my glorious Presence here and therefore they must not presume to come to up to it However the Lord chargeth him instantly to go down to them and to urge the same again upon them after which He himself should come up again and should bring Aaron (p) Aaron quoque advocari debibat ut sacerdotium ejus quoque divinitâ—s institutum Constaret Jans with him Exod. 19. whole Chapter SECT XIV THe Lord now with an audible Voice and with great Majesty and Terrour Proclaimed and Promulgated his Moral Law (q) Which nevertheless disanull'd not the promise of Grace made to Abraham 430 years before Gal. 3.17 or Ten Commandments containing the prime Dictates of Natural Reason the chief Rules of Piety towards God Equity towards our Neighbour and Sobriety Chastity and Temperance in the government our Selves (r) This Law is expresly call'd a Covenant with that people He declared unto you his Covenant says the Text which he commanded you to perform even Ten Commandments Deut. 4.13 and accordingly was reposed in the Ark hence as it seems named the Ark of the Covenant Deut. 10.2 He wrote upon the Tables the words of the Covenant the Ten Commandments Exod. 34.28 The end and design of these Precepts was to ground them in the true notions of Piety and Religion and to dispose them to the practice of universal Righteousness Our Saviour did not derogate from this Law but declared his intention only to expound it or to ampliate and extend it There is no Commandment herein howsoever accoding to its immediate sense seeming peculiar to that people which according to good analogy or parity of reason doth not concern us also And therefore 't is said Nehem. 9.13 Thou camest down upon Mount Sinai and gavest them right Judgments and true Laws good Statutes and Commandments And the Apostle Rom. 7.12 says The Law is holy the Commandment holy just and good We shall therefore set down these Laws particularly and give a short Paraphrase of them God spake all these words saying that is God Himself declared his own Mind and Will by a loud Voice distinctly audible and intelligible miraculously formed by himself Deut. 5.24 Behold say the people the Lord our God hath shewed us his Glory and his Greatness and we have heard his Voice out of the midst of the Fire we have seen this day that God doth talk with man and yet he liveth I am the Lord or I am Jehovah thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage I am Jehovah who indeed am what this my Name importeth the only true and real God Eternal Independent Indefectible in Essence I am that Jehovah to whose words upon all accounts thou owest Submission Attention and Obedience I am Thy God having chosen thee to be a peculiar people to my Self above all people that are upon the face of the Earth and who in pursuance of my singular Favour towards thee and of my Covenant made with thee have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage I then being Jehovah the only true God and thy God by Covenant and particular Engagement do now propound my Will unto thee and upon all accounts of Reason Justice and Gratitude do require thy regard and observance of the Precepts I now intend to give thee I. Commandment Thou shalt have no other Gods before me THis Precept as most of the rest is Negative and Prohibitive but supposeth and implyeth some thing Affirmative and Positive as the rest may also be conceived to do It implies this Affirmative Precept Thou shalt have me for thy God and shalt Serve Worship and Love Me with all thy Heart Soul Mind and Might and shalt trust in Me as a Being endued with Attributes and Perfections superlatively excellent and thou shalt not own nor acknowledge any other for God besides Me. Take heed therefore of imitating them who acknowledge not nor Worship any God at all and such are Athiests or acknowledge and adore many Gods and such are Polytheists Take heed also of framing in your Minds any untrue Idea of Me disagreeable to my most excellent Being and infinite Perfections Take heed also of inordinately loving or relying upon any Creature and so making that your God II. Commandment Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image c. THe First Commandment determined the right and true Object of our Worship The Second directs and limits the manner of expressing and exercising it and forbids the manner practised by Heathens of Worshipping their false Gods by Images and Corporeal Shapes and Representations (s) To worship an Idol instead of God is Idolatry forbidden in the First Commandment When the true God is worshipped in or by an Image 't is Idolatry forbidden by the Second Inward Idolatry is opposed to the First Commandment and Outward to the Second We ought not to think says the Apostle Acts 17.29 that the Godhead is like unto Gold or Silver or Stone graven by art or man's device Most reasonable therefore is this Prohibition of making any resemblance of what kind soever by Picture Sculpture or Tusion to represent God or for Religious use (t) The civil use of Images is not forbidden but Images made and used for Divine Worship Neither are those Images only forbidden which are the Images of false Gods but of the true also Papists by worshipping Saints and Angels offend against the first Commandment By making Images of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and worshipping these Images or worshipping God by these Images they offend against the Second As for the Cherubim made by Solomon and the brasen Serpent by Moses they were made by God's special Command but not to be worshipped The Cherubim seem intended as an Emblem to represent the natures and services of the holy Angels and not any likeness of God they being full of zeal and always upon the Wing as it were and ready to obey God's Will The brasen Serpent was made not to be worshipped but as a Type of Christ and now Christ is come all Types are to vanish and to bow down or Prostrate our selves before it For there being but one true Object of our Worship the Eternal Invisible God whose glorious Excellencies infinitely transcend our Comprehension and consequently of whom we cannot devise any resemblance not infinitely beneath him unlike to him and unworthy of him It must needs be therefore a great prophaneness to pretend the representing Him by any Image Moses Deut. 4.15 reports to the people of the Jews the ground of this Prohibition Take good heed to your selves says he for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake to you in Horeb out of the midst of the Fire lest you corrupt your selves and make you a graven Image No shape representing God did then appear at his uttering of these Laws to prevent their framing any resemblance of Him and practising this sort
Ester that is as 't is probable ordered Her to be brought to the Royal Seraglio of his Women to be fitted and prepared there for some time according to the custom of those Countries that the King might afterwards take her to wife see Ester 2.9 In the mean time Pharaoh was very kind and munificent to Abram for her sake and much inriched him by many great Gifts and Presents But now on a sudden God plagued Pharoah and his House What those Plagues were he inflicted on them the Scripture being silent 't is a foolish Curiosity too nicely to enquire but they were such (s) Plagae immissae quaecunque fuerunt ardorem ejus represserunt as by the over-ruling Providence of God preserved the Chastity of Sarai and brought Pharoah to understand that she was Abrams wife Whereupon He restored her to him again and quietly dismissed them giving his Servants charge to see them safely conducted out of his Dominions Gen. 12. from 10. to the end SECT III. UPon this Abram with Sarai his Wife and Lot his Nephew return again into the Southern parts of Canaan And here let us observe the wonderful and gracious Providence of God to Abram Abram intended by going down into Egypt only to keep himself from starving but behold he Returns very rich in Cattel and Silver and Gold so early did he experience the truth of Gods Promise to him Being entred now again into Canaan he marches on to the Place between Bethel and Ai where before he had pitched his Tent and had built an Altar and there again called upon the Name of the Lord. And Lot also who had still accompanied him being now returned into Canaan was very rich in Cattel so that they wanted Pasture and Water for so many Herds and Flocks as they had between them And thence arose a strife and quarrelling as is usual in such cases among their Herdsmen about Pastures and Water And they were the more straitned because the Canaanites and Perizzites that dwelt thereabout had taken up the greatest and best part of the Pasture for their own Cattel This matter being like to make a difference between them Abram though the Vncle and Superiour yet amicably spake to Lot desiring him there might be no strife between them for they were Brethren and that not only after the Flesh He being the Uncle and Lot his Nephew but after the Spirit they both sincerely serving one and the same true God And 't is like He set before Him how by such a contention they might give scandal to the Neighbouring Canaanites and draw a Reproach upon the true Worship of God and their own Profession Upon all which considerations Abram represents to him that he judged it convenient they should now separate one from the other and offers him his choice whither he would go to the right hand or to the left Not that Abram could give to Lot any title to the Land at that time For he himself had not then so much as to set his foot on Acts 7.5 and was afterwards forced to buy a Burying-place for his Family Ch. 21.11 But he desires Lot to chuse which quarter he pleased upon supposition that he could obtain the use of it upon fair and reasonable terms and with the consent of the Canaanites Then Lot taking notice and observing that all the plain of Jordan even unto Zoar was exceeding fruitful pleasant and well-watered even like to Paradise and to Egypt which by the overflowing of Nilus was ever esteemed a fruitful Countrey He chose that place and marching thither pitched his Tent near Sodom But thinking possibly to find the Place a Paradise he found it a Hell For the Sodomites were abominable Sinners before the Lord see Ezek. 16.49 50. Abram being now left alone with his Family the Lord appeared to him and comforted him and gave him a new Promise of that Land to him and his Seed for ever Now as the Heavenly Canaan is hereby typified so that clause for ever will be verified to the true seed of Abraham by whom it will be possessed for ever and ever But as the Promise has respect to that Canaan which Abram now beheld with his eyes so it is promised to the Israelites conditionally * Or for ever may be thus understood viz. to the coming of the Messiah where the promises of the Old Testament end Christ bringing in a new Age and beginning a date of new Blessings to the faithful Children of Abram usque in seculum Semini quidem Carnali quamdiu durabit politia Mosaica videlicet usque ad Christi exhibitionem Pisc vel quamdiu durabit respublica Hebraeorum Vox Olim non significat hic absolutam aeternitatem sed longum tempus soll usque ad adventum Messiae Et haec promissio erat limitata si Deo obtemperarent Cessante conditione cessat res ipsa Ipsi prius renunciaverunt Deus quod Justitia ejus imparubat fecit See Sect. 7. Note o provided they did obey and keep the Covenant God made with them but if they did degenerate and proved an unfaithful Seed then he would be no longer tied to his Promise see Deut. 4.25 26. Levit. 26.27 32 33. Ezek. 33.25 26. Levit. 18.28 God also further promises Abram that He will multiply his Seed as the dust of the Earth which may be understood both of the Children of his Body and of his Faith After this Abram went and dwelt in the plain of Mamre near unto Hebron where he built an Altar unto the Lord to Sacrifice thankfully to God for all his Mercies to Him Gen. 13. whole Chapter SECT IV. ABout this time Bera King of Sodom with the rest of the Petty Kings of Pentapolis shook off the Yoke of Chedorlaomer King of Elam to which they had been subject for 12 years Chedorlaomer hereupon and some other Confederate Princes that dwelt about the River Euphrates joyned their Forces together and resolv'd to Chastize those Kings that had revolted And having first overcome the Rephaims a people descended from Canaan Gen. 15.20 that dwelt in Astaroth-Carnaim a City beyond Jordan Deut. 1.4 and those people that inhabited all that Region which was afterwards possessed by the Moabites Deut. 2.9.10 and Edomites Deut. 2.22 and the Amalekites and the Amorites in the Vale of Siddim (t) Which was afterwards turned into a Lake or Sea of putrid and unsavory Waters and was therefore called the Salt Sea Josh 3.16 the whole tract of that plain abounding with salt or brackish Slime-pits vers 10. or the dead Sea because no Fish could live in it or Asphalites from its bituminous and pitchy Nature they gave battel to the Revolters and the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and their Forces were vanquished and overthrown there and many of their Souldiers slain and many probably in the Rout fell into the Slime-pits but the King of Sodom himself escaped vers 17. Then they plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and seized upon Lot also who dwelt
viventis Hagar and been seen by the Lord. And possibly she intended also there to leave a Memorial to Posterity of the watchful Eye of God over her in the time of her affliction So she return'd to her Mistress and afterwards brought forth a Son and Abram called his Name Ishmael according as the Angel had appointed in the 11th year after He came into Canaan In the year of the world 2094. and in the 86th year of his Age. Gen. 16. whole Chapter SECT VII THirteen years after this namely when Abraham was 99 years old God appeared to him again in a visible manner and said to him I am God Almighty able to do all those great things for thee which I have promised how unlikely soever they may seâ—m in the eye of Reason Therefore trust in me Be sincere and upright before me and do all that I command thee and let thy whole Conversation be always as in my sight And I will renew and establish my Covenant with thee and will multiply thee exceedingly * And accordingly out of his Loines came not only the Israelites but the Ishmaelites the Edomites and many other Nations by the Children of Keturah Then Abram fell on his face and God further talked with Him saying Behold my Covenant is with thee and thou shall be a Father of many Nations Neither shall thy Name be any more called Abram signifying an higher Father but it shall be called Abraham signifying a Father of a great multitude (l) By inserting H the first letter of Hamon signifying a multitude This is the first name God changed and hence the custom of giving Names at Circumcision And I will multiply thee exceedingly and will make Nations of thee and Kings shall come out of thee and I will establish my Covenant between me and thee and thy Seed after thee in their Generations for an everlasting Covenant (m) Everlasting so called in respect of the long continuance of the outward Ceremony of Circumcision but for the spiritual part of it literally everlasting in Christ Heb. 13.20 9.15 to be a God to thee and to thy Seed after thee (n) Which words comprehend all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace And I will give to thee and to thy Seed after thee the Land of Canaan wherein thou art now a stranger for an Everlasting possession (o) Tempus pro temporis parte aliquando accipitur Et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perpetum tempus de parte quasi quadam subjectae materiae convenienti dicitur Sic v. 8 in possessionem perpetuam scil quamdiu politia Judaica futura est ad adventâ—m usque Messiae sic Circumcisio alia Ceremonialia in foedus Olim i. e. perpetuum seâ—vanda Judaeis data fuerunt h. e. semper continuo done esâ—rvanda essent non ulterius Glass And this I appoint as the Token Sign and Seal of the Covenant between me and you that all the Males among you shall forthwith be circumcised and that every Male-Child among you that shall be hereafter born either of Natives or Proselites * Existiment viâ—i docti nullum adultum servum obligari ad Circumcisionem sui aut prolis nisi sponte consentiat Nec talis Circumcisio Sacramentum esset foederis Dei nisi volentes complectimur shall be Circumcised on the eighth day And this Circumcision which figures or represents a putting off and mortifying of the old man with its affections and lusts shall be in your Flesh for a sign of that Everlasting Covenant (p) Foedus i. e. foederis signum ut frustra sint Pontificii qui jubent a Sacramentis exulare tropos My Covenant shall be in the Flesh that is the token sign and seal of my Covenant For Circumcision was not the Covenant it self And so God speaketh of other Sacraments Of the Passover Exod. 13.9 Of the holy Supper 1 Cor 11.28 I have made with you And that man among you being of the Jewish Race who being not Circumcised (q) Patres ante diluvium habuerunt idem foedus quoad substantiam h. e. promissionem gratiae per Christum semen mulieris Non autem iis imposita fuit circumcisio Satis erat fidem in Messiam testari per Sacrificia Data est circumcisio ut sit signum foederis 1. Memorativum pacti Abrahami cum Deo 2. Distinctivum fidelium ab infidelibus 3. Demonstrativum peccati originalis 4. Praefigurativum Baptismi Adultus qui ritum hunc neglexerit ab Ecclesia Eliminabitur si natus inter Hebraeos fuerit Infantulus non posuit se Circumsecare Sed adultus negligentiam Parentum supplem debuit in his Childhood shall afterwards wilfully neglect to take on him that sign he shall be cut off from among you as a Violator of my Covenant I will not own him as one of my peculiar people and by you he shall be reckoned as an Heathen and cast out of the Communion of the Church Further God tells Abraham that he should not call his Wife any longer Sarai which signifies a Lady or Princess of one Family but Sarah (r) Addita nimirum eadem litera ×” quae nomini Abrahami accessit ut idem esset utrobique earundem promissionum symbolum Antea dicebatur Sarai i. e. Princeps mea unius tantum Domus mater familias Postea vero dicitur absolute princeps i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Princess absolute For she was to be a Mother of many Nations by the spreading of Isaac's Posterity her natural Son and even Kings to spring from Her and Her preheminence was to be of much larger extent upon the account of Her spiritual Daughters 1 Pet. 3.6 Abraham hearing these things fell on his face before the Lord in an humble expression of reverence and thankfulness and he was so transported with these welcome tydings which he firmly believed that he even laughed for joy However though he now believed he should have a Son by Sarah yet he forgets not Ishmael but humbly prays to the Lord for him O that Ishmael might live before thee O that thou wouldst please to have a gracious Eye upon him to protect and bless him God tells him He would bless Ishmael with Temporal Blessings and would multiply him exceedingly insomuch that 12 Princes should spring from him whose Names we have set down Gen. 25. v. 13 14 15 16. but his Covenant he would establish with Isaac whom Sarah should bear unto him next year at this time which Covenant comprehends not only outward but spiritual blessings also Then the Lord left off speaking to Abraham and went up to Heaven in the same form and shape he had appeared to Him Abraham now embracing these Promises and resting on them by a lively Faith caused himself being now 99 years old and his Son Ishmael being 13 years old and all the Males of his house to be Circumcised that very day (s) Hinc liquet quantus
be God follow him The people answered nothing being afraid to offend the King Then Elijah said Behold there is not a Prophet of the Lords that doth openly appear for the true God and his worship besides my self But here are four hundred and fifty of Baals Prophets that are for Idolatry let them therefore give us two bullocks and let them choose which they will for themselves and let them cut it in pieces and lay it on wood and put no fire under and I will dress the other bullock and lay it on wood and put no fire under and let them call on their gods and I will call on the name of the Lord and the God that answereth by fire and consumeth the Sacrifice let him be acknowledged for the true God The people cried out it was well spoken they were willing to put it upon that trial Then Baals Priests took the bullock that was given them and dressed it and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon and said O Baal hear us But there was no voice nor any that answered Then they danced and skipped about the Altar they had made in a frantick manner as was usual in the worship of Baal And at noon when the time limited for their sacrifice was almost ended Elijah mocked them and bad them cry aloud for possibly their god Baal was at this time talking or pursuing his enemies or in a journey or perhaps he was asleep and must be rouzed up with very loud calling Baals Priests it is like were vext at these sharp taunts of the Prophet however they cried aloud and cut themselves with knives and lances till the blood gushed out as the heathens used to do in their great sorrows See Deut. 14.1 the more to move their God to have compassion on them and not to be wanting at this time to his own honour as well as theirs But no answer could they get notwithstanding they went on praying and calling upon Baal and with many strange gestures as men inspired sang the praises of their Idol-god labouring by all means possible to prevail with him to send fire to consume their Sacrifice but all in vain There was none that answered or regarded them Then Elijah called the people to come near and mount Carmel having been one of the high places whereon they us'd to sacrifice in former times unto the Lord there were still the ruins of an old Altar which the Idolatrous Israelites had broken down see Ch. 19.14 and this the Prophet did now repair thereby intimating to them that his design was to restore and set up the worship of the true God in the land Then he took twelve stones according to the number of the twelve Tribes and with them he built an Altar in the name of the Lord to intimate to them that they ought all to be united in the worship of the God of their fathers or else it would be in vain for them to reckon themselves the Israel of God And he made a Trench about the Altar as great as would contain two measures of seed and he put the wood in order ahd cut the bullock in pieces and laid it on the wood and bad them fill four barrels with water out of the Sea that was near and pour it on the Sacrifice and on the wood He bad them do it three times which they accordingly did and the water ran about the Altar and filled the Trench so that it was evident that there was no fraud used to hide any fire secretly under the wood Then at the time of offering the Evening-sacrifice Elijah came and prayed saying Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob * To these three Patriarchs God made and ratified his promises of the good things which he did for Israel and God took this stile to himself Exod. 3.6 to move the Israelites that came from those Patriarchs to take him for their God and oft to call to mind his promises let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word and by thy command and direction Hear me O Lord I pray thee hear me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou hast appointed these things to be done to the end that their hearts may be turned from their Idols unto thee Immediately the fire of the Lord fell from heaven and consumed the Burnt-sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the Trench And when the people saw it they fell on their faces and cried out the Lord he is the God the Lord he is the God Elijah seeing them so wonderfully affected with this miracle and so clearly convinced of the juglings and deceits of Baals Priests He bad them presently apprehend those Prophets of Baal and to let none of them escape and to bring them down to the brook Kishon at the foot of Carmel and there to slay them The people being at this present under a great dread of the Majesty of God who by this miracle had testified so loudly against their Idolatry they without any fear of the King were ready to do whatever Elijah advised them unto and accordingly they took those Priests and carried them down to the brook Kishon that the place where Elijah had sacrific'd unto the Lord might not be defiled with their blood and slew them there according to the Law Deut. 13.5 18.20 The King as it seems thought it not adviseable to set himself against the torrent of the people's zeal at this time or possibly he tacitely consented to it upon hope that rain would presently be given thereupon These Prophets of Baal that were slain at this time seem to have been those that were dispersed up and down in the Villages and Towns and not the Prophets of the Groves who attended at Court and performed their Idolatrous service in the Groves planted by Ahab near Baals Temple in Samaria For after this we read Ch. 22.6 of 400 Prophets that were called together by Ahab Ahab having fasted all day to see the event of this business Elijah bids him now go eat and drink and refresh himself for he heard a sound or noise in the heavens that was some intimation to him that much rain was coming Ahab accordingly going to refresh himself the Prophet went up to the top of Carmel and there kneeling upon the ground and bowing his face down to his knees in this humble posture he earnestly prayed unto the Lord for rain For though he knew that the Lord had promised to send rain yet he knew also that it must be obtain'd by prayer Then he sent his servant seven times * He sent him seven several times to teach us that we must not be discouraged though we have not presently that which we pray for but must with patience be content to wait upon the Lord for it
first three good years in his two next evil years and in his other years following them they are written by Shemaiah the Prophet and Iddo the Seer in their Book of Genealogies or Pedegrees or Histories of Kings and other great persons who were famous among the Israelites in those times Thus Rehoboam having reigned seventeen years and for the most part wickedly Abijah his Son reigned in his stead 1 King 12. from 1 to 25. 1 King 14. from 21 to the end 2 Chron. 10. whole Chapter 2 Chron. 11. wh Ch. 2 Chron. 12. wh Ch. The second King of Judah Abijah called also Abijam ABijah began to reign in the 18th year of Jeroboam and that was the first year of his reign the 19th of Jeroboam was the second year of his reign and the twentieth was his third and though in that year he died and Asa his Son succeeded him yet having reigned two years compleat and some part of the third year he is said to have reigned three years His mothers name was Maachah the daughter of Abishalom * 2 Chron. 13.2 she is called Michaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah Some think she was the daughter of Tamar the only daughter of Absalom whose husband this Uriel of Gibeah was and so she was the daughter of Uriel and withal the daughter that is the Grandchild of Absalom And this seems the more probable because the mother of Absalom was call'd Maachah 2 Sam. 3.3 and he walked in all the sins of his Father For though Rehoboam and his Princes humbled themselves before the Lord upon the Preaching of Shemaiah when the King of Egypt made such a dangerous incursion into their land 2 Chron. 12.6 yet when that danger was over he soon returned to his former evil ways and this his Son likewise trod in his steps and his heart was not upright with the Lord as was the heart of David Nevertheless the Lord for his promise made to David 2 Sam. 7.16 did give him a lamp in Jerusalem that is continued his posterity to sit one after another upon his Throne and to reign in Kingly splendor and established Jerusalem in its former Political and Ecclesiastical state and preserved therein the true Religion because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord and turned not from any thing he commanded him all the days of his life save only in the matter of Vriah that is he did not fall into any heinous and enormous crimes whereby his profession was notoriously blemished all the days of his life save only in the matter of Vriah and the sins appendant thereunto There had been during the life of Rehoboam many bickerings between the two Kingdoms but now in the first year of Abijah's reign Jeroboam raised a vast army intending to fall upon Abijah in the infancy of his reign Abijah accordingly prepares as strong an Army as he could to resist him and defend his Kingdom The two Armies met in the field Abijah's army consisted of four hundred thousand valiant men which was a very great Army but Jeroboam's consisted of as many more viz. eight hundred thousand Both the Armies being drawn forth and set in battel-array the one against the other Abijah by his Herolds or messengers desired a Parley before the fight began or at least liberty to say somewhat to Jeroboam and his chief Commanders which being granted he betook himself to mount Zemaraim which is part of mount Ephraim as the fittest place from whence he might be heard and there spake to Jeroboam and his Commanders after this manner Hear me thou Jeroboam and all Israel Ought you not to know that the Lord gave the Kingdom over all Israel to David and his Sons for ever by a Covenant of Salt * As that which is salted does not use to perish or corrupt See Numb 18.19 that is by a lasting and never-failing Covenant †Hoc ex parte falsum erat Non enim Deus promisit se totam Israelem conservaturum in familia Davidis si ipsa descisseret Osiand by a perpetual Covenant not to be abrogated or annull'd yet Jeroboam the Son of Nebat the servant of Solomon is risen up and hath rebelled against his Lord and there are gathered to him a company of vain men children of Belial who by mutual agreement combined and strengthened themselves against Rehoboam when he first entred upon the Government being then unexperienced in matters of State (a) Yet Rehoboam was 41 years of age when he began to reign 1 King 14.21 and much more in warlike affairs having been bred up delicately in the peaceful reign of Solomon and being tender-hearted and soon daunted and wanting stoutness of spirit he could not withstand them and so like rebellious subjects they fell off from him And this is now your case But do you think to go on in this course and to withstand the Kingdom of the Lord in the hands of the Sons of David and with all your might and power to oppose it Indeed you are a great multitude and I perceive you have brought into your Camp the Golden Calves which Jeroboam hath made for you for Gods But do you think that these are able to help you you have cast off the Priests of the Lord the Sons of Aaron and the Levites and have made to your selves Priests after the manner of other Nations that have no stock or family among them to which the Priesthood is tyed and you in like manner choose whom you will to be Priests Whosoever cometh to consecrate himself for a Priest and bringeth a young bullock as was enjoined under the Law Exod. 29.1 and seven rams whereas the Law required but two at the most (b) Hypocrites can observe some rites prescribed by God but in external rites they often exceed Gods prescriptions See Numb 23. Exod. 29.15 19. he may be a Priest of your Idols that are no Gods But as for us the Lord is our God (a) This must be understood by their outward profession for Abijah's heart was not upright before the Lord 1 K. 15.3 and we have not forsaken him For the true Religion is openly professed among us and the true worship of the true God is incorruptibly maintained in the Temple And the Priests which minister unto the Lord for us are the Sons of Aaron and the Levites wait upon their business and do the services which in special belong to them And they burn unto the Lord every morning and evening burnt-offerings and sweet incense they also set the shew-bread upon the Golden Table (b) There were in the Temple ten Tables of Shew-bread and ten Golden Candlesticks by a Synecdoche the singular number may be here us'd for the Plural and they cause the lamps in the Golden Candlesticks to burn every evening For we observe those Ordinances the Lord hath given us in charge but you have forsaken him And behold God himself is with us for our Captain
Jacob rejoyces at the sight of the Waggons Sect. 43. Jacob goes into Egypt His joy to see his Son Joseph Sect. 44. Joseph brings five of his Brethren to Pharaoh Obtains Goshen for his Brethren Introduces his Father Sect. 45. Joseph's prudent administration in the severe famine He is sent for by his Father Sect. 46. Ephraim and Manasseh blest Jacob's gift to Joseph Sect. 47. Jacob blesses his Sons in order His death Sect. 48. The mourning for and burial of Jacob. Joseph's death Sect. 49. The History of Job Sect. 50. Levi and Amram die Sect. 51. Israel increases Task-masters appointed Sect. 52. Aaron's birth Sect. 53. The Midwives commanded to destroy the Male-children Sect. 54. Moses born He is taken up and educated by Pharaoh's daughter Sect. 55. Moses after forty years leaves the Court and flys into Midian Sect. 56. Moses's marriage His two Sons Sect. 57. Caleb's Birth Sect. 58. The Lord appears to Moses commissions him to deliver Israel enables him to work miracles Sect. 59. Moses confirm'd and encouraged commanded to go to Pharaoh Sect. 60. Moses stopt in his journey His Son circumcised Sect. 61. Aaron meets Moses They declare their commission to the Elders of Israel Sect. 62. They go to Pharaoh The oppression of the Israelites increased Sect. 63. Moses and Aaron go again to Pharaoh The Magicians call'd in Sect. 64. The ten Plagues Chap. IV. From the Israelites departure out of Egypt to the laying the foundation of Solomon's Temple Sect. 1. THe Israelites depart out of Egypt Sect. 2. The Paschal Lamb and Passover appointed Sect. 3. The Lord conducts the Israelites by a Pillar of cloud and fire Joseph's bones carried with them Sect. 4. They encamp at Pihahiroth Pass through the Red-sea The Egyptians drown'd Sect. 5. Moses's Song Miriam a Prophetess Sect. 6. The people marching through Shur murmur for want of water Sect. 7. The twelve Wells and seventy Palm-trees Sect. 8. They turn from Elim to the Red-sea Sect. 9. The people murmur Quails given for one meal Manna falls Sect. 10. Water gushes out of the rock Sect. 11. Moses praying Joshua fights Amalek The Altar call'd Jehova-Nissi Sect. 12. Jethro's story defer'd to Sect. 51. Sect. 13. Moses call'd up to the top of Mount Sinai The terrible sight Sect. 14. The Promulgation of the Law Sect. 15. The people in fear Moses encourages them Sect. 16. Similitudes of God forbidden The Materials for Altars Sect. 17. The Judicial or Political Laws Sect. 18. The Angel of the Covenant promised to guide them The bounds of Canaan Sect. 19. Moses erects an Altar and twelve Pillars Sect. 20. Moses continues in the Mount forty days and forty nights Sect. 21. Directions concerning the Tabernacle and all its utensils and appurtenances Sect. 22. The Golden Calf Sect. 23. Moses comes down breaks the Tables Gods anger Moses intercedes for the people and sees the glory of God Sect. 24. Two new Tables of stone Sect. 25. God renews the Covenant upon Moses's prayer Moses's face shines Sect. 26. The Sabbath anew enjoyned Contribution to the Tabernacle Sect. 27. Bezaleel and Aholihab appointed chief workmen of the Tabernacle Sect. 28. The Tabernacle finished being set up is filled with Gods Glory Sect. 29. Laws given concerning the several sorts of sacrifices Sect. 30. Aaron and his Sons consecrated Sect. 31. Aaron enters upon his office Fire from the Lord. Sect. 32. Nadab and Abihu slain by fire from heaven Sect. 33. Of clean and unclean creatures Sect. 34. Womens separation Sect. 35. Laws concerning Leprosie Sect. 36. Ceremonial uncleanness in men Sect. 37. The Passover celebrated Sect. 38. Several sorts of Laws given Sect. 39. Blasphemy punished in the Son of Shelomith The Law of retaliation Sect. 40. Divers other Laws given Sect. 41. Promises and threatnings More Laws given concerning divers matters Sect. 42. The Book of Numbers Sect. 43. The Encamping of the Tribes Sect. 44. The Levites Charge Sect. 45. The Levites consecrated Sect. 46. The Offerings of the Princes Sect. 47. Laws concerning Jealousie Sect. 48. Concerning Nazarites Sect. 49. The solemn blessing Sect. 50. The Silver Trumpets Sect. 51. Jethro's story and advice Sect. 52. The Camp of Israel marches Jethro leaves them Sect. 53. Upon the moving of the Ark Moses pronounces the blessing Sect. 54. The people murmur at Taberah Sect. 55. Quails given for the space of a month A Plague follows Sect. 56. Miriams Leprosie Sect. 57. Spies search the land Sect. 58. Their different report Sect. 59. The ten Spies smitten Sect. 60. Israel defeated by the Amalekites and Canaanites Sect. 61. The ninetieth Psalm composed Sect. 62. Some Laws explained Sect. 63. The Rebellion of Corah Dathan and Abiram Sect. 64. Aaron's Red blossoming Sect. 65. The work and portion of the Priests and Levites Sect. 66. Water of Purification Sect. 67. Miriams death Sect. 68. They murmur at Kadesh for want of water Moses strikes the Rock in anger is doomed not to enter into Canaan Sect. 69. The King of Edom refuseth them passage Sect. 70. Aaron dies and is buried upon Mount Hor. Sect. 71. Arad the Canaanite vanquished Sect. 72. The Brazen Serpent Sect. 73. Several stations of the Israelites Sect. 74. The Miraculous Well Sect. 75. Sihon slain Sect. 76. Og totally subdued Sect. 77. The Encamping at Abel-shittim Sect. 78. Balaam sent for to curse the Israelites His Ass speaks Sect. 79. Balaam attempts to curse Israel Sect. 80. The Idolatry and Whoredom of the Israelites at Mount Peor Sect. 81. Midian Conquered Sect. 82. Moses and Eleazar number the people Sect. 83. Zelophehad's daughters Sect. 84. Joshua appointed Successor Sect. 85. A repetition of the Law of sacrificing Sect. 86. Laws concerning Vows Sect. 87. The Reubenites and Gadites desire a possession on that side Jordan Sect. 88. The Journal of Israels Travels Sect. 89. The Limits of Canaan Sect. 90. The Levites Cities Sect. 91. Orders concerning the Marriage of Zelophehad's daughters Sect. 92. The Book of Deuteronomy containing Moses's dying speech to Israel Sect. 93. Moses's death Israels mourning for him Sect. 94. Joshua begins his Government Sect. 95. They come near unto and pass the river Jordan Sect. 96. Circumcision enjoyned them Sect. 97. The first Passover in Canaan Manna ceases Sect. 98. Jericho taken burnt and cursed Sect. 99. The Israelites defeated at Ai. Sect. 100. Joshua marches against Ai. Sect. 101. A Monument of stone and an Altar erected and Blessings and Cursings pronounced at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal Sect. 102. The League with the Gibeonites Sect. 103. Adonizedek and his allies besiege Gibeon Their discomfiture Prodigious Hailstones The Sun and Moon stand still at the prayer of Joshua Sect. 104. Several Kings vanquished and their Cities taken Sect. 105. The rise of the Sabbatical year Sect. 106. Joshua's war with the Northern Kings His victory over them Sect. 107. Joshua's rest from war Sect. 108. Joshua divides the land Sect. 109. Joshua and the Elders proceed to divide the land Ephraim and Manasseh complain Sect. 110.
