it verse 47. I put the Ear-ring or Jewel upon her Face i. e. her Forehead For such Ornaments were used in those Times and Countries hanging down between the Eye-brows over the Nose Two Bracelets for her Hands i. e. Wrests Ver. 26. Bowed his Head and worshipped the LORD
than Shem's being first named among Noah's three Sons proves him to have been the first-born IX 18. For there are good Reasons to prove that Abraham was born sixty Years after Haran who was the eldest Son having two Daughters married to his two Brothers Nahor and Abraham Who seems to be the youngest though named first both here and in the next Verse because of his preheminence See Verse 32. Ver. 28. Haran died before his Father c. In his own Country as it here follows out of which he did not go as the rest of this Family did In Vr of the Chaldees That part of Mesopotamia which was next to Assyria is called the Land of the Chaldees For Vr as Abarbinel observes was in Mesopotamia Lying in the way from Tigris to Nisibis And therefore St. Stephen makes Mesopotamia and the Land of the Chaldees the very same Act. VII 2 4. Eupolemus indeed as Bochart notes places this Vr from whence Abraham came Verse 31. in Babylon But Ammianus speaks of an Vr in Mesopotamia situated as before-mentioned which we have reason to think was the place from whence Abraham came because from thence to Canaan the way lay straight through Charran or Haran but it did not do so if he came from Babylon And no good account can be given why he should go about through Mesopotamia and Charran when there was a shorter way through Arabia if he came from Babylon Ver. 29. The Father of Iscah i. e. Of Sarai whom Abraham married she being his eldest Brother's Daughter Sister to Lot For Haran had three Children Lot verse 27 and Milchah whom Nahor married and Sarah whom Abraham married That is Haran dying the two remaining Brethren married his two Daughters For if we should understand any Body else by Iscah but Sarah there is no account whence she descended Which Moses sure would not have omitted because it very much concerned his Nation to know from whom they came both by the Father's and the Mother's side It is no wonder she should have two Names one perhaps before they came out of Chaldaea and another after Ver. 31. Went forth from Vr of the Chaldees See what was said Verse 26. unto which I have nothing to add but this That this Country was so famous for Superstition that the Chaldaeans in Daniel's time were reckoned as a distinct sort of Diviners from Magicians Astrologers and South-sayers or Sorcerers Dan. II. 2 10. IV. 7. V. 11. And it 's likely from some such sort of Men Terah and his Family learnt the worship of Idols Josh XXIV 2. But though he had been an Idolater yet it may be probably concluded from his leaving Vr of the Chaldees with an intention to go to Canaan as it is here said that now he was become a worshipper of the True God For what should move him to it but Obedience to the Divine Direction which Abraham received as we read in the next Chapter to which he would not have agreed if he had not believed in God As Lot it 's plain did whom he took along with him That word is much to be remarked which makes him the principal Agent in their removal Abraham himself being governed by his Motion For Moses says He took Abraham and Lot the Son of Haran c. And though Nahor did not now go along with his Father to Haran being left behind perhaps to look after some concerns yet afterwards he followed him with all his Family As appears from Chapter XXVII 43. and the following Chapter And he also forsook Idolatry for Rebekkah his Grand-Child was married to Isaac and his great Grand-Children Rachel and Leah nay their Father Laban seem to have been worshippers of the True God though with a mixture of some Superstition for he makes mention of Jehovah upon several occasions Gen. XXIV 31 50 51. And they came unto Haran It is possible that Terah going from Vr to Canaan and staying in this place called the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charrae after the Name of his Son Haran or Charan who died a little before verse 28. For both the Greek and Roman Writers call a City famous for the death of Crassus by the Name of Charrae Situate on a River of the same Name It 's likely from Abraham's Brother were derived both the Name of the River and of the City which the Arabians to this day call Charan or Charran And dwelt there It 's plain he intended to go to Canaan and not to settle here But being arrested with the Sickness of which he died could go no further Ver. 32. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five Years Moses doth not summ up the Years of any Man's Life mentioned in this Chapter as he doth in Chapter V. but only of Terah's Which he doth on purpose that we may know when this new Period of time began of Abraham's leaving his own Country and thereby becoming the Father of the Faithful which we are not to count from the time when Terah began to have Children Ver. 26. but from the time of his Death immediately after which Abraham went on towards Canaan See Vsser Chronol C. III. and C. VII From this also we learn when Abraham was born For if seventy five Years which was Abraham's Age when his Father died and he went from Haran XII 4. be subducted from two hundred and five it is manifest that he was born when his Father was an hundred and thirty Years old That is threescore Years after his Brother Haran as I said on Verse 26. CHAP. XII MAny ancient Authors speak of Abraham as Josephus observes and out of him Eusebius Who names others also L. IX Praepar Evang. c. 16 17 c. All that I shall note is That one great Design of Moses being to lead the Jews to understand the Genealogy of this noble Ancestor of theirs he hastens to it Relating other Matters briefly but spending many Pages about him For he comprises for instance the History of the World from the Creation to the Flood containing One thousand six hundred fifty six Years in the compass of six Chapters But bestows on the History of Abraham nineteen Chapters though it contain no longer space of time than an Hundred and seventy five Years Ver. 1. Now the LORD had said unto Abram While he lived in Vr of the Chaldees from whence it is certain he called him while his Father was alive XI 31. We are not told how he spake to him for here is no mention as Maimonides observes P. II. c. 41. of his speaking in a Dream or a Vision or by the Hand of an Angel But only simply and absolutely that the LORD said to him By a Voice when he was awake I suppose from the Schechinah or Divine Glory For St. Stephen saith expresly the God of Glory appeared to him before he dwelt in Charran Acts VII 2. Get thee out of thy own Country c. Which began a good while ago to be
infected with Idolatry See XI 18 22. Some of Shem's Posterity forgetting the Creator of All and worshipping the Sun as the great God and the Stars as lesser Gods So Maimonides in his More Nevoch P III. c. 29. Where he saith the Zabii relate in one of their Books which he there names That Abram contradicting their worship the King of the Country imprison'd him and afterward banished him into the utmost parts of the East and confiscated all his Estate A Tale invented to take away from him the Honour of his voluntary leaving his Country and to discredit this Sacred History which tells us he directed his Course quite another way towards the West Abarbinel and others will not have this Call of God to Abram to have been when he was in Vr but after they came to Haran to which he fansies Terah came because of some misfortunes he had in Vr But this is invented to contradict St. Stephen Acts VII 2. with whom Aben Ezra agrees who expounds these words of his calling out of Vr For it 's hard to find any other reason why he designed to go to Canaan XI 31. the place whither he went after Terah was dead Into a Land that I will shew thee He had the Divine Direction it seems all along to Conduct him in his Journey But it argued as the Apostle observes a great Faith in God that he would follow him not knowing the Country to which he would lead him Ver. 2. And I will make of thee a great Nation First by multiplying his Posterity and then by making them a select peculiar People Whom he distinguished by his Favours from all other Nations So it follows I will bless thee Bestow many Benefits both Temporal and Spiritual upon them And make thy Name great Make him famous throughout the World as he is to this day not only among the Jews but among Christians and Mahometans So Maimonides observes that all Mankind admire Abraham even they that are not of his Seed And thou shalt be a Blessing Others shall be the better for thee as Lot was and the King of Sodom c. Or as the Hebrews understand it thou shalt be so prosperous that when Men would wish well to others they shall use thy Name and say The Lord bless thee as he did Abraham Ver. 3. I will bless them that bless thee c. The highest Token of a particular Friendship which he here contracts with Abram who is called the Friend of God in promising to espouse his Interest so far as to have the same Friends and Enemies that he had Which is the form wherein Kings and Princes make the strictest Leagues one with another And Curse them that Curse thee Maimonides will have it in the place before-named that the Zabaeans loaded Abram with all manner of Curses and Reproaches when he was sent out of their Country which he bearing patiently God turned upon themselves And in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed Which was most eminently fulfilled in Christ And here it must be remarked that this Promise of Blessing all the World in Abram was made to him before he received Circumcision while he was in Vr of the Chaldees and before he had any Issue for Sarai was barren and had no Child XI 30. And therefore before any preference of Isaac to Ishmael or any distinction made between his Posterity and the rest of Mankind In token that they were all concerned in this Promise whether descended from Abraham or not In short this Promise only limits the Birth of the Messiah to the Seed of Abraham but declares that his Benefits should be common to all other Nations Ver. 4. So Abram departed c. Having staid some time in Haran where his Father fell sick and died he prosecuted his Journey from thence to Canaan after his Father was dead So St. Stephen tells us expresly Acts VII 4. from thence i. e. from Charran when his Father was dead he removed him into this Land c. It was a wonderful effect of Abraham's Faith I observed before to move him to leave his own native Country and go to Haran But it was still a greater after he had travelled a long way from Vr hither to go three hundred Miles more from hence to Canaan a Country of which he had no knowledge nor had sent any Body before him to discover it Taking his Journey through the dangerous and barren Desarts of Palmyrena and having nothing to support him but only the Promise of God Which made him climb over the high Mountain either of Libanus Hermon or Gilead For in that part of the Country he entred as Sir W. Raleigh hath observed See Verse 5. And Lot went with him He might conclude perhaps that Abram being called in a special manner out of Chaldaea was thereby distinguished from the rest of Shem's Posterity and that he joyning with him in obeying the same Call might claim the privilege of fulfilling the Promise of the Messiah no less than Abram And Abram was seventy and five Years old when he departed out of Haran See XI ult Ver. 5. All the Souls they had gotten Hebr. had made in Haran i. e. All the Slaves born in their House or bought with their Money The Chaldee Paraphrast interprets this of the Proselytes they had won to God For such only would Abram carry with him And some of the Hebrew Doctors are so nice as to say That Abram instructed the Men and Sarai the Women in the true Religion Concerning which he wrote a Book if we may believe Maimonides De Idolol c. 1. and left it to his Son Isaac We read also in Pirke Elieser c. 25. that he took a House which fronted Charran where according to the ancient Piety he kept great Hospitality And inviting those that went in or came out of the Town to refresh themselves if they pleased set Meat and Drink before them saying There is but one God in the World And into the Land of Canaan they came We are told before XI 31. that Terah went forth to go to this Country but could not reach it as Abram did Who entred into it at the North part of it as appears by the following part of the Story Where we read he went to Sichem c. and verse 9. went on still towards the South Ver. 6. Sichem and the plain of Moreh Or as Mr. Mede following the LXX will have it the Oak of Moreh Understanding by Oak not only one single Oak but a Holt or Grove of Oakes See XIII 18. Where I suppose he intended to have fixed his dwelling had not the Temper of the People who inhabited that Country made it inconvenient And the Canaanite was then in the Land It was very pertinent to Moses his Design speaking of Abram's Passage through this Country to tell who was at that time possessed of it But it is dubious whether he mean by the Canaanite a particular People descended from Canaan
