power I striking fear into their hearts and were dismayed and confounded nay they were as the grass of the field and as the grass on the house-tops which soon withereth away and as the corn that is blasted before it be grown up And as for thee I know thine abode and where thou dwellest and what thou dost meditate against me at home and abroad when thou goest out and when thou comest in I know all thy counsels and actions both publick and private I know thy rage against me and how thou reproachest my power and threatnest me as if I were an Idol See Isa 36.20 And because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come into my ears that is because I have heard thy outragious and ruffling words I will put my hook into thy nose and my bridle into thy lips and will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest that is thou shalt go as thou camest without effecting what thou designest against Jerusalem Thus the Prophet delivered to Hezekiah the mind of God concerning the King of Assyria Then he tells the King and the people that this shall be a sign to them by which they may assuredly know that they are loved of God with a Fatherly love viz. that though they had been hindred from sowing and planting this year by reason of the Assyrians invading their land and though they could not sow nor plant the next year because it was the Sabbatical year yet they should have plenty of corn notwithstanding that should grow and spring of it self without any tillage from the scattered seeds that fell on the earth the former years And herein says he the Providence of God will eminently appear for you that the ground shall yield of it self sufficient food for three years together for though in the third year ye may sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof yet ye cannot reap what ye shall sow in that year until the end of it therefore it will be no less than miraculous that two years together so much corn shall grow of it self as shall serve you for three years The Prophet further encourages them and bids them not fear because their Nation was reduc'd to a small number nor think that therefore they should not be able long to subsist for he tells them that that small remnant of them which shall escape the sword of the Assyrians shall be like a thriving flourishing tree that shoots its roots downwards and its branches upward on which it bringeth forth much fruit So they shall be well setled in their Nation and shall be fruitful in it He further tells them that that remnant which is now shut up in Jerusalem and mount Zion shall go out of it when the siege is raised into all parts of the land of Judah and shall inhabit it and replenish it shall sow the ground and reap the fruit thereof For the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this that is the zeal he hath for his own glory and the love he bears to his people and the indignâ—tion he hath against â—is enemies will move him to do it And further says he let the King and all his faithful people encourage themselves for thus saith the Lord Sennacherib shall not come into this City nor force the Gates of it nor shoot an arrow at those that stand upon the wall neither shall he assault it with men armed with shields nor cast a bank or trench * This is to be understood of Sennacherib himself and the Army that he personally commanded for though he did not closely besioge Jerusalem himself nor make a Trench about it yet it seems part of his Army did as we may gather from Isaiah 29.3 against it but he shall go back the way that he came for I will defend this City and save it for mine own sake and for my servant Davids sake because of the promise I made to him that I would establish the Throne of his Kingdom †2 Chron 7.18 2 King 19. from 8 to 35. 2 Chron. 32. from 10 to 21. Isa 37. from 8 to 36. Hezekiah about this time viz. in the fourteenth year of his reign when the Assyrian Army lay about Jerusalem fell extreme sick and his sickness seemed such as threatned to put an end to his life The Prophet Isaiah coming to him from the Lord bad him set his house in order for he should die This sentence though very sad in it self yet seemed not absolute but conditional and so Hezekiah understood it and accordingly turning his face to the wall as he lay in his bed he earnestly prayed to the Lord to spare his life saying Remember now O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which was good in thy sight He mentions not his good deeds as if he thought them meritorious but only that he might incline the Lord the rather to shew him mercy for the Lord is more ready to shew mercy to those that walk according to his laws and commandments than to those that disobey them And Hezekiah wept sore He had many reasons to desire to be spared at this time For first if he should now die he should leave Judah and Jerusalem under the pressure of Sennacherib and should not see the delivery of it 2ly He had no Son as yet to succeed him in the Throne and it could not but be a matter of great sorrow and grief to him to think that the promise made to David and Solomon 1 King 8.25 should not appertain to him He knew also that the Mâ—ssiah was to spring from the seed of David and he being lineally descended from David if he lived to have issue he might hope that the Messiah might spring from him from which hope he should be cut off if he died at this time 3ly He had reason to think that they who were so ready to ascribe the calamities of his time unto him because he had broken down the Idolatrous Altars and Images and made a reformation would be more ready to ascribe them to him if he now died and would say though unjustly that for this cause God had cut him off in displeasure And therefore for this reason he pleads his integrity and that what he had done in the reformation of Religion he had done it with an upright heart knowing it to be well-pleasing unto God And accordingly he found that the Lord was well pleased with it for before the Prophet was gone out of the middle Court of the Kings house he was sent back again to the King with this comfortable message Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy Father intimating to him thereby that he was mindful of his promise made to David 1 King 2.4 I have seen thy tears and am moved to compassion by them and I will spare thy life and add unto thy days fifteen years and on the third day from hence
and upon this thy people and let thine ears be attentive unto the supplications we shall make unto thee and hearken to us in all that we shall pray unto thee for according to thy will For thou didst separate us unto thy self from among all the Nations of the earth to be thy peculiar people and inheritance as thou spakest by thy servant Moses Solomon having ended this his devout prayer rose up from his knees and standing with his face toward the Temple he repeated part of the 132 Psalm saying Arise O Lord and take possession of this house which I have built for thee as a resting place and fixt habitation and not an ambulatory and moving one as the Tabernacle was And let thy Ark whereon thou dost manifest thy glory (e) Psal 78.61 He delivereth his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemies hands strength and power for the good of thy people be here setled and constantly abide Let thy Priests O Lord God be clothed and adorned with such graces as may bring salvation to themselves (f) Psal 132.9 This clause is thus expressed Let thy Priests be clothed with righteousness and may enable them to be instrumental in the saving of others and let thy Saints rejoice in thy goodness and favour manifested unto them O Lord God hear me I pray thee and turn not away the face of thine anointed with shame and confusion by denying me my request but remember the promises thy mercy moved thee to make to David my Father and to his posterity Solomon having ended his prayers the Sacrifices were brought in and laid upon the Altar and immediately fire came down from Heaven and consumed them and the glory of the Lord probably covered with a cloud filled the house and such an orient splendour shone through it that the Priests could by no means enter into the Temple The people seeing the fire came down from Heaven and the glory of the Lord upon the house they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground and worshipped and praised God and sang as 't is probable the 136 Psalm as the Singers had done before the burthen or foot whereof was For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Then Solomon turned his face and blessed all the Congregation of Israel again as he had done at the beginning and said Blessed be the Lord God who hath given rest to his people Israel as he promised of old And indeed he hath not failed of performing any of his gracious promises which he made to his people by the ministry of his servant Moses Now therefore the Lord our God be with us as he was with our Fathers and let him not leave us nor forsake us but let him incline our hearts to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments * Viz. The Moral Ceremonial and Judicial Laws statutes and judgments which he commanded our Fathers And let my words wherewith I have made supplication to the Lord this day be in his mind and memory continually that he may maintain the cause of me his servant and the cause of his people Israel at all times as the matter shall require and as it shall appear just and equal to him that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord he is the only true God from whom all blessings come and that there is no other God besides him Let your heart therefore be upright and sincere before the Lord and walk in his statutes and keep his commandments as now you do Then the King the Princes and people offered abundance of Peace-offerings (a) They were call'd Peace-offerings because God having bestowed some benefit upon them seemed to be appeased towards them and they were offered as a kind of retribution and to return thanks to God for it And in offering the same they also testified their hope that God was reconciled towards them to the Lord and kept this feast of Dedication seven days During which time they offered unto the Lord two and twenty thousand oxen and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep By a multitude of Sacrifices the pious Jews were wont to testifie their zealous and grateful affection towards God and we never read of any Sacrifice like this And thus Solomon the Princes and people by their joint prayers praises and sacrifices dedicated the house of God and set it apart for his worship and service And they rejoiced before the Lord seven days and seven that is they kept the first seven days as the Feast of Dedication and the next seven as the Feast of Tabernacles And the day after Solomon dismissed the people to their own homes and they blessed the King and prayed unto the Lord for him and went home with joyful and glad hearts rejoicing in the goodness which the Lord had manifested to the house of David and to Solomon and to all the people of Israel 1 King Ch. 8. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 5. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 6. whole Chapter 2 Chron. Ch. 7. from v. 1 to 11. SECT III. SHortly after * Some read 1 King 9.1 And it came to pass when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord and afterwards finished the Kings house and all his desire which he was pleased to do that the Lord appeared to him the second time c. Solomon had made that devout prayer before mentioned the Lord as it seems appeared to him in a dream (b) Ch. 6.11 We read that the word of the Lord came to Solomon but that was by some messenger or Prophet sent unto him but this was the second time that the Lord appeared to him in a Vision as he had done before at Gibeon 1 King 3.4 5. and the Lord said I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication which thou hast made before me and I have hallowed this house and set it apart to those holy uses which thou didst intend it for and it shall be called by my name as long as it shall last and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually I will always be ready to take notice of the prayers there made and the services there performed and will graciously accept them And if I shall shut up heaven at any time so that there be no rain or send the locusts or pestilence among my people that are called by my name if they shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear in heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land And if thou wilt walk before me in integrity and uprightness as thy Father David did and keep my statutes and judgments then I will establish the Throne of thy Kingdom for ever that is thou and thy posterity shall continue time after time to be Kings over Israel so as no other stock but thine shall sit on that Throne so long as the Kingdom of Judah shall remain as I
Curiosity of men may suggest about this whole matter may easily be answered by a serious consideration and belief of the infinite power and wisdom of God Noah being thus shut up in the Ark the Flood began with the bursting of the Fountains of the great Abyss from benath and a continual showring of rain from above 40 days and 40 nights together The waters encreased and prevailed on the Earth 150 days and rose to such a height that they covered the Mountains and all things that had life on the Earth perished Gen. 7. whole Chap. SECT X. UPon the 17th day of the seventh month the Waters abated and the Ark rested on one of the Mountains of Ararat in Armenia the greater not far from the Caspian-Sea and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the Mountains were seen And 40 days after namely upon the eleventh day of the eleventh month Noah opening the Window of the Ark sent forth a Raven who flew hither and thither fluttering about the Ark and resting on the top of it the waters being not yet dried up For the Raven being accustomed to live at large was weary of the straightness of his Cage and finding as 't is like dead bodies on the Mountains he was ravenous after such prey and would be no more confined to the Ark. Seven days after Noah sends out a Dove to try if the waters were abated but the Dove finding no rest for the sole of her foot the Mountain-tops though bare being yet very muddy returned to him again After seven days more he sent her forth again and in the evening she brought in her mouth an Olive-leaf which was a sign the waters were low and thereby God comforted Noah assuring him that his deliverance out of the Ark was near at hand And herein also the especial providence of God is to be observed in preserving the Olive together with the seminal virtue of other Trees Plants and Herbs though soak'd so long under waters for the replenishing the World with these kinds of Vegetables again there not being any seed of them preserved in the Ark that we read of Noah then staying yet seven days more he sent forth the same Dove (b) Of the sending forth of the Dove and her returning to Noah called by the Heathens Deucalion there is express mention in humane Writers particularly in Plutarch's Dialog de Solertia animalium again a third time which returned not to him any more having found food as it seems now for her self upon the Earth and taking content in the free Air and liberty This Dove no doubt soon after by the providence of God found her own Mate Gen. 8. from 1. to the 13. CHAP. II. The second Age of the World from the Flood to the promise made to Abraham inVr of the Chaldees containing the space of 422 years and ending in the 2078th year of the World SECT I. ON the first day of the first month of the six hundredth and first year of Noahs life he opened the Window that was in the covering of the Ark and looked about him and found that the waters were dried from off the face of the Earth yet so as it still remained moist and dirty having been so long a time soaked with such a quantity of moisture Therefore he stayed yet 55 days more namely to the 27th day of the second month and then he and all that were with him by the Commandment of God went forth out of the Ark having continued therein 375 days or a full (c) The solar year exceeds the lunar 11 days and consists of 365 days commonly though every fourth or leap-year consists of 366 days solar year and ten days more Gen. 8. from 13. to 20. SECT II. NOah when they were come out of the Ark built an Altar * Here is the first mention of an Altar and Burnt-Offerings long before Moses or the Levitical Law See Levit. 6.9 probably of Earth or Turf and offered Sacrifices and whole Burnt-Offerings thereon to the Lord of clean Beasts and Fowls according to that form of Worship which the Lord had before prescribed in a grateful acknowledgment of Gods great Goodness and Mercy to them in their preservation from the Flood And God smelled a sweet savour therefrom that is did graciously accept this Service Noah had performed and was highly pleased and delighted with his Faith and thankfulness And the Lord said He would not again Curse the Ground for man's sake nor destroy every living Creature thereon by a general deluge For he saw That the imagination of mans heart was evil from his youth and though that among other things justly provoked him before to destroy the World yet he saw that the Children of men being so corrupt by Nature if he should proceed against them according to their deserts and not according to the riches of his own Mercy he must be continually punishing and destroying of them therefore though he would deal as he thought fit with particular sinners yet he would not at one stroak destroy all Mankind any more And to confirm this his gracious Decree He promises that while the Earth remains Seed-time and Harvest Cold and Heat Summer and Winter Day and Night should not fail or cease that is generally it should be so but yet this did not hinder but that he might execute particular Judgments upon particular Places or Persons to the contrary Further God now declares That he was resolved to restore and repair the natures of things corrupted by the Flood And then blessing Noah and his Sons he bad them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth And he tells them That the fear and dread of them shall be upon all bruit Creatures even to the taming and over-awing the fiercest and strongest of them either by force or cunning Whence it is that the most savage of them do fear the face of man though sometimes by the just judgment of God they do as it were rebel and rise up against him and hurt him God also now permitteth to Noah and his Posterity to eat Flesh as freely for their food as Herbs which grew out of the ground So that now the Lord restores to Noah and his Children the lawful use of those things which were in a manner taken from them by the Flood yet there was this exception made to his general Grant that though they might freely eat of any of the Creatures that were fit for meat yet they might not eat Flesh with the blood or in the blood but the Beast must first be killed and cleansed of tâ— blood Which restraint was in all probability made to deter them from cruelty and shedding one anothers blood And to inforce the observance of this Command the more upon them he tells them that as to their own life-blood if it were at any time shed by a Beast of a Beast it should be required that is the Beast should be put to death for it See Exod.