Nimrod See the Kings thereof pag. 15. of Chap. II. The dispersion of the children of Noah The Original of several Nations 1819 Serug born 1846 Nahor born 1878 Terah born 2008 Abraham born The King of Elam and his Allyes conquer the King of Sodom and his Confederates 2078 The Promise made to Abraham in Vr of the Chaldees The Third Age from the Promise made to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees unto the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt 2094 ABraham's removal to Charran and from thence to Canaan Two Altars there built by him A Promise of that Land made unto his Posterity He goes into Egypt by reason of the Famine in Canaan His Danger there on the account of Sarah his Wife He returns into Canaan vanquishes Chedorlaomer rescues Lot is met by Melchizedec and blessed He takes Hagar Ismael Born 2107 Circumcision Instituted Abraham entertains Three Angels intercedes for Sodom Sodom and Gomorrha Consumed with Fire from Heaven Lots Incest 2108 Isaac Born Hagar and Ismael cast out Abraham's sacrificing Isaac Isaac marries Rebeccah 2168 Esau and Jacob Born Jacob's marriage with Leah and Rachel His hard Servâ—ce under 〈◊〉 2259 Joseph Born Joseph's Dream His Brethren sell him He is sold after to Potiphar His Mistriss 's false Accusation His Imprisonment Pharaoh's Dream Joseph's Interpretation thereof and Advancement The Famine begins Jacob sends his Sons into Egypt to buy Corn. Joseph makes himself known to his Brethren Jacob goes into Egypt He blesses his Sons and dies Joseph dies The History of Job Aaron Born 2418 Moses Born His Education by Pharaoh's Daughter He flies into Midian He is sent by the Lord to deliver Israel He works Miracles before Pharaoh The Ten Plagues 2508 The Israelites departure out of Egypt The Fourth Age from the Departure of the Israelites out of Egypt to the laying the Foundation of Solomon's Temple 2548 THe Paschal Lamb. The Fiery Pillar The Israelites pass through the Red Sea Manna Joshua fights with Amaleck The giving of the Law on Mount Sinai Moses 40 days in the Mount Directions concerning framing the Tabernacle The Golden Calf The History of the Israelites during their 40 years continuance in the Wilderness Moses having governed 40 years dies Joshua succeeds Conquers and divides the Land and governs in all 17 years The Judges 2565 Othniel 40 years 2605 Ehud 80 years The History of Ruth 2685 Deborah 40 y. 2725 Gideon 40 y. 2765 Abimelech 3 y. 2768 Tholah 23 y. 2791 Jair 22 y. 2813 Jephtha 6 y. 2819 Ibzan 7 y. 2826 Elon 10 y. 2836 Abdon 8. y. 2844 Samson 20 y. 2864 Eli 40. y. 2904 Samuel and King Saul 40 y. 2944 King David 40 y. 2985 King Solomon 4 y. 2988 The Foundation of the Temple laid in the 4th year of Solomon's Reign The Fifth Age from the laying the Foundation of Solomon 's Temple to the Destruction of it and the Captivity of Judah Solomon reigned over all Israel from the laying the Foundation of the Temple 36 years The Kingdom divided Kings of Judah 302â— REhoboam reigned 17 years 304â— Abijam 3 y. 3044 Asa 41 y. 3085 Jehoshaphat 25 y. 3106 Jehoram 8. y. 3113 Ahaziah 1 y. 3114 Athaliah 7 y. 3120 Jehoash 40 y. 31â—9 Amaziah 29 y. 31â—9 Vzziah 52 y. 32â—0 Jotham 16 y. 32â—6 Ahaz 16 y. 3271 Hezekiah 29 y. 3300 Manasseh 55 y. 3355 Amon 2 y. 335â— Josiah 31 y. 3387 Jehohaaz 3 mon. 3388 Jehoiakim 11 y. 3398 Jehoiakin or Jechoniah 3 mon. 3â—99 Zedekiah 11 y. Kings of Israel 302â— JEroboam reigned 22 years Nadab 2. y. 304â— Baasha 24 y. Elah 2 y. Zimri 7 days 3044 Omri 12 y. Ahab 22 y. 3085 Ahaziah 2 y. Jehoram 12 y. 3106 Jehu 28 y. 3113 Jehoahaz 17 y. Joah 16 y. 3114 Jeroboam 2d 41 y. 3120 An Interregnum of about Eleven years and an half Zachariah 6 months Shallum 1 month 31â—9 Menahem 10 y. 31â—9 Pekahiah 2 y. 32â—0 Pekah 20 y. 32â—6 Hoshea 9 y. 3271 The Israelites carried into Captivity by the Assyrians in the sixth year of Hezekiah The Jews carried into Captivity by the Babylonians in the 11th year of Zedekiah The Sixth Age from the Captivity of Judah to their Return out of Babylon 3408 JErusalem taken Zedekiah brought to Nebuchadnezzar sees his Children slain then hath his Eyes put out and in Chains is carried to Babylon The City and Temple burnt Seraiah the Chief Priest and other Principal men put to death at Riblah Gedaliah set over the Poor people left in the Land Jeremy upon his own choice stays with them Ismael Conspires against Gedaliah Johanan discovers it to him He believes it not and so is treacherously murder'd Johanan recovers from Ismael his Prisoners but himself escapes Johanan and his Captains and many of the people go into Egypt and carry Jeremy and Baruc with them 3409 Ezekiel utters several Prophesies in Babylon Jeremy about this time writes his Lamentations Tyre besieged by Nebuchadnezzar 3413 Nebuzaradan carries away the last Remainder of the Jews to the number of 745. Nebuchadnezzar invades Egypt and makes great Havock there Having finished his Conquests he returns unto Babylon and there has the Dream of the great Tree whose Destiny was to be cut down He new builds Babylon 3427 He falls distracted and so continues for 7 years He is recovered to his Understanding blesseth God and dies 3435 Evil Merodach succeeds him Jechoniah advanced Zedekiah dies and is honourably Buried Cyrus being made General of the Armies of the Medes and Persians obtains a great Victory over the Babylonians Belshazzar succeeds Evil Merodach In the first year of his Reign Daniel hath the Vision of the four Beasts 3465 Cyrus gives the Babylonians another great Defeat and with a vast Army besieges Babylon Belshazzar carousing with his Nobles sees the Hand-writing on the Wall Daniel interprets it to him and is thereupon advanc'd Belshazzar slain Darius takes on him the Kingdom Cyrus Marries his only Daughter Darius sets over the Provinces an 120 Governors and makes Daniel chief of them all The Princes out of Envy to him move the King to make an Edict That for 30 days no Petition should be made to any God or Man but himself Daniel thereupon cast into the Lyons Den. The 70 years of the Captivity of the Jews draw to an end Daniel Prays for the promised Deliverance The Angel Gabriel is sent to inform him not only concerning that but also the 70 Weeks Darius dies Cyrus is made thereupon Emperor of the East The Jews shew him the Prophesy of Isaiah That He should be their Deliverer with which he is much pleas'd The Seventh Age from the Return out of Babylon to the Death of Christ Or from the end of the Seventy years Captivity unto the end of the Seventy Weeks in Daniel 3478 THE 70 Weeks in Daniel containing 490 years The Persian or Second Monarchy See the Kings thereof in the Appendix Cyrus makes an Edict for the Return of the Jews and that they should go and build their
there and carried him away with the rest of their Prisoners The tydings of this coming to Abram the Hebrew he is the first in the Scripture so called he instantly doubtless by the special instinct of the Spirit of God armed his own Servants viz. such as had been trained up in his own Family in the use of their Arms to the number of three hundred and eighteen and took along with him his three Confederates * God moved them to join with Abram The Prosperity of Gods people makes those that observe it desirous to be in League with them Upon that ground did Abimelech and Phicol desire to enter into Covenant with Abraham Gen. 21.22 23. And the like motion for the same reason was made to Isaac his Son Gen. 26.27 28 29 c. Haner Escol and Mamre with the Forces they could make and marching speedily after Chedorlaomer he overtook him and his Army laden with the Prey and Spoil at Dan (u) Moses seems by a Prophetical inspiration and by way of Prolepsis or anticipation to call these places by the Names whereby they were afterwards known and called Hinc conjectant quidam nec levis est suspicio pentateuchum ut modo extat non esse a Mose conscriptum putantque Esdram aut alium divinum scriptorem interjectis hinc inde Clausulis opus illustrasse explicatius reddidisse Mas in the North Border of Canaan And having first with a Military Prudence and Policy divided his Men to make a shew as if he had a great Army dispersed divers ways He there fought them and defeated them and shew many of them and pursued them to Hoba on the left hand of Damascus and rescued Lot and the rest of the Prisoners out of their hands and brought them back again together with the prey they had taken Abram thus returning triumphantly is met by Melchizedec (x) See Apostolical History pag. 375. 376. King of Salem * Afterwards call'd Jerusalem who seems to be some eminent man in Canaan raised up by God in that Corrupt Nation who was both King and Priest of whose Father and Mother and Pedigree there is no mention in the Scripture neither of his Birth or Death or that he had any Successor in his Priesthood This Melchizedec in Congratulation of Abram's Victory brought forth Bread and Wine to refresh Him and his Souldiers and being a Priest of the most high God (y) Thus we see that though the Church was to be continued in the Posterity of Abram yet there is little question to be made but that as yet there were some few of other Families that were the true Servants of God as Job afterwards and his friends were among the Edomites by the authority of his office and in the Name of God he blessed Abram as the Priests in the Law did the people Numb 6.23 24 25. and he blessed the most high God in his behalf who had given him this Victory so that he offered a gratulatory Sacrifice of Praise but no expiatory Sacrifice for that required blood Numb 9.22 Abram on the other side presented Melchisedec with the Tenth part of the Spoil he had taken from the vanquished Army Which Tythes (z) So that the payment of Tythes is ancienter than the Levitical Law See Gen. 28.22 and being paid to Melchisedec a Type of Christ they may be continued as a Maintenance to Gospel-Ministers who exhibit Sacramental Bread and Wine and bless the people as Melchisedec did probably he Him gave by way of homage and thankfulness to God For what was given to Melchisedec in regard of his Office as a Priest was given to God But as a King Melchisedec had no need of them Abram was also met by the King of Sodom in the Valley of Shaveh in after-times called the Kings Dale where Absolon set up his Pillar 2 Sam. 15.28 who congratulating his Victory offered him that He should keep to himself if he pleased all the prey and spoils recovered by him that were lately taken from and belonged to his City only he desired to have those of the prisoners again that were his Subjects But Abram told him that he had sworn unto the Lord and vowed when he went forth in this War and implored Gods aid and assistance therein that none should have occasion to say that a Covetous desire of the Prey drew him into this Ingagement and therefore he would not accept any thing of His from a threed to a shoo-latchet lest he should say He had made Abram rich Thus Abram preferred the Glory of God and the honouring of his Religion before the Prey which by the right of War belonged to him and having been bountifully inriched by the Providence of God he would not have it said he was inriched by such wicked people as the Sodomites were Yet He excepted from this his general refusal wherein He said He would have nothing of His that which the young men his Souldiers had spent of the Enemies prey or taken to themselves and desired also that his three Confederates might have a share and portion in the spoils Gen. 14. whole Chapter SECT V. ABram having thus vanquished the Forces of these forementioned Kings lest he should fear they would at some time or other be revenged of him as possibly they might threaten God appears to him in a Vision or open apparition which he being awake beheld with his bodily Eyes and tells him That he would be a shield to him to defend him against his Enemies and seeing he had with so much piety refused the Reward offered him by the King of Sodom He assures him that He Himself will be his exceeding great Reward blessing him with the blessings of this life and rewarding him with the transcendent glory of his own Kingdom hereafter But notwithstanding this Abram in a bemoaning manner expresses the great perplexity of his mind that growing now in years He did not yet see the fulfilling of that Promise of giving Him a Son from whom the Messiah was to spring And therefore He cries out Lord what wilt thou give me seeing I go Childless Intimating his great and ardent desire that the Lord would please at length to remember his Promise made unto him concerning that particular And besides He saw that wanting Issue he wanted the comfort that other Parents had He saw he had not a Son to be under Himself the guide and stay of his Family but was forced at present to put his concerns into the hands of Eliezer his Steward (a) Whose Ancestors were of Damascus and for ought He saw His Estate would be injoyed by him when he was dead for want of an Heir God tells him his Servant should not be his Heir but One that should come out of his own Bowels and further assures him that his Seed how improbable soever it seem'd to him at present should be as the Stars of Heaven for multitude especially his spiritual Seed the Children of his
in loc it pleased the Lord to remember Rachel and to hear her prayers and to open her Womb so that she conceived at which she much rejoyced and said God hath now taken away my Reproach (f) Reproach lay upon barrenness in those times as we may see 1 Sam. 1.6 Isa 4.1 Luke 1.21 and that principally for two Reasons 1. Because they that were barren did seem to be excluded from the promise made to Abraham touching the multiplication of his Seed 2ly Because they were without hope that the Messiah who was to proceed out of the Loins of Abraham should be one of their Posterity And bringing forth a Son she called his name Joseph * Joseph his eleventh Son Natus hic anno 14 ad adventu Jacobi ad Labanem intimating hereby her hope and trust that God would add to her another Son Ch. 30. from 1. to 25. SECT XXVII JAcob having now served his Father-in-law fourteen years and having eleven Sons (g) Whereas 't is said Jacob had twelve Sons born to him in Mesopotamia Gen. 35.22 they are there reckon'd in the round number though Benjamin was certainly born afterwards in the Land of Canaan not far from Bethlehem So the Apostles are counted twelve 1 Cor. 15.5 though Judas was wanting and one Daughter he desir'd he might with his good leave depart and go home to his own Country with his Wives and Children Laban with very kind expressions desires him to tarry longer with him for he observed that the Lord had blessed him for his sake And for wages he would give him whatever he desired Jacob tells him He could not be insensible what Service he had done him and how much He had thriven and prospered since his coming to him For thou hadst says He but little at my coming to thee but now by Gods blessing upon my painful and diligent labour for thee thy Stock is vastly increased and it is time for me being now 90 years old to provide for my own Family Laban asks him again What he should give him to stay with him Jacob tells him He would not desire any set or determined wages from him nor would require any thing out of his present Estate or that which he had already gotten but would receive his wages out of the future increase of his Flocks and that in such a way as in humane probability was not like to be very advantageous to him however therein he would depend on the Providence of God And the way he propounds was this viz. That he would separate all the speckled and spotted Cattel and the brown among the Sheep from those that were all of one colour whether black or white and not at all spotted and those only he would take under his Charge and he would have for his wages only those that should prove speckled and spotted bred of the old ones that had neither speck nor spot in them And he desired doubtless by the direction of God only to have such as these for his share If he took any other to his own use he would be content it should be accounted as if he had stolen them But he hoped his righteous and faithful dealing herein should answer for him at any time hereafter Laban greedily imbraceth the condition and consenteth to the Terms For according to the ordinary course of nature Cattel are wont to bring forth such as themselves are and therefore this was like to be very advantageous to Laban and to be but a poor bargain for Jacob whose service Laban was like to have for very little These Terms being agreed on Laban with the help of Jacob separates all the ringstreaked speckled and spotted from the rest of the Flock and gave them to his Sons to keep committing those of one colour to Jacob's charge And he set a distance of three days journey between the Flocks of Jacob and those his Sons were to keep lest the white ones might come to be mixed with the spotted or brown Jacob now having this Flock of Labans under his charge by direction from God as appears Ch. 31.9 10 11 12. He used this policy for his own benefit He took rods of green poplar hasel and chesnut-tree and peeled part and left part unpeeled so that they were particoloured partly white and partly green and laid them before the Flocks in the Gutters and in the Watering-Troughs in the ramming-time that so by the strength of Imagination they might conceive and bring forth a particoloured-breed which accordingly hapned by the Divine blessing on Jacob. And because all the Flocks would not conceive just at watering-time having gotten some spotted Lambs by his first policy of the peeled Rods he set those spotted Lambs before the faces of Laban's Flock that he had under his Charge at the coupling-time that a greater Impression might be made on their phantasie and that by the sight of these that were speckled the Cattel might bring forth speckled also This was a second policy he used A third was this his own Cattel that were ringstreaked speckled and spotted when they were like to conceive he would not let them be amongst Laban's Cattel lest looking upon them that were all of one colour their imagination might work to a resemblance of them and so should bring forth young ones like them viz. all of one colour and so they would be Laban's and not his And a fourth policy of his was this When the stronger Cattel did Conceive he laid the Rods before their eyes in the Gutters that so their Off-Spring might be his But when the Cattel were feeble he put them not in that so their young ones being all one colour might fall to Laban's share For so he contrived that Laban might have some increase (h) Hanc autem servabat aequitatem Jacob ut in arte illa nova ipse sui laboris praemium acciperet Laban non penitus spoliaretur Jans else he would have been impatient Thus Jacob by the concurrence of the Divine blessing increas'd in Stock and Riches exceedingly Ch. 30. from vers 25. to the end SECT XXVIII JAcob having now served Laban 20 years during the last six years the Sons of Laban envied him exceedingly and murmur'd and repin'd saying That of what was their Fathers he had gotten all his Glory that is all his Wealth which procures men honour and esteem and which worldly men count their Glory And they were ready to slander him as having unjustly gotten what was graciously bestowed on him by the Providence of God Jacob also observ'd that Laban's Countenance was not towards him as formerly it us'd to be but in his very looks he shewed the displeasure of his heart The Lord hereupon warns Jacob to return to his own Country and promises to be with him Jacob upon this sends for his Wives Rachel and Leah into the Field to him and acquaints them with Gods appearing to him and with his purpose of departure He tells them That they
Southern part of Canaan and there dwelt he sent Messengers before to him to give him notice of his coming charging them to address themselves to him in a very respectful and submissive manner and to tell him that his Servant Jacob had sojourned with Laban in Mesopotamia for 20 years and God had now blessed Him with Flocks and Herds and with Men-Servants and Maid-Servants and therefore He did not come to beg any thing of him but only desired his favour that he might quietly pass thorow his Country The Messengers having dispatched their Message return and tell him that his Brother Esau was coming to meet him attended with 400 men and 't is like they possessed him that they apprehended he came with no good intention towards him Jacob hearing this was greatly afraid his Guard of holy Angels in likelihood being gone and contriving to secure himself as well as he could he divided the people that were with him and his Flocks into two Bands or Companies thinking that if Esau fell upon the one the other might possibly have time to escape And being in this distress he set himself to call not upon the Angels that had lately appeared to him for their help and mediation but upon the true and ever living God praying unto Him after this manner O God of my Grandfather Abraham and Father Isaac to whom thou hast made many great and glorious Promises and to their Seed Thou commandedst me to leave Mesopotamia and to return to my Fathers house (u) See Ch. 31.13 and didst promise to deal well with me and Lo I am now obeying thy Command I acknowledge I am altogether unworthy of the great Mercies thou hast bestowed on me and of that Faithfulness thou hast expressed towards me For when I came from my Fathers house I was in a mean and poor Condition I passed over the River Jordan that I have now in mine eye only with my Staff in my hand and now behold I am become two Bands And seeing thou hast hitherto been so gracious unto me I humbly pray thee now help me and save me from my Brother Esau who I fear without thy Interposition will come upon me and slay me with my Wives and Children Lord thou hast promis'd to do me good and to keep me in all places Ch. 28.14 15. 31.3 and to make my Seed as the Sand of the Sea Therefore I pray thee of thy great mercy make good these thy gracious Promises unto me Jacob having thus prayed and reposed his Trust in God yet He judged it fit to use all good and fair means for his own Preservation And therefore resolved with himself to send a Present to his Brother to propitiate and atone him And accordingly he cull'd out some of all his Cattel for this purpose but the approaching of the night and his hast to prevent his Brothers coming would not suffer him to make any curious choice However he took out of his Flocks 200 She-Goats and 20 He-Goats 200 Ews and 20 Rams 30 Milch-Camels with their Colts 40 Kine and 10 Bulls 20 She-Asses and and 10 Foles in all 580 Head of Cattel a rich and noble Present being an excellent and large Stock for breed These several sorts of Cattel he delivered into the hands of so many several Servants and charged them to pass over the Ford of Jabbok with them and to put a good distance and space between Drove and Drove that so his Present might make the fairer shew and that by degrees the heat of his Brothers Rage might abate and cool Then he charged the first Servant that went with the first Flock that when he met Esau and he should ask him Whence he came and to whom he belonged he should say This is a Present of thy Servant Jacob sent to my Lord Esau and behold he himself is behind coming to wait upon my Lord. And he charged the rest of the Servants that went with the other Flocks to do accordingly And he thought with himself that by this means in all likelihood he should appease his Brother and melt his Rage and dispose him to be kind and favourable to him The Present being sent away His next care was to pass his Wives and Children and his Company and his Flocks and Substance over the River Jabbok but he himself stayed behind that he might spend the night in private prayer unto God And having wrestled with the Lord several hours by fervent prayer not without many tears as we read Hos 12.4 He wept and made Supplication c. at last the Son of God the Angel of the Covenant appeared to him in an humane shape and set upon him and wrestled with him and he was pleased not to prevail over him with that measure of strength which in that assumed Body he did take and use at that time to intimate to him and to assure him that though he was to wrestle with many Difficulties and many Afflictions yet he should be Victor in them all However to keep him humble and that he should not be exalted above measure but know by whose Indulgence he did prevail he touched the hollow of his Thigh and put it out of joynt and the Sinews shrank so that he halted of it for the present to intimate to him that it was not the hand of a meer man that strove with him Then the Angel speaking to him after the manner of men said Let me go for the day breaketh but Jacob now perceiving the Person he wrestled with to be more than a meer man said I will not let thee go except thou bless me Then the Angel asked him his Name which he knew well enough but to take occasion for what he meant to say concerning the change of his Name He answers Jacob. The Angel replies That his Name should henceforth not only be called Jacob but Israel (x) The Jews are never called Jacobites but Israelites that is One that hath Princely Power with God Gen. 46.2 Ch. 35.10 and should also prevail over men Then Jacob desired the Angel to tell him his Name (y) Some Angels had names as Gabriel Luk. 1.19 Christ the Angel of the Covenant is called Michael Dan. 10.21 Jude v. 9. Apoc. 12.7 hoping he would have given him some peculiar Name whereby he might have the clearer knowledge of Him and might better remember and honour him The Angel refused to satisfie his curiosity in that as likewise He did Judg. 13.17 18. but he blessed him So Jacob called the name of the Place Peniel because he had there seen the Son of God in an humane shape face to face who had there manifested himself more clearly to him than ever before and he had escaped death notwithstanding this glorious sight which the Godly us'd to fear when they saw Visions of God See Exod. 20.19 Judg. 6.22 23. 13.22 And now he looked upon his life as safe and that God would preserve him from Esau Then the Sun rising Jacob passed
Camels 500 Yokes of Oxen 500 She-Asses 3. He had a great many Servants 4. There was great Vnity and Love among his Children they feasting one another in their Courses To which may be added Job's Piety and paternal Care in offering Sacrifices for them 3. Of his wonderful Afflictions Satan obtained a Commission to have Power over his Possessions over his Children and over his own Person yet so as not to take away his life and his own Wife mocked at him Hereupon He curses the day of his Birth and wishes he had died before or immediately after his coming into the World Ch. 1. 2. to the 11 vers and Ch. 3. 4. Of his four Friends coming to him to visit him in this his sad Condition Whereof the three first viz. Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar argue and debate the matter with him and pretend to maintain that he that was so extraordinarily and extremely afflicted by God as Job was must needs either be a great and open Sinner or a Close Hypocrite from vers 11. of Ch. 2. to the end Eliphaz begins and is the first Opponent in this Disputation whose Argument is contained in the 4th and 5th Ch. Job's Answer to him is contained in the 6th and 7th Ch. Bildad is the second Opponent His Discourse is contained in the 8th Ch. And it is mainly a Confutation of Job's Reply to Eliphaz Job's Answer to him is set down in the 9th and 10th Ch. In which like an ingenuous Disputant he grants that which is true in Bildad's Argument and denies what is false Zophar is the third Opponent whose Discourse and Argument is contained in Ch. 11. Job's Answer to him is set down Ch. 22 13 14. and it is framed not only as an Answer to Zophar's Argument but also to what Eliphaz and Bildad had alledged before and he concludes with an humble Supplication to God for a mitigation of his Afflictions Eliphaz speaks again and rejoyns Ch. 15. Job Replies to him Ch. 16 17. Bildad also Rejoyns Ch. 18. Job Answers him Ch. 19. Zophar Rejoyns also Ch. 20. Job Answers him Ch. 21. Eliphaz undertakes him a third time Ch. 22. Job's Answer to him is couched in Ch. 23 24. Bildad also undertakes him a third time Ch. 25. Job Answers him Ch. 26. and that puts an end to the Disputation which Job closes with two Speeches The first is contained in the 27th 28th Ch. wherein he professeth his Integrity and his Resolution to hold it to the end The second is contained in the 29 30 31 Ch. wherein he speaks of his former great Happiness and laments his present miserable Condition both in respect of outward and inward Temptations and asserts the Vprightness and Inoffensiveness of his Carriage The Disputation being ended Elihu who takes upon him to be as it were Moderator begins to speak and he makes four distinct Speeches The first is contained in Ch. 32 33. In the close of which he gives Job leave to make his Defence who not Replying he proceeds to His second Speech contained in Ch. 34. His third is set down in Ch. 35. His fourth in Ch. 36 37. Then the Almighty Himself spake out of the Whirlewind and gave the final and decisive Sentence between Job and his Friends And first the Lord Reproves the Ignorance of Job and shews him how unfit he was to contend with his Maker Ch. 38. 39. Job hereupon humbly abases himself before the Lord and yields the Cause and promises Silence and not to Complain any more Ch. 40. v. 3 4 5. Then the Lord Reproves Job for not being brought to a full acknowledgment of the Exact Justice of his Creator and his own Sinfulness The Lord also manifests and declares his own Power and Job's Weakness Commanding Job by way of Irony to do that which none but God can do Then he Exemplifies his own infinite Power in his having created at first and still having the Government over those two vast Creatures viz. Behemoth and Leviathan from vers 6. of Ch. 40. to the end of 41. 5ly The Conclusion of the History which is contained in Ch. 42. where Job confesseth himself Guilty and humbles himself before the Lord repenting in Dust and Ashes God then Reproves his Friends for not speaking of him the things that were right He Charges them to offer Burnt-Offerings for themselves and to get Job to Intercede for them for him he would accept Job is now delivered from his Affliction and blessed with double as much Estate as he had before and in time with as many Children as He had before viz. with seven Sons and three Daughters His Friends and near Relations visit him and present him with Gifts The years of his life are doubled For he lived an 140 years after his trouble and so was 70 years old when his troubles began and died 210 years old the longest liver born since Terah SECT L. Anno Mundi 2385. ABout this time died Levi in Egypt aged 137 Exod. 6.16 being Grandfather by the Mothers side to Moses and Aaron and great Grandfather by the Fathers For when he had begotten Kohath in Canaan and a Daughter called Jochebed in Egypt Amram the Son of Kohath took to wife Jochebed the Daughter of Levi his own Aunt doing therein that which was then customary though afterwards it was expresly forbidden Lev. 18.12 20.19 and by Her He had Miriam Aaron and Moses and having attained to the age of 137. the just age of His Grandfather Levi He died a little before the Departure of the Israelites out of Egypt See Exod. 6.18 20. SECT LI. THe Children of Israel being now by the especial blessing of God increased in Egypt from 70 Souls to (k) At Gen. 46.25 Numerantur solum sexaginta sex Resp Tot descenderunt cum Jacobo At in Egypto 70. Adde enim duos Josephi silios in Egypto natos ipsum Josephum patrem Jacobum sicque sunt 70. a vast multitude after the death of Joseph and the twelve Patriarchs by degrees fall into great Enormities and Abominations As 1. Many of them began to be Corrupt in their Religion and committed Idolatry with the Idols of Egypt as is intimated Josh 24.14 Put away the Gods which your Fathers served on the other side of the Flood and in Egypt and serve you the Lord. See also Ezek. 20.8 2. Some of them joyned in Marriage with the Egyptians as may appear from Lev. 24.10 And the Son of an Israelitish woman whose Father was an Egyptian For these and their other great Sins and Transgressions the Lord now casteth them into a Furnace of Afflictions partly to punish them for their Sins and partly to keep them from setting their hearts on Egypt and to make them long after Canaan the promised Land And accordingly now there arose a new King in Egypt who knew nor Joseph nor the Services he had done for that Crown who fearing the number and strength of the Israelites did resolve to