as he doth XV. 21. or in general all the Nations which the Israelites afterward destroyed It seems to me the first of these is meant and that by Land he means only that part of the Country where Sichem lay which was then possessed by this particular People For in the next place that Abram went to it is said The Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the Land XIV 7. i. e. in that part of the Country Where we do not read what Entertainment Abram met withal but I take it as an Argument of Abram's great Faith that he would adventure among such a rough and fierce People Who had no kindness for the Posterity of Shem upon an old Score and if the ancient Tradition in Epiphanius be true upon a fresh Account For he saith Haeres LXVI n. 84. that this Country called Canaan did really belong to the Children of Shem by Virtue of the Division made among the Sons of Noah But the Children of Canaan had dispossessed them So that these words the Canaanite was then in the Land signifies they had already invaded this Country before Abram came thither To whom God promising to give it he only restored the Posterity of Shem from whom Abram descended unto that which the Children of Ham had wrongfully seized By all which it is easie to see how frivolous their Reasonings are who from this place conclude Moses did not write this Book Because these words seem to signifie the Writer of them lived after the Canaanites were thrown out of this Land Which was after Moses his death If these Men had not a greater inclination to Cavil than to find out the Truth they would rather have said the meaning is The Canaanite was possessed of this part of the Country in Abraham's time though thrown out of it by Jacob's Sons Gen. XXXIV before the Times of Moses Which is another way of explaining these words Against which I see no Objection but this That their Prince is called an Hivite XXXIV 2. To which there is an Answer verse 30. which shows the People were partly Canaanites Ver. 7. And the LORD appeared unto Abram As he had done before Verse 1. but now it is likely in a more glorious manner to establish him in Faith and Obedience And said unto him c. There was a Voice came from the Schechinah or Divine Glory which now appeared to him and told him this was the Country he intended to bestow upon his Posterity It is very remarkable that he no sooner entred Canaan but God renewed his Promise to him made before he came out of his own Country And it is further observable as we shall see in the following Story that Abram's Obedience was constantly rewarded in kind according to the quality of the Service he performed Though in quantity the Reward far exceeded the Service Thus having left his own Country and Father's House which was the first trial of his Obedience God promises to give him the whole Land of Canaan and to make his Posterity a mighty Nation See XVII 6. XXII 16. And there he built an Altar c. This was so Glorious an Appearance that it moved him to offer up a solemn Sacrifice to God for which he built an Altar here in Sichem And it being the first that he built in this Country it made this become the first place that was established for Publick Worship after the Israelites conquered the Land of Canaan For here was the Sanctuary of God in Joshua's time near this very Grove where Abram first pitched his Tent and built an Altar Josh XXIV 1 25 26. It continued famous also in after-times as appears from Judg. IX 6. Ver. 8. And he removed from thence unto a Mountain c. Though the LORD here appeared to him yet he did not think fit to trust himself among the Canaanites who were the chief of the wicked Nations that possessed this Land or he thought fit to see the rest of the Country which God promised to give him And therefore came hither which was about twenty Miles further Southward And there he built an Altar Upon the Mountain where they anciently chose to sacrifice rather than in other places And it is likely God again appeared to him here to incourage and strengthen him against all his Fears Which made him build a new Altar and offer Sacrifices of Thanksgiving to God to implore his continued Favour And it is observable That the Promise which God made in the former place verse 7. he renewed again in this and more at large after he came out of Egypt XIII 3 4 14 15 16. On the East of Bethel So it was called in after-times Ver. 9. And Abram journeyed c. He did not think fit to fix yet in the fore-named place But made a further progress into the Southern parts of the Country Yet after he had been in Egypt the Story of which follows he returned to this place Ver. 10. A Famine in the Land Of Canaan He went down Egypt lay low in comparison with Canaan To sojourn Not to dwell there For he doubted not of God's Promise to him of possessing the Land which he had left Ver. 11. Thou art a fair Woman c. She was now threescore Years old But having comely Features and being of a fair Complexion in comparison with the Egyptians who were sallow she seemed to be younger than she was Ver. 12. They will kill me Knowing them to be a libidinous People he was afraid they might be tempted to make him away that they might have his Wife Ver. 13. Say thou art my Sister He himself upon another occasion explains in what sence she was so XX. 12. Therefore he teaches her not to tell a Lye but to conceal the Truth Ver. 15. Pharaoh The Egyptian Kingdom began about three hundred Years before this in the days of Ragau XI 18. if the Arabian Writers say true and now was grown to be very Powerful by the means of some King of this Name which it appears by this place was very ancient and continued to be the Name of all the Kings of Egypt till the Captivity of Babylon and we know not how much longer Just as Ptolomy was their Name after the times of Alexander And Caesar and Augustus were the Names of all the Emperors of Rome and Candace of all the Queens of Aethiopia and the like may be observed in several other Countries Ludolphus takes Pharaoh to be a compound word signifying as much as Father of the Country For that 's the meaning of Phar-ot in the Aethiopick Language as Pharmut is Mother of the Country The Princes also c. The Courtiers who studied to gratifie their Prince's Pleasure Was taken into Pharaoh's House Into the House of the Women it is probable for the Egyptian Kings were now as I said very great like those of Persia in after-times intending to make her one of his Concubines Ver. 16. And he had Sheep and Oxen c. By the
mention of plenty of Corn and Wine and gives him no such Dominion as he did to Jacob the Jews observe other differences and whatsoever fatness was in the Soil of his Country it did not last as appears by Mal. I. 3. Ver. 40. By thy Sword shalt thou live Live upon Spoil Or as others interpret it be in perpetual War to defend thy Country And shalt serve thy Brother Here Isaac speaks out the very words of the Oracle mentioned before XXV 23. which was fulfilled in the days of David 2 Sam. VIII 14. and 1 Chron. XVIII 13. the Circumstances of which Conquest are more fully described 1 Kings XI 15 c. And again after they had recovered some strength Amaziah made great slaughters among them 2 Kings XIV 7. As the Maccabees did afterwards 1 Macc. V. 65. and at last were utterly disabled by Hircanus the Son of Simon Maccabaeus as we read in Josephus L. XIII Antiq. c. 17. When thou shalt have the Dominion St. Hierom and the LXX do not understand this of their having any Dominion over the Seed of Jacob which we never read of but only of their re-gaining Power to shake off subjection to them as it follows in the next words Thou shalt break his Yoke from off thy Neck Which they did in the Days of Joram as we read 2 Kings VIII 20 22. 2 Chron. XXI 8 c. Ver. 41. And Esau said in his Heart Designed and resolved within himself And as it should seem was so full of it that he could not contain his Purpose within his own Breast but in his Anger blurted it out to some Body who told it to Rebekah The days of mourning for my Father c. He will die shortly in which he was deceived for he lived three and forty Years after this and then I will be revenged He had some regard to his Father still remaining whom he would not grieve but no consideration of his Mother who had helpt Jacob to supplant him Ver. 44. Tarry with him a few days A Year or two But herein she also was mistaken For he did not return in twenty Years time Vntil thy Brother's fury Time in which various things happen very much allaies Fury and Rage Ver. 45. And he forget c. The memory of it be much worn out and grown weak Why should I be deprived of you both in one day She had reason to think that if Esau killed Jacob and the Publick Justice did not punish it according to the Precept IX 6. which had setled Courts of Judicature God himself would prosecute Esau with his Vengeance as he did Cain Ver. 46. I am weary of my life because of the Daughters of Heth. The two Wives of Esau who were Hittites were such a continual vexation to her that she wisht rather to die than to live among them If Jacob take a Wife c. She pretends only this reason for sending Jacob among her Kindred and says not a word of the danger his Life was in For she would not afflict her Husband but only preserve her Son What good shall my life do me I had rather die than live in such perpetual vexation Therefore let him go and take a Wife as Abraham did for thee of our Kindred CHAP. XXVIII Ver. 1. AND Isaac called Jacob. Sent for him to come to him And blessed him Renewed and confirmed the Blessing he had already given him That it might not be thought to be of less force because procured by Artifice and Subtilty XXVII 35. Ver. 2. To Padan-Aram See XXV 20. Ver. 3. And God Almighty bless thee c. This is the solemn Blessing mentioned verse 1. wherein he ratifies what he had done And more fully and distinctly settles the Land of Promise upon him and makes him the Father of the promised Seed Ver. 4. Give thee the Blessing of Abraham The Blessing of Abraham was that he should inherit the Land of Canaan and that in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed Gen. XV. 18. XXII 18 Both which he now confirms to Jacob. Ver. 5. And Isaac sent away Jacob. In some haste as the LXX translate verse 2. Arise flee i. e. depart without any delay Which looks as if Rebekah had at last suggested something to him of the Danger he was in And he went to Padan-Aram Prepared himself to go and set forward Or else it is spoken by anticipation for he did not come thither till after several Passages which are related in this and in the next Chapter Son of Bethuel the Syrian See XXV 20. Jacob's and Esau's Mother Now Jacob is put first as being lately declared Isaac's Heir and Heir of all the Promises Ver. 9. Then went Esau unto Ishmael c. To the Family of Ishmael for he himself died fourteen Years ago And therefore Nebaioth his eldest Son XXV 13. is here mentioned as the present Head of the Family Whose Sister Esau married Whereby he showed himself not to have any great regard to the Divine Revelation Otherwise he could not but have known that this Family being descended from a Bond-Woman was not to inherit the Promises made to Abraham and Isaac Ver. 10. Jacob went out from Beer-sheba c. Quite alone without any Servants to attend him and without any Presents to court a Wife or gain the Kindness of Laban Neither of which were wanting when Abraham sent Eliezer to take a Wife for Isaac But as he was sent away in haste as I noted before verse 5. so hereby the Anger of Esau was mitigated who at present was left the sole Possessor of all Isaac's Riches and saw Jacob depart in a poor Condition This also was an act of Divine Faith that God would take a singular Care of him and let him want nothing And as they could not but hope that Laban being so near a Relation would be glad to see him and entertain him So it is probable he might carry Letters of Credence with him that he was to be Heir to Isaac as Eliezer assured them Isaac was to be to Abraham XXIV 36. We are to suppose likewise that he was not sent without Money to bear his Charges as we speak and had some Provision with him For we read of Oil verse 18. which he poured on the top of the Pillar Ver. 11. And he lighted upon a certain place c. A convenient place shaded with lovely Trees see verse 19. to lodge in Unto which he did not go by design but hapned as we speak upon it when he did not think of it And he took of the Stones of that place One Stone from among many others that were there As appears from verse 18. The same form of Speech was observed before XIX 29. XXI 7. Ver. 12. And he dreamed He had the following Representation made to him in a Dream Behold a Ladder c. It is judiciously observed by Maimonides in his Preface to his More Nevochim that there are two sorts of Prophetick