and no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him So that all malice spight envy hatred rancor immoderate anger and animosity are here also forbidden VII Commandment Thou shalt not commit Adultery THis Commandment injoyns Chastity of Mind Heart and Body and the preservation of it in our selves and others Whosoever shall attempt the Affection or Chastity of another mans wife highly sinneth against God commits a great trespass against his Neighbour and defiles himself with the foulest turpitude He violates an Institution to which God hath affixed especial marks of respect and sanctity He wounds his Neighbour's Honour and ruines Him in that wherein the great content of his mind and comfort of his life is wound up He offendeth against the welfare of Families breeding horrible Confusions and Dissentions in them Adultery therefore is a lothsome Vnrighteousness most odious to God and a fire that consumeth unto destruction Further this Commandment forbids all sorts of unlawful and irregular satisfactions to lustful Appetite and all kinds of Impurity and Lasciviousness not in act only but in thought in desire (f) Our Saviour extends this Commandment to forbid all unlawful lustings or desires or Inclinations of the heart Mat. 5.28 I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her in his heart in speech or in gesture and what ever tends to foment the fleshly Concupiscence which we ought to endeavour by all good means to quench and suppress VIII Commandment Thou shalt not Steal THis Commandment injoyns that every man should quietly enjoy those supports and conveniencies of his life which in any honest way he hath right unto or is possessed of And it prohibits all Invasion or Vsurpation by any means what ever either by open Violence or by clandestine Fraud of our Neighbour's Goods or Rights Many sorts of Vnrighteousness are reducible to this Commandment as fraudulent Dealing false Weights and Measures over-reaching in Contracts unfaithfulness in matters of Trust Exaction Oppression Extortion and not making Restitution of ill-gotten Goods when there is ability The Positive Duties to be understood are Diligence and Industry in our Callings whereby with God's blessing we may support our selves and prevent the importunate Temptations of Want and Need and may be able to relieve others that are in want and may be well content with our own estates trusting in God and relying on his Providence to take care of us IX Commandment Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour BEaring false Testimony against our Neigbour especially in matters Capital and wherein his life is concern'd is here prohibited And not only that but also defaming him or unjustly detracting from him and breeding in the minds of others an ill opinion of him We are therefore here forbidden to wrong our Neighbour in his Credit and good Name as well as in his Estate We are forbidden to hurt him either in word or deed Charity obligeth us to think the best of our Neighbour to be candid in our Opinions and Discourses concerning Him to forbear all rash and harsh Censures of Him and to abhor affixing any faults upon Him of which He is not guilty To walk Vprightly and to work Righteousness and speak the truth from our hearts are the good man's Character Psal 15. v. 2. X. Commandment Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours House nor his Wife nor his Man-Servant nor his Maid-Servant nor his Ox nor his Asse nor any thing that is thy Neigbours THis Law is very Comprehensive prescribing universal Justice towards our Neighbour and that not only in outward deeds and dealing but in inward thought and desire prohibiting us unlawfully or irregularly to desire any thing that is his to his detriment We are to be so far from depriving our Neighbour of any good thing belonging to him that we are not so much as irregularly to wish or desire it We are not only to abstain from injurious Actions but to repress in our selves all covetous and injurious Inclinations And the Positive Duty here implied is That we should have a delight and complacency in our Neigbour's good not envying him any of his Enjoyments being in our minds well content with the portion God is pleased to vouchsafe to us and intirely trusting in Him that he will supply us with what is needful and fitting for us without the damage of our Neighbour Thus we see that God's Law is as St. Paul observes Spiritual not only restraining exteriour Acts but regulating our inmost Thoughts quelling all inordinate Appetites and Affections of Heart within us And all these Precepts both of the first and second Table are reduced to these two Heads of loving God with all our Hearts Souls and Spirits and loving our Neighbour as our selves SECT XV. THus was this Law promulgated and proclaimed At the dreadful manner whereof of the people were so greatly terrified that they removed and stood afar off from the Mount Then the Heads of the â—ribes and Elders came to Moses and said Behold the Lord our God hath shewed us his Glory and his Greatness and we have heard his Voice out of the midst of the Fire and have seen this day that God doth talk with Man and yet he remaineth alive This is matter of great wonder to us But yet we are afraid that if we should hear the Voice of the Lord our God again speaking to us in such a dreadful manner the very terrour of it would kill us We are afraid we should be consumed by that great and dreadful Fire out of which we heard the Lord speaking to us For what man is there that ever heard God speaking out of the midst of the Fire as we have done and yet lived Since therefore the Lord hath hitherto been so gracious and propitious to us we humbly intreat him to regard our Infirmity which makes uncapable of enduring his terrible Presence Go thou therefore near unto him and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak thou (g) This is still the work of the Law to scare men and drive them to seek for a Mediator between God and them And by this Interposition of Moses was figured the necessity of the great Mediator between God and Man Gal. 3.19 Who was also promised on this occasion Deut. 18.15 16. unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it But let not the Lord speak to us any more immediately by Himself lest the terrour of his Presence kill us Moses encourages them and tells them They should not be so much dismayed and affrighted For God had spoken to them with so much terrour to prove them that is to try whether this terrour would produce in them a holy fear and reverence of his Majesty which is the true spring of Obedience that so they might be afraid to sin against Him Then the people standing aloof off Moses drew near to the thick Darkness on
that part the hoof that is into two parts as Oxen Cows and Sheep do and not into many as Dogs Cats c. and that chew the Cud and those to be accounted unclean that do neither or that chew the Cud but do not divide the hoof as the Camel Coney and Hare or divide the hoof but do not chew the Cud as the Swine These they might not eat nor touch their dead Carkasses 2ly Concerning Fishes the clean are all that have Fins and Scales the unclean those that have not 3ly Concerning Fowls the unclean are expressed some of them by their Names as the Eagle Hawk Kite Vulture and such Birds of prey c. some by their manner of going all Fowl that creep going upon all four being of a mungrel kind such as the Bat were to be an abomination to them yet the Locust bald Locust Beetle and Grashopper being flying creeping things were excepted and were all to be accounted clean But for the other who ever touched the Carkasses of any of them was to be unclean to the end of that day and though not his Flesh but only his Clothes touched them they must be washed Then three sorts of Beasts are mentioned by touching of whose Carkasses a man was made unclean 1. Such as divide the hoof but not into twain as Lions Wolves Apes Bears Dogs 2ly Such as these the Weesel Mouse Tortoise Ferret Snail Mole c. and the very utensils and other things that touched their dead Carkasses were thereby defiled 3ly The dead body of any clean Beast that dieth of it self or is strangled or torn by a wild Beast was neither to be eaten nor touched yet it might be sold and eaten by a Stranger or Alien that lived among them see Deut. 14.21 and the fat of it in such cases might be used to ordinary purposes of which see the Law Levit. 7.24 And no manner of creeping thing might they eat whither it went upon the belly as Snakes or Worms or crawled on all four as Frogs or had any feet to creep withall as Caterpillars And God gives them these Laws concerning Ceremonial Purity and avoiding any unclean thing as documents to them that their God whose Nature is transcendently holy required real holiness both of Heart and Life from them and had separated them to Himself that they might be an holy people Levit. 11. whole Chapter SECT XXXIV SEcondly Laws concerning Womens separation and purification after Childbirth After the birth of a Man-Child she was to be unclean seven days according to the days of her separation for her infirmity Levit. 15.19 and on the eighth day her Child was to be Circumcised and she was to continue unclean (s) V. 4. In Sanguine purificationis suae hypallage pro in purificatione sanguinis sui i. e. donec se perfecte sanguine sordibus partus liberaverit 33 days more After the birth of a Female both the time of her uncleanness and the days of her cleansing were to be doubled When the days of her purifying were fulfilled she was to offer for her purification if she were rich a Lamb of the first year for a Burnt-Offering and for a Sin-Offering either a young Pigeon or a Turtle-Dove If she were poor she was to bring either two Turtle-Doves or two young Pigeons one for a Burnt-Offering and the other for a Sin-Offering and the Priest was thereby to make atonement for her Levit. 12. whole Chapter SECT XXXV THirdly Laws concerning Leprosie and the different kinds thereof 1. Aaron and his Sons were appointed Judges to discern whither it be a Leprosie in man or any other thing 2ly The signs or tokens whereby they were to judge of Leprosie growing upon a man were first a white bright spot rising in the skin 2. If the natural colour of the hair were changed 3. If it were in sight deeper than the skin the nature of that Disease being to eat and consume the flesh 4. If the Scab did spread in the skin But if these signs did not concur then the Priest shall shut the man up seven days for further trial and seven days after that and if the malady spread not in the skin the Priest shall pronounce him clean 3ly The evident signs or tokens of an infectious Leprosie were these 1. If it were a white rising 2. If it had turned the hair in it white 3. If there was a quick raw flesh in the rising then it was the Leprosie and the Priest shall pronounce him unclean and shall not shut him up to make any further proof or trial of it But if the Leprosie have covered all his flesh he shall pronounce him clean because the strength of nature having expelled the inward Corruption and spread it all over his body it proved not then Infectious except there were here and there any raw flesh appearing and if so that was a sign that the poison of the Disease was not wholly driven out and in that case he shall be pronounced unclean but yet if this raw flesh afterwards turned again to white like the rest of his body then he shall be pronounced clean 4ly The signs of a Leprosie springing out of a Boil healed or the Scab of an healed Sore or a fiery Inflammation of which the Priest was to judge much after the Rules before given 5ly Signs of Leprosie in the Head or Beard the Leprosie of the other parts was notified by a white Hair this of the Head and Beard by a yellow thin hair black hair was a sign of soundness and strength of nature 6ly The Leper was to rend his Clothes to express his great sorrow for his sins that had provoked God to send that Judgment upon him and put a covering or muster upon his upper Lip see Ezek. 24.17 and Mich. 3.7 and to cry Vnclean Vnclean as bewailing his Condition and giving warning to others to avoid him And He was to dwell alone (t) As Miriam was put out of the Camp Numb 12.14 This was during their journying in the Wilderness when they were setled in Canaan the Lepers were shut out of the Cities 2 Kings 7.3 at least were confined to a house by themselves though Kings as Azariah 1 Kings 15.5 2 Chron. 26.21 yet upon necessary occasions they were permitted to come into the Streets and High-ways observing a due distance that they might neither give offence nor others take offence from them See Luke 17.1 12. without the Camp 7ly Directions are given for discerning when the Leprosie had infected Garments (u) Haec Lepra nobis Deo gratias incomperta est quae parietes adium perrepsit Ch. 14. v. 34. and Skins (x) This argued a strong and strange Infection either of the Air or breath of the Leper which is so much the sitter to set forth the Infection of Sin whereof Leprosie is both an effect and type and for burning those that were deeply infected Levit. 13. whole Chapter Fourthly Laws are given concerning the