18. SECT LIX MOses being now confirmed partly by Miracles partly by the promise of Divine assistance and having his Brother Aaron given him for his Partner he undertook the Work Returning therefore to his Father-in-law Jethro and concealing as 't is probable from him the glorious Vision he had seen and the honourable Employment he was called unto lest Jethro should by proposing Difficulties and perils in the undertaking discourage him He in a respectful manner desires him to permit him to go into Egypt to visit his Brethren and see how they did Jethro readily consents to it and bids him go in peace Notwithstanding Moses it seems after he had obtained leave of Jethro made not such hast as he ought to have done Therefore God appears to him a second time in Midian and quickens him to the Journey assuring him that all those in Egypt that sought his life were dead Then Moses took his Wife and his two Sons Gershom and Eliezer Exod. 18.3 4. and setting them upon Asses intended to carry them with him into Egypt and he took his Rod with which God appointed him to work Miracles in his hand and the Lord appointed him when he came into Egypt to do all those Wonders and Miracles before Pharaoh which he should put into his hand that is give him Power to do But the Lord tells him That he will harden Pharaoh's heart that is he will withdraw and withhold his Grace from him as by withholding Light he causeth Darkness and would permit Satan to excite and spur on his corrupt Nature so that notwitstanding the many things that should be offer'd to him for his Conviction he should more and more harden his own heart against God and should refuse to let the People go However he commands him to speak thus unto Pharaoh Thus saith the Lord The People or Posterity of Israel are my First-born being chosen of my free Grace first out of all Nations to be my peculiar People and are as dear to me as the First-born are to their Parents Therefore let them go that they may serve me If thou refuse to let them go behold I will slay thy Son even thy First-born and not thine only but the First-born of all the Egyptians thy Subjects also and so accordingly it afterwards came to pass Ch. 4. from vers 18. to 24. SECT LX. AS Moses was now upon his Journey towards Egypt with his Wife and Children the Lord as it seems visibly appeared to him and either by a Sword drawn in his hand or by inflicting some sudden violent Sickness upon him put him in great danger of his life and revealed to him the Cause thereof to be because he had neglected to Circumcise his youngest Son see Gen. 17.14 there being a great Incongruity in it that He should take on him the Government of God's Circumcised People who had neglected to impose this Badge of the Covenant on his own Son 'T is like the reason why Moses neglected to Circumcise this his younger Son was because his Wife had been so highly displeased at his Circumcising of the elder But however it was Zipporah seeing the danger her Husband was now in by reason of this neglect and that he was at this time through sickness so disabled that he himself could not do it she took a sharp Knife possibly made of Flint and Circumcised him her self and then cast the Foreskin newly cut off at her Husbands feet saying in a discontented humour Surely thou art a bloody Husband to me For for thy sake and for the sake of thy Religion I am forced thus to shed the blood of my Son This being done the Lord let Moses go and released him from his Sickness And 't is like upon this occasion and trouble Zipporah with her Children was sent back from thence to her Fathers house again as appears Exod. 18.2 3. Ch. 4. from vers 24. to 27. SECT LXI MOses being now freed from all Incumbrance went on his Journey towards Mount Horeb where his Brother Aaron being before warned of God to come thither met him and at their meeting kissed and embraced him Then Moses acquainted him with all these wonderful Passages and with all that the Lord had said unto him and what Miracles he had impowered him and commanded him to work and what Service he had employed him about and how Aaron was appointed to joyn with him therein This done they went on and when they came into Egypt they called together the Elders of the Children of Israel and Aaron spake to them what Moses had directed him to say from God and Moses wrought as was appointed him those three Miracles before mentioned Sect. 57. for the confirming their Faith See Ch. 4. from vers 2. to the 10. The people of Israel when they heard and saw these things they greatly rejoyced and believed that God had now in mercy visited them and had looked down with Pitty and compassion on their Afflictions and they bowed their heads and worshipp'd God with great Reverence Humility and Thankfulness Ch. 4. from 27. to the end SECT LXII SHortly after this Moses and Aaron make their first Address to Pharaoh several of the Elders of Israel accompanying them therein See Exod. ch 3.18 They Represent to Him that the God of their Fathers had appeared unto them and commanded them to offer a Sacrifice and to celebrate a Religious Feast (p) Part of the Sacrifices were to serve for a Feast and both for the honour of God This Feast they should have celebrated to the Lord but they performed it to an Idol the work of their own hands Exod. 32.6 19. to him in the Wilderness Therefore they humbly beseech him that they may have liberty to go three days Journey in the Desart namely to the Mount Horeb to perform this which the Lord required of them lest if they should neglect to obey Him therein he should punish them with the Pestilence or Sword or some such dreadful Judgment for their Disobedience Pharaoh like a proud and imperious Prince answers Who is the Lord that I should obey his Voice to let Israel go I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel go Then looking upon Moses and Aaron with Indignation He asks them What they had to do to seduce the People and take them off from their work And then looking upon the People with anger Get you to your Burdens says he and see that you perform your daily Task or I will take a course with you I understand very well that you are a great and numerous People indeed too many and these two men Moses and Aaron design to get ease and rest for you from your Burdens that so you may increase more and possibly may then think of rebelling against me But I shall take Care to prevent that And accordingly that very day he charged the Task-Masters that were Egyptians and the Officers under them which were Israelites appointed to take the Over-sight of their Brethren in
their Labours that they should no more give the people Straw to make Brick withall as heretofore they had done but they should gather and provide Straw for themselves and yet notwithstanding they should exact the same tale and number of Bricks of them which they made before and not abate them any thing of it For says he They are idle and therefore they Cry Let us go Sacrifice to the Lord our God I Command you therefore to impose more work upon them that they may have enough to do and may not be at leisure to regard lying words such as this Moses and Aaron tell them who flamm them with stories of their being sent from God The Task-Masters and Officers acquaint the people with this strict and severe Injunction of the King Whereupon a considerable part of them were forced to scatter themselves through all the Land of Egypt to provide Straw and Straw failing they were fain to gather Stubble instead of it And the Task-Masters pressed them on notwithstanding to finish every day as much work as when they had Straw allowed them And when there happened any failure in the Work the Israelitish Officers or Overseers that were set over their Brethren were beaten for it Whereupon these Officers addressed themselves to Pharaoh and humbly Remonstrated That the Egyptian Task-Masters that used to furnish the Israelites with Straw now did not do it and yet they required of them to make the same number of Bricks daily as before which was in a manner impossible for them to do And when they did it not they their Overseers were beaten for it though the fault was not in them but in the Egyptian Task-Masters Pharaoh answered them roughly and tyrannically You are idle You are idle therefore you say Let us go and do Sacrifice to the Lord. Get you gone and see that you finish the Task that is every day required of you and yet you shall have no Straw furnished to you The Officers of the Children of Israel seeing themselves in this very ill condition and having no hope of remedy they go to Moses and Aaron who possibly came out to meet them to see what answer they had from the King and like ignorant passionate men who mistake Occasions for Causes they charge the Injuries of their Enemies upon their best Friends and in an angry and discontented Mood say to Moses and Aaron The Lord look upon you that is the Lord take notice and consider what you have brought upon us and judge you for it You have made us to stink and to be abhorred of Pharaoh and his Servants and have put a Sword into their hands to slay us You have by this your Address to Pharaoh stirred up Him and His Courtiers to tyrannize more over us than they did before Moses being greatly grieved at this their Complaint betook himself to some retired place where by prayer and deep sighs he might present his own and the peoples distress unto the Lord and he said Ah Lord why hast thou thus dealt with thy people against whom Pharaoh's Rage is not at all mitigated but much increased since I mediated for them Why hast thou sent me on such a Message as this which hath not been a means to deliver thy people but much more to afflict them The Lord answered Thou shalt quickly see what I will do unto Pharaoh My Hand shall be so strong and heavy upon him that he shall not only be content to dismiss you as Exod. 3.20 but shall be ready with all his Power to drive you out rather than hold you any longer See Exod. 12.31.33 And the Lord to encourage Moses the more in his Work repeateth his Name to him and the Covenant which he had made with the Fathers He says to him I am theLord I appeared unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob by the Name of Elshaddai God Almighty that is such a God as is All-sufficient and able to perform all my Promises Gen. 17.1 but by my Name Jehovah (q) This cannot be meant of the letters and syllables of that name as if the Patriarchs had never heard of that Name For God called himself Jehovah long before and by that Name confirmed his Promises as appears Gen. 2.4 7 8 9. 15.7 28.12 Gen. 22.14 Ch. 26.24 Ch. 27.20 and that which it importeth (r) Jehovah signifies God's eternal Being in himself his giving being to other things and the performance of his Promises and in regard of this he says He was not known to their Fathers by this Name They being sustain'd by Faith in God's Almighty Power rested upon the Promise not enjoying the thing promised But now to their Children the Promise should be performed and so they should have full knowledge and experience of the efficacy of that Name Jehovah But withall we must know that this is only spoken comparatively as the glorious ministration of the Law is said to have had no glory in respect of the excellent glory of the Gospel 2 Cor. 3.10 So the Fathers are said not to have known God by his Name Jehovah in comparison of what their Posterity knew have not I been made know to them that is so fully as I intend now to be made known to their Posterity to whom I shall really fulfil and give a Being to my Promises by my wonderful Deliverance of them out of Egypt and bringing them at length into the Land of Promise For I made a firm Covenant with those my Servants Abraham Isaac and Jacob and confirmed it by an Oath to give that Land of Canaan wherein they were but Strangers and Sojourners to them and their Posterity for an Inheritance And I have heard the groaning of the Children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage and I have remembered my Covenant Therefore go to them and tell them I am the Lord and I will deliver them from that cruel Servitude under which they groan and will with an out-stretched arm and inflicting terrible Judgments on the Egyptians bring them forth And I will take them to my self for my peculiar people and will be to them a God and they shall assuredly know that 't is I the Lord and none else who did all these great things for them Moses as God had commanded him went to the Children of Israel with this Message but thorow the anguish of their Spirits and the extremity of their Sufferings they regarded not what he said nor were disposed to believe any thing that he spake concerning their Deliverance So greatly prejudicial are the immoderate passions of men not only to God's truth but to their own welfare Then God commands Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh again and to require him to let the people go out of his Land Moses answered That the Children of Israel would not hearken to him how then should he think that Pharaoh would hear him or mind or regard his words and especially seeing he was a man of uncircumcised lips (s) Because
Circumcision was with the Jews a Badge of God's people Therefore those that were not Circumcised were counted profane and their Uncircumcision was counted a grievous blemish Hence it was that in a Figurative Speech they counted those things that had any natural or moral blemish uncircumcised as a Heart or Mind or Tongue uncircumcised Hinc homines viles ad aliquam rem inepti incircumcisi ea parte vocantur and had an imperfection in his speech and utterance and was very unfit to be sent to Pharaoh on such a Message as that was However God bids Him and Aaron go again to the Children of Israel and to encourage them with expectation of Deliverance and to go to Pharaoh to require him in his Name to let them go Moses and Aaron being thus to be imployed as Instruments in the Hand of God of this great Deliverance their Stock and Lineage is here set down to shew that they were both descended of Levi and this might possibly be so ordered by the Spirit of God as an Antidote against the fabulous Reports of Heathen Writers such as Justin and Tacitus who tell false Stories of the Original both of Moses and of the people of the Jews Which things though they happened not till many years after yet were now fore-seen by the Spirit of God who assistâ—â— Moses in penning this History And Moses being to set down his own and Aarons Descent from Levi for orders sake he begins with the Stock of Reuben and Simeon Levi's elder Brothers And possibly in this place he mentions only those three and not the Heads of the other Tribes that it might appear that they were not rejected of God notwithstanding Jacob's severe Commination Gen. 49.3 5. As also to shew that though Reuben and Simeon were elder then Levi yet God had freely chosen out of the Tribe of Levi Moses to be the first Captain of his people and his Brother Aaron the first High Priest to whom his Posterity should succeed in that Office And these are that very Moses and Aaron whom the Lord commanded to bring forth the Children of Israel out of Egypt who were increased now to many thousands so that they might be called the Hosts of the Lord Exod. 12.37 41. Ch. 5. whole Chapter Ch. 6. from vers 1. to 28. SECT LXIII MOses being now 80 (t) The reason why Moses's age is here set down seems to be to shew how long God in his wise Providence had suffered the Egyptians to oppress the Israelites with such cruel bondage even before the birth of Moses till he came to be 80 years of age And the reverence and respect due to the venerable age He and Aaron were of rendred them the more fit to undertake such a service and Aaron 83 years of Age they are commanded by the Lord to go again to Pharaoh to require him to dismiss the people Moses would have excused himself again because he was not Eloquent but the Lord tells him Behold I have made thee a God (u) Quia adversus Pharaonem divinam quandam potestatem exercuit dum ab eo timetur dum oratur dum punit dum medetur dum verbo animalia quasi creat destruit coelum denique ac terram commovet ut explicat Hilarius lib. 7. de Trin. to Pharaoh that is one to whom the Word of God shall come and by whom it shall be made known to Aaron and by him to Pharaoh For Aaron shall be thy Interpreter and Spokes-man But I know that Pharaoh will not hearken unto you but will harden his heart against all that you shall say However be not discouraged thereat for I will multiply my Signs and Wonders in the Land of Egypt and will bring forth my Hosts that is my people the Children of Israel by inflicting great Plagues and Judgments on the Egyptians and they shall know that I am the Lord by the Judgments that I will execute upon them and by which I will at last deliver my people Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them and went again unto Pharaoh requiring him in the Name of the Lord to let the Children of Israel go out of his Land Pharaoh asks them How he shall know that they were sent of God What Miracle could they work to induce him to believe it Moses hereupon gave Aaron his Rod and bad him cast it upon the ground and said It should become a Serpent and Aaron did so before Pharaoh and his Servants and accordingly it became a Serpent (x) It seems the change wrought before Pharaoh was not into an ordinary Serpent called Nehash but into some greater Creature here called a Dragon Tavin Then Pharaoh called for his Magicians and Sorcerers wherewith the Land of Egypt abounded and whereof the chief at that time were Jannes and Jambres 2 Tim. 3.8 and they did the like in outward shew and appearance but not in reality the Devil by whose Power they did work casting a mist before the peoples eyes whereby they thought they saw that which indeed was not I say these Magicians cast down their Rods and they seemed to be turned also into Serpents (y) Dici potest veros dracones sive Serpentes aliunde adductos ope Damonis virgarum loco fuisse substitutos ita fallendo oculos ut nemo praestigias istas animadverteret or Dragons Some aerial Representations possibly of them being there made by the art of the Devil or possibly the Devil might bring thither some true Serpents unperceiveably from other places and might remove the Rods from the peoples eyes But the Dragon or Serpent into which Aarons Rod was turned swallowed (z) Notandum praestigias Magorum non obfuisse Mosi sed magis profuisse Semper enim aliquid adsuit quo divina signa praecellerent Nam Serpens Moysis devoravit eorum Serpentes Aquam illi in sanguinem mutare potuerunt non rursum sanguinem in aquam ranas afferre non tollere Nempe ut per eas plagae augeri possent non minui Post devorationem Virga Aaronis in statum pristinum reversa est up theirs God hereby shewing that the Power whereby Moses and Aaron had wrought their Miracle was infinitely above that of Satan whereby the Magicians had endeavoured to equal the Work which Moses had done Yet notwithstanding this Miracle Pharaoh's heart was still hardened so that he would not let the people go as God had foretold Exod. 6. vers 28 29 30. Exod. 7. from 1. to 14. SECT LXIV PHaraoh continuing still obstinate God sends Moses and Aaron again to him and by their Ministry inflicts ten Plagues successively upon the Eyptians from which the Israelites as 't is probable were wholly exempted See Exod. 8.22 9.26 10.23 All which are reckoned Psal 78. 105. which Plagues were all sent within one month in this Order 1. God Commands Moses and Aaron to go and meet Pharaoh the next Morning First Plague Their waters turned into Bloud
for seven days together who would then come to walk by the side of the River Nilus and to tell him That seeing he had refused to obey the Voice of the Lord he would bring a grievous Plague upon Him and his People They had shed the bloud of the Israelites Children and drowned them in that River Therefore God had commanded him to give order to Aaron with his Rod to smite the waters of the River and he accordingly stretched forth his Hand over the Rivers Streams and Ponds probably over some of them in the Name of the rest and striking those Waters they were immediately turned into bloud Yea by the influence of God's Almighty Power upon that percussion all their other Streams and Rivers Ponds and Pools yea Cisterns of water whether of Wood or Stone were turned into bloud for seven days together By which Plague the Fish that were in the River died whereby the Egyptians were deprived of that which was their chief Food (a) The Egyptians abstained from the flesh of many Beasts of Superstition especially such as the Hebrews used in Sacrifice as may be gathered from Numb 11.5 We remember the Fish that we did eat in Egypt freely and Isa 19.8 God threatens this as a great Judgment to Egypt The Fishers shall mourn and all that cast Angles into the Brooks shall lament and they that spread Nets upon the Waters shall languish So that this was a sore Plague on the Egyptians who fed much on Fish and traded much with them and maintained themselves by them And one great evil followed this also for hereupon the River stank so horribly that they could not drink of the waters of it which used to be their ordinary Beverage see Jer. 2.18 but were fain to dig Pits near the River that they might have some water to drink But all this did not work upon Pharaoh's obdurate heart For his Magicians and Sorcerers getting some water either from the Sea or out of the new-digged-Wells or from the houses of the Israelites dwelling here and there intermixed with them did by their Enchantments and the Devil's help get some blood whereby they tinctured the waters or else unperceiveably removed the water and substituted bloud in the place thereof Which when Pharaoh saw done by them he went away to his own house and heeded not nor laid to heart the foregoing Plague inflicted on him by Moses Exod. Ch. 7. from 14. to the end 2. God Commands Moses and Aaron to go to Pharaoh again Second Plague Frogs and to require him to let his People go and to tell Him That if he refused to do it He would smite all his Borders with Frogs They accordingly resolutely pursue their Commission and evidence their Courage and Fidelity in God's Cause notwithstanding the ill success they had had before But Pharaoh would not give ear to them Hereupon Aaron stretched forth his Rod (b) The Rod is called sometimes the Rod of Moses sometimes of Aaron sometimes of God to shew that it was the Instrument they all used in working these prodigious things over the Rivers (c) Non singulos adiit fluvios sed virga eminus eos intenta designavit extendit eam versus Nilum intentione versus omnes aqas Aegypti over the Streams and over the Ponds and the Frogs came up in great abundance upon the Land namely not only those that were in the Rivers before but an innumerable number of new ones were produced and they crawled into Pharaoh's house and into his Bed-Chamber (d) How easily can God cast contempt upon Princes and how favourable is he to men who by his ordinary Providence makes such Creatures loth to come where man hath to do which are so lothsome to him yea upon his Bed and into the Houses of his Courtiers and the rest of his people yea into their Ovens and Kneading-Troughs so that they were grievously annoyed with them Pharaoh calls for his Magicians to see if they could imitate this Miracle and they by stretching forth their Rods over the River did by the Power of the Devil (e) The Devil it seems much delights in their monstrous shape For we find in the Scripture three unclean Spirits like Frogs coming out of the mouth of the Dragon bring forth some true Frogs by unperceptible Conveyance to the place where the Contest was which possibly at this present was not covered with Frogs by Moses's Working though it is like they were but very few in comparison of those Moses and Aaron had produced And when they had brought them they could not remove them again Pharaoh and his people being thus grievously distressed with this Plague he began to stoop a little and to acknowledge God whom before he would not know and therefore desires Moses and Aaron to intreat the Lord to remove these Frogs and he would let the people go that they may Sacrifice unto the Lord their God Moses knowing that he was constituted as a God to Pharaoh Ch. 7. vers 1. to bring Judgments upon him and romove them at God's appointment and having in him the Faith of Miracles and being directed by the Spirit of God He told Pharaoh He would do him the honour (f) Honorem tibi sume ut des mihi tempus in quo orem pro te to let him appoint the time when he should pray to the Lord for him and by his power deliver him from this Plague And says he if my prayer take no effect then do thou glory over me and say I am no better than one of thy Magicians but if I do deliver thee then own and obey the great God of Heaven whose Servant I am Pharaoh desires the Frogs may be removed by the next Morning Moses Replies Be it according to thy word that thou mayst know that there is none like unto the Lord our God Moses then cried unto the Lord to remove this Plague from Pharaoh and the Lord heard him and immediately the Frogs died that were in the Houses Villages and Fields only some remained in the River and they gathered the dead Frogs together and cast them upon heaps so that the Land stank by reason of them But when this Plague was removed and Pharaoh saw there was some respite he hardened his heart and hearkened not to Moses and Aaron as the Lord had foretold Exod. Ch. 8. from vers 1. to 16. Third Plague Lice 3. Pharaoh having thus mocked God promising and not performing the Lord to manifest his Indignation against him Commands Moses now to strike him with a new Judgment without giving him any warning as at other times he had done Aaron therefore is commanded forthwith to stretch out his Rod and to strike the dust of the Land that it may become Lice through all the Land of Egypt Which Aaron accordingly doing abundance of Lice came on Men and Beasts the dust in very part of the Land that is a great deal of it turning into that
Boils and Blains breaking out upon them So that they were forced to go away and cease fighting against God But yet Pharaoh's heart was so hardned that he would not let the people go for all this Exod. Ch. 9. from 8. to vers 13. Seventh Plague Hail 7. Some few days after God sends Moses again to Pharaoh to require him to let his people go that they may serve him and to let him know that though his Hand had been already heavy upon him yet there were far sorer Plagues still behind which he had determined to bring upon him and his people if he continued obstinate and which should sting him to the very heart And these he would presently pour forth thick and threefold upon him that he might know there is no God like to the great Jehovah in all the World Moses is further commanded to speak thus to Him from the Lord I have stretched out my Hand and destroyed a great part of thy Cattel by Murrain and Pestilence and I should have destroyed thee and thy people thereby also (p) Sic ergo vertendum v. 16. Modo enim cum extendi manum meam percussissem non tantum pecus sed te etiam populum tuum veruntamen seci ut restares c. J. T. as you well deserved but that I have raised thee up for this very purpose that the World might see my Justice in punishing of thee and my Power in my Conquest over thee And dost thou yet so impudently exalt thy self against Me and my People Behold about this time to morrow I will cause it to rain a very grievous Hail upon Thee such as hath not been in Egypt since it became a Land inhabited by Misraim Son of Cham who gave Name to that People and Country And Moses the more to set forth the terrour of this Plague that was coming upon them advises the Egyptians to send for and get home their Cattel and Servants and all that they had in the Field For all that was found there would be destroyed by the Hail Some of Pharaoh's Servants believed this threatening of the Lord and got their Servants and Cattel into houses and so had them preserved but Others regarded it not On the morrow Moses stretched forth his Rod towards Heaven and the Lord sent Thunder and Hail mixed with Fire that ran upon the ground which destroyed not only a great part of their Corn viz. the Barley (q) V. 32. But the Wheat and the Rie were not smitten for they were not grown up that is so much as the Barley It seems in Egypt they sowed their Barley at the same time with their Wheat which we do not and there the Barley would be by far the forwardest Hordeo laeso incolume mansit triticum quippe cum hordei culmus aliquantum arefactus adeoque induratus non cederet grandini sed obniteretur itaque frangebatur Triticum autem tenerum adhuc in herba velut abditum licet non sub terra lenta flexilique sua mollitia procellae impetum devitavit Drufius that was eared and the Flax that was boll'd and in the Stalk and their Herbs but brake a great part of their Trees and killed both Man and Beast that were in the Storm vers 25. so saith the Psalmist Psal 78.47 48. He destroyed their Vines with Hail and their Sycamore-Trees with Hail-stones He gave up their Cattel also to the Hail and their Flocks to the Thunderbolts And this dreadful Hail fell on all the Land of Egppt only in the Land of Goshen there was none Pharaoh terrified with this dreadful Judgment sent for Moses and Aaron and told them He did now plainly see and accordingly did acknowledge That he (r) The Wicked do sometimes confess their sins to God's Glory but will not truly repent and reform that they may be received to Mercy had sinned against God and confess'd That God was Righteous and he and his people wicked He desires them therefore to pray unto the Lord to remove this Judgment and that there might be no more such dreadful Thunder and Hail and he would let them go they should stay no longer Moses promises as soon as he should be out of the City he would stretch forth his hands in prayer to the Lord. He knew by Inspiration from God that then the Thunder and Hail should immediately cease and Pharaoh might hereby be instructed that the Earth is the Lord's and the whole Creation is at his disposal But as for thee and thy Servants says he I know before-hand that ye will be never a whit the better for the removal of this Judgment And the event proved it to be so For when upon Moses's prayer the Thunder and Hail seased the heart of Pharaoh and his Servants were hardened as before and they would not let the people go Exod. Ch. 9. from 13. to the end Eighth Plague Locusts 8. About the seventh day of this Month God sent Moses to Pharaoh again telling him He had hardened (s) See Sect. 58. his heart and the hearts of his Servants that he might glorifie his Power and Justice in bringing more signal Judgments on him However though Pharaoh be obstinate yet thou Moses says God shalt for a remembrance of my Power and Justice declare to thy Children and Childrens Children the Wonders I have done in Egypt upon Pharaoh and his people that so you in your several Generations may know and be assured that I am the Lord. Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh again and expostulating with him asked him How long he would refuse to humble himself before the Lord and keep his people from going to serve him They tell him If he continued still obstinate on the morrow the Lord would send Grashoppers and Locusts into all his Quarters and they should be sent in such vast numbers that they should in a manner cover the face of the Earth from man's sight and should devour the residue of the Grass Herbs and what was green on the Trees and the Wheat and Corn which had escaped the Hail and they should fill his house and the houses of his Servants and of all the Egyptians in such a manner that neither he nor his Ancestors nor any that lived in Egypt before him did ever see such vast numbers of Locusts nor any that did did so much mischief as these should do And Moses and Aaron when they had delivered their Message came away and left him Then Pharaoh's Courtiers and Servants said to him How long shall this man Moses be a Snare to us that is an Instrument and means to bring Ruine and Destruction upon us We beseech thee lâ—t these people go Seest thou not that the Land is already almost ruined by the Plagues and Judgments that have been brought upon us Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron again to him and told them He was content they should go and serve the Lord their God But then recalling himself He