And then calls him Jacob again in the latter end of it It is in vain to search for a Reason Some of the Jews will have it That he calls him Israel because he bare the death of his beloved Wife with admirable Patience and Submission to God's Will But they cannot give so good a Reason why he immediately alters his Style and calls him Jacob again See Verse 22. Beyond the tower of Edar i. e. The Tower of the Flock as some translate it Who think there was such a Tower near Jerusalem because of those words of Micah IV. 8. O tower of the Flock the strong hold of the Daughter of Zion Which if it be true it doth not prove there was no Tower in Jacob's Days called by that Name But rather that in future Ages this Tower was renewed in the same or a neighbouring Place and called by the ancient Name which it had in the Days of Jacob. Ver. 22. Went and lay with Bilhah his Father's concubine She is called his Wife XXX 4. and according to the Laws of those Times was truly so as I have often observed all those called Concubines were Though not the principal Wives but of a lower Rank See Mr. Selden de Jure N. G. L. V. cap. 7. p. 570 571 c. And Israel heard it And highly resented it as we find XLIX 4. But in this short History Moses passes over Israel's Censure of this Incest till he came to die Which shows sufficiently how he was affected when the Fact was committed Or perhaps these words Israel heard it may signifie That though Reuben thought to have committed this Sin so secretly as to have concealed it from his Father yet he came to the knowledge of it And gave him such private Rebukes as were fitting but proceeded not to Publick Punishment to avoid Scandal Now the Sons of Jacob were twelve Their Number being now compleated by the Birth of Benjamin after whom he had no more Children Moses thought good here to enumerate them And they being all born save Benjamin alone before he had the Name of Israel it may be the reason perhaps why he calls him Jacob. Ver. 26. Which were born to him in Padan-Aram All except Benjamin who as was said just before verse 18. was born in Canaan Ver. 27. Jacob came to Isaac his Father c. To dwell with him and to be the Comfort of his old Age. For it is not to be doubted he had been with him before since he came from Mesopotamia But now came to stay with him till Death parted them Vnto the City of Arba c. Called Kirjath-Arba XXIII 2. from a great Man Josh XIV 15. among the Anakims whose Name was Arba and either was born or dwelt or ruled here It was afterward called Hebron where Abraham dwelt a long time XIII 18. and where he bought a burying-place for his Family XXIII 19. Ver. 28. The days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore Years He lived five Years longer than his Father Abraham XXV 7. Ver. 29. His Sons Esau and Jacob buried As Isaac and Ishmael had done Abraham XXV 9. and no doubt in the same place He sojourning there as was said before as his Father had done before him By this it appears the Friendship between Esau and Jacob continued after the interview they had at Jacob's return into this Country CHAP. XXXVI Ver. 1. THese are the Generations of Esau Which are here set down to show how effectual his Father's Blessing was XXVII 29 And as Maimonides thinks P. III. cap. 50. More Nevoch to prevent the destruction of any of the Family of Esau but only those of Amalek Who descended from the First-born of Esau by a Concubine the Sister of Lotan an Horite one of the ancient Inhabitants of Seir verse 12 22. His Descendants were to be destroyed by an express Precept for a particular Offence Exod. XVII but the Divine Justice took Care of the rest by distinguishing them thus exactly from him That they might not perish under the Name of Amalekites Ver. 2. Esau took his Wives c. The Names of these Wives are not the same with those he is said to have married XXVI 34. Therefore it is probable his former Wives died without Issue And so he took another Daughter of Elon when Judith was dead called Adah And the Daughter of a Man called Anah by whom he had such Children as here follow The Daughter of Zibeon The word Daughter here signifies Neice or she is called Zibeon's Daughter because he bred her As the Children of Michal are mentioned 2 Sam. XXI 8 Though she had none at all but only educated the Children of her Sister As Zibeon perhaps did his Brother Anah's Daughter verse 20. Ver. 3. Bashemath Ishmael's Daughter She is called by another Name XXVIII 9. But it is likely Esau changed her Name from Mahalah which signifies sickly and infirm into this of Bashmath which signifies Aromatick and Fragrant Either because the Name better pleased him or he thought would better please his Father Or she grew more healthy after Marriage or perhaps she had two Names given her at the first Ver. 6. Went into the Country from the face of his Brother Jacob. Into another Country out of the Land of Canaan Into which he lately came to bury his Father as we read in the latter end of the last Chapter Which being done he and Jacob no doubt agreed about the division of Isaac's Estate Out of which a large share came to Esau Who had something also of his own there before all his Sons before-mentioned being born to him in Canaan verse 5. besides what he had in Seir. His Brother Jacob. He knew of no other Name his Brother had that of Israel it 's likely being not yet published and commonly used Ver. 7. For their Riches were more than that they might dwell together There was not room enough in the Land of Canaan where they were but sojourners and could have no more than the present Possessors would let to them for such a vast Stock as they had between them And therefore were constrained to separate as Abraham for the same reason had done from Lot XIII 6 c. And Esau having begun before to settle in Seir did not think fit to bring what he had there hither But carried what his Father left him thither Where he had enlarged his Dominion since Jacob's return to Canaan Ver. 8. Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir. It is a Question how he could be said to have gone to dwell in Seir upon this occasion Seeing we find him there before when Jacob came out of Mesopotamia XXXII 3. But the Answer is easie That then he had only some part of the Country and not the best of it neither And therefore perhaps had some of his Estate still in Canaan while the rest of it was in Seir. And it seems remarkable to me that he is not said till now to dwell in Mount Seir but
this List of their Kings that the Kingdom at this time was Elective for the Father did not succeed the Son Which may have been the reason perhaps why it lasted but a while before their Government was altered again verse 40. Maimonides hath an Opinion different from all others that none of these Kings were of the Race of Esau but strangers who oppressed the Edomites And are here set down by Moses to admonish the Israelites to observe that Precept Deut. XVII 15. Not to set a stranger to be King over them who is not their Brother i. e. One of their own Nation Ver. 35. Who smote Midian in the Field of Moab The Midianites perhaps came to invade them and Hadad march'd out and met them in the Frontiers of their Country which joyned to that of Moab Where he got a great Victory over them Ver. 37. And Saul of Rehoboth by the River reigned c. If by the River we should understand Euphrates as it usually signifies near to which stood the City of Rehoboth Gen. X. 11. it may seem strange that one should be chosen from so remote a Country to be King of Edom Unless we suppose him to have been born there but to have lived in Edom And by his great Atchievements to have got into the Throne Otherwise we must take this for some other City which stood by the most known River of this Country Ver. 38. Baal-hanan This Name is the reverse as I may call it of Hani-ball Ver. 39. His Wife's name was Mehetabel c. None of their Wives much less their Pedigree are named besides this alone Which shows she was an eminent Woman in those Times and that Country either for Wisdom or Parentage or Estate or some other Excellence Ver. 40. And these are the names of the Dukes that came of Esau They seem now to have returned to their first Constitution and Kings were laid aside for some time But in future Ages we find they changed again and then Kings reigned successively the Son after the Father as they did in Israel Some think these were the great Men who ruled in Edom in Moses his time According to their Families c. They were the Heads of different Families and lived in different Places and perhaps reigned at the same time in several Parts of the Country So the words seem to import Ver. 43. In the Land of their possession In their own Country whilst the Seed of Jacob sojourned in a strange Country and possessed no Land of their own He is Esau c. He ends as he began This is the Account of Esau the Father of the People who are now called Edomites CHAP. XXXVII Ver. 1. AND Jacob dwelt in the Land c. Having given us an Account of Esau's removal to Seir XXXVI 6 7. and of the Prosperity of his Family there He now goes on to tell us that Jacob still continued in the Country where his Father had sojourned in the Land of Canaan Ver. 2. These are the Generations of Jacob. These words are to be connected with the latter end of XXXV 23 24 c. where he relates how many Sons Jacob had and then gives an account of the Family of Esau in the XXXVI Chapter which being ended he returns to finish the History of Jacob. And the Lad was with the Sons of Bilhah c. These words vehu naar signifie he was very young in the simplicity of his Childish Years and come in by way of a Parenthesis in this manner Joseph being seventeen Years old was feeding the Flock with his Brethren and he was but a Youth unexperienced and therefore called a Child verse 30. with the Sons of Bilhah c. Which last words are an explication of the former showing with which of his Brethren he was Not with the Sons of Leah but with the Sons of his Hand-Maids Particularly with Bilhah's whom we may look upon as a Mother to him now Rachel was dead having waited upon her And Zilpah's Sons are also mentioned in the second place as those it is likely who were thought to have less emulation to him than the Sons of Leah But we see by this how much our greatest Prudence often fails For Reuben and Judah the Children of Leah had more Kindness for Joseph than any of the rest Their evil report What evil Lives they led Ver. 3. Because he was the Son of his old age Benjamin was more so than he and the rest were born not many Years before him But he is so called because he had been married a good while to Rachel before he had him And he was the greatest Comfort of his old Age Benjamin not being yet grown up to give any proof of his future worth He made him a Coat of many colours It is commonly thought to signifie a Garment wrought with Threds of divers Colours or made up of pieces of Silk or Stuff which had much variety in them or wrought as some think with Figures of Fruit or other things See Salmasius upon Flav. Vopiscus p. 396. But Braunius de Vestib Sacerd. Hebr. L. I. cap. 17. hath proved I think that the Hebrew word Passim here signifies a long Garment down to the Heels or Ankles and with long Sleeves down to the Wrests Which had a Border at the bottom and a Facing as we speak at the Hands of another Colour different from the Garment See verse 23. Ver. 4. Could not speak peaceably to him In a kind and friendly manner But churlishly and with evident signs of hatred Aben-Ezra fansies they would not so much as salute him or wish him peace as the Phrase then was peace be to thee or ask him how he did as our Custom is Ver. 5. Joseph dreamed a Dream This was usual among the ancient Patriarchs and others also as appears by Elihu Who shows that all Dreams were not Illusions of evil Spirits Job XXXIII 14 15 c. And long before his time Abimelech was warned by God in a Dream Chapter XX. of this Book verse 3 6 7. Upon which Consideration as Dr. Jackson well observes we should not mistrust the Reports of several ancient Historians who tell us how Princes and Fathers of Families have had Fore-warnings of future Events Either concerning themselves their Kingdoms or Posterity Book I. upon the Creed chap. 9. He told his Brethren This argues his great Innocence and Simplicity that he had not yet Understanding enough to consider how ill this Dream might be expounded or not Prudence enough to conceal what might be ill interpreted by them They hated him yet more The first ground of their Hatred was their Father 's great Love to him and then his informing their Father of their bad Behaviour Which was still increased by the fine Clothes his Father bestowed on him and now most of all by this Dream which they interpreted to signifie his Superiority over them Ver. 7. Your Sheaves stood round about and made obeysance c. Or gathered round about mine