those that profess themselves his people to carry themselves as those that serve a holy God with all possible care fear and reverence or else He will manifest his Holiness and Justice in punishing of them see Ezek. 28.22 And He having given them holy Laws as a means of their Sanctification He expects they should walk answerably thereunto and to the great Mercies He had vouchsafed to them Levit. 22. from 17. to the end 11ly Laws concerning the holy days and festival times to be observed by them 1. The weekly Sabbath which was to be observ'd in all their dwelling see Acts 15.21 Levit. 23. from 1. to 4. 2ly The Passover to be kept on the 14th day of the first month at Even or between the two Evenings that is between our Three a Clock in the Afternoon and Sun-set At the latter of these which was the beginning of the fifteenth day the Feast of unleavened bread began and continued seven days The first day of which and the last were to be holy Convocations and they were to do no servile (f) On the rest they might work unless the Sabbath fell on any of them work therein What the Sacrifices were that were to be offered on each of these seven days see Numb 28. from 18. to 26. On the second day of this Feast they were to bring a Sheaf of the First-fruits of their Barley-Harvest which is first ripe (g) See Exod. 9.31 32. Ruth 2.23 Their Wheat-Harvest was at Pentecost in that Country being ready about the end of our March or beginning of our April to the Priest who was to wave it before the Lord and then and not before they might reap their Harvest and dress of the Corn of it for themselves And an He-Lamb was appointed peculiarly to accompany this Sheaf besides the daily Sacrifice and those appointed for every one of the seven days and the Meat-Offering was to be double to the usual proportion in all other Sacrifices of Lambs * See Numb 15.4 perhaps because this was a gratulatory Sacrifice for the Fruits of the Earth And this is injoyn'd to be always observed by them as long as the Levitical Worship was to last From vers 4. to 15. 3ly The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost For from this second day they were to number seven compleat Sabbaths or Weeks which made 49 days then on the morrow after the seventh Sabbath or Week which was the 50th day reckoning the day on which they began their account inclusively they were to keep the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost and to offer a new Meat-Offering unto the Lord viz. two wave-Loaves of two tenth deals of fine Flower to be made in some of their Habitations of the new-wheat of their Land and to be offered as the First-fruits of their Wheat-Harvest which were to be waved by the Priest together with the Peace-Offerings And these Loaves were to be baked with leaven For though the Meat-Offerings which were in part to be burnt upon the Altar were always to be without leaven see Levit. 2.11 yet these of the First-fruits which were wholly for the Priests food were allowed to be leavened They were also to offer with the Bread seven Lambs of the first year and one young Bullock and two Rams for a Burnt-Offering and one Kid for a Sin-Offering and two Lambs of the first year for a Peace-Offering To these in this Feast were to be added other Oblations as we may see Numb 28.27 And whereas ordinarily the Priest had but the right shoulder and breast of the Peace-Offering * Levit. 7.31 32 33. here he was to have all because this was offered in general for the whole Congreation and no man in such a common concernment having right to challenge a singular portion to himself all was assigned to the Priest This Feast was to be kept as an holy Convocation and no servile work to be done thereon partly by way of thankfulness for the Fruits of the Earth and partly in remembrance of the giving of the Law * See Sect. 13. of Ch. 4. at this time of the year at Mount Sinah Levit. 23. from vers 15. to 22. 4ly The Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month so call'd because solemniz'd with blowing of Trumpets by way of rejoycing as 't is thought thorow all the Cities of Israel see Psal 81.3 It was to be a Sabbath or an holy day and solemn Feast unto the Lord Numb 29.1 and they were to do no servile work thereon and it was to be a Memorial to them that this was the first day of their new Year as to civil affairs * For Ecclesiastical matters God appointed the month Nisan or Abib which answereth to part of our March and part of our April to be the first month of the year and that in remembrance of their coming then out of Egypt Exod. 12.2 The seventh month from thence was called Tizri and began about the middle of our September and had been formerly the first month of their year yea and so continued still for civil affairs See Sect. 1. of Ch. 1. Therefore the Year of Jubilee began still at this month and was on the tenth day thereof viz. on the day of Expiation proclaimed Chap. 25.9 The first day of every month which was their new Moon they kept as an holy day a day of special Solemnity and thereon the Priests did blow with their Silver Trumpets over their Sacrifices see Numb 10.10 But the first day of this seventh month was kept as a far more solemn Festival the reason thereof was because this was the beginning of their new Year as to civil affairs And it was also to put them in mind of the special holiness of this month For as the Seventh day of every week was a Sabbath and every seventh Year a Sabbatical Year so God would have the seventh month of every Year to be holy to Himself in some singular manner above the rest of the months What the Sacrifices appointed for this Feast were see Numb 29. from 1. to 7. Levit. 23. from vers 23. to 26. 5ly The day of atonement on the tenth day of this seventh month on which day they were to afflict their Souls by fasting and abstinence from all fleshly delights as also by the inward duties of Humiliation and Contrition and that under the severe penalty of being cut off in case of presumptuous neglect The Solemnity began on the Evening or foregoing the tenth day Levit. 23.32 but the tenth day to the evening was chiefly allotted for this Service on which there was to be offered to the Lord just as much as on the first day see Numb 29. from 7. to the 12. on this day was the Jubilee to be proclaimed Levit. 25.9 Levit. 23. from vers 26. to 33. 6ly The Feast of Tabernacles which began on the fifteenth day of this month and lasted seven days On this day it seems they made their Booths
He was to wave them before the Lord and so they became his portion with the wave-breast and heave-shoulder the rest of the flesh and bread was to be eaten by the Owners that presented them These are the Offerings which a Nazarite who is to be discharged of his Vow is to offer besides what of his own free will he shall vow to give out of the estate which he hath gotten and wherewith God hath blessed him The former Offerings were prescribed by God and so necessarily to be offered both by Poor and Rich but if the Nazarite being rich vowed any more Offerings He must perform his vow accordingly These things being performed the Nazarite was discharged of his vow and had liberty to drink Wine again if he thought good Numb 6. from 1. to 2â— SECT XLIX THe Lord now prescribes to Aaron and his Sons how they should solemnly bless the people viz. lifting up their hands (x) See Levit. 9.22 they should say unto them The Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you The Lord lift up his Countenance upon you and give you peace Thus they were to put Gods Name upon the people that is to bless them in his Name and the Lord promises thereupon to bless them Numb 6. from 22. to the end SECT L. God now Commands two (y) At first there were but two Trumpets appointed viz. for Aaron's two Sons But the number of Priests increasing in Solomons time there were an 120 Priests sounding with Trumpets 2 Chron. 5.12 These Trumpets were signs of the ministry of the Word and the Office of Teaching discharged by men called and fitted silver Trumpets to be made for Aaron's two Sons Eleazar and Ithamar (z) The Priests are appointed to be Trumpeters that the people might entertain the sound thereof as given by the direction of God and accordingly conform themselves thereunto see Numb 31.6 2 Chron. 13.12 The use of these Trumpets was 1. To assemble the Congregation before the Lord in his Sanctuary 2ly To give warning and direction for their marching towards the Land of Canaan 3ly To encourage the people when they went forth to War 4ly To excite their joy and rejoycing at their solemn Festivals They were to blow with both Trumpets when all the people were to assemble at the door of the Tabernacle and to blow but with one Trumpet when only the Princes and Heads of the people were to come together unto Moses And when the Camps were to remove they were to blow an Alarm or Taratantara (a) V. 7. Clangetis non Tarantarizabitis Hic distinguit inter Clangere Taratantizare Freidlib and so the Camps that lay Eastward or Southward Northward or Westward were to move according to the several soundings of the Trumpet But when the Congregation was to be gathered together they were not to sound in that manner And only the Priests were to blow with Trumpets as long as the Priesthood and this Dispensation was to last And wheh the people were to go out to War the Priests were to sound an Alarm which was to be a sign to them that the Lord remembred their danger and would help them against their Enemies They were also to blow with these Trumpets on their solemn Festivals (b) V. 10. In their solemn days wherein honest chearfulness was not only allowed but injoyned Deut. 16.14 and days of rejoycing and on their new Moons over their Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings and this was to be to them for a Memorial before the Lord that is as a sign and token that if they performed this Service in faith of Gods mercy and with joyful and glad hearts the Lord would remember them and would hear their prayers and accept their Sacrifices Numb 10. from 1. to 11. SECT LI. ABout this time Jethro Prince of Midian a Country lying south from hence towards the Red-Sea father-in-Father-in-law to Moses repaired hither to give his Son-in-law a visit and brought with him Zipporah his Daughter Mose's wife and his two Sons Gershom and Eliezer which were left with him when Moses went into Egypt See Sect. 60. of Chap. 3. Moses hearing of his coming went out to meet him and did Obeysance to him and kissed him and bringing him into his Tent He acquainted him with all the wonderful things the Lord had done for them Jethro blesses God and Congratulates to Moses and the whole people of Israel their Deliverance out of the Egyptian Bondage he openly declares both by word and deed his Faith and Devotion towards the God of Israel Now says he I am assur'd the God of Israel is greater then all Gods for in the thing wherein the Egyptians were proud and haughty he was above them And Jethro after the manner of the Patriarchs (c) Forsan obtulit non immediate sed per sacerdotes Sic David sacrificasse fertur 2 Sam. 24.25 Solomon 1 Reg. 8.63 nempe mediantibus sacerdotibus offered Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices of Thanksgiving * Ex quibus maxima pars cedebat offerentibus unto God and Aaron and the Elders of Israel came to pay their Respects to him and to Feast with him upon those Sacrifices before the Lord (d) See Deut. 12.6 7. 1 Chron. 29.21 that is in the fear of the Lord and having the Lord in their eyes and being sensible of the Majesty of God appearing in the Cloudy Pillar On the morrow after Moses sat to judge the people and the people stood by him from Morning to Evening Jethro observing this and how the people came to Moses to inquire of the Lord for them both concerning religious and civil Affairs he fairly Chides him for his wearing out himself with continual imployment and the people with continual attendance and therefore advises him to take a better Course which he doubted not but by the blessing of God would be much for his own and the peoples ease Be thou says he for the people God-ward that is in matters of greater difficulty and importance where there is need of one to inquire of God there do thou still imploy thy self in seeking to the Lord for them and in returning answers from the Lord to them and shew them the way wherein they should walk and the work that they should do But as to other matters of lesser moment and easily to be decided chuse out from among the people able men men fearing God and men of truth and fidelity and hating Covetousness and make some of them Rulers over Thousands others over Hundreds others over Fifties and others over Tens and let them Judge the people at all seasons in matters of less difficulty but matters of greater moment let them bring to thee And so these Rulers will bear some part of the burden with thee and all will not lie on thy shoulders as now it does and the people hereby will have their matters sooner determined and dispatched without so
and therefore they should not hold Communion with Idolaters nor conform themselves to them in their Rites and Vsages Ye are the Children of God says he he hath chosen you to Himself for his peculiar people above all the Nations of the Earth therefore you shall not as the Heathens do cut themselves or make any incision in your flesh at the death of any of your dearest Friends Levit. 19.28 nor make any baldness between your eyes nor mourn so inordinately as they do who have no hope of a blessed Resurrection or eternal life These customs God forbids them to take up not only because they were the desperate effects of immoderate mourning but also because they were the customs of Idolaters and He would not have his people to conform themselves to them in these things lest they should from thence grow to a conformity to them in their Idolatrous worshipping of false gods In the next place he shews them That they may not eat any abominable thing namely such as God hath forbidden them And therefore here he sets down what may and what may not be eaten of Beasts of Fowls of Fishes of all which see Sect. 33. and Levit. 11. If any clean Creature died of it self it might be sold to or eaten by a stranger but not by themselves which restraints were to mind them of the difference God put between them and other Nations and the especial purity he required of them above other people Further he tells them They shall not seethe a * Id est cum matre lactante q. d. satis tibi sit comedere haedum abstine a matre Hoc enim prae se fâ—rt crudelitatem quandam Sic praecepit pullas avium comprehendere in nido matre dimissa Deut. 22.6 Kid in its Mothers milk that is they shall not be cruel as to seethe a Kid in that milk of its Dam which was given it for its nourishment see Sect. 17. of Ch. 4. Further he injoyns them to tythe all the increase of their Seed that the Field bringeth forth year by year and that not only the first tythe which they were to pay yearly to the Levites in the several places of their Habitations Numb 18.24 but the second Tythe taken after that which they should spend in holy Feastings before the Lord in the place which he shall chuse together with the firstlings of their Herds and Flocks that is either the Female-firstlings or the first-born after the Male-firstlings were paid to the Priest see Ch. 12.17 And the reason he gives why they should go up to the place the Lord had chosen and there feast together with these their holy things is that they might learn to fear the Lord their God always because the presenting themselves thus yearly before the Lord with their Sacrifices and Offerings must needs be of it self a good means to keep their hearts in a continual awe and reverence of God and at that holy place and in those holy Convocations the Priests were to instruct them in the Law and the Promises concerning the Messiah and in their Sacrifices they might behold a shadow of their Redemption by him all which must needs conduce to teach them the fear of the Lord. But in case they dwelt very far from the House of the Lord and their Tythes and Firstlings were so many that they could not well carry them so far then they might sell those things and carry the money with them and buy †Praetextu Legis hujus irrepsit improba consâ—etudo Joh. 2.14 therewith what they were to use there namely Oxen or Sheep or Wine or strong Drink or what else they desired to make a chearful Feast that they might rejoyce together before the Lord. And says he remember that thou forsake not nor neglect the Levite that is not only pay him the first Tythes but communicate to him also of these second Tythes that he may be sufficiently provided to eat and drink and rejoyce before the