asks Who among them and how many of them did they desire should go Moses tells him They would go up All with their Old and with their Young with their Wives Sons and Daughters with their Flocks and with their Herds For they must make use of some of them for Sacrifice and of part of these Sacrifices they must keep a Riligious Feast unto the Lord. Pharaoh being angry at this motion that they should desire their Children should go also whom he intended to keep as Hostages for their coming back he said in a passion I wish you might find no more savour from God than you are like to find from me in this your Suit to let your Children go also Look to it if you will presume to go in this manner at your own peril be it I shall never consent that you should All go But as for you that are men grown I care not if I permit you to go For that was all as I understood (t) Pharaoh either mislook or perverted the words of Moses and Aaron For they demanded they might all go but they desiring at first that they might go to Sacrifice to the Lord it seems Pharaoh thought that only the men meant to go and not the Women and Children also that at first you desired Moses and Aaron not accepting of this Pharaoh caused them to be driven out of his presence Then Moses stretched forth his Rod over the Land of Egypt and the Lord sent an East-wind which blew very fiercely all day upon that Land and the next morning it brought a vast Army of Caterpillars and Locusts very grievous such as had never been seen there before nor are like ever to be again and they were so many that they in a manner covered the face of the Earth where there was any Herbage and by flying so many together like a Cloud they in a manner darkned the Air and they devoured all the Corn and Grass and Herbs that the Hail had left See Psal 78.46 and Psal 105.34 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in hast and said to them I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you in using you as I have done However pardon the wrong that I have done you and once more intreat the Lord to be favourable to me and remove this deadly Plague from me which consumes and destroys all and is like to bring a grievous and general Famine upon us And Moses went out and intreated the Lord for Pharaoh and the Lord sent a strong West-wind that carried the Grashoppers and Locusts away and cast them into the Red-Sea where they all perished But though this dreadful Judgment was removed yet Pharaoh's hardness was not for he would not yet let the people go Ch. 10. from vers 1. to 21. The Month Abib otherwise called Nisan answering to part of our March and part of our April which before had been the seventh Month as we shewed before was from this time forward made the first Month (u) In rememberance of their miraculous Deliverance out of Egypt they were appointed to begin the Year with this Month. Yet this account was afterwards kept only in Ecclesiastical Affairs For the Jubilees and such other Civil affairs it began as it had done before Lev. 25.8 9 10. of the year and upon the tenth day of this Month or a little before was instituted the Feast of the Passover In Commemoration of God's passing over them and not involving them in the Common Plague that smote the Houses of the Egyptians Touching which Passover several Laws and Directions are given to Moses 1. Concerning the Sacrifice it self or the matter of the Feast viz. a Lamb or Kid of the first year a Male without blemish 2. This must be set apart on the tenth day (x) No mention made of separating the Paschal Lamb from the Flock four days before the Feast in other places where the Passover is commanded of this Month. Thus it was ordered at this time that it might be in readiness and not to seek when they were encumbered with business about their going away 3. If one Houshold was too little for a Lamb they were to joyn the next Houshold to them and they were to make their account proportionably to the Lamb and to the persons that were to eat of it taking care that there might not be too few nor too many for it (y) Which number Josephus reckons to be ten men besides women and children 4. They were to keep the Lamb to the 14th day of the same Month. 5. Every Master of a Family of all the Congregation of Israel whom it especially concerned was appointed to kill it on the 14th day between the two Evenings (z) About that time our blessed Saviour the true Paschal Lamb was put to death Mat. 27.46 that is between our three a Clock in the Afternoon and Sun-set (a) The natural day from Sun to Sun the Jews divided into four parts The first from Sun-rising to nine in the fore-noon called the third hour The second from nine to twelve called the sixth hour The third from twelve to three in the afternoon called the ninth hour The fourth from three in the afternoon to Sun-setting called the twelfth hour 6. They were to strike and sprinkle with a bunch of Hyssop dipped in the bloud (b) To direct the Faith of the Israelites to the bloud of their great Redeemer thereof the two side-posts and upper door-posts of the door of the House where they did eat it (c) This seems peculiar to the Passover in Egypt 7. None of them were to go out of the House where they did eat it till the morning 8. They were not to break a bone of it 9. They were not to eat it raw or sodden but roasted with fire And they were to rost it whole Head and Leggs with the appurtenance that is the inwards being first taken out and washed 10. They were to eat it with unleavened (d) Leaven haing two Properties to sowr and puff up might well signifie malice and pride which must be laid aside Bread and bitter Herbs 11. They were to eat it with their Loins girded their Shooes on their feet and their Staff in their hand like men in hast and ready to be gone and march out of Egypt (e) These Ceremonies were peculiar to that Passover in Egypt 12. They were to let nothing of it remain unto the morning but if any thing were left after they had eaten it was to be burnt with fire These things being observed by them Moses tells them The Lord intended to pass by all the Houses of the Israelites where the Paschal-Lamb was thus eaten and the doors thus sprinkled but He would smite by his holy Angel all the First-born of the Land of Egypt both of Men and Beasts that remained And he would then execute Judgment on all the Gods of Egypt that is either some such notable Judgment or
he might try them again and might make them take a second View of that Sea that so their Deliverance thereat might make the deeper impression on them SECT IX THey came now on the fifteenth day of the second month to the eighth place of their Encamping in the Wilderness of Sin which lieth between Elim and Sinai where for want of Food they murmured against Moses and Aaron and wished in a desperate discontent That they had died by the Hand of the Lord in Egypt where they sat by the Flesh-pots (u) V. 2. Murmurabant piscibus in Aegypto volatilibusque assueti At unde Carnium inopia Multa enim illis erant pecora nisi pâ—percisse dicantur vel quia minus foecunda ab inopiam pascuorum vel quod in sacrificia servarent Sed verisimile est alias eos Carnes desiderasse Quales in Aegypto habere poterant Unde Deus noscens quid desiderarent to genere Carnium eos satiat Aug. quaest Exod. 62. They had Cattel in the Desart but if they should have eaten of them they might soon have killed them all up 'T is probable they longed not for such kind of Flesh as they had at hand but for the Flesh of Fowls such as they used to eat in Egypt and wanted now Willet and did eat bread to the full rather than that they had been brought into that Wilderness to die there by hunger The Lord took notice of these their murmurings and was highly offended at them Therefore he said to Moses I have heard the murmurings of the Children of Israel I will yet prove them whether they will walk in my Law or no and therefore tell them at the Evening I will give them Quails and they shall eat Flesh and in the Morning I will rain Bread from Heaven for them and they shall see that glorious Work of mine which I will work for them See Joh. 11.40 Numb 14.21 22. Moses and Aaron acquaint the people herewith and tell them They shall now see that it was the Lord that brought them out of the Land of Egypt and that He and Aaron were but his Instruments and had not done it of their own heads but did only what He commanded them and therefore their murmurings against them were indeed against the Lord Himself Then the Congregation of the Children of Israel being charged to come near before the Lord and there being at that time before the Tabernacle was built no nother visible sign of his Presence among them but only the Pillar of Cloud which was now in the front of their Army leading them towards the Wilderness they turned their faces towards that and perceived that God did in a more glorious manner than ordinary manifest the brightness of his Presence For from thence the Lord tells Moses That He had heard the murmurings of the people and might justly Chastize them for it however he would give them Quails (x) Here God gave them Quails for that one time only but at Kibroth-Hattavah Numb 11.31 they had them for a whole month together in the Evening and Manna in the Morning And accordingly at Even the Quails came and covered their Camp and in the Morning the dew lay round about their Camp and when the dew was gone there lay a small round thing as small as the Hoar-Frost (y) Unde patet fuisse Manna instar grani grandinis vel sacchari minuti on the ground It was a substance so solid that it would endure grinding in a Mill or pounding in a Mortar yet so friable and brittle that it melted at the rising of the Sun It was little and round like Coliander-seed but of a whitish colour like bdellium * Quod est genus gummi pellucidi Numb 11.7 8. It was ready meat to eat when gathered and so eaten the tast of it was like Wafers made with Honey (z) It was a different thing from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the honey-dew called Manna at this day by the Apothecaries which is not Food but Physick The Book Of Wisdom saith Ch. 16.20 21. That it was able to content every mans pallat and agreed to every tast and tempered it self to every mans liking But if God had given this miraculous Bread such an extraordinary gift to satisfie every appetite and to relish according to every mans desire and to tast like any meat they longed for why did the Israelites murmur against Moses that they had no Flesh and repine because they had not the Cucumbers and Melons and Leeks and Onions and Garlick of Egypt Numb 11.4 5. vers 31. but if they baked it in Pans the tast of it was like fresh Oil. But to return In the Morning when the Israelites saw it lying on the ground they said one to another Man-hu (a) Man pro Mah dialecto Aegyptiacâ vel Man ipsum hoc est praeparatum a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praeparare scil cibus praeparatus à Deo vel quod cibus in sâ—ipso praeparatus fuit non indigens alia praeparatione fuit enim in scipso bonus esui aptus Vatablus What is this as if they should have said this is a strange Food prepared and given us from above but we know not particularly what it is or what to name it Moses tells them It is the Bread that God had given them to eat It is Man that is a prepared portion Then Moses gives them some Commands from God concerning it 1. Every man might gather according to his eating that is proportionably as he had more or fewer in his Family The quantity of an Omer the tenth part of an Epha which is thought to be about a pottle of our measure is allowed to every single person as his proportion for a day And the Children of Israel according as their Families were gathered some more some less And when they had brought home what they had gathered the Head of the Family measured it out and gave every one his Omer * An Omer is the tenâ—h part of an Epha or Jewish bushel containing about three of our pecks as his share and proportion and no more So that they that gathered much had but their Omer for their daily allowance and the rest 't is like they gave to them that gathered less that they might have their Omer also (b) Hence it is that the Apostle by this Example of the Israelites helping one another exhorts the Christian Corinthians in like manner to supply the necessities of their Brethren 2 Cor. 8.13.14 15. And though every one had an Omer allowed him which shews how liberal an allowance God did make them for their daily Food yet it cannot be imagined that every one did eat their whole allowance every day but though they did not yet they might not reserve any of it till next day but what they left they were either to burn or cast forth God intending hereby that they should live in daily dependance on his
Practice page 117. V. Commandment Honour thy Father and Mother that thy days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee CHildren are injoyned by this Precept to honour their Parents in their hearts The subsequent Precepts contain the prime Rules of justice towards Man and of Temperance Sobriety and Chastity in the government of our Selves and highly to love their Persons as the Instruments under God of their being And they are hereby obliged to yield to them Reverence Obedience Thankfulness and Requital as they are able They are bound highly to honour and esteem them and to use due expressions of Respect and Observance towards them in word and deed Parents are presumed to be always full of tender affection and good will towards their Children full of desire and care for their good full of pity and compassion towards them Which dispositions do in reason and equity require answerable Inclinations in Children towards their Parents Children receive from their Parents under God their being and life their maintenance and protection it being a long while ere they are able to provide for or defend themselves The goods acquired by the Parents industry do usually devolve upon their Children And all good and pious Parents think themselves obliged to take care of the Souls and spiritual Welfare of their Children and to instruct them in the fear of God and to set them in the right way to Eternal Happiness And this they do most frankly and freely without regard to any profit that may thereby accrue to themselves It is abundant satisfaction to them to see their Chirldren do well Their chief delight and contentment in this world is usually in their Childrens well-doing Therefore justice and ingenuity do oblige Children to pay to their Parents dutiful Respect and Observanc And they will be no loosers in so doing For to the observance of this Precept is added a very encouraging Promise viz. of length of days The Apostle injoyns Children to be obedient to their Parents in all things that are lawful and pleasing to the Lord Eph. 6.1 And He presses the Observance of this Precept 1. From the equity of it because the Law of God and Nature requires it 2. Because this is the first Commandment of the second Table which hath a particular Promise annexed to it viz. length of days which Promise is either actually fulfilled by God to obedient Children or else by changing of the Benefit He gives them a much better life in his own Kingdom for it And there seems a great congruity in the Reward promised to the Duty to be performed viz. that they who are grateful to those from whom under God they received their life should by God's Dispensation enjoy that life long and with much Comfort and that they who neglect the Authors of their life should soon be deprived of it or of the Comforts and Contentments that others enjoy And we may by analogy and parity of reason reduce unto this Commandment the Obligation we have to honour all those who perform to us beneficial Offices like unto those we receive from our Parents Particularly such Persons from whom we have Protection as Governours and Magistrates Such who watch over us for the good of our Souls as Ministers and Pastors Such who afford us Maintenance and Education as Benefactors School-Masters Tutors c. VI. Commandment Thou shalt not Kill MAn's life being his most precious enjoyment in this World no man may take it away but by Commission or Licence from God God indeed doth allow Magistrates upon reasonable cause for the preservation of the publick Peace Safety and Welfare in a regular Course of Justice to dispose of mens lives who have forfeited them to the Law For the Magistrate beareth not the Sword in vain Rom. 13.4 but is the Minister of God an Avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil 1 Pet. 2.14 And he that kills a man in a way not irregular namely as a Minister of Justice or in a lawful War authorized by a just Commission or in his own just and necessary defence cannot be said to violate the true intent of this Precept For such a person cannot be justly said to kill but rather God himself the Lord of Life and Death doth then kill Vengeance is his and He in this manner by his Ministers doth repay it But in this Commandment is forbidden all voluntary and irregular taking away our Neighbour's life without just and necessary cause upon what motive principle or pretence soever it be either by direct violence or fraudulent contrivance either by our selves or by others and all advising encouraging or any wise becoming instrumental or accessory thereunto This is the Crime here expresly forbidden But a Positive Duty is also here included and accordingly should be understood viz. That we should endeavour as far as we are able to preserve our own life in the first place and then our Neighbours by relieving him in extream need and by succouring him in extream danger by admonishing him of any destructive mischief He seems unawares running into The contrary is in reasonable esteem and in God's sight a killing of him And to kill a man hath this great guilt in it that He that doth it doth thereby violate and destroy God's Image in his Neighbour He that sheds man's bloud by man shall his bloud be shed for in the Image of God created he him Gen. 9.6 And this further is to be observed That the taking away a man's life doth infinitely surpass all the evil or injury which any man can sustain from another in his estate or fame For these things are capable of some reparation but the other is altogether irreparable and therefore includes in it the greatest injury and iniquity For hereby all temporal good is at once ravished from a man and the Soul also of the person killed may possibly incur a great damage and hazard in respect to its future State by being thus suddenly snatched away So that the Slayer oftentimes not only robbeth his Brother of his temporal life but of his time of Repentance and opportunity of making his peace with God Therefore to hate a man to death must needs be accounted the utmost pitch of hatred Such is the direct intent and importance of this Law But our Saviour in his Comment hereon Math. 5.21 hath explained and extended it further so as to interdict all things that any way approach or tend unto this hateful evil as rash causeless outragious anger contumelious and despiteful Language secret grudges or malice in our hearts against our Neighbour For these as they do commonly produce the act of murder so they argue Inclinations thereunto which if fear and self-respect did not restrain would presently produce it and consequently in moral account which regards not so much the act as the will are of the same quality therewith The Apostle tells us 1 Joh. 3.15 He that hates his brother is a murderer
Cases gave a right Judgment (s) Whereas David desiring to consult with the Lord called for the Ephod 1 Sam. 23.9 the reason was because the Breast-plate was fastned to the Ephod So that if he had one he had both Exod. 39.21 1 Sam. 23.6 Abimelech the High Priest being dead Abiathar his Son escaping that danger as he fled took the Ephod out of the Tabernacle at Nob and brought it with him to David wherein Gods Providence appeared that the right Ephod should be preserved and kept with David the true King that he might have means to Consult with God in all his Difficulties See Willet in loc from the Lord when it so pleased him For 1 Sam. 28.6 the Lord would not answer Saul neither by Dreams nor by Vrim nor by Prophets Further the Answers which the High Priests received from the Lord when he consulted the Vrim and Thummim were sometimes made by an audible Voice sometimes secret Inspiration which Answers when He had acquainted the people with the Stones in the Breast-plate as is conceived gave forth an extraordinary lustre and brightness to assure the people that he spake to them the Mind of the Lord like as the extraordinary shining of Moses's face when he came down from the Mount was a Demonstration to the people that He had been with God and what he brought to them came from God (t) Some think that these very words Urim and Thummim were written in some precious matter not made by humane art but by the Almighty Power of God and so were given by God to Moses and by him put into the Pectoral Levit. 8.8 And he put into the Breast-plate the Urim and Thummim and therefore this is not mentioned among those things that were made by the Artificers because this was as the Tables of the Law the Work of God and not of men But this is but a Conjecture Neither can we the Scripture being silent certainly determine what they were When the Jews returned out of Babylon they were lost and therefore some businesses hung in suspence see Ezra 2.63 and could not be determined till there stood up a Priest with Urim and Thummim We do not find in any of the Jewish Rabbins that they themselves did certainly know what they were Quid fuerint Scriptura proculdubio non sine certo consitio reticuit In that place Levit. 8.8 no mention is made of the twelve precious Stones Causa utriusque quod eadem res fuit variis nominibus significata Rivet Minime omisisset Moses Urim Thummim in Exod. 39.10 Si aliud quam 12 Lapides intellexisset cum alia longe minora abjectiora diligentissime recenseat Brentius The Urim and Thummim was lost in the Captivity of Babylon as also the Ark Tables of Stone Aarons Rod and the Pot of Manna After the Captivity they had no Priest with Urim and Thummim Ezra 2.63 The Priest which met Alexander in his glorious Apparel might have precious Stones on his Breast without the Urim and Thummim This Breast-plate of Judgment * V. 30. Judicium i. e. pectorale judicij ut arca dicitur Testimonium i. e. arca Testimonij Metonymice whereby Answers of right Judgment were given to the Israelites Aaron was to wear upon his heart continually when he went to minister in the Tabernacle and he was thereby as it were to present the Children of Israel before the Lord to be graciously remembred by him 7. Aaron was to wear on his Head a Mitre of fine Linnen 8. In the forefront of the Mitre was to be placed a plate of pure Gold two fingers broad which made it shew like a Crown Exod. 29.6 Levit. 8.9 wherein was to be graven Holiness to the Lord as a signification that Aaron as a Type of Christ did bear the Iniquities of the People and did make atonement for them and that as for their other Sins so for the Iniquities committed in their most holy Oblations which they offered and sacrified to the Lord. And this Mitre with this Plate was always to be on his head when he ministred before the Lord as a sign that the people are accepted of God for the Holiness Obedience and Sufferings of the Messias Exod. 28. from 1. to 40. 2. Concerning the Attire and Vestments to be used by the ordinary Priests 1. Coats of fine Linnen for their uppermost Garment called linnen Ephods 1 Sam. 22.18 with Girdles and Bonnets of the same and secondly Linnen Drawers These Garments Aaron and his Sons being first anointed with holy Oil * Of which see the Composition afterwards Exod. 30.23 and consecrated to their Office were to wear when they served in the holy Place and not to neglect them lest they thereupon be forced to bear the punishment of their Iniquity and die for it Exod. 28. from vers 40. to the end 12ly Touching the Sacrifices and Ceremonies to be used in the Consecration of Aaron and his Sons 1. They were to be washed with water out of the brasen Laver before the door of the Tabernacle to signifie the Holiness that God requires in those that were to be Types of Christ 2. Aaron and his Sons were to be clothed with their particular appointed Robes and Ornaments 3. The anointing Oil was to be powred upon the Head of Aaron and his Sons See Exod. 30.30 and Ch. 40. 14 15. And the Priests Office was to be continued in the Line of Aaron and his Sons and of their Successors by a perpetual Statute as long as this Dispensation was to last and till the Messiah should come who was to fulfil what they typified 4. The bloud of the Ram of Consecration of which afterwards was to be put upon the tip of their right ear (u) The ear was to be sanctified for holy hearing and against the hearing of corrupt Communication the hand for Sacrificing the foot for Walking that their Conversation might be holy and their Persons sanctified from head to foot and on the thumb of their right hand and upon the great toe of their right foot and they were to sprinkle some of the bloud and the anointing Oil (x) The spots occasioned in the Priests Garments by the sprinkling of bloud and oil 't is like were very small and so magis ad honorem quam horrorem upon them and their Garments to signifie that by the bloud of Christ they were cleansed and by the Oil of his Grace they were sanctified for the Work of their Ministry The Sacrifices to be used at this time were these Moses having first provided a Basket of unleavened Bread and Cakes unleavened tempered with Oil and Wafers unleavened anointed with Oil he was to take a young Bullock which was to be a Sin-Offering and Aaron and his Sons were to put their hands upon the head of it signifying that they deserved to die like that Sacrifice but did thereby disburden themselves of their Sins and laid them upon the head of the Sacrifice typifying Christ
See Isa 53.6 And Moses himself who was a Levite till Aaron and his Sons were fully consecrated for the Service of the Priesthood was by extraordinary Warrant from God to perform the Work of the Priest in offering these Sacrifices See Psal 99.6 And he was to take of the bloud of the Bullock and put it upon the Horns of the Altar of Burnt-Offerings which stood in the Court of the Tabernacle to purifie consecrate and sanctifie the Altar it self and make it holy to the Lord and so to set it apart for holy Uses that whatsoever was offered thereon according to Gods Institution might be sanctified made holy and accepted as holy by the Lord. See Ch. 30.29 and Matth. 23.19 And the flesh of the Bullock and his skin and dung were to be burnt without the Camp to shew how destable the sin was that was laid as it were upon this Bullock and that the true Sacrifice for our Sins should suffer without the Gates of Jerusalem Heb. 13.11 12 13. 2ly The Sacrifice for Sin being thus first offered he was to offer one Ram for a Burnt-Offering (y) By the Burnt-Offering some understand the ardent love of Christ quo totus in cruce conflagravit and as the Burnt-Offering ascended up in fire so Christ ascended into heaven to make Intercession for us as a savour of rest that is that God being thereby appeased might cease from his anger Not as though the Lord was affected with Smells but it is said to be an acceptable Savour to Him in regard of their Obedience and willing mind and God is is said to be delighted with it when they offered it with Faith and true devotion 3ly He was to take another Ram for a Peace-Offering These were to be offered either to obtain some Blessing or to give thanks for some Blessing already received In both these respects this was offered at the Priests Consecration both by way of thankfulness for the honour done them in calling them to this Dignity and Office as also by way of Supplication humbly to intreat the Lord that he would prosper them in the execution of it Thus at the Consecration of Aaron and his Sons divers sorts of Sacrifices were to be offered because they were ordained to offer them all In this Eucharistical Sacrifice that was now to be offered Moses was only to have the Breast Exod. 29.26 but the right Shoulder and the fat and one loaf of Bread and one Cake of oiled Bread and one Wafer out of the Basket vers 3. were to be waved or shaken towards all the four Quarters of the World to signifie that God is the Lord of the whole Earth and then to be burnt by Him upon the Altar of Burnt-Offering for a sweet savour before the Lord. And upon this occasion an Ordinance is inserted that in Eucharistical Sacrifices namely such as these whereby Aaron and his Sons were to be consecrated for the future the Priests were to have the shaken Breast and the right Shoulder (z) Hinc humerus pectusque populo destinent Sacerdotes Anonym that was lifted up * The rest of the Peace-Offering besides what was the Priests belonged to the Offerer namely to God as his Right and assigned by Him as a Portion to the Priests Levit. 7.31 whereby possibly they were taught that with all their Heart and all their Strength they should give themselves to the Service of the Lord. Another Ordinance is also inserted That the holy Garments of Aaron shall be his Sons after him that He may be anointed and consecrated in them Thus though the High Priest died yet his Son was to appear before the Lord in the same Garments And as the Consecration of Aaron and his Sons continued seven days vers 35. during which time they were to abide at the door of the Tabernacle day and night to keep the Watch of the Lord Levit. 8.33 35. and as on each day of the seven the same Sacrifices and Ceremonies were to be observed as had been on the first day So this Order of Consecration was to be practised towards their Successors when they came into the Land of Canaan and had a setled state there Lastly It is appointed that that part of the Ram of Consecration which should be left after part had been burnt and Moses had had his portion should be sodden in the Court of the Sanctuary and should be eaten there by Aaron and his Sons with the bread that was left in the Basket vers 2 3. Levit. 8.31 And no Stranger viz. None but a Priest was to eat of it whereas in other Peace-Offerings the Offerer did partake And if any part of the Bread or Flesh remained until the Morning they were to burn it with fire This was required lest by reserving any part thereof either they might grow into contempt of holy things making no difference between them and their ordinary Food which they might reserve at their pleasure or lest that which remained might be abused to Superstition And whereas in ordinary Peace-Offerings they might eat of them the next day but not upon the third day see Levit. 7.18 no part of this must be eaten the second day This was to shew that this Ram of Consecration was a more holy thing than their ordinary Peace-Offerings Exod. 29. from 1. to 38. 13ly Touching the holy anointing Oil and the Ingredients of which it was to be made viz. of principal Spices Myrrh Cynamon sweet Calamus (a) Those sweet Odours signified the joyful Graces of Gods Spirit and the anointing therewith the powring out of the holy Spirit upon Christ his Church and Ministers and Cassia and of Oil-Olive And the things to be anointed therewith to Consecrate them to Gods Service and to separate them from common uses were the Tabernacle the Ark the Table the Candlestick with all their Vtensils the Altar of Incense the Laver the Altar of Burnt-Offerings so that whatsoever was brought as an Oblation if it touched any of the hallowed things of the Sanctuary it should be holy to the Lord. Aaron also and his Sons and Successors were to be anointed with this holy Oil but upon no mans flesh else was it to be powred It was not to be used for any civil use as for delight or the like even by the Priests themselves nor any of it to be powred upon Strangers nor any to be made like unto it for any such purposes under penalty of being cut off Exod. 30. from vers 22. to 34. 14ly Touching the half Shekel that all the Children of Israel from 20 years old and upwards when they were numbred were to pay for the ransom of their Souls acknowledging thereby that they held their lives of God and that he had redeemed them out of the House of Bondage And this they were to do that so the Lord might not be provoked for their Ingratitude to send a Plague among them This Didrachma or half Shekel * The Standard of all