the other and seemed to import a great Change in their Condition Which made such a deep Impression upon them that they were solicitous to know the meaning Ver. 8. We have dreamed a Dream and there is no Interpreter of it i. e. Here in Prison we have not the opportunity of getting them interpreted If they had been at liberty there were Men in those Countries who pretended to the Skill of Interpreting Dreams Which for the most part were not to be regarded but some Dreams carried such lively representations in them and so suitable to their present Condition and made likewise so great a Commotion in their Spirits that they could not but attend to them Nay think God had sent them and therefore desire to know the meaning of them Thus we find Achilles advising Agamemnon in Homer's Iliad I. to consult with the Interpreters of their Gods for what Offence they had sent the Plague among them saying To what Priest or to what Prophet shall we go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or to what vender of Dreams For even Dreams come from Jupiter Do not Interpretations belong to God Who can show the meaning of Dreams but he that sent them viz God This shows that God did sometime admonish other Nations as we saw XX. 6. XXXI 24. as well as the Jews by Dreams Until they forgot as Dr. Jackson judiciously speaks that Interpretations were from God and laboured to find out an art of Interpreting Then they either ceased or were so mixed with delusions that they could not be discerned Or if their Events were in some sort foreseen yet Men being ignorant of God's Providence commonly made choice of such means for their avoidance as brought upon them the Events which they feared Book I. on the Creed chap. 9. Ver. 12. The three Branches are three Days i. e. Signifie three Days So he understood their meaning to be rather than Months or Years because of their sudden budding blossoming knitting and ripening of the Grapes verse 10. Ver. 13. Shall lift up thy Head i. e. Advance thee or as it is in the Margin reckon thee number thee among his Servants as the Phrase is used Exod. XXXI 12. For there being a Roll or Catalogue of all the Officers of the Court with their several Salaries they were all called over on some certain Day it should seem by verse 20. before the King's Birth-Day and summoned to give their Attendance And then such as the King was offended withal were struck out and punished according to their deserts or pardoned and graciously restored to their Places This Exposition best agrees with the Event verse 20. where the Heads of both these Officers are said to be lifted up Though one of them only was advanced to his former Station Ver. 14. But think on me when it shall be well with thee c. When my Prediction is come to pass I ask no other Reward of thee but that thou wilt be an Instrument of delivering me from my imprisonment Joseph was not only grown expert in interpreting Dreams which he was not before he came into Egypt XXXVII 6 c. but fully assured he knew the right meaning of them as appears by this Passage And such kind of Predictions by Dreams were frequent in ancient Times among the Heathen as well as among the Hebrews Though in after Ages they grew rare in both For as Dr. Jackson admirably speaks in the Place before-named the increase of Wickedness in the World multiplicity of Business solicitude of Mind about worldly Affairs and Mens too much depending on Politick Devices to accomplish their Ends caused the defect of true Dreams and of other Divine Admonitions for the welfare of Mankind Ver. 15. I was stolen Carried away by Violence without the knowledge of my Father and sold for a Slave His Brethren in selling him committed that Crime which the Latins call Plagium For Qui hominem liberum vendit plagiarius est Out of the Land of the Hebrews Some Men would have it thought that these words were added by Joshua or some other after Moses his time Because Canaan was not called the Land of the Hebrews in his days much less in Joseph's But they should have considered that Joseph doth not call all the Land of Canaan by this Name but only that part of it where Abraham Isaac and Jacob had very long lived viz. about Hebron There Abraham who was the first that is called an Hebrew setled with his Family when he came out of Chaldaea XIII 17 18. There Isaac dwelt also XXXV 27. and Jacob XXXVII 1 14. where it is said indeed they were strangers or sojourners in this Country But they were Strangers of great Note and Name as Jacobus Altingius hath well observed who were treated as Princes XXIII 6. lived by their own Laws made Leagues not only with private Men but with Cities and with Kings XXI 22 23. XXVI 28. XXXIV 6. and the Fame of them could not but be spread abroad both by the Victory which Abraham got in a Battle over several Kings and by the sacking of Shechem which the Neighbours durst not revenge All which might well make that part of the Country wherein they had resided for three Generations be called the Land of the Hebrews Where they were at first planted by the Consent of the Natives who were confederate with Abraham XIV 13. That they should put me into the Dungeon Into which he was thrown at the first as a great Malefactor For this was the lowest and darkest place in the Prison being under Ground So the Hebrew word commonly signifies a Pit either with or without Water in it And thence this part of a Prison Which Bochartus well translates cryptam subterraneam and sometimes signifies a Grave Psalm XXVIII 1. Hierozoic P. I. Lib. III. cap. 4. Ver. 16. The chief Baker saw the Interpretation was good It was well the chief Butler propounded his Dream first which had a good signification For if this Man had spoken first the other it is likely would not have proposed his Dream Three white Baskets Or as we now speak three Wicker Baskets and as the Margin hath it the Twigs so twisted that they were full of holes as ours many times are wrought Ver. 17. In the uppermost Basket They were set one upon another In the lowermost of which we may suppose was Bread in the middlemost Pies and in the highest the finer sort of Pastes of all sorts Bisket Tarts c. Ver. 19. Lift up thy Head The same Phrase which was used of the other verse 13. but with this addition from off thee To signifie that his Name should be called for another purpose that he might not only have his Name struck out of the Roll but his Head struck off from his Body Though there is no necessity so to understand it but only simply that he should lose his life And shall hang thee on a tree They that fansie his Head was first cut off will have
Body else We find Nebuchadnezzar did the same in Babylon Dan. I. 7. And it is still the Custom in the Eastern Countries Where the Mogul never advances any Man but he gives him a new Name and that significant of something belonging to him As not long ago he called his Brother-in-law Asaph Chán the gathering or the rich Lord And his Physician Macrob Chan the Lord of my Health c. as Peter de la Valle relates in his Travels p. 465. where he observes the same of his Wives p. 470. Zaph-nath Paaneah Which St. Hierom interprets the Saviour of the World But the whole Stream of Interpreters carry it for another signification which is the Interpreter of Secrets or the Revealer of future things See Sixt. Amama and Athan. Kirker his Prodromus cap. V. and our Countryman J. Gregory chap. XVI of his Observations Who with Mr. Calvin thinks it is ridiculous to attempt to make this Sence out of the Hebrew Language And yet there are those who think they have done it with success Tzaphan being to hide or cover whence Tzaphnath that which is hidden or secret And Panah signifying to look into or contemplate So that Campeg Vitrigna thinks Josephus and Philo not to have ill interpreted this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Observ Sacr. Lib. I. cap. 5. an Interpreter of Dreams and a finder out of things hidden But as Jacchiades observes upon Dan. I. 7. that the Egyptian and Persian Kings gave Names for Honour and Glory in token of their Supreme Greatness and Authority so it was most for their Glory to give them out of their own Language And therefore if this be the meaning of Zaph-nath Paaneah the Egyptian Tongue and the Hebrew had a great affinity one to the other And he gave him to Wife Either the King then disposed of the great Noble-Mens Daughters when their Parents were dead as our Kings lately did of their Wards or Asenath was of Pharaoh's Kindred and so he provided her a Husband and gave her a Portion Or the meaning simply is he made this match for him The Daughter of Potipherah This is a different Name from his who was Captain of the Guard and was of a different Quality And therefore there is no reason from some likeness in their Names to think that Joseph married the Daughter of him who had been his Master For he would have abhorr'd to match with one that was born of so lewd a Woman as his Mistress as Vossius well observes in the place fore-named Priest of On. Or Prince of On as the Margin hath it for the word Cohen signifies both Priest and Prince See 2 Sam. VIII ult Priests being anciently the Prime Men of the Kingdom for Kings themselves were Priests On was a famous City in Egypt called afterwards Heliopolis Which gave Name to one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Provinces of Egypt whereof this Poti-pherah was Governor or Lieutenant Concerning which Province and Asenath and Poti-pherah see Mr. Selden L. III. de Synedriis p. 406. And Joseph went out over all the Land of Egypt To see what places were fittest for Stores Ver. 46. Joseph was thirty Years old So he had been out of his own Country thirteen Years for he was but seventeen Years old XXXVII 2. when he was sold into Egypt In which time we may well think he had learnt the Language of that Country and gained much Experience but never sent to his Father In which there is visibly a special Providence of God for his Father might have used means for his Deliverance and then he had never come to this Greatness When he stood before Pharaoh When Pharaoh made him his Prime Minister For the great Counsellors and Ministers alone were admitted into the King's Presence in the Eastern Countries and it 's like the same State was kept here and are said to stand before the King Dan. I. 19. and to see the King's Face Esther I. 14. And went throughout all the Land of Egypt He seems to have only taken a general view of the Country before verse 45. but now a more particular to give Orders for the building of Store-Houses against the plenteous Years came Ver. 47. Brought forth by handfuls Such large Ears that a few of them would make a Sheaf Which our Translation seems here to mean by handfuls For Sheaves are bound up with Mens Hands And so it may be interpreted it brought forth Sheaves or Heaps Or more literally handfuls upon one Stalk i. e. vast abundance Some conceive the Corn was laid up in Sheaves heaped up very high and not thrash'd out For so it would keep the longer Ver. 48. And he gathered up all the Food The fifth Part as he had proposed verse 34. i. e. he bought it which he might do at a small Price when there was unusual plenty And laid up the Food in the Cities It is very probable he laid it up as it was gathered unthrash'd That there might be Food for the Cattle also So the Vulgar In manipulos reductae segetes congregatae sunt in horrea And what was laid up in the first Year of Plenty it is reasonable to think was dispensed in the first Year of Famine c. Round every City This was very wisely ordered for it was less charge to Pharaoh for the present and more easie to the Country when they wanted Provision Ver. 49. Gathered Corn as the Sand of the Sea The following words explain this Hyperbolical Expression And the reason of his heaping up so much was that there might be sufficient to supply the Necessities of other Countries as well as of Egypt Ver. 51. God hath made me forget all my toil The great Affliction and hard Labour he endured in Prison And all my Father's House The unkindness of his Brethren who were the cause of all his Trouble By imposing this Name on his First-born he admonished himself in the midst of his Prosperity of his former Adversity Which he now thought of with Pleasure Ver. 52. In the Land of my affliction In the Country where I have suffered much Affliction Ver. 53. And the seven Years of plenteousness were ended It was beside the intention of Moses to relate any of the Affairs of that Country but what belonged to this Matter And therefore he passes over all other Transactions of these seven Years as he doth all the things that hapned in Jacob's Family ever since Joseph came from it Ver. 54. The Dearth was in all Lands In all the Countries thereabouts Canaan Syria c. It seems there was a general want of Rain But in all the Land of Egypt there was Bread They did not feel the Famine presently because they had much to spare from the former Years of plenty Ver. 55. And when all the Land of Egypt was famished When they had eaten up all their own Stores Which we may suppose failed in two Years time The People cried to Pharaoh c.