Lord as well as thy self seeing he is to have no Land of Inheritance among you to supply this unto him And every third year after the Sabbatical when the Land is to rest and so in the sixth year after that thou shalt bring forth all * Da decimas ut ditescas proverbium Judaeorum the Tythe of thy increase that year that is separate a third Tythe (i) So that every third year they separated three several Tythes The first was the Levites yearly livelihood The second they carried up with them to Jerusalem therewith to feast before the Lord. The third was laid up for the Poor which shall be laid up in some publick place in the Towns and Cities where they dwelt and that not only for the Levite but also for the Stranger the Fatherless and Widow Deut. 26.12 that they may eat and be satisfied And in so doing they might expect the Lord would please to bless them and prosper the works of their hands Chap. XV He amplifies and inlarges upon the Fourth Commandment dilating upon the Rites and Observances requir'd in the seventh or Sabbatical year At the end of every seventh year reckoning inchoative from the Sabbatical year says he thou shalt make a release that is every Creditor that lendeth ought unto his Neighbour shall release it He shall not exact it of his Neighbour or his Brother that is of any Israelite whatsoever because the Lord hath ordained it to be a year of Release But of a Foreigner or Heathen not proselyted thou mayst require what is thine with him And the end why ye shall so release is this that there may not be through your exacting debts of your Brethren any of them brought to extream poverty And if in this and other things they were obedient to Gods Laws He tells them God would so abundantly bless them that they should be well able to forbear the exacting of their debts and it should be no prejudice at all to them He would so bless them that they should have enough to lend (k) See Deut. 28.12 to many Nations and should not need to borrow of them and as otherways so particularly in lending to them says he thou shalt reign over them for the Borrower is Servant to the Lender Prov. 22.7 but they shall not reign over thee If there be a poor man of thy Brethren within any of thy Gates thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand from him but shalt open it wide unto him and shalt lend him sufficient for his need Beware therefore lest there be such a wicked thought in thine heart saying The seventh year the year of Release is at hand and thy eye be evil against thy poor Brother so that thou lookest doggedly upon him and givest him naught and he Cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee that is a great sin for which thou shalt be punished No on the contrary thou shalt surely give him * See Esay
his Brother nay the Wife of his bosom and his remaining Children any share of the Child he shall eat having nothing else left to feed upon in that Extremity The tender and delicate woman * Contigerunt iis ad literam in obsidione Samariae 4 Reg. 6. v. 29. in obsidione Jerusalem per Babilonios Threnorum 2. v. 20. in Romanâ apud Josephum Threnorum 2. dicuntur parvuli ad mensuram palmae comesti i. e. etiam imperfecti per aborsum abjecti Et tales videntur vocari hic illo versu 57 illuvies secundarum nempe proles adhuc secundis seu secundinis sordibus involuta ideo immundissima abominanda potius quam ad cibum expetenda Jans among them that would not adventure to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness she should grudge the Husband of her bosom and her Children grown up any share of her young Children which she should eat in secret in that extream Famine from vers 15. to 58. He further tells them That if they did not set themselves to fear the glorious God V. 58. That thou mayst fear this glorious and fearful Name the Lord thy God by the Name of God is to be understood the Lord Himself whose Name is Jehovah He would make their Plagues wonderful and would bring upon them and their Children great Plagues and Sicknesses and of long continuance yea the strange evil Diseases wherewith God plagued the Egyptians of which they were so much afraid should cleave unto them yea more Plagues should fall on them then are written in this Book And whereas they were as the Stars of Heaven for multitude they should be so wasted and destroyed that they should come to be but few in number And as the Lord formerly rojoyced over them to do them good and to multiply them so now He would rejoyce in their destruction and the execution of his Justice upon such Despisers of his Mercy and they should be plucked off from the Land which God gave them for an Inheritance viz. Canaan and so should lose the Pledge of their Adoption which would be a sad sign to them that their heavenly Father had disinherited them and cast them off And they should be dispersed and scattered abroad into many Nations and in their exile they should be inticed or forced to worship Wood and Stone and among those Nations they should find no ease or rest but should be hurried from place to place so that their hearts should tremble †Judaea tremen Juv. Satyr 6. and their eyes fail with extream weeping and their minds be fill'd with sorrow and vexation And they should be in continual doubt and fear both day and night of losing their lives which must needs make their condition exceeding grievous to them In the morning they should wish it were even and at even they should wish it were morning thorow the terrors of their minds and by reason of the dismal things they should see with their eyes And the Lord would cause them to be carried again by Ships into Egypt whither he had said they should return no more * God promised they should not return again thither on condition they were Obedient see Ch. 17.16 The Lord hath said unto you Ye shall henceforth return no more that way that is into that Country This was verified when the Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem were carried in Ships to Egypt and there fold for Slaves †There were then 97 thousand Captives of the Jews but they were so vile and contemptible that many would not proffer any money for them even to be their Slaves and none would buy them with an intent to set them at liberty from vers 58. to the end Chap. XXX He further declares to them That when in their exile they shall reflect upon the experience they had of Gods blessing them so eminently while they continued Obedient and how severely He punished them when they were Disobedient and shall thereupon truly repent and seriously turn unto the Lord both they and their Children and shall serve the Lord with all their Heart and Soul then the Lord will have compassion on them and will turn their Captivity and gather them from all the Nations under Heaven whither he had scattered them and from thence will fetch them back to their own Country see Neh. 1.9 And He will Circumcise †Promissio haec est spiritualium beneficiorum per Christum Conser Rom. 2.29 Col. 2.11 12. their hearts and the hearts of their Children that is will purge them of their Corruptions by the Grace of his Spirit and renew them and incline them to a ready Obedience to his Will that it may go well with them And his Curses shall fall on their Enemies and on those that persecuted them But they shall be blessed in the fruit of their Bodies of their Cattel and of their Land and these blessings shall be given them in mercy and shall tend to their good and not their hurt And the Lord will rejoce over them to do them good as he rejoyced over their Fathers And lest any of them should object and say they would willingly obey the Commandments of the Lord if they knew them He tells them That the directions he had given them concerning the way and means of Salvation by Faith in the Messias and the moral Law which he had given them as the rule * Loquitur de tota in genere Dei Doctrina quae Evangelium sub se Comprehendit ut clare ostendit Paulus Rom. 10.8 of their Obedience they could not pretend to be ignorant of Neither were those things hidden from them so that the knowledge of them need be fetched down from Heaven or from some remote Country for them for they were sufficiently revealed to them the word was very nigh them in their mouths and in their heart It was plainly reveal'd to them frequently read and expounded to them by the Levites so that they could not but talk of it and remember it And if they were obedient to this Law they should be happy but if they turned from the Lord to worship other gods and serve them they should not prolong their days in the Land which they were now going to possess He calls Heaven and Earth to witness that he had dealt faithfully with them He had on the one side set life before them with all manner of blessings attending it if they would be Obedient and on the other side death and misery if they were Disobedient He exhorts them to choose the one and to avoid the other and to cleave to the Lord with all their hearts for He was their life and the length of their days that is as He is the giver of life so He is the maintainer and prolonger of it And that they might injoy the fore-mentioned Chap. XXIX Blessings and escape the Curses He calls them now to
ei authoritatem coram populo Conciliet and I will be with thee Moses now commands the Priests the Sons of Levi to put this Book of the Law which he had written in some safe Repository or Chest on the outside of the Ark where was the Pot of Manna and Aaron's Rod see Heb. 9.4 Indeed in the Ark it self were only the two Tables 1 Kings 8.9 but on the outside of it and by it was this Volume of the Law to be kept This Book was many years after found in the Treasury of the Temple in Josiah's Reign 2 Kings 22.8 2 Chron. 34.14 and therefore it seems it had been removed from the Ark and kept elsewhere wherein seeing they transgressed the directions that God here gave to the Priests no marvel if this precious Treasure was for some years lost and not looked after Moses having commanded them to place this Book on the outside of the Ark He said to them O Israel if thou art disobedient this Book shall be a witness against thee wherein thou art sufficiently warned to the contrary and shewed the Judgments that will thereupon insue But alas I know thy rebellious Disposition and thy stiff Neck Ye have been rebellious against the Lord while I was with you how much more will ye be so when I am dead Gather therefore unto me all the Elders of your Tribes and your Officers that I may speak unto them and call Heaven and Earth to witness against them For I know that after my death you will corrupt your selves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you and evil will befal you in the latter days because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord and thereby provoke Him to anger The Elders and Officers of the people being met Moses spake in the ears of all the Congregation of Israel the words of this following Song Ch. XXXII Give Ear O ye Heavens * See Isa 1.2 and I will speak and hear O Earth the words of my mouth He beginneth this Prophetical Song with a Rhetorical Scheme calling the Heavens and Earth and all the Creatures in them to be witnesses of his word the more to affect the hearts of the people to reprove their hardness and to excite their attention I wish says He my Doctrine which I have received from God might so fall upon your hearts as the sweet and gentle Showers and fruitful Dew falleth upon the Herbs and Flowers and Grass of the Earth and causeth them to spring forth and flourish Isa 55.10 Hear therefore for I will now publish unto you the Name of the Lord that is his glorious Excellencies viz. his infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness and therefore see that ye ascribe Greatness and Majesty to Him and that ye magnifie Him as ye ought to do saying Thine O Jehovah is the Greatness and the Power and the Glory 1 Chron. 29.11 and that ye attend to what is spoken with all humility and lay it to heart and yield Obedience thereunto Know ye therefore that God is the Rock * In times of danger men use to fly to Rocks to shelter themselves 1 Sam. 13.6 He is an All-sufficient stable and sure Refuge for all those that fly to Him neither is there any sure Shelter any where else but in Him His Work is perfect for all his ways are Judgment All his Works are perfect (z) Even in those works of God that seem to have some imperfection in them as Children that are born blind or lame c. yet as they are acts of Providence there is a perfection of Wisdom Holiness and Justice in them and there is nothing at all in them for which God can justly be blamed and without any blemish there is no defect or fault to be found in any of them All his ways are Judgment his dealings with his people have been always right and just He is a God of truth and without Iniquity just and right is He. But as for this people they have corrupted themselves by their Idolatry their spot is not the spot of his Children for it proceedeth not of weakness and infirmity to which all are subject but of wilfulness and perverseness and an impenitent heart They are a perverse and crooked Generation for both their hearts and ways are evil and turned aside from the right Rule of Gods Law Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not God thy Father that made thee Is not He thy Father that hath bought thee that is ransomed and brought thee forth out of Egypt with a mighty Hand and the power of Miracles Hath not He made thee his people and established thee by Covenant to continue so if thou art not wanting to thy self and thy duty Remember the days of old and consider the years of many Generations ask thy Father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee how God when by his Providence He disposed the several Nations that came out of the Loins of Adam into several parts of the Earth allotting to one Nation one Country and another to another did then set the bounds of the people according to the number of the Children of Israel that is did then chuse the Children of Israel to be his peculiar people and Inheritance and where they were there it might be said was his people and where their bounds ended there was the end and utmost bound of his people and the bounds of the Heathen then began and according to his secret purpose he gave and allotted to the Canaanites such bounds and limits as he knew would serve for the number of the Israelites For the Lords portion is his people Jacob is the lot of his Inheritance that is the Israelites are that portion of Mankind whom he was pleased to make his peculiar people they are his Inheritance and therefore dear to Him as Inheritances use to be to men which are divided to them by lot and they were to acknowledge no other Lord over them but Himself and they and their Children after them were to be His successively He found them in a desart Land in a wast howling Wilderness inhabited only by wild howling Beasts of Prey He found them there in desperate danger but came in seasonably to their succour when they were ready to perish He led them about he instructed them both by his Word and Works by his Spirit and the several Dispensations of his Providence He kept them as the apple of his eye with tender care and love As an Eagle stirreth up her nest that is awaketh her brood or young ones in her nest rousing them up with the Cry that she maketh to signifie to them that she intends to teach them to fly and spreading abroad her wings taketh them up and beareth them thereon so did the Lord carry Israel towards Canaan leading them Himself thither and there was no strange god with him that is no strange God had any hand in