Weights and Measures being kept in the Sanctuary hence it is call'd the Shekel of the Sanctuary See Exod. 38.26 The common Shekel is but 1 s. 3 d. The Shekel of the Sanctuary 2 s. 6 d. Nehem. 10.32 the rate is but the third part of a Shekel but here the rate is more upon this extraordinary occasion Some think this Contribution was annual Others only occasional as there was cause to call the people to it see Matth. 17.24 amounted to 15 d. of our money and it was to be imployed for the Service of the Tabernacle and the Rich were not to give more nor the Poor less And this equality seems to be enjoyned that the Rich might not despise the Poor and to shew that the life of a poor man is as precious in the sight of God as a rich mans and both are equally bound to praise God for it And this was also to be done that it might be a Memorial before the Lord of their Obedience and so might move the Lord to be propitious unto them Exod. 30. from vers 11. to 17. 15ly These Commands and Injunctions being given to Moses by the Lord 't is like Moses begain to think with himself where he should find Workmen fit to undertake such curious and difficult Works and that would make them exactly according to the Pattern given Wherefore the Lord tells him He had furnished Men with extraordinary gifts of his Spirit (b) So that quick apprehension and skill in honest Handicrafts and Manufactures is to accounted as a Gift of God consisting in Wisdom Knowledge ready conceiving and skill for the performance of all these things and particularly Bezaleel and Aholiab who should be the principal Workmen and Directors of others and He had put into the hearts of all those that were apt for these businesses a greater apprehension (c) Sapienter excogitare excogitata operari to conceive and contrive and a greater dexterity then they had before to work all these things that He had commanded Exod. 31. from 1. to the 12. 16ly Lastly Though the Work of the Tabernacle was with all care and diligence to be followed and speedily to be done yet the Lord would not have any of it to be done upon the Sabbath-day and therefore he renews his Command about the Observation of that Day telling Moses It was a Sign between Him and them that He had taken them for his peculiar people and they Him for their God whom they had bound themselves withall faithfulness to serve And by his enjoyning them diligently to keep his Sabbath they might know that he intended it as a means to promote their Sanctification Then He urges the Observation of the Sabbath upon them by divers reasons 1. Ab utili It is says He holy unto you that is Ordained for your benefit and profit Mark 2.27 The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath 2. A necessario If they did not keep it He tells them They should surely be put to death See Numb 15.35 (d) Videtur Moses ignorasse speciem mortis aut sceleris gradum sola enim profana contumaxque Sabbathi violatio capitalis est Anonym in loc 'T is observable That death is thrice here threatned to those that defile the Sabbath by doing any profane or unnecessary work thereon 3. From the dedication of this Day unto God It is a Sabbath of Rest consecrated unto God 4. From the Command of God He Commands them to keep the Seventh-day-Sabbath perpetually that is as long as that Dispensation should last the Observation thereof being one Article of the Covenant He had made with them 5. A facili The Lord appointeth but one day in seven for Holy Rest and alloweth Six for labour in our worldly businesses 6. From the Example of God Himself who created the World in six days and rested on the Seventh and was refreshed * This is spoken of God after the manner of men Exod. 31. from 12. to 18. SECT XXII THe people seeing that Moses stayed so long in the Mount and that the Cloud did not move and perhaps conceiving that Moses had forsaken them or despairing of his Return a great number (e) 'T is manifest that all the people did not joyn herein for some of them afterwards at Moses his command were imployed to put the Idolaters to death v. 26. 1 Cor. 10.7 of them as it seems pressed Aaron with great Importunity to make them an Image or visible representation of God (f) V. 1. Gods the plural for the singular by an Hebrew Idiotism Declarant se velle veri unam effigiem Dei divinae symbolum praesentiae sed erat Carnalis Aegyptiorum imitatio qui vitulum colebant Anonym in loc going before them and manifesting his Presence among them and this Image they would have made in the form or shape of a Calf according to the Idolatry they had seen practised in Egypt Aaron to divert them as 't is probable from this wicked Intendment requires the golden Ear-rings from the Ears of their Wives Sons and Daughters to make it with hoping that this demand would make such a mutiny in all their Families that they would have chosen rather to desist from their wicked design than part with those Ornaments wherein they were wont to take so much delight But herein he was much deceived for their Superstition was at this time above their Pride or Covetousness insomuch that they presently broke off their golden Ear-rings and gave them to Aaron who appointed Workmen first to melt the Gold and cast it into the form of a Calf and then to polish and finish it with a graving Tool It seems they desired their Idol should be made in this form in imitation of the Idol Apis the Ox or Calf (g) Thus the Israelites borrowed not all Gold and Silver but some dross from the Egyptians borrowing their Idolatrous Worship from them 1 King 12.28 Ps 106 19 20. Puller the Egyptians used to worship Then encouraging one another and being much pleased with their Idol they said This is thy God O Israel which brought thee out of the Land of Eypt pretending still to worship the true God in and by the Calf Aaron seeing the people thus violently bent on their Idol upon their motion He yields to build an Altar for it and to proclaim an Holy-day and to dedicate a Feast to it To morrow says He is a Feast to the Lord Jehovah pretending all was still intended for the Worship of the true God And accordingly the people rose early the next morning and sacrificed unto their Idol Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings and upon the Altar they feasted together and then rose up to play that is to sing and dance and play about their Idol shouting and making a great Noise vers 17. according to the wild custom and manner of the Heathens in their Idolatrous Feasts Exod. 32. from 1. to 7. SECT XXIII WHen 40 days and 40
nights were now expired and God had made an end of Communing with Moses on the Mount He gave him two Tables of Stone made by his own Hand and wherein He had written with his own Finger the Ten Commandments Commanding him to get him down quickly telling him what the people had done in his absence Thy (h) God seems to disown them now as His people people says He which thou broughtest out of the Land of Egypt have corrupted themselves They have turned aside quickly after their entring into Covenant with Me and promising to keep all my Precepts They have quickly turned out of the way which I commanded them and have made them a molten Calf and have worshipped it and sacrificed unto it Thou seest that this is a very wicked and stiff-necked people therefore interpose not for them nor hinder Me by thy Intercession that I may in mine anger Consume them and I will make of Thee a great Nation yea a greater and mightier than they Deut. 9.14 Moses was wonderfully surpriz'd and astonish'd at the hearing of this and humbly adoring the Lord his God he said Lord why doth thy Wrath wax hot against thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty Hand Wherefore should the Egyptitians say For mischief did He bring them forth to slay them in the Mountains O Lord turn I pray thee from thy fierce Wrath and let not the Evil and Punishment which this people have deserved fall upon them Remember thy Covenant and Promises made to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to whom thou swarest by thine own self to multiply their Seed as the Stars and to give them the Land of Canaan for an Inheritance Thus Moses stood before the Lord in the Breach to turn away his Wrath Psal 106.23 So that the Lord was intreated not to destroy them at this time as he had threatned Then Moses descending out of the Cloud with the Two Tables in his hand and coming to that part of the Mount where Joshua as it seems had waited all this while for him vers 17. Joshua hearing the Noise and Shout of the people and not knowing what it meant He said to Moses Surely there is a noise of War in the Camp But Moses told him It was no such noise but rather of singing and merriment When they came to the Camp and Moses saw the Calf and the people piping and dancing and sporting about it after the manner of the Heathen His anger waxed hot and in an holy Indignation not unadvisedly but by the motion of Gods Spirit see Deut. 9.16 17. He cast the Tables out of his Hands and broke them before their eyes as a sign that the Covenant between God and them was broken by this their hainous Idolatry Then He took the Idol and melted it and made it brittle and fit to be broken or ground to powder and He cast the dust thereof into the water whereof they drank daily and made them drink thereof for the greater detestation that they might understand the variety of such Gods that could be thus swallowed by them as also to intimate to them that they deserved to drink of the Cup of Gods Wrath for so a great Provocation Then He sharply expostulates with Aaron about this horrid Miscarriage What did this people says He do to thee that thou hast brought so great a Sin upon them Aaron humbly deprecates his Anger and excuseth Himself as well as he could upon the mischievous disposition of the people and by a poor slender and imperfect Narration seeks to extenuate his Fact speaking of the Calf as if it had been produced rather by accident than by any design of his I cast the Gold says he into the fire and there came out this Calf Moses seeing that the people had now deprived themselves of Gods protection and were as so many naked and unarmed and dispirited men exposed to be devoured by their Enemies to which Aaron by consenting to their wicked desire had much contributed He stood in the Gate of the Camp and said Who is on the Lords side Let him come unto me summoning thereby all that had not consented to this wicked Fact to take Gods part against the Offendors and to do in this Case what he should require of them Whereupon the Sons of Levi who had kept themselves innocent from this Fact as it seems most of them had though not all as appears from Deut. 33.9 came unto Moses who according to Gods appointment Commands them to take their Swords in their hands and to go throughout the Camp and slay all the Ring-leaders and principal Offenders in this Rebellion and Transgression that they should meet with not sparing for favour or affection either Brother Companion or Neighbour or any other that were nearest or dearest to them And 't is probable God so ordered it by his Providence that none but the guilty came in their way And Moses told them that hereby they should so Consecrate themselves to the Lord and offer a Sacrifice so well pleasing to him that he would immediately set them apart as his peculiar portion to be his Ministers in the sacred Service of the Tabernacle The Children of Levi did as Moses commanded them and there fell that day of the people by their hand about three thousand Moses though he had already so far prevailed with the Lord that he would not presently destroy all the people as He had threatned vers 14. yet considering that the Lords Anger might still be great against them and that he might still proceed further in punishing of them He tells them That on the morrow he resolved to go up again to the Lord and further to intercede for them and to endeavour to atone him that He might not proceed in wrath against them And accordingly going up again into the Mount and humbly prostrating himself before the Lord he acknowledges the greatness and hainousness of their sin and earnestly intreats the Lord freely to forgive them out of his own abundant Mercy which if He would please to do they should always retain a deep sense of that transcendent favour But if he would not forgive them freely Moses out of the exuberance and greatness of his love to that people desires the Lord that he would accept of his life as an atonement for them (i) Dele me de libro vitae v. 32. and blot him out of the Book of the living that is cut him off by his own Hand and so take his life as a Satisfaction for their Sin And in this Moses shewed himself a Figure of our blessed Saviour who laid down his life for his Sheep Joh. 10.15 and redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Gal. 3.13 But the Lord was not pleased to accept this his Offer but told him That they that had sinned against him should suffer themselves for their sin yet He would spare them at this time but when He began to
Moses and proclaimed before him now hid in the hollow Cleft of the Rock The Lord The Lord merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin upon mans hearty repentance and that will by no means clear the Guilty visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children and upon the Childrens Children unto the third and fourth Generation if they continue in their Fathers transgressions Moses hearing these things instantly bowed his head towards the Earth and worshipped Exod. 34. from 1. to 9. SECT XXV MOses now staying again 40 days and 40 nights in the Mount without Meat or Drink vers 28. He humbly and earnestly besought the Lord with many pressing arguments see Deut. 9.18 19. and from 25. to the end to pardon the people and to own them still for his Inheritance * See Ps 33.12 Zach. 2.12 and to go along with them and to manifest his gracious Presence among them for they were He ackowledges a stiff-necked people and had need both of his Mercy and Conduct The Lord being now appeased renews his Covenant with them upon certain Conditions and promises that his Presence with them should work more powerfully then ever and shew it self in more stupendious Miracles then ever it had done before and that He would do terrible things by them his Almighty Power and Providence accompanying of them and would give them possession of the Land of Canaan and would drive out the Inhabitants thereof before them The Conditions he requires of them to perform were these 1. Not to make a League or Covenant with the Inhabitants of the Land * See Chap. 23.32 whom He had determined to destroy for their sins nor to make Marriages with them lest it should ensnare them and draw them to be Partakers in their Idolatries and so in their Punishments but should destroy their Altars Images and Groves and should not eat of their Sacrifices and should especially be careful not to make to themselves any molten Gods such as the golden Calf was For the Lord was a jealous God and would not endure that any false God should share with Him in the Worship that was peculiar to himself 2 That they should observe the Feast of unleavened Bread * See Ch. 23.15 the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost and the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles At which three Feasts All their Males should appear before him with an Offering to be given to the Priest which He would account as given to Himself and He would take care that none should desire their Land in their absence 3 That the first-born Males both of Men and Beasts should be consecrated unto Him see Ch. 22.29 30. but the firstlings of an Ass should be redeemed with a Lamb see Exod. 13.13 4 That they should carefully observe the weekly Sabbath * See Ch. 23.12 and not violate it either in Seed-time or Harvest 5 That they should not offer the blood (l) Certe removebis fermentatum cum immolas Pascha Vatab. of the Paschal Lamb with Leaven and that nothing thereof should be left till the morning 6 That the first of their Frist-fruits should be brought to the House of the Lord. 7. That they should not seeth a Kid in its Mothers milk Which Laws were all enjoyned Ch. 23. and were now repeated These were the Laws that Moses was to write down in a Book and to injoyn the people to observe Then the Lord wrote the Ten Commandments on the Tables Moses had brought up and gave them unto him who brought them and the other Laws which himself had written unto the people and having seen Gods Glory in so great a measure and degree there was a dazeling brightness imprinted by God on his face while he talked with him so that the skin of his Face (m) The glory of Moses face signified the glory of the Law which he brought 2 Cor. 3.7 8. His Ministration was Death and Condemnation because the Law giveth the knowledge of Sin but no pardon for it shone which he himself was not sensible of * Sic Humilitas propriam jubet ignorare excellentiam by the reflective rays and beams (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to shine from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Horn is derived which gave occasion to the Papists to paint Mose's face with two Horns like an Ox. The Vulgar Latine says Mose's Face was horned of the divine Splendor which might assure the Israelites he had been with God who taught and instructed him and that thereupon they might the more reverence him might fear breaking this Law again Aaron and the people were not able to bear the splendor of his Face but being afraid fled from him as if he had been some Angel But Moses called them back and put a Vail on his Face (o) Ut ipsum Mosaicae facici splendorem Israelitae non viderunt ob impositum velamen sic Carnales Judaei spiritualem Mosis splendorem hoc est Scriptorum ejus summum finem atque scopum qui est Jesus Christus non intelligebant ob sponte attractam mentis Caecitatem quae instar Velaminis est inter corda eorum verum legis intellectum quasi obducti neque hoc tolli potest nisi per praedicationem Evangelij per veram conversionem ad Dominum c. Vide 2 Cor. 13.14 15 16. whilst he spake with them and then delivered to them all that the Lord had given him in Charge But Moses when he went to the Lord for the people took the Vail off And 't is like that this brightness on his Face continued not all his life after but only during the time of his going to and fro between God and the people Exod. 34. from 9. to the end SECT XXVI MOses now injoyns them again a strict Observation of the weekly Sabbath and that they should not kindle a fire (p) But 't is probable to kindle a fire to warm themselves by in the extream cold of Winter or when any other exigencies of necessity or mercy required it was allowed them thereon to dress meat or to do any work by though for the framing of the Tabernacle threatning death to them that disobey Then He injoyns the people to bring their free-will Offerings towards the framing of the Tabernacle which was now forthwith to be gone in hand with according to the Directions given him by God Ch. 25. The people very readily agree hereunto And to the end that this good Work might the more effectually be promoted all the Males were numbred from twenty years old and upwards who were found to be 603550 who every one according to the Law prescribed Exod. 30.12 13. contributing half a Shekel the total Sum of the Poll-money amounted to an hundred Talents (q) A Talent among the Jews amounted to 3000 Shekels or 50 l. sterling every pound containing 60 Shekels See Bishop Usher's
the Principal according to the estimation of the Priest and given to him to whom it appertained And then the Transgressor shall offer for his atonement a Ram without blemish for his Trespass-Offering So that upon the whole matter where either God in the external Duties belonging to his Worship or their Brethren in civil affairs were any way damaged by the Offendor there a Trespass-Offering (k) See further concerning Trespass-Offerings Levit. 7. from 1. to 9. was to be offered for other Transgressions the Sin-Offering sufficed All the remainder of the Sin and Trespass-Offering besides what was offered to the Lord the Priest was to have Skin and all whereas in the Burnt-Offerings he had only the Skin Levit. 6. from 1. to 8. Hitherto the substance and matter of the several sorts of Sacrifices hath been prescribed now the several Rites belonging to each of them are set down more particularly And 1. concerning the daily Burnt-Offering which was to be offered first every Morning and last every Evening see Exod. 29.38 39. and Numb 28.3 The Priest was to burn it with a slow fire and by so many pieces one after another that it might last all night which required his intentive care and vigilancy upon the Service and the fire of the Altar was to be nourished continually and never suffered to go out The Priest also putting on his linnen Garment was to carry forth the ashes without the Camp unto a clean place 2ly Concerning the Meat-Offering whereof the Priest was to burn an handful upon the Altar and the remainder Aaron and his Sons were to eat unleavened in the Court of the Sanctuary And upon this occasion we have the Offering set down that Aaron was to offer to God in the day of his anointing and which his Sons successively who shall come to be High Priests after him shall offer to the Lord in the day of their Consecration viz. the tenth part of an Epha of fine Flower half in the Morning and half at Night and it was to be wholly burnt on the Altar 3ly Concerning the Sin-Offering of which the Priest that offered it might eat except of such Sin-Offerings whereof the blood was to be carried into the Tabernacle viz. for the Transgression of the High Priest or of the whole Congregation Levit. 4. v. 5.16 or the yearly Sin-Offering on the day of Expiation Levit. 16.17 for these were to be burnt without the Camp but of other Sin-Offerings the Sons of Aaron might eat * Nihil cedebat offerentibus ex hostiis pro peccato delicto if they were free from legal uncleanness And if any of the blood of the Sin-Offering was casually sprinkled on any of the Garments of the Priest they were to be washed clean again in the Court of the Tabernacle where the washing-Laver stood If the flesh of the Sin-Offering was boiled in an Iron or Brass-pot it was to be rinsed or scoured but if in an Earthen pot because the liquor might possibly soak into it it was to be broken all which things seem to be appointed to shadow forth the Contagion of Sin Levit. 6. from 8 to the end 4ly Concerning the Trespass-Offering of which every male among the Priests might eat in the holy Place The Text says As is the Sin-Offering so is the Trespass-Offering there is one Law for them both that is the Priest was to have of this as He had of the other As to the Meat-Offerings they were to accompany those Sin and Trespass-Offerings if they were baked or fried and so to be eaten hot they were the Priests portion that offered them who might eat them presently but if the Meat-Offerings were mingled with Oil or were dry Flower not mingled with Oil such as was the Meat-Offering for Sin Ch. 5.11 these might be reserved to be dressed afterwards at their leisure and were equally to be divided among all the Priests 5ly Concerning the Peace-Offerings of which there were three sorts First Thank-Offerings for particular Mercies received which were to be accompanied with unleavened Cakes mingled with Oil and unleavened Wafers anointed with Oil and Cakes mingled with Oil of fine Flower fried And besides these Cakes the Offerer was to offer with his Sacrifice leaven'd bread For because this Meat-Offering was only for food to be eaten and no part of it to be burnt upon the Altar leaven is here allowed though otherwise forbidden as we may see Levit. 2.11 And it was allowed possibly that it might be a sign and intimation that this Oblation was before thought upon solemnly prepared and not suddenly offered And out of the whole Oblation the Offerer is appointed to offer one leavened Loaf for an Heave-Offering to the Lord and it was to go to the Priests that sprinkled the blood of the Peace-Offerings the rest was for the Offerer and his Family as the remainder of the Flesh after the Priest hath had his share was to be also Deut. 27.7 and Deut. 12.6 7. But the flesh of the Sacrifice of this kind of Peace-Offering was to be eaten the same day whereon it was offered both by Priest and people and not any of it to be kept until the next Morning 2ly Peace-Offerings that were offered by way of Vow that is which men vowed that they would give unto God if He would please to grant them such or such a Mercy and which when God had satisfied their desires they were to pay unto Him accordingly For these they had two days allowed them for the eating of them and what was left to the third day was to be burnt with fire * God possibly might intend hereby to teach them that He would be worshipped as He himself appointed and not as they in their own reason might think fit which if they did not observe their Sacrifice should not be imputed or reckoned to them as an acceptable Sacrifice by the Lord but rather as an abomination and such persons should be punished for their Iniquity 3ly Such Peace-Offerings as were brought as a voluntary offering by way of acknowledgment of the Lords goodness to them in the general Now the flesh of the Peace-Offerings not being to be eaten in the holy place but carried out thence after it had been killed at the Tabernacle and the fat burnt upon the Altar and eaten elsewhere see Levit. 10.14 if it were casually touched by any unclean person or thing order is here given that it should not then be eaten as an holy Sacrifice but burnt with fire because being so defiled it was not fit to represent Christ who was perfectly holy and pure But as to the flesh of the Sacrifice which remained clean and fit to be eaten all both Priests and Owners that were clean themselves might eat of it But if any being unclean either by reason of any natural uncleanness that was then upon them or by touch of any unclean thing did yet wittingly (l) If they did it ignorantly and unwittingly a Sacrifice of
atonement was appointed for them Lev. 5.2 But those that hate to be reformed God will not reckon them among his people In like manner those that partake of the Signs and Seals of Grace unworthily eat and drink judgment to themselves 1 Cor. 11.27 28 29. and presumptuously eat of the Peace-Offerings such persons shall be Excommunicated and cut off from the Communion of Gods people or as some understand it by Divine Vengeance Further God Commands Moses to charge them to forbear eating the fat of any of those Cattel that were appointed for Sacrifice but the fat of such Beasts if they died of themselves or were torn in pieces might be employed to any other use but that kind of fat which we call Suet they might not eat though other fat that was mix'd with the flesh they might eat of And as they were to forbear eating fat so also blood for the Reasons mentioned before Ch. 3. vers 17. see also Gen. 9.4 and Levit. 17.14 Lastly Moses from the Lord gives them this Command that whosoever offered a Peace-Offering should bring it himself in his own person and not another for him and He shall himself with his own hand present that part which is to be an Oblation to the Lord viz. the fat with the Breast and right Shoulder then the Priest shall burn the fat upon the Altar but the Breast being waved before the Lord and the Shoulder elevated or lifted up shall be his Portion See Exod. 29.22 For this He tells them is the portion and reward appointed by God to Aaron and his Sons by virtue of their Vnction to the Priestly-Office and to be paid them by the Children of Israel from the day of their anointing Levit. Ch. 7. whole Chapter SECT XXX MOses now by direction from God gathering the Children of Israel together spends seven days in consecrating Aaron and his four Sons observing the manner and Ceremonies prescribed for their Consecration Exod. Ch. 28. 29. * See Sect. 21. partic 12. viz. 1. He washes them with water 2ly He puts the High Priests Vestments and rich attire upon Aaron 3ly Anointeth the Tabernacle with the Altar and Laver and sprinkles the Altar seven times with the Oil of Consecration because it was consecrated to a more special use than other parts of the Tabernacle 4ly He anointeth Aaron 5ly He puts the holy Garments upon his Sons 6ly He offers for them all a Bullock for a Sin-Offering one Ram for a Burnt-Offering and another Ram for a Sacrifice of Consecration 7ly With the blood of the Ram He sprinkled certain parts of their bodies and their Garments as was prescribed Exod. 29. 8ly He offered a Meat-Offering for them as a Thanksgiving to God for that great favour vouchsafed to them in setting them apart to this holy Function 9ly He charges them to boil and eat their portion of the Sacrifice at the door of the Tabernacle and to continue there seven days and nights to consummate the time of their Consecration All which they perform'd accordingly Levit. Ch. 8. whole Chapter SECT XXXI ON the very next day after the seven days of the Priests Consecration were ended Aaron and his Sons entred upon the Execution of their Office And Aaron first offered for himself a young Calf for a Sin-Offering and a Ram for a Burnt-Offering which intimated that the High Priest was Himself a Sinner and not fit to stand as a Mediator between God and the people 2ly He offered for the people a Kid of the Goats for a Sin-Offering and a Calf and a Lamb for a Burnt-Offering to which was added the Meat-Offering and a Bullock and a Ram for a Peace-Offering Then Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people and blessed them see Numb 6.23 Moses now goes with Aaron into the Tabernacle that He might instruct him concerning the Service he was there to perform viz. about the Lights the Table of Shew-Bread and the Altar of Incense c. And Moses and Aaron when they came out blessed the people again The Glory of the Lord now appeared to all the people and ratified the Priests Consecration and entrance into their holy Function by sending Fire (m) Moses at the Consecration of Aaron and his Sons sacrific'd with common fire as appears Ch. 8.20 21. But upon Aarons first sacrificing Ch. 9.24 Fire came out from the Sanctuary or from Heaven which was not to be suffered afterwards to go out according to Gods appointment Ch 6.13 And therefore as some conceive this Fire was charily carried in some Vessel for the purpose when they journied in the Wilderness and so it continued until the Temple of Solomon was built and then Fire came down again from Heaven 2 Chron. 7.1 which continued unto the Captivity of Babylon and is said to be miraculously renewed 2 Maccab. 1.18 but whither it was or no is uncertain from his glorious Presence that is either from Heaven 2 Chron. 7.1 or out of the Tabernacle which consumed the Burnt-Offering and the fat on the Altar which the people seeing shouted for joy and fell on their Faces giving thanks to the Lord for this great Sign of his favour and acceptance of their Sacrifices Levit. Ch. 9. whole Chapter SECT XXXII THe day following Nadab and Abihu the two eldest Sons of Aaron who went up with their Father to the Mount and had there seen the Glory of God Exod. 24.1 9 10. having undoubtedly been instructed by Moses that when they went to burn Incense in the Tabernacle they should make use only of fire taken from the Altar of Burnt-Offering which had been kindled by Fire from Heaven (n) The Devil is Gods Ape and accordingly He imitated God in his Prescriptions concerning the continual burning of the Fire upon the Altar and that in divers places among the Heathens as among the Persians who made a God of it and among the Grecians who at Delphi worshipped it in the Temple of Apollo and among the Romans who worshipped it under the Name of Vesta committing the Charge of it to the Vestal Virgins where if it went out it was held fatal to their City Rhodig Antiq. c. 14. they it seems rashly and inconsiderately forgetting or neglecting their duty in this particular took some other fire in their Censers that perhaps with which they dress'd the Flesh of their Sacrifices and putting Incense thereon set it upon the Altar of Incense and so offered strange Fire before the Lord that is Fire which he commanded them not For this their great Transression they were immediately struck dead * Tantae vindictae severitate nova disciplina merito sanciri potuit in exemplum aliorum Sanctificatus autem est Dâ—us hac poena quia tali exemplo commendatus est timor ejus inquit Augustinus Rigor hic sub initia necessarius in terrorem posteris tum carnis Laetitia turgeret Aaron Anonym in loc in the place by Fire from the Lord possibly with Lightning yet so as neither