contra Appion who reigned in Egypt and burnt their Cities threw down their Temples in short omitted no sort of Cruelties Upon this account the famous Bochartus Lib. IV. Canaan cap. 4. thinks it possible the Egyptians hated Shepherds who had done so much Mischief And I may add the Hebrew Shepherds Joseph might think would be more abominated because they came out of that very Country from whence those Phoenician Rovers made their Invasion But as it doth not appear that they who did the fore-named Mischief were all Foreigners So the time which is assigned for this Pastoral Kingdom doth not agree with the Scripture-Story For it is said to have been in the One thousand one hundred and twelfth Year before the Israelites going out of Egypt in the XVth Dynasty as they call it That is about Two and forty Years after the Flood when Mizraim the Father of the Egyptians was scarce born or was very young Our great Primate Vsser endeavours to avoid this absurdity by placing this Invasion which he thinks was out of Arabia three hundred Years after the Flood When they took Memphis over-run all the lower Egypt and their first King there reigned nineteen Years But I have this to except that Abraham coming a good while after this into Egypt was well entertained there though he was as much a Shepherd as his Grand-Child Jacob. See Gen. XII From whence I conclude That if this Story of Manetho be true it hapned after the time of Abraham and so was fresh in their memory Such a third Rebellion of the Shepherds the same Manetho mentions within less than two hundred Years before the Children of Israel's departure out of Egypt But this seems to be a Story framed from that departure of the Israelites themselves who were Shepherds out of Egypt under the Conduct of Moses And so Josephus and several of the ancient Christians Tatianus Justin Martyr and Clem. Alexand understood it See Vsser ad An. M. 2179. All this considered Gaulmin in his Notes upon the Book called the Life of Moses p. 267 c. hath more probably conjectured That this aversation to Shepherds arose from their being generally addicted in those Parts to Robbery Which way of life made them abominable This he justifies out of Heliodorus L. I. and Achilles Tatius L. III. who describe the seat of these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom the Egyptians called Hysch and the manner of their Life To which Opinion I find Bochartus himself inclined before he died and confirms it in his Hierozoic L. II. c. 44. P. I. by many Proofs that Shepherds anciently were furax hominum genus a thievish sort of People which made them odious Against which I see no exception but this that Aulus Gellius tells us Lib. XI cap. 18. out of an ancient Lawyer That the old Egyptians held all manner of Thefts to be lawful and did not punish them And Diodorus Siculus mentions this Law among them That they who would live by Robbery were to enter their Names and bring what they stole immediately to the Priest Who mulct the Man that was robbed a fourth part and gave it to the Thief By which means all Thefts were discovered and Men were made more careful to look well after their Goods But one cannot believe this Law was of such Antiquity as the Times of Joseph Or if it was those Out-Laws as I may call them who robb'd upon the Borders were not concerned in it Nor had their Neighbours who were no less addicted to Theft the benefit of it Particularly those in Palestine from whence Jacob came one would guess by what we read 1 Chron. VII 21 22. were then much addicted to Robbery For before this Generation ended we are told there the Men of Gath slew several of the Sons of Ephraim who himself was then alive for they came down to take their Cattle saith that Holy Writer that is to get what Plunder they could in Goshen Where the Ephraimites defending their Cattle were some of them killed by the Philistines to the great grief of their Father The Ethiopians also are noted by Strabo Lib. XVII p. 787. to live for the most part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after a very poor sharking roving manner by feeding Cattle where they could find Food for them And immediately adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all things were quite contrary among the Egyptians who were a more civilized People inhabiting certain and known Places c. Which shows that their Manners were very different which easily bred hatred Which appears by what Plutarch saith in his Book de Isid Osir that the Egyptians avoided the Conversation of black People Which was the Complexion of the Ethiopians And for some such reason he saith in the same Book they avoided all Mariners of other Nations that is as here Moses says they did Shepherds upon some or other of the accounts before-mentioned It looks like a piece of great Generosity in Joseph not to conceal from Pharaoh the Quality of his Family Though such kind of Men were under a very ill Character He hoped they would distinguish themselves from such vile Shepherds as had made the Name odious And if they did not gain the Love of the Egyptians they would be the more secured in the Love of God by not learning their evil Manners and Superstitions from which they would be preserved by having no Conversation with them CHAP. XLVII Ver. 1. JOseph came and told Pharaoh c. He had his Warrant some time ago to send for his Father and his Family XLV 17 c. But it was good Manners to acquaint him they were come and to know his Pleasure how he should dispose of them Behold they are in the Land of Goshen They stop there which was the entrance of Egypt till they know thy Pleasure Ver. 2. And he took some of his Brethren c. The Hebrew word Miktse which we translate some signifies in common Language de extremitate from the fagg-end as we speak of his Brethren Which hath made some imagine he presented the meanest of his Brethren to Pharaoh that he might neither be afraid of them nor think of advancing them to Employments in the Court or Camp But this is a mere Fancy the word here denoting only that he took from among all his Brethren five of them As Bochart observes who translates it ex omnibus fratribus suis taking it to be like that Phrase XIX 4. where we translate it from all Quarters P. I. Hierozoic Lib. II. cap. 34. Ver. 3. Both we and our Fathers It is not an Employment we have lately taken up but were bred to it by our Ancestors Who followed the same Profession For this was the most ancient way of living as Columella observes in his Preface In rusticatione antiquissima est ratio pascendi eademque quaestuosissima In Country business the most ancient as well as most gainful is the way of feeding Cattle From
Families as it was in Israel to that of Aaron and held in such Veneration that they were all not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free from paying Tributes and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 next to the King in Honour and in Power but received a third of the Royal Revenues Out of which they maintained the Publick Sacrifices and their Servants and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 provided for their own Necessities Thus Diodorus Siculus L. I. as I find him alledged by Jac. Capellus in his Hist Sacra Exot. ad A. M. 2294. Constantine the Great in part imitated this Constitution in that Law of his which made even all the Professors of Learning free from all Publick Charges of any sort besides the Salary he allowed them that they might the more chearfully follow their several Studies Ver. 23. Behold I have bought you this day and your Land c. The Bargain could not be denied but he would not be so rigid as to tye them strictly to it For in the next Verse he requires only a fifth part of the increase of their Ground for the King and tells them the rest should be their own An act of great Humanity and Equity Wherein he show'd himself both a good Man and a wise States-Man in taking away all matter of complaint from the People For a tenth part of the increase was due in all likelihood to the King before XXVIII 22. which he now only doubles When he might have taken all or given them but one or two parts and kept all the rest for the King Ver. 25. Thou hast saved our lives c. We owe our very Lives to thee and therefore let us but have thy Favour and we shall willingly be Pharaoh's Servants This is an high Expression of their Thankfulness for such good Terms as he offered them which they readily accepted With professions of their Obligation to be Pharaoh's Bond-men Ver. 26. Joseph made it a Law By his Advice this Law was enacted whereby the Power of the Egyptian Kings was mightily increased for we read not of the like Constitution in any other Nation Thucydides indeed relates that the People of Attica paid to Pisistratus the twentieth part of their Corn and Appianus Alexandr says the old Romans paid the tenth of their Corn and the fifth of their Fruit But it was the peculiar Prerogative of the Egyptian Kings to have the fifth of all the increase of the Field Which Joseph procured them by his admirable Management Ver. 27. And Israel dwelt in the Land c. See Verse 11. And they had possessions therein They could have no Land of their own for all the Country was become Pharaoh's but the meaning is they farmed as we speak Land of the King to whom they became Tenants And grew and multiplied exceedingly And consequently inlarged their Habitation beyond the Territory of Rameses where they were first placed into other Parts of Goshen Which we must not fansie to have been a Country now empty of People For though perhaps about Rameses there might be some vacant Ground sufficient for Jacob's Family when they came first to plant there Yet when they increased very much no doubt they lived among the Egyptians where they could find admission This plainly appears at their going from thence Exod. XII 22 23. where God Commands them to sprinkle their Door-Posts with the Blood of the Paschal Lamb to secure them from the destruction which was coming upon their Neighbours who wanted this Mark of Safety 29. If I have now found grace in thy sight This is a Phrase used a little before verse 25. in a little different Sence For there it signifies the Favour shown to another But here is as much as if thou lovest me Put thy Hand under my Thigh i. e. Swear to me as it is explain'd in verse 31. See XXIV 2. Deal kindly and truly with me Show me true Kindness in promising and performing what I desire See XXIV 27 49. Ver. 30. I will lie with my Fathers c. So all Men naturally desire to do But he had a peculiar reason for it Which was his belief that the Country where their Bodies lay was his in Reversion and that God in due time would put his Children into possession of it For which time they could not but the more earnestly long because the Bodies of their Ancestors were there buried See L. 5. which explains the reason why Jacob exacts an Oath of Joseph not because he doubted he might not otherwise fulfil his Desire but that Pharaoh might be willing to let him carry his Body thither when he found he lay under so Sacred an Obligation to do it Ver. 31. And Israel bowed himself upon the Bed's head Raised up his Head from his Pillow and bowed Either to Joseph in Thankfulness for his Promise or to God for the Assurance he had received that he should be buried with his Pious Fore-fathers Or else this bowing was the usual Ceremony wherewith an Oath was attended The Chaldee Paraphrast thinks the Divine Glory now appeared which Jacob devoutly worshipped But if the Author