be made their Slaves and Vassals see Psal 31.7 8. And the Israelites may well say If our God had not done it the Idol gods of the Heathens could never have made them so Victorious over us For their Rock is not as our Rock Our God is of infinite Power and therefore able to make his people Victorious over their Enemies when He pleases but their Idol-gods on which they rely cannot make them to prevail over us except our God withdraw his help and give us up into their hands And this is so clear that our Enemies themselves cannot deny it But if any shall ask How came the Lord to be so incensed against Israel as to give them up into the hands of their Enemies The reason was because their Vine is the Vine of Sodom and of the Fields of Gomorrah their Grapes are Grapes of gall their Clusters are bitter that is they are of like nature and disposition and their lives and doings are like theirs of Sodom and Gomorrah and therefore no wonder if God be so highly offended with them their Wine is * This may have respect to their bitter and deadly malice against the Prophets and other faithful Servants of God in future times but especially against Christ and his Apostles the poyson of Dragons and the cruel venome of Asps that is their Works are distastful to God and deadly to themselves and others And says the Lord though for a time I forbear to punish these cursed Works of theirs yet let them not therefore think totally to escape For all their Transgressions are laid up in store with me and I keep them sealed up among my Treasures that is a Memorial of them is kept among the unsearchable Treasures of my Wisdom and Knowledge see Col. 2.3 To me belongeth Vengeance and Recompence that is the work of punishing wickedness they shall not stand stedfast in the prosperous Estate they now are in their foot shall slide in due time they shall certainly fall when my time is come and the day of their Calamity is at hand that is after they are grown thus desperately wicked it shall not be long ere this Calamity here threatned shall overtake them and the things that shall come upon them make hast But if they shall repent of their evil deeds and turn unto me I will take pity on them in the height of their misery and will change the course of my Administration towards them and will take Vengeance on their Oppressors and Adversaries And especially when I see their power is gone and there is none shut up or left viz. in Garrisons or Cities to defend themselves but all are in a manner overthrown and ruined then will I arise and help them for my great Name sake Then will I say to the Heathen Where are your gods your Rocks in whom ye trusted which did eat the fat of your Sacrifices and drank the Wine of you Drink-Offerings that is where are your Idols to whom ye burned the fat of your Sacrifices and poured out the Wine of your Drink-Offerings let them now rise up and help you and be your Protection if they can You shall know That I am the true God and there is none besides me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal 1 Sam. 2.6 neither can any deliver out of my hands I lift up my hand to Heaven and sware by my Self As sure as I live for ever I will do what I now say If I whet my glittering Sword and my Hand take hold on the Weapons of Judgment I will render Vengeance to mine Enemies and will reward them that hate me I will make mine Arrows drunk with blood and that with the blood of the slain and of the Captives that is both with the blood of those that are slain in the field and of those that are hurt in battel and thereupon taken Captive and my Sword shall devour much flesh from the beginning of revenges upon the Enemy that is from the time that I begin to take Vengeance on mine and my peoples Enemies and I will revenge all the wrongs that my people have suffered from their Enemies even from their first beginning to oppress them And seeing it shall be so Rejoyce O ye Nations with this people that is both Jews and Gentiles rejoyce and praise God together for his great goodness to his people in taking Vengeance on their Enemies and being so propitious and favourable unto them and hereby possibly is intimated that the time should come when both Jews and Gentiles should joyn together in praising the Lord namely when they shall be both his Church and people and therefore the Apostle alledgeth this place to prove the calling of the Gentiles Rom. 15.10 This was the Song that Moses spake in the ears of the Children of Israel Joshua standing by and as it were assenting to what he spake Moses further said unto them Set your hearts to all the words which I testifie among you this day and command your Children also to observe all the Precepts of this Law for it is not a vain thing for you so to do it is your life that is 't is the best way and means to prolong your days in the Land which you are going to possess God now gives Moses a Charge to go up to Mount Nebo to view the Land of Canaan telling him That there he should die and be gathered unto his people that is his godly fore-Fathers and the society of the Souls of just men made perfect as Aaron his Brother died on Mount Hor. And he gives him a reason why they both were excluded the Land of Canaan namely because they trespassed against Him at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh and sanctified Him not in the midst of the people see Numb 20.11 12. that is they did not at that time publickly shew before the people such an affiance in Him nor did so glorifie his great Name as they should have done Moses the man of God * He is so stiled that the Isâ—aelites might assure themselves that what he spake to them in these Prohetical blessings he spake by the authority of God Samuel is so stiled 1 Sam. 9.6 7. see 1 Tim. 6.11 viz. the Prophet of the Lord having received that Charge Ch. XXXIII to go up to Mount Nebo where he was to die He now immediately before his death solemnly blesses the twelve Tribes pronouncing such Prophetical blessings upon them as might allay in good part the bitterness of the fore-going Predictions Indeed the Tribe of Simeon is not at all here mentioned but the reason of it seems to be because this Tribe was to have their Inheritance within the Inheritance of the Sons of Judah Jos 19.1 Whence it was that they went joyntly together to fight against the Canaanites Judg. 1.3 and consequently this Tribe was blessed with that of Judah among whom they were to dwell And first as an Introduction or Preface to his Prophetick Benediction he sets
Israel for an Inheritance Only that he should be careful to observe the Law that Moses gave him and not turn from it to the right hand or to the left He commands him to read over diligently the Copy * The original wrote by Moses was laid up by the side of the Ark Deut. 31.25 26. of this Law and to meditate thereon day and night that his heart being filled with the knowledge thereof in all his Judgments he might be able readily to judge and pronounce as it is in that Law determined and in all things might order himself according to the directions there given and this would be the way to prosper and have good success in all that he went about Joshua having received these Commands from God He sent out two Spies from Shittim where the Camp now lay to view the City of Jericho and the Country about it to see how the City was fortified and in what posture the people thereabout were The Spies passing over the Fords of Jordan and coming thither betook themselves to the house of Rahab an Hostess or Victualler (e) See Apostol History pag. 392. on Heb. 11.13 The news of this being brought to the King of Jericho he presently sent Messengers to Rahab charging her to bring forth the men that were come into her house But she having some intimation possibly by the muttering of her Neighbours that her house would be searched she presently took the two men and carried them to the roof of her house that was flat and there hid them under stalks of Flax. It seems she had heard of the great things the Lord had done for the Israelites and by a special and extraordinary perswasion of Gods Spirit she did verily believe that God had determined that this people should destroy the Inhabitants of Canaan and dwell in their room and therefore resolved to do what she could for the preserving of these Spies with whom 't is like she had had some Conference before and had been instructed about these matters though it were with the hazard of her self When the Kings Messengers came to her the told them There had been indeed two men in her house but whence they came she knew not They went away from her house a little before the shutting of the Gates when it was dark They were but newly gone and if they immediately pursued after them Her seeking to hide the Spies was an act of faith very pleasing to God but the manner of doing it with a Lye cannot be defended she supposed they would quickly overtake them The Messengers accordingly went presently in pursuit of them towards the Fords of Jordan Rahab before the Spies had been long laid down among the Flax came up to them and told them what had passed Then she said (f) As for their talking thus together being of two several Nations we need not wonder at it for the Language of the Canaanites and other Neighbouring-Nations was not in those times much different from that of the Hebrew as by many Names both of Men and Cities among the Canaanites is very evident unto them I am perswaded that the Lord hath given you this Land your Terrour is fallen upon us and the hearts of this people faint before you We have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red-Sea for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two Kings of the Amorites Sihon and Og. The Report of these things hath made our hearts melt within us For the Lord your God He is God in heaven above and in the earth beneath and there is none like him Now therefore I pray you swear unto me by the Lord that since I have shewed you kindness you will shew kindness to my Fathers house and that ye will save alive my Father and Mother my Brethren and Sisters and all that they have and deliver our lives from death And give me a sign or token whereby we may make our selves known to you when you shall take this City and upon sight whereof you will be true and faithful to us and will save us from the general destruction The men answered Our life for yours This they spake as it seems by way of Oath or Execration as Rahab had desired of them vers 12. As if they should have said May destruction light upon us if we take not such order that you and yours shall be preserved provided none of you reveal this our business that is this our agreement and compact with you to spare your lives Rahab having obtained these terms of them she let them down by a Cord or Line made of Scarlet-thread thorow the Window her house being upon the City-Wall and bad them to get them to the Mountain lest the Pursuers should meet them and to hide themselves there three days These Spies thus let down giving Rahab as 't is like many thanks for her kindness to them told her That they would faithfully observe this Oath she had made them swear to her when they came to besiege the City provided she performed these three Conditions 1. The Line of Scarlet-thread whereby she had let them down should be tyed to the Window of her house as a Token by which the house should be known from others 2. Her Father and Mother and Kindred should come to her house and abide there and not stir out of doors 3. She should not discover this Agreement or Compact to any others whatsoever lest the Israelites should be deluded by others hanging out Scarlet-lines at their Windows as well as they She agrees to all and says According to your words so let it be Thus these two Spies escaped and came to Joshua and told him all that had happened to them and farther said Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the Land of Canaan for the hearts of the people faint for fear of us Joshua hearing these things He commands the Officers to go thorow the Camp and to tell the people That within three days they should pass over Jordan and therefore they should prepare themselves Victuals viz. all provisions fit for such a Journey excepting bread for Manna was yet continued to them and ceased not till after they came into Canaan He puts the Reubenites Gadites and the half-Tribe of Manasseh in mind of their promise made to Moses That they would assist their Brethren in the Conquering of the Land They promise a ready compliance with his Commands telling him That as they had hearkned unto Moses so they would hearken unto him and prayed unto the Lord to prosper him in all his proceedings as he prospered Moses And they tell him That if any man refuse to obey his Commands he shall be put to death therefore they intreat him to be of good courage Joshua Ch. 1. whole Chapter Joshua Ch. 2. whole Chapter SECT XCV THe next morning after this preparation they removed from Shittim and marched near to the River