their Bodies nor their Clothes were burnt to ashes vers 5. Moses justifies God before Aaron in this his severe and tremendous stroke declaring that He will be sanctified by them that come nigh him and before all the people He will be glorified see Exod. 19.22 thereby presenting unto Aaron two arguments against Murmuring 1. Because the punishment was just 2. Because God would be glorified thereby and both the people in general and Aaron's Posterity in particular should thereby receive great good and benefit Hereupon Aaron held his peace and laying his hand upon his mouth gave a notable instance of his Piety and quiet submission to the holy will and pleasure of God Then Moses commanded Mishael and Elzaphan Aaron's Cosin-Germans to carry forth their dead Bodies without the Camp and to bury them there And He charges Aaron and his two surviving Sons Eleazer and Ithamar not to mourn for them nor uncover their Heads by taking off their Miters or Bonnets which they wore in the execution of their Priestly-Office nor rend their Clothes nor go out from the door of the Tabernacle upon this sad occasion lest they die for it and thereby also bring wrath upon the people For this was an extraordinary Judgment of God that had befallen their Brothers and they were to testifie their submission thereunto by not openly lamenting their death And they being newly anointed and now at this time prepared for their first entring upon the execution of their Priestly Office they might not break off their Service to attend the burial of their Brothers Yet the whole House of Israel were commanded to lament and bewail this burning which the Lord in consuming Nadab and Abihu had kindled among them and thereby threatned them all if they sinned presumptuously Moses upon this occasion gives to Aaron and his Sons and their Successors a Command to abstain from Wine and strong Drink when they went to minister before the Lord lest they should thorow any distemper or indisposedness (o) From this Ordinance made on this occasion some conclude that Nadab and Abibu were raised up to this presumption thorow the fume of Wine or strong Drink that might arise therefore be disabled from the execution of their Function in the two main parts of it viz. in discerning betwixt Holy and Vnholy Clean and Vnclean and in teaching the Law to the people And that this severe stroke (p) Non satis probari potest eos aeternum damnatos Peccatum enim ipsum quod attinet ex infirmitate videtur commissum non prae ebrietate ut vult R. Solomoh Quicquid igitur peccati huic inadverientiae inerat id omne temporali poena plectitur ut post nihil poena id propter iis luendum restare videatur Freidlibius upon Nadab and Abihu might not so cast down Aaron and his Sons as to make them neglect their meat or intermit their Service or be less lightsome in it then before Moses encourages them to their duty by inviting them to participate of the Provisions of the Lords Table and to eat of the Meat-Offerings and of the Shoulder and Breast of the peoples Peace-Offerings according to the manner that God had prescribed It so happened at this time that Eleazar and Ithamar upon the suddain and dreadful death of their two Brothers had as it seems being under extremity of grief and sorrow burned the Goat of the Sin-Offering mentioned before Ch. 9. vers 15. without the Camp which should not have been done the blood thereof not being carried into the Tabernacle see Levit. 4.16 17. but it should have been eaten by the Priests see Levit. 6.26 30. Moses not knowing what was become of it diligently sought after it out of a care that Gods Ordinance should be exactly observed and the Priests Rights duly maintained and understanding what Eleazar and Ithamar had done He chides them for their failing therein But Aaron extenuates his own and his Sons fault as occasioned thorow grief and the pressure of those doleful things that had befallen them intimating that if they had then eaten of the Sin-Offering it would not have been acceptable to the Lord For that great heaviness and sorrow they were now under made them unfit to eat those holy things as the Lord required who would have them eaten with joyfulness in his Presence see Deut. 12.7 and Moses allows their excuse and so passes the matter by Levit. Ch. 10. whole Chapter SECT XXXIII HItherto we have seen the Laws that concerned the Sanctification of the Priests and the Rites and Ceremonies of the Sacrifices Now general Laws are given concerning the Sanctification of the people and first for avoiding that uncleanness which they might contract from things without them And in giving these Laws God spake both to Moses and Aaron because it belonged both to the Magistrate and the Priest to see them put in execution the Priest being to teach the difference between things clean and unclean see Ezek. 44.23 and the Magistrate to take care that this difference be observed and hence is that Numb 9.6 And certain men that were defiled by the dead body of a man that they could not keep the Passover on that day came before Moses c. First Then here are Laws given what Creatures were to be accounted clean and unclean and how they must not defile themselves either with eating or touching (q) As a moral admonition that they ought to refrain from all fellowship in evil see Isa 52.11 any unclean thing but must walk as an holy people of the most holy God The Laws concerning Creatures which are to be accounted clean (r) No doubt but this distinction of clean and unclean Beasts was by revelation made known to the Fathers from the first whence that direction is given to Noah immediately before the Flood Gen. 7.2 but this seems only in respect of Sacrifices for as to eating or not eating it seems they had no distinction then of clean and unclean Beasts Gen. 9.3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you even as the green herb have I given you all things But now by this Law the Israelites are forbidden the eating of divers meats both Flesh and Fowl and Fish as unclean and that possibly to inure this stubborn people to an absolute dependance on Gods Word and Will in all things as also to restrain them from that which was usually eaten among the Gentiles and to mind them of the difference God had put between them and all other Nations and the special purity He requir'd of them above all other people see Levit. 20.25 26. And therefore the Apostle reckons this among the the legal shadows Acts 2.16 17. Let no man judge you in meat or drink c. which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ See also Acts 10.15 or unclean as to Food may be reduced to these three heads First Concerning fourfooted-Beasts Those are to be accounted clean
of our April and part of our May. of the second year after their departure out of Egypt God commanded Moses and Aaron and the Heads of the Tribes which were twelve to take the number of all the males of the Children of Israel that were fit for War except the Levites viz. from 20 years old to 60 mustering them according to their Hosts or Tribes and according to their Kindreds and Families which was accordingly performed and the numbers of each Tribe are expressed in particular and of all in general which amounted to 603550 being just the same number (u) Compare Exod. 30.11.12 and Exod. 38.26 which was taken seven months before when they were sessed for a Contribution to the building of the Tabernacle But the Levites God commanded should not be numbred or reckoned in this account being not appointed for War but for the Service of the Tabernacle (x) 'T is called V. 50. The Tabernacle of the Testimony in regard that therein was kept the Testimony of Gods Will viz. the Law written in two Tables and lying in the Ark of the Covenant Heb. 9.4 and Exod. 25.21 't is cal'd the Testimony viz. some of them to set it up and take it down and others of them to remove and carry it from place to place as occasion required And none that were not of the Tribe of Levi might meddle with it or help to take it down or set it up upon pain of death Numb 1. whole Chapter SECT XLIII GOd now prescribes the Order of the Tribes encampâ—â—g about the Tabernacle with their Standards and how the Levites should Encamp nearest to it and the Order to be observ'd by them all in their Marches and to cut off all matter of contention the Lord Himself appoints to every Tribe their several place The Order prescribed for their Encamping was according to this Scheme The Tabernacle Moses Aaron and the Priests Warriors in all 186400. East-ward Judah 74600. Issachar 54400. Zabulon 57400. Levites of Cohath Warriors in all 151450. South-ward Reuben 46500. Simeon 59300. Gad 45650. Levites of Gershon Warriors in all 108100. West-ward Ephraim 44500. Manasses 32200. Benjamin 35400. Levites of Merari Warriors in all 157600. North-ward Dan 62700. Asher 41500. Naphthali 53400. Thus we see in what excellent Order the twelve Tribes were disposed in their Encamping about the Tabernacle The Priests and Levites were to pitch their Tents round about it But the Tribes at some distance from it possibly at the distance of two thousand Cubits which is an English mile for such a space we find was between the Ark and the people when they passed over Jordan Josh 3.4 The Lord commanded that three Tribes should quarter together under one Standard which the Chief of the Three carried and so the whole Host consisted of four great Brigades or Battations The Tribe of Judah out of which the Messias was to spring has the Preheminence and is to March foremost as Captain of the rest and so Judah hath the dignity of the First-born which was taken from Reuben neither can Reuben withstand it because God hath so ordered it And thus we may conceive what a glorious sight it was to behold the Tribes thus orderly disposed in their several places and therefore it is no wonder that Balaam was stricken with admiration to behold it Numb 24.5 6. and that He cried out How goodly are thy Tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel c. Numb 2. whole Chapter SECT XLIV IN the next place we have set down the Families and Kindreds of Aaron and Moses Aaron is mentioned in the first place because his Sons as being Priests had the Preheminence of Mose's Posterity who were but ordinarily Levites And though there be no particular mention of Mose's Sons yet they are included among the Cohathites of which Family Moses was vers 27. The Lord orders Moses to give the Levites to Aaron and his Sons to assist them in their Ministration at the Sanctuary and in that Service and Worship which God had given in charge to Aaron and the whole Congregation to perform and they were to have the Sacred things of the Tabernacle under their Custody and Charge which the Children of Israel must have been charged with had not the Levites been separated to take that Charge upon them in their behalf But though the Levites were given to the Priests to be helpful and subservient to them in things that were fit for them to do yet in those things that peculiarly belonged to the Priests Office (y) V. 10. The Levite in respect of the Priests peculiar Office was a stranger they might not intermeddle upon pain of death The Lord further declares That He had taken the Levites to be His in stead of all the first-born Males of the Children of Israel (z) That is in stead of all the first-born Males that were now at present among them For all the first-born Males after this both of Man and Beast were to be redeemed or given to the Priests Numb 18.15 Exod. 13.2 and therefore orders Moses to number all the Male-Levites from one Month old and upwards which was done according to their Families For the Sons of Levi being Gershon Cohath and Merari of them the three Families of the Levites descended The whole number of the Male-Levites thus reckoned was found to be 22300. (a) So much those three sums make mentioned Numb 3. v. 22 28 34. But taking out their first-born namely such first-born as were born to them from the time of their coming out of Egypt when God did first Challenge the First-born to be His in remembrance of his slaying all the First-born among the Egyptians see Exod. 13.2 which were upon that account the Lords as they were the First-born and were not therefore to be reckoned among those that were to be given to Him in stead of the First-born of the other Tribes I say taking out these First-born which were 300 then the number of the Levites given to the Lord amounted only to 22000. * The number of the Male-Levites reckoned from 30 years old to 50 was but 8580. Numb 4.48 All which were assumed to the Service of God in lieu of the First-born of all the rest of the Children of Israel (b) V. 41. 'T is said the Cattel of the Levites shall be taken in stead of all the Firstlings of the Cattel of the Children of Israel that is As the Levites were taken for the first-born of the Israelites so the Levites Cattel were taken in exchange for the first-born of the Israelites Cattel And because the number of the First-born-Males of all the Children of Israel in the twelve Tribes exceeded this number of the Male-Levites 273 see Numb Ch. 3. vers 43. therefore was there laid upon them for every of those supernumerary Heads five Shekels a man by way of Redemption which was the price they afterwards paid for the Redemption of the First-born Numb 18.15 16.
and it was given to Aaron and his Sons And 't is like that it was either decided by lot who among them should pay this Redemption-Money and who not or it was paid in common by them all The Levites being thus numbred and their Places and Order how they should pitch about the Tabernacle being prescribed now the time when they should enter upon their Office is appointed At the age of 25 years they were to enter as Novices and Subservients in some inferiour Offices and Ministrations of the Tabernacle Ch. 8.24 but they were not to enter into a full execution of their Office till the age of 30 and then they were to continue in it till 50 and though after 50 they were to be exempted from the harder and most laborious Services of the Tabernacle such as removing and carrying the holy things thereof yet still they were to be assistant to their Brethren as Overseers to see that the Work was done and besides they were still to be imployed in teaching and instructing the people And in their several Cities as being well experienced in the judicial Laws they Were to judge of matters brought before them See Numb 8. from 23. to the end The time of their entring upon their Office being thus ordered in the next place to prevent confusion and ambition among them each Family of the Levites hath its particular Service (c) V 3. All that enter into the Host i. e. qui ingrediuntur in coetum vel turmam mimistrantium in Tabernaculo nempe ut operentur in eo appointed 1. The Charge of the Sons of Gershon were 1. The ten Curtains of fine twined Linnen blue purple and scarlet 2ly The eleven Curtains of Goats hair that were laid over them 3ly The covering of Ram-skins died red 4ly The covering of Badgers-skins which lay over all and the Hangings for the door of the Tabernacle and for the Courts Ch. 3.25 26. and Ch. 4.25 26. 2. The Charge of the Sons of Kohath was the Ark (d) V. 6. Shall put in the staves thereof viz. into the Cases or Coverings prepared for them that so the Levites might not touch so much as the Staves of the Ark uncovered For the Staves were not to be taken out of the Rings of the Ark Exod. 25 15. and the Table of Shew-bread (e) V. 7. And the continual bread shall be thereon intellige cum ad quietem terrae promissionis pervenerint In deserto enim sicut non fiebant Sacrificia in Festis aut Sabbatis ut clare dicitur Acts 7.42 Amos 5.25 ita nec offerebantur panes quod erat genus quoddam Oblationis aut Sacrificij nec thus aut vinum quod adjungi solebat illa enim omnia deerant in deserto ut conqueruntur Numb 21.5 Nam multis annis manserunt in locis prorsus inhabitatis ab omnibus gentibus seperati Jansen and the golded Candlestick and the Altars and all the most holy things When the Tabernacle was to be taken down and removed the Priests only were to do it and wrap up the most holy things in coverings of blue or scarlet and to put coverings of Badgers-skins over them which are called the Clothes of Service Exod. 31.10 and then to deliver them to the Kohathites to bear them on their Shoulders (f) The Ark indeed was sometimes carried by the Priests see Deut. 31.9 so when they passed over Jordan Josh 3.6 and compassed the Walls of Jerico Josh 6.6 but ordinarily this Service was performed by the Levites see Deut. 31.25 especially till the number of the Priests was more increased who might not otherwise touch them upon pain of death So that though their Office was most honourable because they had the charge of the most holy things yet it was also perillous and burdensome Ch. 3.31 Ch. 4.15 3. The Charge of the Sons of Merari were the boards of the Tabernacle the Bars the Pillars the Scockets Pins Cords and Vessels thereof and the Pillars of the Court c. Ch. 3.36 37. Ch. 4.31 32. Eleazar the eldest Son of Aaron was to be Chief over the chief of the Levites viz. the Kohathites that had the Charge of the most holy things and his Brother Ithamar over the Gershonites and Merarites To the inspection and care also of Eleazar was committed the Oil for the Lights the sweet Incense the daily Meat-offering and the anointing Oil and the over-sight of the Tabernacle and to appoint the Kohathites every one to his several burden And Moses and Aaron are charged that all the holy things of the Sanctuary should be so covered that the Kohathites might neither see nor touch what they should not which if they should do they would be in danger of being cut off and to die for it (g) Uzzah though a Levite for such a transgression was smitten dead 2 Sam. 6.6 7. For the holy fire that was always to be kept alive upon the Altar 't is like when the Tabernacle was removed 't was put into some Pot or Vessel and so preserv'd still with supply of wood Numb Ch. 3. whole Chapter Numb Ch. 4. whole Chapter SECT XLV THe Levites thus set apart were with all due Solemnity consecrated to God and his Service But lest they should think themselves equal to the Priests they are neither Consecrated at the same time nor with the same Ceremonies The Consecration of the Priests took up seven days see Exod. 29.35 Levit. 8.33 but this of the Levites was done in one day The manner of it was thus 1. Moses was to take the Levites and to cleanse them which was to be done by sprinkling the water of purifying upon them which was made with the ashes of the red Heifer (h) Therefore directions for making this water were given before this time though not mentioned by Moses till the 19. Ch. of this Book mentioned Ch. 19. and then to shave off all their hair which was another sign of Purification see Levit. 14.8 9. Numb 6.9 and to wash their Clothes By which Rites was signified what great holiness and purity God requires in those that are to be imployed in Sacred Functions 2ly The whole Congregation being there assembled and the Levites being brought before the Lord some of the chief (i) Non omnes sed omnium nomine Principes vel sorte primo-geniti in quorum loco erant Levitae of the Children of Israel in the Name of the rest were to put their hands (k) Which Rite was observ'd in the Ordination of Officers both in the Old T. and the N. Numb 27.23 Act. 6.6 13.3 and in Benedictions Gen. 48.17 upon them thereby testifying that they did now freely offer them to the Lord to be wholly set apart for his Service 3ly Then Aaron was to present them * V. 11. And Aaron shall wave the Levites before the Lord Hac elevatione significabatur eos totius orbis Domino offerri a populo in munus ut scil loco
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-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
Chron. 25.1 3. and possibly they foretold things to come and declared to the people the Word of God to their great Edification and Comfort and all in such a manner that they might easily be discerned to speak as men inspired by the Spirit of God Thus these men prophesied and did not cease that is continued all that day prophesying without intermission and this seems to be added because their continuing so long in this supernatural Exercise did much confirm their Call to their Office But two of these Elders that were chosen for this Employment and inrolled by Moses among his seventy Assistants did not come to the door of the Tabernacle as they were appointed to do 'T is probable they did forbear to come not out of contempt of Gods Command for then it is not likely they would have had the same Gift of the Spirit bestowed upon them as the others had but out of modesty * See a Case something like this 1 Sam. 10.22 and distrust of their own sufficiency for so great a Charge However these two whose names were Eldad and Medad received the same Spirit of Prophesie with the rest of the Seventy and accordingly prophesied in the Camp out of Moses's sight and without his knowledge as the others did at the door of the Tabernacle in his presence A report of this being brought to Moses and Joshuah his Servant suspecting it might be prejudicial to the Dignity and authority of his Master seeing these two seemed to do it without any dependency on him which the others had manifested in coming at his appointment to the door of the Tabernacle and there receiving this Gift and Authority from God he desired him to forbid * See a parallel Instance to this in the Disciples Mark 9.38 Luke 9.49 John 3.26 them But Moses meekly replied Envyest thou these men this Gift for my sake I am so far from envying or grudging at them for it that I could even wish if it so pleased the Lord that all his people had the same Gift Moses and the Elders of Israel now returning into the Camp God by his Almighty Power causes a strong Wind to blow from the Sea-ward viz. the Red-Sea which lay Southward of the Israelites Camp at this present and therewith brought a vast number of Quails among them and round about their Camp a days journey in circuit or compass insomuch that in many places they lay in heaps two Cubits high The Psalmist tells us Psal 78.27 He rained Flesh upon them as dust and feathered Fowls as the sand of the Sea The people seeing this in all hast rose up and fell to gather them and the gathering continued all that day and the next night and the day after And that Master of a Family with his Company that gathered least gathered ten Homers or heaps whereby possibly is to be understood a very great many And when they had gathered them they spread them abroad round about their Camp and layed them thin that they might not putrifie But it seems they were as miraculously preserved as they were sent else they would never have lasted good a whole month together About a year ago see Exod. 16.13 God gave them one meal of them at their eighth station in the Wilderness of Sin before they come to Sinai but now they eat of them a whole month together and having satisfied their greedy lust and appetite feeding without fear Jude v. 12. so long together with this kind of food at last the Wrath of the Lord brake out upon them and he smote them with a very great Plague while the flesh was between their teeth The Psalmist says He slew the wealthiest and the fattest of them Psal 78.31 'T is like He permitted them to surfeit by their greedy feeding and so thereby many of them died and therefore the place was called from thence Kibroth-Hattaavah that is the Graves of these men of lust and inordinate appetite See Psal 78. from 26. to 32. and Psal 106. v. 14 15. Numb 11. whole Chapter SECT LVI FRom Kibroth-Hattaavah they removed to Hazeroth At this place some emulation or contention arising as it seems between Miriam Moses's Sister and Zippora his Wife Miriam first and then Aaron stirred up by her spake against Moses because he had married a woman of Ethiopia so they seem to call her in contempt because she was of Midian a part of the Eastern Ethiopia otherwise called Arabia and was not one of Abraham's holy stock But seeing she had submitted her self to the Law of God she was to be held as an Israelitish-woman as Rahab and Ruth were However upon this occasion they quarrel with Moses and would equal themselves unto him What say they hath God only spoken by Moses hath he not spoken also by us Am not I says Miriam a Prophetess see Exod. 15.20 and hath not God promised to be with Aaron's mouth and that he should be a mouth to his Brother Moses Exod. 4.15 16. and hath not he been imployed by God together with Moses in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt What reason then that Moses should be all in all who hath matched himself to one that is a stranger to the holy Seed of Israel Moses being a very meek * It may seem strange that Moses should thus commend himself But let it be considered thâ—t either he did it by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit of God that his meekness might be a Pattern to the Church in all Ages as he does elsewhere relate his sins and weaknesses for the Instruction of the Church or else it may be conceived without wronging the authority of Moses's Writings that here and there by Joshuah or some other of the sacred Writers after him some passages were inserted which Moses himself wrote not such as that Deut. 34. concerning his death and burial See Mr. Jackson's Notes on the place and humble man was content to put up all this bearing it patiently and making no Complaint but the Lord would not let it so pass Therefore commanding Moses Aaron and Miriam to come all three together to the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Cloud descending to the door thereof the Lord now calls to Aaron and Miriam to stand forth and then declares to them that he did not manifest his Will to Moses in Dreams (p) Visions were Revelations to such as were awake Dreams to those that were asleep Dominus aliquando apparuit Prophetis in Ecstasi aliquando per somnium dormientibus aliquando vigilantibus in aliqua similitudine sed sine locutione ut Jeremiae Ezekieli Somnia plerumque erant aenigmatica ut scala Jacobi c. and Visions as to other Prophets but he spake to him with an audible Voice out of the Cloud and out of the Tabernacle very plainly and clearly as one Friend uses to speak to another and had at times discovered to him more of his Glory than ever he did to any mortal
man see Exod. 33.20 And when he spake to him he did not make known his mind to him in obscure figurativ expressions as he did to some of the Prophets see Ezek. 17.3 but plainly and clearly and seeing he had manifested so great favour to Moses How comes it to pass says the Lord that ye were not afraid to speak against my Servant Moses And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them and the Cloud the sign of his presence removed from the door of the Tabernacle and possibly for some time disappeared God intending thereby to testifie his Indignation against them And immediately Miriam became Leprous and white as Snow * See Deut. 24.9 God was pleased to spare Aaron though Partner with his Sister in this Sin lest in his Dishonour the Priesthood should suffer Aaron intreats Moses to Intercede with the Lord for them that the punishment of this sin wherein they had done foolishly may not be laid upon them He begs that Miriam may not by the continuance of this white Leprosie upon her be as a Child dead in the Womb whose flesh when it comes into the World looks white and putrified as if it were sodden and half consumed And though says He she is for the present alive yet as one dead she is to be excluded from the Communion of the Church see Numb 5.2 and this fretting Plague if it continue upon her will in the end utterly consume and kill her Moses was prevailed with to pray for Her and upon his prayer the Lord was pleased to heal her of her Plague yet gives order that she should be carried out of the Camp for the present For says God if her earthly Father had in great displeasure spit in her face surely she would have been ashamed to shew her self for a time and therefore much more fit is it that in such a Case as this she should be secluded from the Congregation to instruct all the people to take heed of being corrupted with Her example The people upon this Sentence mourned for Her and journied not till she was brought into the Camp again which argued the great honour and respect they had for Her being a Prophetess and the Sister of Moses and Aaron After this the people removed from Hazeroth and pitched in another place in the Wilderness of Paran called Rithmath see Ch. 33.18 Numb 12. whole Chapter SECT LVII THe people being now come near to the Mountain of the Amorites upon the Borders of Canaan Moses encourages them to go up and take possession of the Land which God had promised them Deut. 1.20 21. but they fearing the Event desire that they may first send some Spies to search the Land Moses not knowing their distrustful hearts likes well their motion Deut. 1.23 and seeking Counsel of the Lord about it the Lord was pleased to permit it though in displeasure and accordingly Commands that at the time when Grapes first grew ripe they should send twelve Principal men such as were of authority and esteem among them of every Tribe one of which Caleb was for the Tribe of Judah being then forty years old see Joshua 14.7 and Hoshea (q) Hoshea signifies a Saviour but by adding Jah the Contract of Jehovah which is the proper Name of God Psal 68.4 thereby was signified that He should by the help and assistance of God be a Saviour of the people the Son of Nun whom Moses called Jehoshua or Joshua for the Tribe of Ephraim to discover and spy out the Land These men accordingly went entring into Canaan by the Desart of Zin lying on the South and so went quite thorow it to the very North part thereof even to Rehob 'T is probable they divided themselves else 't is like they would have been suspected neither could they otherwise have viewed the whole Country in so short a time Numb 13. from 1. to 23. SECT LVIII THese Spyes after forty days return from searching the Land and come to the Camp at Kadesh bringing with them one branch of a Vine with one Cluster or Bunch of Grapes upon it which was so big that they carried it between two of them upon a staff with some Pomegranates and Figgs of the Land Ten of these twelve Spies that were sent praised indeed the goodness of the Land but magnified also the strength of the Cities thereof and the Giant-like stature of the Inhabitants thereby disheartning the people from marching any further towards it At Hebron a City in the South-parts of it which was one of the ancientest Cities in the World being more ancient then Zoan the chief City of Egypt which vaunted it self to be of very great Antiquity see Isa 19.11 they tell them they met with Giants the Sons of Anak men of mighty stature in comparison of whom they seemed but like Grashoppers They tell them The Cities of the Canaanites were great and walled up to Heaven Deut. 1.28 They further tell them That the Amalekites dwelt in the South Country the Hittites Jebusites and Amorites in the Mountains nigh unto the Wilderness where the Israelites now lay so that there would be no entring the Land on the South because of those mighty Nations that would be there ready to oppose them And in case they should think to fetch a compass about and to enter in on the East-side there they would be kept out by the River Jordan which ran along on that side and the dead-Sea and by the Canaanites who dwelt by the Sea and by the Coast of Jordan and they being a valiant and a strong people would improve those advantages for the best defence of their Country Thus these ten Spies discouraged the people bringing an evil Report upon the Land telling them It was a Land that eateth up the Inhabitants thereof by reason of the Civil Wars and frequent intestine Commotions that arose among them and by reason of the Tyranny of the Gyants who oppressed those that were less powerful than themselves And if several of the Natives of the Land were expos'd to so much danger how much more had they need to fear that were Strangers and were held their Common Enemies and what could they expect but to be eaten up with continual Wars The people at this Relation being greatly terrified Caleb and Joshua rose up and contradicted this false Report and encouraged the people telling them they might easily by Gods assistance Conquer the Land see Ch. 14.6 7. They said all that they could to still and quiet them and to hearten them to go on but all in vain For they now fall into an high rage and discontent and murmur against Moses and Aaron and wish they had died in Egypt or the Wilderness Nay their discontent and impatience grew so high that they said Deut. 1.27 Because the Lord hated us he hath brought us out of the Land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorite to destroy us and that our selves our Wives and Children should