to the Hebrews had not understood his bowing to be an act of Worship the Interpretation of some modern Writers might perhaps have been thought reasonable Who translate these words thus He laid himself down upon his Pillow As weak Men are wont to do after they have sat up a while to dispatch some business For the Hebrew word Schacah which signifies to bow the Body signifies also to fall down upon the Earth And therefore might be here translated lie down But the Apostle as I said hath over-ruled all such Conceits if we suppose him to translate this Passage Hebr. XI 21. Which to me indeed doth not seem evident For the Apostle is there speaking of another thing not of what Jacob did now when Joseph sware to him but of what he did after these things XLVIII 1. when he blessed Joseph's Sons Then the Apostle says he worshipped upon the top of his Staff Which is not the translation of Moses his words in this place But words of his own whereby he explains the following Story and shows how strong his Faith was when his Body was so weak that he was not able to bow himself and worship without the help of his Staff This clearly removes all the difficulty which Interpreters have made about reconciling the words of Moses here in this Verse to the Apostle's words in that But however this be Jacob's bowing here I doubt not signifies worshipping as the Vulgar Latin takes it Where the word God is added which is not in the Hebrew and these words thus translated Israel worshipped God turning himself to the Bed's head CHAP. XLVIII Ver. 1. AFter these things Sometime after though not long for Jacob was nigh his end when he sent for Joseph to make him swear he would bury him with his Fathers he grew so weak that he concluded he could not live long One told Joseph A Messenger was
laid his Hands across So that the Right Hand lay upon the Head of Ephraim who was next to his Left c. Ver. 15. He blessed Joseph In the Blessing he bestowed on his Children All my life long The Hebrew word Mehodi signifies à die quo ego sum as Bochart interprets it Hierozoic P. I. Lib. II. c. 14. ever since I had a being Ver. 16. The Angel which redeemed me Who by God's Order and as his Minister preserved me in all the Dangers wherein I have been Many of the ancient Fathers as Athanasius L. IV. contra Arianos Cyril upon this place Procopius Gazaeus c. understand hereby an increated Angel viz. The Second Person of the blessed Trinity But the Discourse is not concerning the sending of the Son of God in our Flesh to redeem Mankind but only concerning the Preservation and Prosperity of one Man and therefore I do not know whether it be safe to call him an Angel i. e. a Minister or Messenger lest we detract from his Divinity For in conferring Blessings he is not a Messenger or Minister but a principal Cause together with the Father They are the words of that famous Divine Georg. Calixtus who follows St. Chrysostom who takes this Angel to be one properly so called And thence proves the heavenly Ministers take care of Pious People And so doth St. Basil in no less than three places of his Works Which show it was his setled Opinion But it did not enter into their Thoughts that Jacob here pray'd to an Angel but only wisht these Children might have the Angelical Protection by the special Favour of God to them For it is just such an Expression as that of David to a contrary purpose Psalm XXXV 6. Let the Angel of the Lord persecute them Where no Body will say he prays to an Angel though his words are exactly like these of Jacob. And let my Name be named on them Here he plainly adopts them to be his Children as he said before he would verse 5. For to be called by one's Name which is the same with having his Name named on them is as much as to be one's Children For thus they that are said to be called by God's Name became his peculiar People Therefore Tostatus well interprets it Sint duo Capita tribuum inter Filios Jacob Let them be the Heads of two Tribes among the Sons of Jacob. But none so plainly as David Chytraeus whose words are these Vera simplicissima sententia haec est Isti pueri à me adoptati c. The true and most simple Sence is These Youths Manasseh and Ephraim who are adopted by me shall not hereafter be called the Sons of Joseph but my Sons And be Heirs and in the division of the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan receive an equal Portion with my Sons Grow into a multitude The Hebrew word as Onkelos interprets it signifies increase like Fishes as we also in the Margin translate it which are the most fruitful of all Creatures as Authors commonly observe See Bochart P. I. Lib. I. cap. 6. Hierozoic Ver. 19. His younger Brother shall be greater than he His Family multiplied faster according to the signification of his Name As appears from Numb I. 33 35. And the Kingdom was afterward established in him and all the ten Tribes called by the Name of Ephraim Shall become a multitude of Nations In the Hebrew the words are fulness of Nations i. e. of Families As much as to say his Seed shall replenish the Country with numerous Families For that which replenishes the Earth is called the fulness of the Earth Psalm XXIV 1. and that which replenishes the Sea the fulness of the Sea Psalm XCVI 11. Isai XLII 10. See L. de Dieu Ver. 20. And he blessed them that day He concluded with a solemn Benediction upon them both And when he pronounced it worshipped God as the Apostle tells us Hebr. XI 21. leaning upon the top of his Staff Whereby he was supported from falling of which he would have been in danger when he bowed if he had not leaned on it In thee shall Israel bless When my Posterity would wish all Happiness to others they shall use this form of Speech God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh Which continues they say among the Jews to this Day Ver. 21. Bring you again into the Land of your Fathers Where your Fathers sojourned and which God bestowed upon them in reversion Ver. 22. Which I took out of the Hand of the Amorite c. He doth not mean the City of Shechem which his Sons took unjustly and cruelly and not from the Amorites but the Hivites without his knowledge and contrary to his will But that piece of Land which he bought of Hamor the Father of Shechem Gen. XXXIII 19. compared with St. John IV. 5. Which seems to be the reason why Joseph was himself here buried in his own Ground given him by his Father Josh XXIV 32. and not in the Cave of Machpelah The only difficulty is how he could say that he took this Land from the Amorite by his Sword and by his Bow which comprehend all warlike Instruments when he bought it for an hundred Pieces of Silver of Hamor the Hivite It is to be supposed therefore that he took it i. e. recovered it from the Amorites who had seized on it after his removal to another part of Canaan and would not restore it but constrain'd him to drive them out by force We read nothing indeed in the foregoing History either of their invading his Possession or his expelling them thence But the Scripture relates many things to have been done without mentioning the circumstances of Time and Place as Bochartus observes And among other Instances gives that in XXXVI 24. where Ana is said to have met with the Emims so he understands it in the Wilderness Of which encounter we find no mention in any other place See his Hierozoic P. II. L. IV. cap. 13. And as I take it we have a plainer Instance in the place a little before mentioned Hebr. XI 21. where the Apostle says Jacob when he was a dying blessed both the Sons of Joseph and worshipped leaning upon the top of his Staff Of which there is not a word in this History but only of his Blessing them verse 20. There are those who with St. Hierom understand by Sword and Bow his Money Which he calls by those warlike Names to signifie this was the only Instrument he used to acquire any thing Just as the Romans when they would signifie they had got any thing without any other help but their own Industry alone say they obtained it Proprio Marte using a similitude from Military Expences and Labours If this do not seem harsh it is not hard to give an account why he calls those Amorites who before were called Hivites For Amorites seems to have been the general Name of all the seven Nations of Canaan they being the Chief
and from all delicate Food or fine Clothes Which latter part of their Mourning it 's likely might be in use in Joseph's time though not the former of besmearing their Heads and Faces with Mud. But it is sufficient to say that they appeared in the Habit of Mourners all the time the Body was Embalming which was very various in different times and places And continued in some Countries a great many Days longer than in others This time of LXX Days may seem to some too long But Jacobus Capellus proposes this to their Consideration Hist Exot. Sacra ad A. M. 2310. that Joseph being next to their King the Egyptians honoured his Father with a Royal Funeral and a Mourning of LXX Days Which he thinks is a round Number for Seventy two For Diodorus says so many were the Days of Mourning for their King It seeming reasonable to them that as they gave the Fifth part of the increase of their Land to their King when he was alive so they should bestow the Fifth part of the Year upon him in Mourning for him when he was dead Which was just LXXII not reckoning the five odd Days which did not come into their account As to those who object that this was immoderate Mourning having more of Ambition than Piety in it his Answer is That granting it to be true Joseph did not bring in this Custom and had peculiar reason to follow what he found in use there That they might be the more condemned who vexed the innocent Posterity on whose Parent they had bestowed Royal Honours Besides there is something due to Kings and great Men to distinguish them from the Dregs of the People Ver. 4. And when the Days of mourning were past That is the LXX Days before-named Joseph spake unto the House of Pharaoh To the great Officers of the Court unto whom it is most probable he spake by a Messenger Strict Mourners such as Joseph was using to keep close in their Chambers and not to appear in publick or make visits At least it was against the Custom to appear in the Court if the same usage was there in these Days which was in the Persian Court in Mordecai's time and such rational Customs one cannot but think were very ancient in the Habit of a Mourner Esth IV. 1 2. For which reason he did not go himself to make the following Request to Pharaoh They who were in the state of Mourning being lookt upon as defiled Ver. 5. My Father made me swear c. See XLVII 29 30. where Jacob engaged him by an Oath to carry his Body into Canaan to be buried there That he might keep up some Claim to that Country by Vertue of the Sepulchre which his Grand-Father had there purchased and where his Father Isaac lay buried Which I have digged for me In the Cave that Abraham had bought Gen. XXIII which was a large place Jacob it seems had taken care to have a Grave digged for himself From which and such like Examples St. Austin argues in the place quoted above on Verse 3. the Bodies of the dead especially of good Men are to be treated with such a Regard as they themselves thought was due to them Ver. 6. According as he made thee swear The Religion of an Oath it appears from hence was in those Days so Sacred that the King who had not sworn himself would not have another Man violate it for his sake Who might have pretended he could not spare Joseph so long from