possibly that these Kine had been given up by the Philistines to the service of the Lord to bring home the Ark and having been imployed in so sacred a service it was not fit they should be imployed to any other use and therefore they resolved by this way of an extraordinary Burnt-offering to give them up to the Lord. And besides this Burnt-offering of the Kine the men of Bethshemesh brought their own Oblations to the Priests who offered Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings to the Lord that day for them as an expression of their thankfulness to God for the return of the Ark. But it seems some of the men of Bethshemesh were so presumptuous as to open the Ark and to look into it whereas it was not lawful for any but the Priests no not for the Levites themselves who carried it to look upon it bare and uncovered see Numb 4.20 yet it seems these bold Bethshemites not only took liberty without any fear or reverence to gaze and stare upon it but proceeded further even to look into it possibly to see whether the Philistines had taken any thing out of it or put any thing into it which they should not have done but only the Priests Hereupon God smote seventy (a) v. 19. Textus sic se habet percussit de populo 70 viros 50 millia virorum i. e. percussit de populo in quo erant viri 50 mille viros 70. Syr. Ar. legunt 5 millia 70 viros Sic pro chamishim legunt duntaxat chamish q. d. percussit de populo Bethshemitico in quo erant 5 mille viros 70. ut sensus sit Deum pro indulgentia sua noluisse in omnes reos animadvertere sed in partem tantum eorum Ergo supplenda est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ante 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reddenda si sequamur Syr. Ar. quinque mille Quis enim credaâ— ex oppido non admodum copioso 50 millia mortuos esse plurimos relictos qui eorum funera lugerent Secundum aliquoâ— sensus loci est illos 70 viros tales fuisse ut a quipararentur 50 millibus de plebeiis vide 2 Sam. 18.3 of them who it seems were most presumptuous though there were many thousands of them that had adventured to look upon it uncovered He smote of the people the Text says that were fifty thousand or as the Syriack and Arabick read it five thousand †These were not all probably the inhabitants of Bethshemesh but many of them such as â—â—ooked from the neighbouring Countries to see the Ark when returned seventy persons And the Bethshemites bewailed this sad slaughter God had made among them in a complaining manner they said Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God who manifesteth himself from between the Cherubims and to whom shall the Ark which is the sign and pledg of his Presence go up from us Intimating that people would be afraid to entertain it seeing such direful things following of it So they went to the Inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim a City in the Tribe of Judah not far from them to desire them to fetch the Ark thither pretending possibly it was a place of much more safety for it to be in than their City was The men of Kirjath-jearim were so far from opposing the bringing of the Ark to their City notwithstanding the sad calamity that had befallen so many of the Bethshemites that they themselves fetched it thither and undoubtedly with much joy the Priests of Bethshemesh carrying it as believing that it was not the presence of the Ark among the men of Bethshemesh but their irreverent carriage in gazing upon it or looking into it that was the cause of their misery When they had brought it to their City they placed it in the house of Abinadab a Levite and a man as 't is like of singular holiness whose house was on a hill and possibly fenced in and called Gibeah 2 Sam. 6.3 a place of strength and safety for the Ark to be kept in Having carried it into his house they sanctified Eleazar his Son to keep it that is they chose him to be set apart to this holy imployment to give continual attendance upon the Ark that he might keep others from coming near to pollute or defile it and they caused him to prepare himself for this Sacred charge by washing his garments and other such like Ceremonies of Legal purifying It may seem strange that they did not carry the Ark back to the Tabernacle in Shiloh but it seems the Lord would shew his indignation against the former wickedness of that place by not suffering the Ark to be carried thither again So he forsook the Tabernacle of Shiloh c. Psal 78.60 And the Ark being thus separated from the Tabernacle they continued divided for ever after for 't is said that David prepared a new Tent for it 1 Chron. 15.1 and it remained at Kirjath-jearim twenty years (d) This cannot be meant of the whole time of the Arks remainning at Kirjath-jearim for tween the death of Eli shortly after which the Ark was brought to this place and the beginning of Davids reign when it was removed thence 2 Sam. 6.2 3. there must needs be forty years allowed for the Government of Saul and Samuel Act. 13.21 all which time the Ark continued in Kirjath-jearim unless when it was for a while carried forth into the Camp in the War against the Philistines Ch. 14.18 before the people could be won to that solemn repentance and conversion recited in the following verses But though the Ark was at Kirjath-jearim yet the Tabernacle and publick worship of God was at Shiloh 1 Sam. Ch. 5. wh Ch. Ch. 6. wh Ch. Ch. 7. ver 1 2. SECT CLVII FOR twenty years together after the Ark was removed to Kirjath-jearim the Isralites were grievously oppressed by the Philistines but at length by the exhortation of Samuel and the troubles they had felt they were brought to repentance and lamented after the Lord that is humbling themselves cried and called unto him for help and deliverance The Elders therefore of Israel resorting to Samuel he exhorted them to put away their strange Gods and Goddesses see Judg. 2.13 14. and to prepare and compose their hearts to serve the Lord intirely in a setled course of new obedience and then he doubted not but he would deliver them out of the hands of the Philistines Accordingly they did abandon and cast away their Idols and served the Lord only as his Law required Samuel hereupon summons the whole body of the people to Mizpeh * Situate in the confines of Judah and Benjamin and therefore reckoned among the Cities of both Tribes see Josh 15.38 18.26 that there they might together renew their Covenant with God which they had so shamefully broken and joining together in serious and solemn humiliation they might by fasting and prayer implore mercy and forgiveness from God with a return of his
Son of Nebat for their King But the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin stuck fast to Rehoboam In memorial of this sad rent the Jews afterwards kept a solemn Fast yearly upon the three and twentieth day of the third month called Sivan Rehoboam being come to Jerusalem forthwith raises an Army of an hundred and fourscore thousand valiant men out of Judah and Benjamin to reduce the Ten Tribes back to his subjection but is forbidden to proceed on in that enterprize by the Prophet Shemaiah who told him that the thing was of God who had so ordered it for the punishment of his Fathers defection from him and so the people returned to their own homes But though for the present that design was laid aside yet there followed continual bickerings between the two Kings all their days and the borderers on both sides did continually make inrodes one upon another see Ch. 14.30 Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem and built and fortified fifteen Cities for the defence of Judah and made great warlike provisions and put Garrisons into the Cities and placed Captains and Commanders over them some whereof it seems were his own Sons for 2 Chron. 11.23 't is said He dealt wisely and dispersed all his children thoroughout all the Countries of Judah and Benjamin into every fenced City And in that it must be acknowledged he dealt prudently for in his own Sons he might most securely confide And he stored those Garrisons with plenty of victuals and with wine and oyl and in every Garrison he put Shields and Spears and other Warlike ammunition and made them exceeding strong And many Priests and Levites that were cast off by Jeroboam and his Sons * They probably were placed as Captains in the Cities of Israel as Rehoboam's Sons were in the Cities of Judah who would not suffer them to execute the Priests office in their Cities and many people out of all the Ten Tribes who set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel resorted unto him whereby his Kingdom was much strengthned For three years he and his people walked in the ways of David and in the ways of Solomon viz. his first ways before his fall but afterwards they forsook the Law of the Lord though some particular persons among them undoubtedly remained faithful to God and made themselves High-places Images †So that none of the twelve Tribes at this time continued faithful to God the Ten revolted with Jeroboam and these two with Rehoboam and Groves doing according to all the abominations of the Heathen And they did evil in the sight of the Lord and provoked him to jealousie with their sins insomuch that in none of their Fathers days there was such a general apostasie And it seems there were among them some that practised that abominable sin of Sodomy so that they did after all the abominations of the Heathen whom God cast out before their Fathers As for the Domestick affairs of Rehoboam we find that he took eighteen Wives and sixty Concubines and begat twenty eight Sons and sixty Daughters and dispersed his Sons through all the Countries of Judah and Benjamin into the several fenced Cities and there gave them liberal and Princely allowances and sought out many Wives for them out of Noble Families to strengthen their interest by their alliances Of all his Wives he loved Maachah best the daughter of Absalom who was a great Idolatress see 1 King 15.13 and he made Abijah her Son to be chief ruler over his brethren intending he should succeed him in the Throne In the fifth year of his reign because he had so heinously transgressed against the Lord Shishak King of Egypt invited possibly thereunto by Jeroboam who had lived there and been kindly entertained by him before he was made King came up against him with twelve hundred chariots and threescore thousand horsemen and people without number Some of them were Lybians a people in Africa bordering upon Egypt some Suckites otherwise call'd Troglodites a people dwelling in Caves of Rocks and some of them Ethiopians With this great Army invading Judea he took the fenced Cities that were in his way to Jerusalem and then came before that City also The people of Judah being now in great distress Shemaiah the Prophet came to Rehoboam and the Princes * Ver. 6. Princes of Israel that is the Princes of Judah who were Israelites that were gathered together in Jerusalem and spake to them after this manner Thus saith the Lord ye have forsaken me and therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak Rehoboam and the Princes upon this humbled themselves and confest their sins and said the Lord is righteous in all the judgments he hath brought upon us Hereupon the Lord spake to Shemaiah again saying They have humbled themselves therefore I will not utterly destroy them but grant them some deliverance and my wrath shall not be poured forth upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak nevertheless they shall be his servants and shall yield to such terms as he shall put upon them that they may know my service and the service of the Kingdoms of the Countries That is that they may know by the hard conditions Shishak will put upon them how much better it had been for them to have served me than by their sins to have brought themselves into bondage to other Nations See Isa 26.13 So Shishak being come before Jerusalem to save the Temple and City from plunder and to regain the Cities he had taken as he came up to them they were forc'd to give him the Treasures †This was the first spoiling of the Temple of the Temple not the holy vessels but such gold and silver and other precious things as were laid up for repairing the Temple and other holy uses as also the Treasures of the Kings house as also the Golden Shields that Solomon had made 1 King 10.16 Instead of these Rehoboam made Shields of Brass and committed them to the hands of the chief of the Guard that kept the door of the Kings house And when the King entred into the house of the Lord the Guard came and fetched them and carried them before him and when he was come back returned them again into his Guard-chamber Thus Rehoboam humbling himself the wrath of God turned from him so as he would not destroy him altogether And after this things began to go well again in Judah for they enjoyed their liberty of serving the true God the benefit of their own Laws and had for the most part peace and prosperity So Rehoboam recovered strength again and repaired and fortified the Cities of his Kingdom yet he did not sincerely set and fix his heart to seek the Lord that is did not endeavour to know him aright to worship him purely to call upon him fervently and to obey him faithfully and in all these to persevere constantly Now the Acts of Rehoboam first and last namely such as were done in his
Lord is with you while ye be with him and that while you walk in his ways he will not fail to bless you If ye seek him he will be found of you but if ye forsake him he will forsake you You may see a clear instance of this in the Kingdom of Israel who for above thirty years last past namely since their revolt under Jeroboam have lived without the publick pure worship of God not having his Priests to instruct them nor regarding his Law to direct them but if they would repent and return to God undoubtedly he would be ready to receive them into his favour again For in former times viz. the times of the Judges when the Israelites were in great trouble and under sore oppressions so that there was no peace to him that went out or came in but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of those Countries and Nation was destroyed of Nation and City of City God vexing them with sore adversity yet even then when they did seek to the Lord and turn'd unto him he had mercy upon them and did afford them help and deliverance And so if the ten Tribes that have thus forsaken the Lord would turn to him he would surely have mercy upon them But whatever they do let me advise thee O King and thy subjects to go on courageously with the work of reformation begun by you and assure your selves that God will still be with you to bless you whilst you are for him When Asa heard these words together with the Prophesie of Oded the Father of this Azariah which it seems he declared unto him at this time and added it to his own exhortation Asa took courage and made a more diligent search throughout all his Kingdom and put away the remaining Idols that were found among them and that not only out of the land of Judah and Benjamin but out of the Cities which either his Father Abijam or he himself had taken about Mount Ephraim See 2 Chron. 13.19 17.2 And he renewed and repaired the Altar of the Lord that Solomon had built in the Priests Court which now by continual use was something decayed and he summoned all Judah and Benjamin and such of the ten Tribes as were within his Dominions for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that the Lord so eminently blessed him and on the third month in the fifteenth year of his reign which was the 35th * For Rehoboam reigned 17 years Abijah 3 Asa 15 at this present since the Kingdom of Judah and Israel were divided 2 Chron. 15.19 he and his people offered unto the Lord of the spoils they had gotten seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep and entred into a Covenant to seek the Lord God of their Fathers with all their heart and all their soul and that whosoever should worship any false Gods either publickly or privately should be put to death according to the Law Deut. 17.2 c. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice and with shouting and with Trumpets and Cornets sounding And all Judah rejoiced at the Oath for they had sworn with all their heart and sought the Lord with their whole soul and he was found of them and heard their prayers and granted their desires accepted what they did and prospered their endeavours and he gave them rest round about There had been no war betwixt Israel and Judah in Asa's time till the 15th year of his reign * 2 Chron. 15.19 for There was no more war read there had been no war viz. betwixt Israel and Judah till the 15th year of Asa Bellum enim non fuerat usque ad annum trigessimum quintum regni Asae Tremel But now about the sixteenth year of Asa and 36th since the division of the Kingdoms Baasha King of Israel perceiving how potent Asa began to be and how fast the Israelites revolted to him and how they had all entred into a Covenant to serve the Lord he began to arm against them in the fourteenth year of his reign and from this time there was war between Baasha and Asa all their days 1 King 15.16 And Baasha having gotten Ramah which was one of the Cities of Benjamin from the King of Judah fearing the greatness of Asa and the revolt of the Israelites to him he resolved to fortifie it and put a Garrison into it that he might keep his own people from flying to him Asa to divert him from building and fortifying of Ramah takes out the silver and gold that were in the Treasures of the Temple and the Kings house and sent them to Benhadad King of Syria to hire him to break his League with Baasha King of Israel He represents to him that there was a League between Benhadad and him as there had been between their Fathers he desir'd him therefore to break the League he had with the King of Israel and to invade his Country that he might depart from him for he was come down to his very borders Doubtless for Asa to be so much afraid of the Israelites and to rob the Temple and therewith to hire an Infidel to break his Covenant with them and to make war upon them and that soon after God had given him so great a victory over that vast host of the Ethiopians Lubims Arabians and Philistines and had manifested so great a readiness to help him was a great sin Benhadad accordingly having received this present not regarding his faith or league made with the Israelites forthwith invaded and took many of their Cities Baasha upon this left off fortifying Ramah and went against Benhadad to defend his own Country †And afterwards when he had secured his own land he went and dwelt at Tirzah In the mean time Asa by Proclamation gathered together all that were able in Judah to go up to Ramah to demolish it and the men of Judah and Benjamin went up thither and fetched away the timber and stones that Baasha had provided to build and fortifie it with and Asa built therewith Geba and Mizpah * See Jer. 41.9 where we read of a pit that Asa had in Mizpah that continued unto the Captivity two Cities in the Tribe of Benjamin Hanani the Seer father of the Prophet Jehu 1 King 16. came hereupon to Asa and said to him Thou hast done ill to distrust the Lord and to relye on the King of Syria to deliver thee from Baasha For hadst thou suffered Benhadad to continue firm to his league with Baasha they both would have invaded thy land and thou shouldst have overcome them both as thou didst the great Army of the Ethiopians whereas now by making an agreement with Benhadad thou hast cut off that advantage from thy self and so his host is escaped out of thy hands Thou maist remember how God gave thee victory over that vast Army of the Ethiopians because thou didst relye on him For the eyes of the Lord
Idolatrous Ahab and curs'd Jezabel But O how often and how easily does interest of State and worldly policy make Religion truckle under it And the Kingdom felt the sad effects of this match not long after About the 17th year of his reign and the 22th of Ahab making his Son Jehoram Viceroy in his absence with a great train and as it seems accompanied with some troops of Souldiers he went down to Samaria to visit Ahab None of his Predecessors had ever done so before and for Jehoshaphat a worshipper of the true God to go down to such an Idolater as Ahab was may seem very strange But being come to Samaria Ahab entertained him and his followers very magnificently and killed sheep and oxen in abundance to feast them But had not the Lord been more merciful to Jehoshaphat than he was wise for himself he had paid dear for his entertainment for when he was there Ahab perswaded him to go up with him to fight against the Syrians and to take in Ramoth-Gilead where Jehoshaphat was in great danger and Ahab was killed as we may see more particularly in the life of Ahab When Jehoshaphat returned home the Prophet Jehu the Son of Hanani who reproved Asa 1 Chron. 16.7 met him and said to him Shouldst thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord was it for thee to join thy self in such a strict league of friendship with such an Idolatrous wretch such an enemy to God and all goodness as Ahab was Therefore is wrath * Jehoshaphat soon felt the effects of this denunciation in that invasion of the Moabites and Ammonites which followed after 1 Chro. 20.1 and in the dissention that began at present among his own sons which was the seed of that horrible slaughter which his Eldest Son afterwards made of them 1 Chron. 21.4 coming upon thee from the Lord that is God is highly displeased with thee and hath determined to pour out his displeasure upon thee Nevertheless there are good things found in thee in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land and hast prepared thine heart to seek the Lord therefore the Lord will deal gently with thee and even in judgment remember mercy Jehoshaphat being awakened with this reproof of the Prophet he went out and visited his Kingdom from Beersheba the South border to Mount Ephraim the North border thereof and reduced those who he understood had revolted from the Lord unto Idolatry false worship or wickedness of life and reformed what he found out of order among them He also set up Judges in all the fenced Cities of Judah and said to them Take heed what you do ye judg not for man that is meerly in the name and by the authority of man but for the Lord to whom ye must give account and who is with you in the judgment seeing all ye do and is ready to protect you if you judg uprightly and to punish you if you deal unjustly Wherefore let the fear of the Lord be upon you be afraid to do any thing that may offend him Take heed to your office and execute it justly and as you ought to do For there is no iniquity with the Lord our God neither will he favour it therefore let there be none in you God is no respecter of persons nor will be swayed with outward considerations nor will be bribed to do any thing that is unjust and therefore see that you imitate him therein Jehoshaphat had also an especial care over his great City Jerusalem to keep it in good order And therefore when he and those that attended him returned thither he there set up the high Court or Council call'd the Sanhedrin consisting of Levites Priests and the Elders of the people to which all appeals were to be made from inferiour Courts and to which all causes of difficulty were to be referred So that they were for the judgment of the Lord that is to judge in matters Ecclesiastical concerning which God had determined in his word what should be done and for controversies that is to judge in matters meerly civil And he charged them saying Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord faithfully and with an upright heart whatever cause shall come before you of your brethren between blood and blood that is between blood shed willingly and unwillingly and casually or between Law and commandment statute and judgment that is when each party shall pretend they have the Law on their side and so one shall alledge one Law and another another ye shall rightly interpret the Law to them and warn them that they trespass not against the Lord by wresting the Law to what it never intended If you do otherwise wrath from the Lord will come upon you and your brethren But if you rightly warn and direct the people ye shall not trespass therein either against God or your brethren And behold Amariah the chief Priest is over you in all matters of the Lord that is in all matters Ecclesiastical that concern Religion and the worship of God and Zebadiah the Son of Ishmael a chief ruler of the house of Judah is over you for all the Kings matters that is for all matters of State or controversies or pleas that concern the Crown and the Levites shall be Officers for you and ready to attend you and to carry your orders and directions unto others and to see them executed Lastly let me exhort you to do courageously and assure your selves the Lord shall be with the good and such as are careful and conscientious in the doing of their duties to assist and protect them and to bless their persons and endeavours About the 18th year of his reign there being no King in Edom 1 King 22.47 but only a Deputy set over them by the King of Judah Jehoshaphat took that advantage to build for himself a Fleet at Ezion-Geber which was in Edoms Territories to go to Tarshish and Ophir to fetch Gold Ahaziah the wicked Son of Ahab desired to go sharer with him in that Fleet and that his servants might go along with Jehoshaphats servants 1 King 22.49 At first Jehoshaphat refused it but afterwards as it seems upon Ahaziahs importunity consented to it See 2 Chron. 20.35 36. Thereupon the Prophet Eleazar came to him and reproved him for it and foretold him that his ships should be broken which accordingly so came to pass in the very Port of Ezion-Geber 2 Chron. 20. from v. 25 to the end Sometime after the Moabites and with them probably some of the Syrians and especially of the Edomites that dwelt on mount Seir. See v. 10. gathered together to invade Judea Possibly Jehoshaphat's late aiding Ahab in his wars against Syria gave occasion to this invasion Immediately Jehoshaphat was inform'd that a very formidable and great multitude was coming against him from the other side of the Dead Sea out of Syria * Syria must be here taken in a general and large
Cleopatra his Brothers wife all the Armies of the Syrians except a few revolted to him so that Tryphon seeing himself thus forsaken fled to Dora a Maritime City of Phoenicia whither he was straight pursued and blocked up both by sea and land Simon sent 2000 choice men to Sidetes at the siege of Dora but he to Simons great astonishment refused them all and brake whatever Covenants he had made with him And further sent Athenobius to him complaining of his holding Joppa Gazara and the Castle at Jerusalem and destroying the borders and holding the Government of divers places of his Kingdom requiring of him the tributes of those places beyond the bounds of Judea which were possessed by him or else in lieu thereof to pay 500 Talents and for the tribute of the other places held by him 500 Talents more menacing war against him except all things were performed that he demanded To these things Simon answered that he held no Towns belonging to any other Prince but had recovered by his sword some Towns of his own held back from him by his enemies as for Joppa and Gazara though they had done much harm to his people yet he was willing to pay an hundred Talents At this answer Sidetes was exceedingly enraged In the mean while Tryphon escaped away from Dora to Orthosias another Maritime City of Phoenicia Antiochus himself pursuing Tryphon left Cendebaeus to take care of the Sea-coasts and to build up Cedron and to deal with the Jews He being come as far as Jamnia began to make inroads into Judea and to take the people prisoners and to kill and slay such as he pleased John the Son of Simon then lying at Gazara and understanding how things went gave notice thereof to his Father who being now decrepid committed the managing of the war to him and his Brother Judas John therefore with 20000 Foot and some Horse marched against Cendebaeus who met them with a powerful Army and marshalling his body in such wife that the Horse and Foot might mutually protect each other and then sounding with their holy Trumpets they engaged the enemy and overthrew him and put his whole Army to the rout some betook themselves to the Fort newly built and others flying away he pursued as far as the Towers of Azotus and having slain about 2000 men in the pursuit he burnt those Towers and returned safe into Judea Tryphon at last fled to his own Country-men at Apamea and in the way as he went he scattered money on purpose to retard Antiochus's Souldiers in the pursuit of him and so escaped out of their hands but at last he was taken by Antiochus and put to death Simon traversing the Cities of Judea and providing for their orderly government came down with his Sons Mattathias and Judas to Jericho there Ptolemy the Son of Abubus his Son-in-law who was by him set over the Province of Jericho entertained them in Doc-castle which he had fortified but designing to get the Government of the Country to himself whilst he was treating them at a Banquet most treacherously and barbarously slew Simon with his two Sons and some of his servants after he had discharged the office of High Priest for the space of eight years and three months Ptolemy immediately acquaints Antiochus Sidetes with this villany desiring him to speed an Army for his assistance promising to deliver the Cities and Country of Judea into his hands So that it seems more than probable that this villany was not transacted without the privity of Sidetes and that the honour and reward which the Traytor so much aspired unto was before promised him by the King upon his performance of it This perfidious Ptolemy also sent other cut-throats to murder John Simon 's other Son but he escap'd them He dealt also with the Colonels of the Jewish Militia to draw them over to himself promising them great rewards And moreover sent some to seize upon Jerusalem and the mountain of the Temple John having received information of the murder of his Father and Brethren and that some were sent to do as much for him prevented his enemies by falling upon them first and so was made High Priest in the room of his Father 1 Mac. 16. And here the Author of the first Book of Maccabees concludes his work having therein delivered the History of forty years which Josephus continues on Antiochus Sidetes taking the opportunity of Simon 's death entred Judea with an Army and having wasted the Country forced John Sirnamed afterwards Hircanus to retire into the City of Jerusalem and then laid a close siege to it the siege was prolonged through the strength of the walls and valour of the defendants Antiochus built many turrets about it out of which he attempted the walls and begirt it so straightly with a double Trench that there was no getting out for the besieged any way Hircanus seeing a great and useless multitude in the City which consumed the victuals put out the more infirm out of the walls but Antiochus would not suffer them to pass so that they wandered about the walls almost famished till at last out of pity they were taken in again At this Feast Hircanus sent out to Antiochus to desire a truce for seven days for their Feasts sake which Antiochus not only granted but also brought in great pomp to the very gates of the City bulls with guilded horns and gold and silver cups filled with all manner of spices to be offered to the God of Israel and delivered sacrifices to the Priests of the Jews so easily can God change the hearts of Princes Hircanus was so taken with this great act of piety in Antiochus that from thence forward he gave him the title of Pius and sent to him to request terms of peace of him and that he would give them leave to live according to the Laws of their forefathers Many of those that were about the King pressed him not to make any peace with them but to demolish their City and destroy the whole Nation of the Jews as being a people severed from all other Nations by their peculiar laws and customs or if he would not do so at least to abrogate their Laws and force them to change their manner of living But God so over-ruled the Kings heart that he utterly rejected this counsel and approving the piety of the Jews offered them peace upon condition that they should pay him tribute for Joppa and other Towns without Judea and receive a Garrison They yielded to the former but not to the last in regard they would avoid all commerce with strangers in lieu of that they chose rather to give hostages for their fidelity amongst whom Hircanus's own Brother was one and to pay 500 Talents whereof 300 at present These terms being agreed unto by Antiochus the siege was immediately removed Hircanus opening the Sepulcher of David found there 3000 Talents wherewith he not only paid Antiochus his 300 but feasted him and his