of the Lord concerning the matter and by Gods own Sentence he was adjudged to be stoned (t) Prudens est Cajetani observatio severius semper Deum animadvertisse in primos legum snarum transgressores by the Congregation without the Camp which was done accordingly from 32. to 37. 7ly A Law is given injoyning them to make Fringes with blue Ribbands or Laces on the borders of their Garments that by looking on them they might remember all the Commandments of the Lord and do them These Fringes were to mind them that they ought to be content with what was commanded injoyned and limited by the Law of God and must not run out into any superstitious Inventions Additions or Devices of their own in his Worship Which Inventions being delightful to their eyes and hearts He knew they were very prone to go a whoring after them and therefore more strictly forbids And another reason why He injoyned these Fringes was that they might be distinguished in their habit from strangers and those that were Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and might remember that they were a people federally holy and peculiarly devoted to God Numb 15. whole Chapter SECT LXIII COrah Dathan and Abiram and On with 250 others of prime note and authority among the Israelites rise up now against Moses and Aaron envying Moses the Government and Aaron the Priesthood Corah it seems was the Ringleader and first Mover of this Sedition which is therefore called the gain-saying of Corah Jude v. 11. 23. He was a Levite and Cosin-German to Moses and Aaron For Amram the Father of Moses and Aaron and Izhar the Father of this Corah were Brothers the Sons of Kohath Exod. 6.18 The Jewish Writers say That this Corah had long since taken offence that Elizaphan was by Moses preferred to be Prince of the Families of the Kohathites see Numb 3.30 whereas Elizaphan was descended of the youngest Brother Vzziel and He was of Izhar who was elder than he which grudge though it lay buried for a time in his breast yet now it brake forth and nothing less than the Priesthood will content him and his Abettors As for Dathan Abiram and On they were all descended from Reuben and therefore possibly under the pretence of Reuben's Birthright they were the more easily drawn to oppose Moses as supposing that the Government belonged to them and not to him These Conspirators now come to Moses and Aaron and in an high and proud manner tell them They took too much upon them seeing all the Congregation were holy and therefore might approach to God and offer their own Sacrifices themselves as well as they and they saw no reason that the Priesthood should be tied to Aron's Posterity only Then the Reubenites under pretense of Reuben's Birthright seeking as 't is probable to wrest the Supream Magistracy from Moses to themselves they also Charge both Moses and Aaron for taking too much upon them and ask them Wherefore they lifted themselves above the Congregation Moses at this carriage of theirs was exceedingly troubled and withdrawing himself as it seems into privacy He fell down on his face before the Lord in prayer seeking direction from Him what he should do on this important occasion and there it was revealed to him what he should say unto Corah and his Accomplices Moses accordingly coming out to them tells them That on the morrow God would decide this Controversie and shew who were His and who were the Men that He had separated to the Priests Office and would allow to come near and to minister unto him He bids them therefore to come to morrow with their Censers and to put fire in them and Incense upon them and come with them before the Lord seeing they thought themselves so fit for the Priesthood and then they should soon see who it was that God had chosen to be a Priest (u) V. 7. Erit sanctus i. e. segregatus ad sacerdotium unto him by accepting his Incense and they should know to their Cost that not He and Aaron but that they the Sons of Levi had taken too much upon them in aspiring to the Priesthood What says he seems it a small thing to you Ye Children of Levi that God hath separated you from the rest of the people of Israel to bring you near to Himself to do the Service of the Tabernacle as Assistants to the Priests to stand before the Congregation to minister for them that is to do in their name and stead what they themselves were otherwise bound to have done in the Service of God What! is all this so small a thing in your eyes that it will not content you but you must have the Priesthood also And what is Aaron I pray you and what hath he done or what hath he assum'd to himself that the Lord hath not freely given him Therefore if you murmur against him you murmur against God himself See Exod. 16.7 8. After this first attempt of theirs was over it seems Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram possibly thinking to deal with them privately and to perswade them to desist from this wicked undertaking But they do not only refuse to come but return him a bitter and scornful answer They scoff at his promise of bringing them into a Land flowing with Milk and Honey and giving them Fields and Vineyards They tell him He had indeed brought them out of such a Land as did really flow with Milk and Honey which was Egypt and had brought them into a dry and barren Wilderness and here He had made himself a Prince and a Ruler over them And did he now think to put out their eyes and the eyes of those that joyned with them in this Complaint that they should not see and perceive the wrongs and injuries he had done them Moses at this was very wroth and prayed unto the Lord saying I pray thee O Lord accept not the Incense which these wicked Conspirators shall offer before thee to morrow but declare by thy refusing of it that thou disallowest this their rebellion As for me thou knowest I have not usurped Authority over them neither have I abused my Authority in the least by doing them any manner of wrong I have not taken the vilest Beast no not so much as an Asse from any of them neither can they justly Charge me with any injury I have done them On the next morning Corah having gathered together not only his 250 Accomplices but the people in general to be Spectators of the business in hand perswading them 't is like that God would own their Cause and give Judgment on their side and these 250 having as it should seem got such Consers as they could provide since the time Moses had appointed this way for the deciding of this Controversie they came with them to the door of the Priests Court whither the people used to bring their Sacrifices 'T is true the appointed place for the Priests to
burn Incense was within the Tabernacle at the Altar of Incense but this was an extraordinary occasion and a means enjoyned for the discovery of the Lords will whither these men or only Aaron and his Sons as formerly should enter into the Tabernacle to execute the Priests Office Corah having assembled his Confederates and the generality of the people before the Tabernacle and not finding Dathan and Abiram there as it should seem went to their Tents to talk with them see Ch. 26.10 and probably from them He went to his own Tent before Moses and the Elders came to the Tabernacle as presently they did In the mean time the 250 Conspirators on the one side taking fire from the Altar and putting it into their Censers and laying Incense thereon and Aaron near to whom Moses stood doing the like on the other God now signifies his approach and the actual manifestation of his Presence by the descending of the Cloud which used to hover over the Tabernacle to the door (x) See vers 42. of this Chap. and Ch. 12.5 thereof And the Lord spake to Moses and Aaron saying Separate your selves from among this Congreation that I may consume these Conspirators and all that joyn with them in a moment Then Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces before the Lord and said O God the God of the Spirits of all Flesh who formest the spirit of man within him Zach. 12.1 and seest and knowest the spirits and hearts of all men and art able to discern between those that sin obstinately and those that are only seduced by others and drawn hither only to see what would be done Shall one man sin viz. Corah the chief Incendiary and wilt thou be wroth with the whole Congregation Upon this intercession the Lord was pleased to spare the people that would depart from these Rebells And then imparting to Moses what He intended to do commands him to warn the Congregation to get away from the Tents of Corah Dathan and Abiram Moses accordingly rose up many of the Elders of Israel accompanying him to denounce the Judgment of God against these Conspirators and he warns the Congregation to depart from the Tents of these wicked men and to get far from them and to touch nothing of theirs as judging all that they have execrable and accursed lest they perish (y) V. 26. Lest you be consumed in all their sins that is lest you be destroyed in the Judgment that will fall upon them for all their sins the cause is here put for the effect in the Judgment which was ready to fall upon them for their great Sins and Provocations The people accordingly did so and fled from the Tents of these men but Dathan and Abiram impudently came out and stood in the doors of their Tents with their Wives and Children as if they intended to out-face Moses and scorned the Judgment he threatned against them Moses then sayed Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me and hath appointed me to take upon my self the Government of this people and hath conferred the Priesthood on Aaron and his Sons and that I have not done these things on my own head If these men die the common and ordinary death of other men then the Lord hath not sent me But if the Lord by his Almighty Power do work a new and hitherto-unheard of Miracle so that the Earth open her mouth and swallow them up quick then you must needs acknowledge that I am innocent and that these men have highly provoked the Lord. Moses having made an end of speaking the Earth immediately opened her mouth and swallowed up * An undoubted evidence of Gods concurrence with the ministry of Moses and withall an undoubted assurance of the divine truth of Moses's Writings these Rebels and all that appertained to them that were there present And the same it seems happened and probably at the same time to Corah and his Family as appeareth Numb 26.10 only some of his Children who as 't is like joyned not in their Fathers sin or if they did soon repented of it and gave over and departed from their Fathers Tent at Moses's warning were spared And of their Race came such as either composed some of the Psalms or at least were famous Singers in the Temple and Samuel also the great Prophet and Judge in Israel was of that Race see 1 Chron. 6.33 to 38. Thus perished the Ringleaders of this Rebellion All the Israelites that were near them fled at the Cry of them fearing lest the Earth should swallow up them also And as a further addition to the dreadfulness of this Judgment there came fire out from the Lord and consumed their 250 Confederates who had offered Incense and usurped the Priests Office They are punished with fire as by fire they had offended see Levit. 10.2 Moses now by Gods Command appointeth Eleazar the Son of Aaron to gather up the Censers from among the ashes of the dead bodies of these men that were burnt and consumed and to scatter the fire that was in them without the Court of the Tabernacle as shewing that God rejected it and their Service and abhorred their Sacrifice And he tells him That the Censers of these Sinners against their own Souls were now hallowed (z) Sanctificata dicuntur quia ex deputatione Dei servire deinceps debebant divina gloriae illustrandae having been presented before the Lord by his Commandment and he orders him to make broad Plates of them for a covering of the Altar (a) A parte anteriori altaris ponebantur ut a populo conspici possint of Burnt-Offerings which was covered with Plates of Brass before see Exod. 27.2 And the less need there was of them the fitter they were to be a sign of Gods Judgment against presumptuous Conspirators and of his vindicating and clearing the innocency of his faithful Servants and to be a Memorial to the Children of Israel that all Israelites and Levites excepting Aaron's Sons are to be reckoned as Strangers in respect of the Priests Office and may not aspire to it lest they perish as Corah and his Confederates did However the very next morning after those dismal Judgments had been executed all the Congregation of the people that were inclined to this Faction whose lives Moses had saved the day before by praying to the Lord for them murmured against Him and Aaron and peremptorily told them That they had killed the Lords people Moses and Aaron being thus injuriously charged looked up to God as having no other Refuge or Shelter to fly unto and immediately behold the Cloud descended upon the Tabernacle as a sign of the approach and actual manifestation of the glorious Presence of God and that he intended to speak something unto them Moses and Aaron presenting themselves before the Lord the Lord bad them get them up presently from among this rebellious Company that he might consume them in a moment But they fell
on their faces and interceeded with the Lord for them God by his Spirit informs Moses That he had sent a Plague among them and directs him what course to take for the stopping of it Hereupon he calls to Aaron to take his Censer and to put fire into it from off the Altar and to put Incense thereon and to run quickly and make atonement for the people and to stand between the living and the dead (b) Incense was only to be offered upon the Altar of Incense in the Tabernacle but this was done upon an extraordinary occasion and by an extraordinary warrant of divine Inspiration for he tells him Wrath was gone out from the Lord the Plague was begun And Aaron did as Moses commanded him yet the Plague ran so swiftly among the people like fire in a field of Corn that before Aaron could interpose himself to make atonement wherein he was a Figure of Christs Intercession there fell fourteen thousand and seven hundred of those rebellious Murmurers see 1 Cor. 10.10 and then the Plague was stayed and Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Tabernacle to acquaint him how he had sped and to return thanks unto the Lord who had so graciously accepted the work of his hands Numb 16. whole Chapter SECT LXIV THat none might for the future presume to usurp the Office of the Priesthood or aspire to it besides Aaron and his Sons God was pleased to enjoyn Moses to take of each Prince of the twelve Tribes a Rod or Staff such as they did usually carry in their hands which were it seems according to the Custom of those times made of Almond-Tree and to write every Princes Name on his Rod and to write Aaron's Name upon the Rod of the Tribe of Levi. He tells him That the mans Rod whom he did choose to serve him in the Priesthood should blossom and the rest remain dry And God orders Moses to lay all the Rods up in the Tabernacle in the most holy place before the Ark of the Testimony where the Lord did use by glorious signs to testifie his Presence and make known his Will unto them see Exod. 25.22 For upon such extraordinary occasions we need not doubt but Moses used to go into the most holy place Accordingly next morning Moses went in thither and he found that the Rod of Aaron had shot forth branches and some of them had buds on them and some blossoms and others yielded Almonds but all the rest of the Rods remaining dry as they were before Then Moses brought out all the Rods and shewed them to the Children of Israel and the Princes took every man his Rod and found them dry sticks as before but Aaron's Rod flourished and had brought forth Buds Blossoms and Fruit by which Miracle they were convinced that God had chosen Aaron and his Sons to be the only Priests that should serve Him at the Altar And hereupon God orders Moses to lay up Aaron's Rod again in the most holy place before the Ark to be kept there * See Apostol Hist on Heb. 9.6 as a Testimony against any such Children of Rebellion as should ever after presume to usurp the Office of the Priesthood And by this means also he might prevent the murmurings and complainings of the people which if they went on in they would thereby bring certain destruction upon their own heads The people hearing these things and being exceedingly terrified with this threatning and the remembrance of those late dreadful Judgments that had carried away so many among them they cry out unto Moses Alas we die we perish we all perish that is we see we are in continual danger of being swept away with terrible Judgments And as men terrified are wont to conceive their danger to be greater than indeed it is they now apprehend that it would be exceeding dangerous for them to come near the Tabernacle or to be present at any Worship or Service there performed and seem to fear that God would not withdraw his Indignation from them until he had destroyed and consumed them all Ch. 17. whole Chapter SECT LXV THe people being under such a fear and consternation the Lord hereupon takes order for the guard of the Sanctuary and injoyns that every one should remain within the Verge and Limits of his duty and so they should be safe and he tells Aaron That He and the Priests and Levites shall bear the iniquity of the Sanctuary that is if any pollution (c) Thus the Lord shews himself reconciled and makes the Priests watch a ground of appeasing both the fear and envy of the people came to it by the people they should answer for it and bear the punishment thereof if they did not take care to prevent it and the Priests should bear the punishment of all Iniquity committed about their Priests Office if they did carry themselves amiss in it or suffer a stranger or Levite to meddle therein He tells them he had joined * Here is an allusion to Levies name which signifies joyned the Levites to them to minister to them in the outward Services of killing and slaying the Sacrifices c. but they themselves only should serve at the Altar and within the holy place before the Ark of the Testimony and the Levites shall observe the Precepts and Charge which he hath given them concerning their Ministry and concerning the sacred things of the Tabernacle which are committed to their Care that so every one keeping his station and doing his duty there may be no wrath any more upon the Children of Israel only they shall not meddle with the Service of the Sanctuary and Altar lest they die And if the Priests did not endeavour to prevent any such Errour or Miscarriage in their Brethren the Levites they should also incur the like danger Thus he appoints the Levites to minister to the Priests and orders that he that is not of the Tribe of Levi shall not be admitted to serve and minister unto them For God having taken the Levites instead of the first-born of the Children of Israel to himself he had given them unto Aaron and his Sons for his own Service and the Service of the Tabernacle Therefore he and his Sons should exercise their Priests Office in all things that concern the Altar of Burnt-Offerings and in all things which are to be done within the outward Veil whereby the holy place is divided from the Court the High Priest in the most holy place and inferiour Priests within the Sanctuary or holy place And God tells Aaron and his Sons That 't is his free Gift and favour to them that he had made choice of them before others for the Priestly Office and that He had ordained That whoever is not of Aaron's Line and goeth about to meddle with the Priestly Office shall be put to death from vers 1. to 8. The Lord having thus set down the Office and Work of the Priests and Levites he
comes now to set out their portion which they should have as a reward of their Service And first He tells Aaron that for the sake of his Office to which he was anointed and because He and his Sons were separated from worldly Imployments to attend upon holy things therefore they should have a part in every Meat-Offering Sin-Offering Trespass-Offering and in the Court * See Levit. 6.16.26 Lev. 7.6 Ezek. 42 13 14. of the Tabernacle or Tents round about it called here the most holy place comparatively in respect to the Camp of Israel and the great Court for the people which was without the Priests Court they might eat of them 2ly They should have the Heave-Offerings and Wave-Offerings that is the right Shoulder and wave-breast of the Peace-Offerings with all other Gifts that were heaved and waved no part thereof being burnt upon the Altar And of these the Priests Daughters might eat whilst they remained in their Fathers house but being married to strangers they might not eat of the holy things see Levit. 22.12 13. Neither might any unclean person eat thereof 3ly They should have the first-fruits Some of the first-fruits of the Land were brought to the Lord at their three great Feasts as a sheaf of their Barley at the Feast of the Passover Levit. 23.10 And two loaves of their new-Wheat at the Feast of Pentecost vers 17. And the first of their Wine and Oil at the Feast of Tabernacles But these were brought in the name of all the Inhabitants of the Land in general Besides these particular men were of their own Corn and Fruits to bring the first-fruits unto the Lord as is enjoyned Exod. 22.29 23.19 concerning which there is no other direction given but that they should be of the first and of the best the quantity being left to the liberty and discretion of the Owner to bring according as he had found the blessing of God upon his Grounds 4ly They should have all things devoted that is all votive and freewill-Offerings see Levit. 27.28 except such things as were devoted as a Sacrifice unto God 5ly The first-born of men and beasts The first-born * The first-born of men before they were redeemed were to be presented before the Lord in the Temple Exod. 13.12 Levit. 2.22 And that could not be done before the Mother was purified which required forty days time Levit. 12.4 The first-born of the Tribe of Levi were free from this Redemption of men they were to permit to be redeem'd at a month old (d) V. 16. Secundum aestimationem seu ordinationem tuam Refero ad illud post mensem q. d. Constitues diem quando velles eum redimi Hic dies Communi usu erat 40 a partu ut eadem opera mater purificaretur filius redimeretur Bonfrerius for five Shekels see Levit. 27.6 and the firstlings of unclean Beasts they were to permit to be redeemed after eight days at a lower price but the firstlings of Cows Sheep and Goats were not to be redeemed they must be sacrific'd and their blood sprinkled and their fat burnt on the Altar that they may be a sweet savour to the Lord but their flesh should go to the Priests God tells them He had allotted them these things for their Maintenance (e) The Hebrew Doctors write of 24 Gifts which God bestowed on the Priests with the order and use of them See Ainsworth pag. 113. for ever that is whilst this Dispensation lasted by a perpetual and unchangeable Covenant called a Covenant of Salt because firm and incorruptible Salt having a vertue to preserve any thing from corruption God further tells Aaron That when the Land shall be divided by Lot there shall be no lot for the Levites They should have no Inheritance in it He himself would be their part and portion Indeed they had Cities (f) Concerning the 35 Cities and Suburbs of the Levites and 13 Cities and Suburbs of the Priests See Richardson pag. 32. and Suburbs but they were given them by the other Tribes The Lord further tells Aaron That He had given the Levites all the Tenths or Tythes of the Children of Israel (g) V. 24. Which they offered as an Heave-offering that is an Oblation to the Lord and a sign of their homage and subjection and thankfulness to him for his blessings as a reward of their Service Levit. 27.30 And straitly charges that no Israelite that is not of that Tribe presume to come nigh to the Tabernacle to do any part of the Service belonging to the Levites lest they die for it And He tells him That the Levites should bear the punishment of their own Iniquity if they should transgress yea and of the peoples too if by their not watching over the holy things they suffered the people to transgress about them He further injoyns that the Levites shall offer as an Oblation to the Lord and pay a tenth of all the Tythes they receive unto the Priests and this the Lord would accept at their hands no less than if having Lands as others had they should pay Tythe of the increase of them as the rest of the people did to them and hereby they should testifie their homage and thankfulness to God And they were to offer and separate out of the Tythes paid to them for the hallowed part to be paid to the Priests that which was of all the best And the Priests might eat of these Tythes indifferently in any place And He further declares That if the Levites do heave or separate a tenth part of the best of their Tythes for the Priests use they shall not expose themselves to punishment which they would else do if they neglected it In conclusion here is added a general warning that both Priests and Levites should take heed of polluting or profaning the holy things or suffering them to be profaned by others which might be done many ways that so they might prevent wrath from falling on themselves and others Ch. 18. whole Chapter SECT LXVI THe Lord having appointed the Priests and Levites to do the Service of the Tabernacle and to watch over the people that they might not trangress about any of the holy things He here appoints a water of separation to be made that so if any of the people had contracted any legal uncleanness by the sprinkling of this water upon them they might be cleansed and so might come freely again to the Service of God in the Tabernacle without fear of those Plagues which otherwise their pollutions might bring upon them For the making of this water a red Heifer was to be provided and that by the common charge of all the Children of Israel because it was to be for the common good of them all and for the cleansing of any one among them that was by any accident legally unclean It must be an Heifer without spot and upon which never came yoke For they used in those times to