his business being his Chief Minister in the Land of Egypt Such Heathen Kings as these will rise up in Judgment against those Christian Princes who make a Jest of their Oaths Ver. 7. All the Servants of Pharaoh This seems to be explain'd by the next words the Elders of his House the Principal Officers of Court. For the word all must be understood with some limitation as usually in Scripture Some being left behind no doubt to wait upon the King Thus in Matth. III. 5. all Judaea is said to have gone out to John's Baptism i. e. a great many The Elders of his House c. I have observed before on XXIV 2. that Elder is a Name of Dignity As the Hierusalem Targum there expounds it instead of his Servant the Elder of his House having these words His Principal Servant who was set over all the rest as their Governor And it appears by this place that this was used not only by the Hebrews but by the Egyptians long before Moses his time as a Title of Honour and Dignity As it hath since been by all Nations whatsoever See Mr. Selden Lib. I. de Synedr cap. 14. All the Elders of the Land of Egypt The Principal Persons in Authority and Dignity throughout the whole Country as well as those of the Court Such as were Governors of Provinces and Cities and Counsellors c. Which Honour they did to Jacob in all likelihood by Pharaoh's Command For how well soever they might stand affected to Joseph they could not of their own accord desert their Charge Ver. 8. All the House of Joseph c. Their whole Family except such as were necessary to look after their little Ones and their Flocks c. This Verse also shows the word all must have a limited Sence Ver. 9. And there went up with him both Chariots and Horsemen As a guard to him which it is likely always attended him as Vice-Roy of the Kingdom But now might be necessary for his Safety as he passed through the Desarts or should meet with any opposition when he came to challenge his burying-place Though it is probable that Matter was setled before-hand with the Canaanites who were in no Condition to oppose the Kingdom of Egypt Which was grown very rich and they very poor by the late Famine And it was a very great company That he might appear in greater State at such a Solemnity Ver. 10. And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad Some take Atad for a Place and translate the word before it in the same Sence as if he had said they came to Goren-Atad But Forsterus in his Lexicon thinks Atad was the proper Name of a Man who was eminent in that Country for his Threshing-floor Though there are those who take it for a Bramble with which that Floor was fenced in For so the word signifies Judg. IX 14. And the Africans called a Bramble Atadim as Bochart observes L. II. Canaan cap. 15. which is the Plural Number of Atad But the Talmudists are so fanciful that not satisfied with such reasons they say Jacob's Coffin was here surrounded with Garlands Crowns they call them just like a Threshing-floor which is hedged about with Thorns For the Tradition they say is that the Sons of Esau Ishmael and Keturah all met here and seeing Joseph's Crown hanging over the Coffin they all pull'd off theirs and hanged them up in the same manner So the Excerpt Gemarae in Sota Cap. I. § 45. Beyond
It is true indeed ye thought to destroy me But God designed by that very evil contrivance of yours to bring about the greatest Good both to you and me To bring to pass as it is this Day c. To accomplish what you now see the Preservation of our whole Family Which he understands by much People in the next words who by this means were saved from perishing Herein appears the wonderful Wisdom of God's Over-ruling Providence Which contrary to the Nature of Sin and the Will of Sinners turns the Evil they do into Good And directs it to the most excellent Ends. Ver. 21. Now therefore fear you not He again incourages their Hope by repeating what he had said verse 19. I will nourish you c. I will still take care of you all as I have done hitherto And he comforted them c. With such Discourse as this he raised up their drooping Spirits For he spake most kindly to them Ver. 22. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt c. He continued in Egypt and so did his Brethren to their dying Day And no doubt made his Word good to them Being one of the greatest Examples of Heroick Vertue To which none can arrive unless they be meek and placable as he was For Nihil est magnum quod non idem sit placidum as Seneca truly said Joseph lived an hundred and ten Years Not so long as his Fore-fathers for he was the Son of his Father's old Age and lived a great part of his time full of Thought and Care Having the Weight of a great Kingdom 's Affairs lying on him For eighty of these Years he spent in Egypt being but thirty Years old when he first stood before Pharaoh in great Prosperity indeed but in no less solicitude to discharge so great a Trust as was committed to him Ver. 23. Ephraims Children of the third Generation i. e. His great Grand-Children In which Jacob's Prediction began to be fulfilled XLVIII 19 20. XLIX 25. We find indeed that after Joseph's death I suppose Ephraim had some of his Children slain 1 Chron. VII 21 c. But God so blessed those who remained that when Moses took an account of them after their coming out of Egypt they were increased to above eight thousand more than the Children of Manasseh Numb I. 33 35. Brought up upon Joseph's Knees He lived to embrace and dandle them as we now speak in which old Men and Women much delight Machir had only Gilead by his first Wife but he had more Children by a second as we read 1 Chron. VII 16. All which were born before Joseph died and perhaps by Children he means the Children of his Grand-Children Joseph's great Authority and his Children's great Increase over-awed his Brethren so that they never durst dispute their Father's Will In which he gave a double Portion unto them Which one would guess by their Temper was as displeasing to them as their Father's Kindness to Joseph anciently had been But they durst not oppose it nor do we find they quarrelled at it Ver. 24. God will surely visit you He explains his meaning by what follows and bring you out of this Land c. For the word visit is used indifferently either for bestowing good things or inflicting evil Thus he died in the same Faith with his Ancestors That God would make good his Promises to them Ver. 25. And Joseph took an Oath As his Father had done of him XLVII 30 31. Of the Children of Israel Not only of his Brethren mentioned before verse 24. but of all their Family who were to succeed them and might live when his Brethren were dead to carry his Body out of Egypt which he desired for the same reason his Father had done Carry up my Bones from hence He did not desire to be carried immediately after his death as his Father was when his Embalming was finished but that they should carry him when they themselves returned to Canaan By which time he knew his Flesh would be quite dried up and nothing left but Bones The reason why he did not desire to be carried away presently was that his Body remaining with them they might look upon it as a Pledge and security of the Promise God had made of giving them the Possession of that Land wherein he desired to be buried or not buried at all But he had repeated it twice that God would surely visit them verse 24 25. and was so confident of it that he desired to be kept unburied till the time of that Visitation Perhaps also he considered that they could not be of such Authority as he had been to prevail to have his Body carried to Canaan as his Father 's was And therefore desired them not to think of laying him there till that time came when they should make a solemn and universal departure thither We read nothing what became of the rest of his Brethren but Josephus saith they were all carried into the Land of Canaan to be buried For they had the same desire in all likelihood and gave the same charge concerning their Bodies to keep Posterity in hope that God would certainly bring them thither Which the words of St. Stephen also may seem to import when he saith Acts VII 15 16. Jacob died and our Fathers and were carried over into Sichem c. though we read of none of their Fathers beside Joseph yet it seems the Tradition was that they were all carried thither after his Example And so St. Hierom saith That he saw at Sichem the Sepulchres of the XII Patriarchs Epitaph Paulae cap. 6. Ver. 26. So Joseph died After he had taken the fore-named Oath of them and assured them again of the Truth of God's Promise Which were the last things he did Some perhaps may think it strange that so wise and great a Man as Joseph whose dying words one cannot but think would have left a deep impression upon his Brethren should not give them abundance of good Counsel at his departure from this World And lay some other Charge upon them besides this of carrying up his Bones to the Land of Canaan But Moses did not intend to write all that excellent Men said and did And we may very well think when he declared his stedfast Faith in the Promise made to Abraham which the Apostle takes notice of Hebr. XI 22. and assured them God would perform it he enlarged himself on that Subject in more words than are here related Being an hundred and ten Years old This was said before verse 22. but here repeated to signifie he did not live a Year beyond it and so died just fifty four Years after his Father and an hundred forty four Years before their departure out of Egypt And they embalmed him His Brethren took the same care of his Body that he had done of his Father's ver 2. See there For that Joseph died before any of his Brethren the Jews gather from Exod. I. 6. where it 's said Joseph died
of it and exercised great Cruelties there Amos I. 13. Long before which the Book of Judges informs us how they were oppressed by this People for eighteen Years together X. 8. and came with a great Army and encamped in Gilead verse 17. which was in the Tribe of Gad. But he shall overcome at the last This was eminently fulfilled when Jephtha the Gileadite fought with the Children of Ammon and subdued them before the Children of Israel Judg. XI 33. and when this Tribe together with their Brethren of Reuben and Manasseh made War with the Hagarites and possessed themselves of their Country Which they kept till the Captivity because the War was of God 1 Chron. V. 22. Ver. 20. Out of Asher i. e. Of his Country His Bread shall be fat Shall be excellent Provision of all sorts for the sustenance of humane Life For Bread comprehends not only Corn but Wine and Oil and all sorts of Victuals XXI 14. And he shall yield royal dainties His Country shall afford not only all things necessary but the choicest Fruits fit to be served up to the Table of Kings For part of it lay about Carmel Josh XIX 26. where there was a most delicious Valley Ver. 21. Naphtali is a Hind let loose As he had compared Judah to a Lion and Issachar to an Ass and Dan to a Serpent so he compares this Son to a Hind which is not confined within Pales or Walls But runs at large whither it pleaseth Whereby is signified that this Tribe would be great lovers of Liberty He giveth goodly or pleasing words Which denotes their Address as we now speak charming Language and Affability to win the Favour of others And thereby preserve their Peace and Liberty Mercer makes this Verse to signifie their speed and swiftness in dispatch of Business and their smoothness in the management of it Which might render them