they knew that Idolatry and many other gross sins were at this time rife among them as we may learn from the Psalmists words Psal 78.58 speaking of these very times yet they were so blind and stupid that because they were the seed of Abraham they wondered that God should take part with the uncircumcised Philistines against them not being sensible of their own great wickedness which had provoked him to bring that calamity upon them And vainly they thought to mend the matter by fetching the Ark of God the sign of his presence to be among them For not repenting of their sins whereby they had forfeited their interest in God nor seeking to make their peace with him as they ought to have done their confidence in the Ark was vain and groundless However without consulting with God or advising with Samuel they resolve to fetch it into the Camp by which in former times their Ancestors had prevailed against their enemies as at the taking of Jericho Josh 6.4 5. and they hoped it would now help them also And thus they trusted more in the visible presence of the Ark than the gracious presence and assistance of God which they could not rationally hope for whilst they continued impenitent and unreform'd The Ark being sent for the two Sons of Eli Hophni and Phinehas came along with it either to carry it as Numb 4.15 or to attend it And when it came into the Camp all Israel shouted with a great shout so that the earth rang again with the rebound or Eccho of their shout The Philistines understanding this were sore affraid for they said God is come into the Camp thinking it seems the Ark to be some representation of the God of the Israelites and having the same opinion of it that they had of their own Idols at least they conceived some Divine power went along with it which was the reason they were so afraid And they said Wo unto us there hath not been such a thing heretofore that is in former conflicts which we have had with them they used not to bring their Ark into the Camp and by this unwonted shout of theirs we may perceive how much greater their hope and confidence now is than it hath been formerly Wo unto us who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty Gods Thus they speak of the true God after their Idolatrous manner who worshipped many Gods or Idols They further said These are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the Plagues which fell upon Pharoah and his people in Egypt and at last drowned them in the Red-Sea which joined to the desert or wilderness of Etham Exod. 13.20 upon which many of their dead carcasses were cast up and hereupon they name this as the consummation of all the former Plagues Therefore they encouraged one another saying Let us be strong and quit our selves like men and fight valiantly that we be not servants unto the Hebrews as they have been unto us Judg. 13.1 Accordingly the Armies encountring each other the Philistines fought stoutly and the Israelites were discomfited and there fell thirty thousand Footmen for they had no Horse and the rest were miserably scattered so that they fled to their own houses or dwellings See Ch. 13.2 1 King 12.16 And the Ark of God was taken (a) The Ark being in the Tabernacle at Shiloh it was now taken thence and never came into it again It was carried now to Ebenezer a place ominous now but a monument of Gods help soon after into the Camp Ch. 5.1 that it might save them out of the hands of their enemies as we read the Philistines themselves in the days of David brought their Images into their Camp 2 Sam. 5.21 1 Chron. 14.12 The Ark being taken there by the Philistines they carried it about to Ashdod into the house of Dagon thence to Gath thence to Ekron and after they had kept it seven months they sent it to Bethshemesh a City in the Tribe of Judah and it was fetcht thence to Kirjathjearim a City likewise of Judah It was there placed in the house of Abinadab a Levite 1 Sam. 7.1 it abode there twenty years till the time of the Repentance and Reformation wrought by the Ministry of Samuel 1 Sam. 7.2 And after in the days of Saul it seems to be fetched thence to Gilgal 1 Sam. 10.8 and after to Gibeah of Benjamin compare 1 Sam. 13.9 and Ch. 14.2 18. so that it seems it was fetched into extraordinary assemblies upon extraordinary occasions both in War and Peace But being returned to Kirjath-jearim to the house of Abinadab it was fetched thence by David 1 Chron. 13.5 Sixty-seven years after it was first brought thither It was brought by him to the house of Obed-Edom a Levâ—te 2 Sam. 6.10 the Ark was there three months and then fetched thence by David with great solemnity into the Tent which he prepared for it in Jerusalem 1 Chron. 1.5 and thence seems to be carried into Joab's Camp before Rabbah 2 Sam. 11.11 and began to be carried with David in his flight from Absalom 2 Sam. 15.24 And being returned to David's Tent prepared for it at Jerusalem Solomon as soon as he had built the Temple brought it thence with great Solemnity and placed it in the Holy Oracle 2 Chron. 5.2 about 112 years after it first left Shiloh What became of it at the destruction of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar is uncertain and the two Sons of Eli Hophni and Phinehas were slain according to the Prediction Ch. 2.34 and a man of Benjamin ran from the Army and came to Shiloh the same day with his Clothes rent and with earth upon his head see Josh 7.6 2 Sam. 1.2 to signifie the sad news he brought and Eli sat upon a seat by the way-side near the Gate of the Tabernacle watching and earnestly expecting news from the Camp and the success of the fight For his heart trembled for the Ark of God lest that should fall into the hands of the Uncircumcised Philistines and be profaned by them and lest the Israelites should be deprived of the comfort of it (b) Ante adventum arcae tantum 4 millia occiduntur post adventum ejus 30 millia Tantum abest ut improbi ex praesentia arcae adjuventur ut potius in majus exitium devolvantur Mendoz. And when the man had told his sad story in Shiloh all the City cried out with most bitter and loud lamentation Eli who was ninety-eight years old and blind hearing this dreadful out-cry inquires what the matter was whereupon they brought the messenger to him that came out of the Army who told him that Israel was fled before the Philistines and that there had been a great slaughter among the people that his two Sons Hophni and Phinehas were slain and lastly that the Ark of God was taken no sooner did the Messenger make mention of the loss of the Ark but old Eli's heart died within him and being
old heavy and corpulent and falling down backward he broke his neck and died having judged Israel forty years Samuel the 14th Judg. His daughter-in-daughter-in-law Phinehas's wife was with child and ready to be delivered who when she heard those dismal tidings of the taking of the Ark the death of her father-in-law and husband she bowed her self and the pains of travel came upon her and being delivered yet so as she was ready to expire the women about her sought to comfort her telling her that she had borne a Son but she regarded it not only named the child Iehabod that is where is the glory (c) v. 22. Quod capta esset Arca Dei illud imprimis eam cruciabat nam domesticam calamitatem publicae postponebat Eliciamus hinc documentum lamentandi potius spiritualia dona quam temporalia Mendoz. intimating that the Ark being taken b which was the sign of Gods presence the glory was departed from Israel and so she gave up the Ghost 1 Sam. Ch. 4. whole Chapter SECT CLVI THE Philistines having taken the Ark they carried (a) Illa lex de non tangenda Area ad solos Israelitas spectavit unde Philistini Arcam tangentes non dederunt poenas quia culpam non contraxerunt Mendoz. it undoubtedly with great Triumph to Ashdod since call'd Azotus Act. 8.40 and placed it in the Temple of Dagon their God presenting it as a captive before their Idol by whose help possibly they perswaded themselves they had overcome the Hebrews and their God yet possibly they had some kind of reverence for it and therefore feared to offer any violence to it or to open it or take forth the Tables of the Law that were in it but however that was they placed it near unto Dagon The Priests of Dagon rising early the next morning and coming to see how the Ark and their Idol had agreed together they found that Dagon was fallen on his face to the earth before the Ark whereby the Lord did discover to them what a vain Idol their Dagon was and that the God of Israel was the only true Almighty God and that he had cast down their Idol-god in his own Temple The Priests took their Idol and set it up again and no doubt used all their skill to fasten it and make it sure from falling any more But coming again the next morning they found their Dagon fallen again upon his face to the ground before the Ark and his head and both the palmes of his hands (e) Gravius secunda vice mutilatur Dagon ut sic intelligerent Azotii veri Numinis potentiam Idoli sui vanitatem Fag cut off and cast at the threshold of the House only the stump and lower part of him was left intire Their Dagon being thus broken to pieces the Priests could not set him up again nor conceal his ruin from the people as possibly before they had done they might see now that it was not by any Casualty but by the will and power of God that he was thus thrown down But though God had cast the head and hands of Dagon to the threshold that so they might as it were be despised and trodden upon by those that came into that house yet the Priests and the people of Ashdod were so superstitious (d) Nulla Miracula satis magna sunt ad animum impium emendandum citra Dei spiritum P. Martyr even to the time when this History was written that they would not so much as tread on the threshold of that Temple accounting it sanctified by the touch of the head and hands of their Idol And thus by the over-ruling Providence of God even their superstition became a means to perpetuate the memory of this wonderful work of God in confounding their Idol which otherwise might in some short time have been forgotten The Lord having thus clearly discovered to the men of Ashdod that their Dagon was a vain Idol and that the God of Israel whose Ark they had boldly surprized was the only true God which he had sufficiently demonstrated first by casting down their Idol before his Ark and at last by breaking it in pieces yet notwithstanding they continued as superstitiously devoted to their Idol as they were before and were not afraid still to detain the Ark of God in captivity Therefore the Lord resolved to punish them severely for it and accordingly his hand was heavy upon the City of Ashdod and upon the Coasts thereof and he destroyed and wasted their land by sending multitudes of Mice among them Ch. 6.5 and smote them with the Emerods a disease not only painful but as the Psalmist intimates Psal 78.66 disgraceful also and to many of them mortal as appears from v. 10. The men of Ashdod seeing in what a sad condition they were they openly said the Ark of the God of Israel should not abide among them for they plainly saw that his hand was heavy upon themselves by inflicting this strange disease upon them and that it had been heavy also upon Dagon their God wherefore they convened the Lords of the Philistines to consult together what course was fit to be taken in this case These Lords agreed that the Ark should be carried from thence to Gath another of their five principal Cities situate upon an hill near unto the Sea see Amos 6.2 resolving thereby to try whither it was the presence of the Ark that had caused those plagues or whither they came by any other accident The Ark being brought to Gath God smote the inhabitants thereof both small and great with Emerods in their secret parts hereupon they sent away the Ark to Ekron another of the principal Cities of the Philistines when it was come thither the Ekronites cry'd out they have brought the Ark of the God of Israel to us to bring upon us the same plagues that they have been plagued with because of it And it fell out accordingly for immediately there was a deadly destruction throughout the City possibly some mortal contagion reigned among them and the men that died not of that plague were yet smitten with the Emerods so that the cry of the city went up to heaven hereupon they also convened the Lords of the Philistines and desired them to send away the Ark to its own place viz. to the land of the Israelites that they might not be destroyed by reason of it But these Lords being very loth to part with so glorious a Trophie of their victory desired yet to try a little further and therefore sent it after this to Gaza and Askelon as appears Ch. 6.4 17. which Cities felt the same plagues by reason of the Ark which the other had done Thus the Ark of the Lord was in the Country of the Philistines seven months (a) Miruâ— hic stupor quod tam diu in suo consilio pertinaces haereant tot hominum funere suam insaniam tueri vellent Sanctius but they being at last