acceptable to all Men. There are no Instances indeed in Scripture to make out this Character For Barak who was of this Tribe was very slow in undertaking the Deliverance of Israel Nor do we read they were more zealous Assertors of Liberty than others But yet this will not warrant us to alter the punctation of the words as Bochart doth P. I. Hierozoic L. III. cap. 18. to make a quite different Sence which is this Naphtali is a well-spred Tree which puts out beautiful Branches For we do not find that they were either more beautiful or numerous than other Tribes But we find quite contrary that Simeon Judah Issachar Zebulon and Dan were all more numerous than they when Moses took an account of them Numb I. 23 27 29 31 39. Besides this Interpretation makes this Verse in a manner the very same with the next concerning Joseph Therefore though the LXX agree to Bochart's Version we had better stick to our own which makes a Sence clear and proper enough Ver. 22. Joseph is a fruitful Bough Or young Plant. It is an Allusion to his Name which imports growth and increase And may well be understood of the great Dignity to which he was risen in Egypt Unto which he was advanced in a short time after Pharaoh took notice of him Like a Bough or young Plant which shoots up apace and thence compared in the next words to A fruitful Bough by a well Or Spring of Water Which in those dry Countries made the Plants which were set near them to grow the faster and to a greater heighth Psalm I. 3. and therefore signifies his extraordinary advancement Whose Branches run over the Wall Cover the Wall that surrounds the Spring or the Wall against which the Tree is planted Which seems to denote the two Tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh which sprang from him and were very flourishing As appears from Josh XVII 14 17. where they tell him they were a great People whom the LORD had blessed hitherto And Joshua there acknowledges as much saying Thou art a great People and hast great Power And therefore assigns them a larger Portion of Land than they had at first The Hebrew word Banoth which we translate Boughs literally signifying Daughters some think that as he speaks of the Sons of Joseph in the foregoing part of the Verse so in this he speaks of his Daughters that they should go to the Wall i. e. saith Dr. Lightfoot even to the Enemy To repair the Hostile Tribe of Benjamin which otherwise had decayed for want of Wives For so the word Schur signifies and is translated by us an Enemy Psalm XCII 11. And D. Chytraeus understands hereby Daughters the Cities of the Tribe of Ephraim which should be well governed though some should set themselves against it Ver. 23. The Archers In the Hebrew the words Baale chitsim signifie Masters in the Art of Shooting and therefore denotes those here spoken of to be skilful in doing Mischief Such were his Brethren who were full not only of Envy but Hatred to him XXXVIII 4 5 11. Some referr it also to Potiphar's Wife who wickedly slandred him And others to the whole Tribe of Ephraim who were incompassed with Enemies who in general are meant by Archers when the Kingdom was setled in them over the ten Tribes Have sorely grieved him By their unkind or rather churlish Behaviour towards him for they could not speak peaceably to him XXXVIII 4. and it 's likely they reviled him and threw out bitter words against him Which are properly compared to Arrows Psalm LXIV 3. And shot at him Designed to destroy him and did actually throw him into sore Afflictions XXXVIII 22 24 28. And hated him Which arose from their hatred to him Ver. 24. But his Bow abode in strength He armed himself with invincible Patience having nothing else to oppose unto their malicious contrivances It seems to be a Metaphor from those Soldiers who have Bows so well made that though often never so often bent they neither break nor grow weak Such was the Temper of Joseph's Mind And the Arms of his Hands were made strong i. e. He was strengthned and supported Being like to a strenuous Archer the Muscles and Sinews of whose Arms are so firm and compact that though his Hands draw his Bow continually he is not weary By the Hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Which Fortitude he had not from himself but from the Almighty who had supported Jacob in all his Adversities and made all that Joseph did when he was sold and imprisoned to prosper in his Hands XXXIX 3 22 23. The Hebrew word Abir which signifies Potent or Powerful and we translate mighty One is as much as the LORD of Jacob. For from Power it comes to signifie Potestas Authority and Dominion also as Bochart observes From thence From the Divine Providence over him before mentioned Is the Shepherd Joseph became the Feeder and Nourisher of his Father and of his Family and of their Flocks and Herds Preserving them all from being famished And the Stone of Israel Who upheld them all
and kept them from being ruin'd Or Shepherd may signifie his being made Governor of all the Land of Egypt and the Stone of Israel the support of his Family For Shepherd is a Name of Dignity and Authority And Stone signifies the Foundation as Abarbinel here expounds it upon which the whole Building relies As Jacob and all his Children did upon Joseph for their sustenance Some I find particularly D. Chytraeus referr the words from thence unto Joseph And then by the Shepherd and Stone of Israel understand those excellent Men who by their Wisdom and Valour supported the Commonwealth of Israel Such as Joshua the Captain of the Lord's Host and Abdon one of the Judges who were of the Tribe of Ephraim And Gideon Jair and Jephthah who were of the Tribe of Manasseh But the following words incline rather to the former Sence Ver. 25. Even by the God of thy Father Or from him that blessed me and advanced thee to be the Support of my Family For it referrs to all that went before Who shall help thee Having said what God had already done for him he now foretells what he would do hereafter Which relates to all his Posterity whom God would Protect and Defend And by the Almighty Or from him who is all-sufficient by which Name he revealed himself unto Abraham when he entred into Covenant with him and with his Seed XVII 1. And bless thee with the blessings of heaven above blessings of the deep that lieth under The meaning seems to be that his Posterity should be planted in a very fertile Soil Watred from above with the Dew of Heaven and with Showers of Rain and watred beneath with Springs and Rivers As G. Vossius well interprets it Lib. I. de Idolol cap. 77. Blessings of the Breasts and of the Womb. A promise of a numerous and thriving Progeny Or of a vast increase of Cattle so well fed that they should bring up their Young prosperously as well as bring them forth abundantly Ver. 26. The blessings of thy Father Either the Blessings bestowed by God upon Jacob or the Blessings Jacob conferred on his Son Joseph Have prevailed Are greater Above the blessings of my progenitors Than the Blessings God bestowed upon Abraham and Isaac Who had not so many Sons as God had blessed him withal Upon every one of whom also he conferred a share in the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan whereas Ishmael was excluded by Abraham and Esau by Isaac Or the meaning may be I have done more for thee than they for me i. e. thou shalt be happier than I. For Jacob led an unsetled life but Joseph flourished in great Splendor in Egypt to the end of his days Vnto the utmost bounds of the everlasting Hills As long as the World shall last For perpetuity is expressed in Scripture by the durableness of Mountains Isai LIV. 10. And here he seems to allude to the noble Mountains which fell to be the Portion of Joseph's Children viz. Bashan and Mount Ephraim But there are those who think he hath not respect to the durableness of these Mountains but to their fruitfulness translating the Hebrew word Tavath not Bounds but Desires as the Vulgar Latin doth And then the Sence is Vnto all that is most desirable in those ancient Hills Which abounded with the most excellent Fruit. And this Translation is grounded on Moses his Blessing which seems to be an Interpretation of Jacob's Deut. XXXIII 15. where he blesses him for the chief things of the ancient Mountains and for the precious things of the lasting Hills Of him that was separate from his Brethren The word Nazir which we translate separate signifies one that is separated from others vel Voto vel Dignitate as Bochart observes P. II. Hierozoic L. V. cap. 6. either by a Vow or by his Dignity And in the latter Sence Joseph is called Nazir because of his eminent Dignity whereby he was advanced above all his Brethren Being the Vice-Roy of Egypt Ver. 27. Benjamin shall raven as a Wolf This sets forth the warlike Temper of this Tribe A Wolf being both a strong and undaunted and also a very rapacious Creature And thence in after-times dedicated to Mars From whence Wolves are called Martii and Martiales in Virgil and in Horace And warlike Men are called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a Wolf-like Temper And the History justifies this Character The Tribe of Benjamin alone maintaining a War with all the other Tribes in which they overcame them in two Battles though they had sixteen to one against them And they killed then more Men of Israel than they had in their whole Army See Bochart P. I. Hierozoic L. III. cap. 10. In the morning he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the Spoil This doth not signifie as the fore-named Author observes in the same place the whole Day but the whole Night One part of which is the Evening and the other the Morning And therefore the Particle and signifies here as much as after And this is the Sence The Tribe Benjamin shall be like a ravening Wolf Who shall have his Prey to eat till Morning-light after he hath divided it in the Evening For the division of the Prey goes before the eating of it This Passage is like that Josh VII 25. They burnt them with Fire and stoned them with Stones i. e. burnt them after they had stoned them as we there rightly translate it And this applied to Benjamin signifies such success in their Wars that they should come home loaded with the Spoils of their Enemies I omit the fancy of the Talmudists who imagine Benjamin is compared to a Wolf because the Altar of Burnt-Offering where the Morning and Evening-Sacrifices were daily consumed stood in this Tribe They that would know what they say of this may look into Codex Middoth cap. 3. § 1. And L' Empereur's Annotations there Ver. 28. All these are the twelve Tribes of Israel From these sprang the Twelve Tribes of Israel Or these are the Blessings of the Twelve Tribes For these words plainly show that what he had said was not to be fulfilled in their Persons but in their Posterity And blessed them every one according to his blessing c. He did not give them a new Blessing after all this But the meaning is he blessed them in the manner foregoing every one according to the Blessing designed by God for them There seems indeed to be no Benediction bestowed on the three first Tribes but that is to be understood only comparatively For he provided for them all a Portion in the Land of Canaan Ver. 29. I am to be gathered to my People Must die shortly Bury me with my Fathers c. The reason of this Injunction is well explained by Mercer To whom I referr the Reader Ver. 30. In the Cave that is c. He describes the place so particularly in this and the two next Verses because he would