plow and draw their Carts with Heifers and Cows as well as with Oxen see Judg. 14.18 This Heifer was to be given to Eleazar because by doing this Service that was now to be done he was to be unclean and 't was fit that he rather than Aaron should be defiled She must also be carried out of the Camp as an accursed thing figuring Christs being made a Curse and suffering without the City Heb. 13.12 And Eleazar was to sprinkle of her blood seven times turning his face towards the Tabernacle of the Congregation And her skin and her flesh her blood and her dung were all to be burnt in his sight And Eleazar was to take Cedar-wood and Hyssop and Scarlet and to cast them into the midst of the burning of the Heifer to signifie that these things should be used for a sprinkle in sprinkling the unclean with the water of separation see Levit. 14.4 And Eleazar was to wash his Clothes and bath his flesh and to be unclean unto the evening * The like is injoyned to him that burnt this Heifer v. 8. and to him that gathered up the ashes v. 10. and to him that sprinkled an unclean person with the water made of those ashes v. 21. This might intimate to them that it was not so much the water made with the ashes of this Heifer as the thing signified thereby that had vertue in it to purifie those that were spiritually unclean and consequently to shew the imperfection of the legal Priesthood because they that were imployed in preparing this water which was for the cleansing of others were themselves defiled 'T was further injoyned That the ashes of this Heifer should be gathered up by a man that was clean and laid up without the Camp in a clean place (h) As for the place where those ashes were kept when they came into the Land of Canaan it is not expressed Some hold that those ashes were dispers'd into all the Cities that those who were unclean might have wherewith to purifie and cleanse themselves because they were now conseerated to an holy use However the man that gathered them up was thereby made unclean because they were the remainders of an Heifer slain for the sins of the people And the Statute of making and reserving of these ashes for a water of separation was to bind both the Israelite and the Proselyte or Stranger that sojourned with them as long as this Dispensation lasted By this Law it was further injoyned That he that touched the dead body of a man was to be unclean seven days and he was to purifie himself with this water on the third day and on the seventh day vers 19. and then he was to be clean else not And whoever having contracted this kind of uncleanness and doth not make use of this way to purifie himself but cometh in that state into the Court of the Tabernacle he shall be cut off by the Sentence of the Judge if it be proved that he did it presumptuously because he despiseth not only the Ceremonial purifying but the thing signified thereby viz. the spiritual cleansing thorow the blood of the Messias Otherwise if he did it ignorantly he was to bring such a Sacrifice as is injoyn'd Levit. 5.3 6. Further if any man came into the Tent of a dead man it rendred him unclean yea and all that was in the Tent Every open Vessel that takes in the air of the Tent was ceremoniously unclean Or if a man touched a dead body or the bone of a dead man it rendred him unclean And thus hereby was figured the spreading and infectious nature of sin And one of the Priests that was clean was to put running water to the ashes of the burnt-Heifer and with a bunch of Hyssop tied to a Cedar-stick with a Scarlet-thread to sprinkle the person or Tent or Vessels that were unclean and then to be himself unclean until the evening because he had touched the water of separation And whatsoever any unclean person touched was to be held unclean to signifie the contagion of sin spreading from one to another Numb 19. whole Chapter SECT LXVII THe Camp now advanced to Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin which was near to the Land of Edom in the first month of the fortieth year after their coming out of Egypt and there Miriam died and was buried four months before her Brother Aaron and eleven months before her Brother Moses She was the eldest of the three she attained to the age of 130 see Exod. 2.4 7. she was a Prophetess and by her also God guided the Israelites in their Travels see Mich. 6.4 she in all likelihood was the Girl that was set to watch what would become of Moses when he was expos'd in an Ark of Bulrushes on the River Nile see Exod. 2.4 c. Numb 20. vers 1. SECT LXVIII AT this Kadesh (i) So that in their Travels from Kadesh-barnea where the Spies came back to Moses to this Kadesh in the Desart of Zin there were about 38 years spent and most of their Fathers that were numbred at their coming out of Egypt were in this time dead the people for want of water murmur again against Moses and Aaron With the same want God had tried their Fathers in the first year after their coming out of Egypt Exod. 17.4 and they murmured then as their Children do now and they had water given them out of a Rock But these their Children were worse than their Fathers because the supply their Fathers had from God in that extremity should have been an argument and encouragement to them to rely on his Providence now and not to have distrustfully murmured or wished so desperately as they did Would God say they we had died with our Brethren whom God suddenly destroyed in the Insurrection of Corah and at other times thereby as it were slighting that fearful Judgment of being cut off in Gods firery Indignation in comparison of being pinch'd with a present want of water They highly expostulate with Moses and Aaron for bringing them into that barren Wilderness which was no place to sow seed in or plant Figg-Trees Vines or Pomegranates but a Land of Desarts a Land of Drought and where there was no water a Land thorow which no man passed and where no man dwelt see Jer. 2.6 Moses and Aaron hereupon betake themselves unto the door of the Tabernacle to intercede with God as formerly for this rebellious people And the Lord immediately signified his approach and the actual manifestation of his glorious Presence by the descending of the Cloud to the door of the Tabernacle see Ch. 14.10 and Ch. 16.19 And here He Commands Moses to take the Rod viz. Aaron's Rod which budded out of the Tabernacle * See Numb 20. v. 9. Ch. 17.10 and with that Rod in his hand to speak to the Rock before the Children of Israel and it should give forth water Moses indeed with his miraculous Rod at
sin that is he died a natural death when his time was come as being by sin liable to death as all other men are They further urge that except this be granted them the Name of their Father wil be quite extinct Moses inquiring of the Lord concerning this Case it pleased the Lord to grant these Daughters of Zelophehad their desire which was afterwards punctually performed Joshua as we may read Josh 17.4 According to the Command of the Lord he gave them an Inheritance among the Brethren of their Father Yet withall there was afterwards a Caution added to wit that they might not marry out of their own Tribe * Hence some conclude that when a man died without Issue and his Brother married his Widow to raise up Seed unto his Brother whose Estate he inhetlted his first Son in their Genealogies was reckoned to be the Son of him that died without Issue So it was in this case The first Sons of those that married the Daughters of Zelophehad were accounted the Sons of Zelophehad and so under his Name did inherit his Land see Ch. 36.6 And upon this occasion was the Law for succession in Inheritances made and ordained Numb 27. from 1. to 12. SECT LXXXIV GOd now signifies to Moses that he should die and accordingly Commands him to go up to that Tract of the Mountains of Abarim * See Ch. 33.47 Deut. 32.49 34.1 which are in the Land of Moab over against Jerico and on one of the highest of them called Nebo whose top was called Pisgah he should see that good Land into which he might not enter And when he had seen it his Soul should be gathered unto the Souls of his pious Ancestors who died before him For He and Aaron had rebelled against his Commandment see Ch. 20.12 which was that they should by Faith sanctifie * We sanctifie the Lord when we conceive aright of his Nature and Attributes and when we speak so reverently of Him as to cause his Name to be praised and magnified among men him in the eyes of the people at the Wilderness of Zin but they sanctified him not Moses humbly and earnestly begs of the Lord that he might be permitted to go over and see that good Land Deut. 3.23 25. but the Lord was not pleased to grant his Request Humbly therefore submitting to his holy Will he now earnestly prays to God Who is the God of the Spirits of all flesh and not only the Creator but the Searcher and Trier of men spirits and knows what is in man and can frame and fashion mens spirits as he pleases and give them Gifts and Graces requisite for the Places he calls them unto to appoint a Successor to him that might as a good Shepheard go out and in before the Flock God upon his prayer appoints Joshua to succeed him a man in whom was the Spirit that is the Spirit of Wisdom and understanding the Spirit of Counsel and Might the Spirit of Knowledge and the fear of the Lord. God Commands him therefore to lay his hands * The like Ceremony was afterwards used in the days of the Gospel when men were separated and set apart to Preach the Gospel 1 Tim. 4.14 upon Joshua to intimate to Him by this Ceremony that the hand of God should be upon him to defend and prosper him in all his ways and that he would confer upon him a great measure of the Gifts of his Spirit answerable to the Dignity whereunto he had advanced Him and accordingly 'tis said Deut. 34.9 That Joshua the Son of Nun was full of Wisdom for Moses had laid his hands on him Moses was also to set him before Eleazar and the Congregation and to give him a Charge concerning what he was to do and what to forbear in the administration of his Office And Moses was further commanded to put some of his own honour upon him that is admit him into some Partnership of Authority and Dignity with himself and so cause the people to give him that Honour that was due unto Moses's Successor and the Judge Elect of Israel And Moses tells him further That upon occasion he shall present himself before Eleazar that he may inquire of the Lord for him after the Judgment of Vrim that is putting on the Ephod to which the Pectoral * See Pharaphrase on Exod. 28.30 was fastened wherein was the Vrim and Thummim And at Eleazar's word speaking from the Lord He and the people shall go out to War or return from it and so in all weighty Affairs which were extraordinary by his direction they should govern themselves And Moses did all these things which the Lord commanded him Numb 27. from 12. to the end SECT LXXXV THe Children of Israel having as it seems omitted their Sacrifices and solemn Feasts the most part of the 38 years last past by reason of their travels wherein the Sanctuary the Alar and other holy things were made up fit for removal from place to place And the most part of the Generation from twenty years old and upward that had been mustered in Sinai being now dead see Ch. 26.64 The Lord hereupon causeth the Law of sacrificing to be again here repeated thereby intimating to them that when they came into the Land which he promised them they must not any longer neglect his Ordinances as they had done in the Wilderness see Deut. 12.8 And therefore first in the general he charges them that they be sure to give Him all the Sacrifices and Offerings which he had at several times appointed them to offer And then 2ly He sets down particularly what they were to offer First For their daily Sacrifice from vers 3. to 9. Secondly For their weekly Sacrifice every Sabbath * The Sacrifices appointed for every Sabbath-day are full double to those appointed for every day And yet the daily Sacrifice the continual Burnt-Offering was not then to be omitted day from vers 9. to 10. Thirdly For their monthly Sacrifice every new Moon from 11. to 16. And fourthly For their yearly Sacrifices First At the Passover from vers 16. to 26. 2ly At Pentecost from 26. to the end 3ly He mentions the Offering appointed at the Feast of Trumpets Ch. 29. from 1. to 7. 4ly The Offering on the day of Expiation from 7. to 12. 5ly On the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles from vers 12. to 39. Numb Ch. 28. whole Chapter Numb Ch. 29. from 1. to 39. SECT LXXXVI BEsides those set and solemn Sacrifices which God Himself had injoyned there were other Sacrifices which were to be offered to the Lord namely such as men voluntarily offered or upon a particular Vow Ch. 29. v. 39. And upon this occasion it seems several Precepts concerning Vows were added to shew who were necessarily obliged to perform their Vows and who not And Moses made known these Laws to the Heads of the Tribes because they were the men that according to these Laws were
Israelites over against Beth-Peor and there buried it Neither doth any man know the place where he laid it to this day And this the Lord seems to have done that the Israelites might not in a preposterous Zeal give superstitious honour either to his dead body or Sepulchre Indeed 't is said Jude v. 9. That Michael the Arch-Angel contended with the Devil and disputed about the body of Moses whereby it appears that the Devil would have had the place of his burial made known that it might have been the occasion of Idolatry as Chrysostome in his First Homily on Matthew and Theodoret upon Deut. quest 43. with others do conjecture but the Lord prevented the Devils design herein And possibly God foresaw that if the Israelites had known the place where the body of Moses was buried they would in an unwarrantable way have taken it up and carried it with them into the Land of Canaan as they did Joseph's bones whereas God had declared He should not come thither Moses being dead the Israelites mourned for him 30 days * So long they mourned for Aaron Numb 20.28 And there was great reason for it for there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face that is spake to in a wondrous familiar manner with an audible articulate Voice as one friend speaketh to another and discovered to him more of his Glory than ever he did to the eye of mortal man see Exod. 33.20 There was none like unto him if we consider the great Miracles which the Lord inabled him to do in the Land of Egypt before Pharaoh and his Servants and the wonderful Works of mighty Power which he since performed in the Wilderness in the sight of all Israel whereby the Lord magnified his own Majesty and Power and put a great honour on his Servant Moses and his Ministry But though this great Moses was gone yet God left not his people without a Governour for He had before-hand appointed Joshua to succeed him who was a man endued with a great measure of wisdom which the Holy Ghost had given him for the right execution of his Office For Moses had laid his hands on him according to Gods Command Numb 27.18 by that Ceremony consecrating him unto God and engaging him faithfully to administer the Charge and Office He was appointed unto And the Children of Israel hearkned unto him and obeyed him as the Lord commanded Moses to injoyn them SECT XCIV WE are now come to the Book of Joshua The Book of Ioshua which was not probably written by himself (a) If we should suppose this Book for the main to be written by Joshua yet some passages might be inserted afterwards by some other holy Penman So in the Books of Moses we find some passages which could not be written by Moses himself but were afterwards added by some other holy men as Deut. 34.5 Qui hanc historiam ex Sacris Annalibus conscripsit usus est sui seculi nominibus Masius at least not all of it though it contains his Acts and Atchievements Indeed Joshua either wrote himself or ordered some of the Priests to write the words of the Covenant which he caused the people to enter into with all the Circumstances of it Ch. 24.26 in the Book of the Law of God which was written by Moses and put in the side of the Ark that so it might be a Witness against them if they transgressed it But there are some things contained in this Book which are thought to be done after Joshua's death as the conquering of Leshem or Laish by the Danites Ch. 19.47 Judg. 18.7 to 29. and Ch. 24. from 29. to 32. his death and burial are mentioned Some other things seem to argue that it was written by some Prophet * A Propheta aliquo collectus videtur hic liber ex antiquis diariis annalibus Masius long after his death as that phrase (b) See Ch. 4. 6. 6.29 7.26 8.29 9.27 10.27 13.13 14.14 15.63 remains unto this day so frequently used doth intimate And the Book of Jasher (c) See Sect. 102. is here named Ch. 10.13 which seems written at soonest in David's time as recording an Act of his 2 Sam. 1.18 unless we should suppose which is not improbable that this Book of Jasher was begun in Moses's time and continued on and inlarged afterwards by adding several memorable Acts and Passages unto it Joshua was of the Tribe of Ephraim Numb 13.8 He was six full years in Conquering the Land and in the seventh divided it by lot among the nine Tribes and an half And divers years he lived and governed after that time but how many is uncertain yet it is supposed to be about ten years And so this Book contains an History of seventeen years from the beginning of Joshua's Government to his death which happened when he was an hundred and ten years old Ch. 24.29 And so much by way of Preface We now come to the History it self After the death of Moses the Lord spake to Joshua Moses's Minister who had for many years daily and continual conversation with him and so could not but have learned much thereby to fit him for this great Service But whither the Lord spake to him by audible Voice or the secret instinct of his Spirit or in some Dream or by the High Priests inquiring for him by Vrim and Thummim we cannot determine But however it was he spake to him and commanded him to arise and lead His people over into the Land of Canaan which he had before promised them and intended now actually to give them He tells him That every place in the Land which the sole of their foot should tread upon from the Wilderness of Zin which was the South-bound to Lebanon which was the North-bound and the great Sea or Midland-Sea which was the Western-bound and the River Euphrates (d) That the Israelites did never extend their bounds thus far is evident For though in the days of David and Solomon all the Nations as far as Euphrates became Tributary to them 1 Kings 4.21 yet they never destroyed the Inhabitants there and planted themselves in their Country as they did in the Land of Canaan And the reason of this was because the Israelites failed of keeping Covenant with God and it was only upon condition of their Obedience that God promised thus to inlarge their borders which was the Eastern-bound even all the Land of the Hittites which seem here mention'd by a Synecdoche for all the seven Nations should be their Coast The Lord tells him That not a man should be able to stand before him all the days of his life but as He was with Moses so He would be with him and would never leave him nor forsake him He bids him therefore be strong and of a good courage for he should divide the Land of Canaan to the people of
That if those woody Hills and Mountains were made fit to inhabit and were added to their portion yet there would not be Land enough for them And as for the Canaanites that dwelt in the Valleys and Champion-Countries they were not so easily to be conquered for they were a formidable people and used Iron-Chariots in their Wars which having Hooks and Sythes fastened to them did usually do great Execution in a Fight and mowed down all before them Joshua tells them He could give them no other Answer than he had done They were a great people and had great Power they excelled in number and strength and had no cause to complain that they had but only one lot or that their portion was too straight for them for if their own Sloth Cowardize and Diffidence of Gods Power and Providence did not hinder them they might inlarge it when they would If they were not wanting to themselves they would find the portion allotted to them was more than one lot for if they took the course he prescribed them the mountainous Country would be theirs they might plant it and possess it from one end to the other and all the adjacent Vallies and Champion-Country would be theirs also seeing if they did with Courage and Faith in God attempt to gain it God would surely enable them to drive out the Canaanites notwithstanding all their strength and the advantage they had by their Iron-Chariots Thus we see how uprightly Joshua carried himself in this matter being no ways partial to his own Tribe the Tribe of Ephraim nor to that of Manasseh so nearly allied to him Joshua 14.1 to 6. Ch. 15. from 1. to 13. and from 20. to 63. Ch. 16. from 1. to 10. Ch. 17. from 1. to 12. from vers 14. to the end SECT CX WE return now to the Tribe of Judah whose lot as we have shewn falling to them in the richest and best part of Canaan an eminent Person of this Tribe namely Caleb descended of Kenaz 1 Chron. 4.13 15. attended with the chief Men and Elders of Judah made his Address to Joshua and spake to him after this manner Thou maist remember the thing that the Lord spake to Moses the Man of God at Kadesh-Barnea concerning thee and me when we returned thither from searching the Land namely that we only of all those that were above twenty years old at that time should see this good Land Numb 14.30 I was forty years old when I was sent by Moses to spy out the Land (p) The Israelites after this wandring 38 years in the Wilderness this must needs be the seventh year since they came into Canaan and I brought him word again as it was in my heart I told him faithfully what I thought of the Land and did neither for fear nor favour of any man speak otherwise than I thought in my Conscience My Brethren that went up with me viz. ten of them made the hearts of the people melt and faint within them by telling them of the invincible strength of the Canaanites but I wholly followed the Lord my God as thou also didst and shewed my Obedience to him faithfully and perswaded the people without fear to enter into the Land resting upon the Promises and powerful Assistance of the Almighty And Moses sware to me on that day to wit by the motion and direction of God saying Surely the Land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine Inheritance and thy Childrens for ever namely some special part of it and particularly that wherein Hebron (q) And this place of the Land was given him rather than any other because when the other Spies had seen those Giants the Anakims Numb 13.23 near Hebron and had thereupon discouraged the people Caleb resolutely opposed these his faint-hearted Brethren and when they objected the invincible strength of the place and people He encouraged the Israelites and told them they might with God's help easily vanquish them And hereupon it seems there was some particular promise made to him concerning this Inheritance Josh 15.13 is situate because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God Thus Moses sware to me And now behold the Lord hath kept me alive these forty and five years since He spake this word unto Moses so that I am now fourscore and five years old and yet I am as strong this day as I was on the day Moses sent me As my strength was then so is it now both for War or any other business Thus the Lord hath wonderfully preserv'd my life and strength and reserv'd me as it were to enjoy that portion of Land which was then promised me Give me therefore I pray thee this mountainous Country where Hebron and Debir are situate and if the Lord will please to be with me as I trust He will I make no doubt but that I shall be able to drive out these Anakims and get this portion for an Inheritance to me and my Children as the Lord graciously promised me Joshua readily granted his Request and blessing him gave him Hebron for an Inheritance that is the Country and Territory in which Hebron and Debir were situate with the Towns belonging to them It is plain that Hebron and Debir were taken by Joshua and the Israelites in their Expedition against those five Kings that had joyned their Forces together to besiege Gibeon as we may see Ch. 10.36 37 38. He then took Hebron and cut off many of the Anakims from the Mountains about it but in process of time the Israelites as it seems not leaving Garrisons in those Towns the Inhabitants that got away and especially the remaining Anakims did again sieze upon Hebron and repossess it Wherefore Joshua would not permit Caleb alone without the assistance of some of his own Tribe to go up and assault it but he himself went with his Army and took it and he utterly destroyed the Anakims and their Fortresses and cleared the Country of them saving only that there remained some of them in Gaza Gath and Ashdod Cities of the Philistines There these Giants remained many years after For Goliah was of Gath 1 Sam. 17.14 and those four huge Giants mentioned 2 Sam. 21.16 c. were all of the Philistines Joshua having taken Hebron gave it to Caleb namely the Land and Villages thereunto adjoyning reserving the City it self and the Suburbs thereof for the Priests and to be a City of Refuge Josh 21.11 12. Hebron being thus retaken 't is probable Joshua sent a great Brigade of his Army under the Command of Caleb who had been very active with the assistance of those of his own Tribe as it seems before in slaying the three Sons of Anak Sheshai Ahiman and Talmai and driving their Adherents out of the Coasts of Hebron to take in Debir where He to excite the valour of his Souldiers promised to give his consent * See Judges 1.12 We cannot hence infer that he might lawfully force upon his Daughter what Husband he
that they should forsake the Lord to follow them though it were left to their own choice He intimates to them that except they chose the Lord for their God and served Him out of judgment and their own choice V. 15. Eligite Tenta vita dictum ut Ruth 1.15 Joh. 6.67 and willingly and freely without any constraint God would not regard their outward compliance Well says he whatever you shall determine for your selves and your own practise I do declare to you That this is my firm Resolution That as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. The Elders of the people hearing these things said God forbid that ever we should forsake the Lord that brought us and our Fathers out of Egypt and has done such great things in our sight and has hitherto preserved us and driven out the Amorites and Canaanites for us God forbid that ever we should be so wicked as to forsake Him and serve Idols No the Lord is our God and Him we are resolved to serve Joshua advises them them to consider well what they said He tells them They cannot serve the Lord if they retained Idols in their Houses or in their Hearts and mingled false Worship with the true For God says he is an holy and jealous God and will no more admit of mixture of true and false Worship than a jealous Husband will of a Corrival in his love or that his Wife should divide her self between him and a stranger I tell you plainly God will not forgive your Transgressions nor your Sins if you continue in them and if you turn from Him and serve other gods He will turn from doing you good and will severely punish and chastise you The people answered Nay but we are firmly resolved to serve the Lord and Him only Then Joshua said You are â—itnesses against your selves this day if you do otherwise For ye have freely chosen the Lord to be your God and have faithfully promised to serve Him They said We do acknowledge it and if we do otherwise we are Witnesses against our selves and our own Consciences will convince and condemn us Well says he if ye be willing to renew your Covenant with God this day then let me in the first place strictly charge you if there be any Idols secretly kept and worshipped among you that they be put away presently and let them have no place in yours hearts and affections but incline your hearts faithfully to serve the Lord God of Israel The people answered The Lord God will we serve and his Voice alone will we obey Then Joshua as God's Servant and Minister caused the people to renew their Covenant with God and probably it was done in a very solemn manner being accompanied with Sacrifices and the usual Rites of that sacred Service and He established and confirmed it as a standing and perpetual Law for them and their Posterity that they should constantly continue in the Service of the Lord God alone as became his peculiar people and utterly renounce all Idols and all Idolatry whatsoever And Joshua either wrote himself or caused some of the Priests to write in the Book of the Law which was written by Moses and put on the side of the Ark these Promises of the people and the whole carriage of this business and how solemnly they renewed their Covenant with God that the people knowing there was such a Record kept of this matter and the circumstances thereof in God's Tabernacle might be the more careful to keep their Covenant Then Joshua took a great stone and set it up there under an Oak that was by the Sanctuary of the Lord as a Memorial of this Covenant now thus solemnly renewed between God and this people Some think this was the very Oak under which Jacob had many years since buried all the Idolatrous trash which he found among those of his Family Gen. 35.4 and that Joshua did purposely for that cause set up this Stone under that Oak * Hic Abrahamo Deuâ— apparuisse creditur Gen. 12.6 7. In future times this place where this Stone was set up was from hence called the Oak of the Pillar Judg. 9.6 And Joshua said This stone shall be a witness unto you for it hath heard (t) Hyperbolica Contestatio vide Deut. 4.26 all the words of the Lord that is of the Covenant between the Lord and you and it shall serve as a Witness to convince you of your Sin if you do not keep your Covenant seeing all men in future Ages will take notice that it was purposely erected to be a Monument and Memorial thereof and this stone when you see it shall represent to your Minds and Consciences the Covenant which ye have now made as if it could both hear and speak so that if in after-times you deny your God and fall into Idolatry this very stone will witness against you See a like expression to this Jer. 2.12 These things being done they now solemnly interred the bones of Joseph which they had brought with them out of Egypt (u) See Sect. 48. of Chap. 3. in that parcel of ground here at Shechem that Jacob * Whereas 't is said Acts 7.15 16. that the Fathers were laid in the Sepulchre that Abraham bought c. the meaning is which one of the Posterity of Abraham viz. Jacob bought of the Sons of Hamor See Apost Hist on the place bought of the Sons of Hamor see Gen. 33.19 and which He upon his death-bed gave to Joseph as a special Legacy Gen. 48.22 and was now within the lot of the Sons of Joseph And it seems from Acts 7.15 16. That the bodies of all the rest of the Patriarchs the Sons of Jacob were brought up also out of Egypt and here likewise buried When these things were done Joshua dismist the people to their own Inheritances Shortly after this the great Joshua dies aged an 110 about ten years as is conceived after the Conquest of the Land He had approved himself a faithful Servant of God all his days living in his Fear and dying in his Favour and was buried in his own Inheritance in Timnath-serah (x) Timnath-serah vox imaginem solis denotat quae Joshua Sepulchro erat imposita ob celebris illius solstitii Memoriam Josh 10.13 in Mount Ephraim Some say the Israelites placed upon his Monument the Figure of the Sun as a Memorial of the great Miracles of the Suns standing still at his prayer And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua * Non autem multo diuitius ut patet ex Jud. 2.8 9 10. Hinc patet quantum sit in unius hominis probitate positum qui in republica dominatur Masius and of the Elders that out-lived Joshua who had known all the Works of the Lord which he had done for them Not long after Eleazar the High Priest died also and they buried him in an Hill in Mount Ephraim which by special and extraordinary Gift
Thummim whither they should go up any more against the Benjamites The Lord bids them go up for to morrow he would deliver the Benjamites into their hands The Israelites having this Promise from God undoubtedly were much encouraged thereby however they resolved not to neglect any good means to obtain the Victory but by Policy and Military Stratagems to get all advantage they could of their Enemies Accordingly they divided their Army into three parts the one was laid in Ambush in the Medows of Gibeah vers 33. the second was sent against Gibeah with Orders that they should presently fly before the Benjamites that so they might draw them far off from the City vers 30 31. and the third which was the main body was to stay at Baal-tamar and to renew the battel when the Benjamites came thither in pursuit of the Israelites that fled before them Things being thus ordered that part of the Army that was to make the first On-set upon the Benjamites and then presently to fly and give back * See a like Stratagem in the taking of Ai Josh 8. marched up against the City and accordingly flying when the Benjamites came out against them the Benjamites eagerly pursued them and killed about thirty men and thought they should have cut them down as they did before But being drawn a good way off from the City the Ambush arose being ten thousand men and suddenly took the City and set it on fire which when they had done they put themselves between the City and the Army of the Benjamites to hinder their retreat The Benjamites that pursued the Israelites little thought of this or that evil was so near them For on a suddain the flying Israelites turned head and with the main body of the Army that stayed at Baal-tamar renewed the battel with great Courage and Violence The Benjamites looking back saw the smoke of the City ascending at which being much terrified they fled before the Israelites who destroyed eighteen thousand †V. 15. The Children of Benjamin were twenty six thousand and seven hundred Of these the Israelites slew when they prevailed against them twenty five thousand and one hundred v. 35. six hundred of them only saved themselves in Rimmon It seems therefore that the other thousand was slain in the two first battels wherein the Benjamitâ—s overcame the Israelites for 't is not like they could conquer them in two battels without some loss of them in the chase those that came out of the Cities to assist the Israelites hemming them in on every side vers 42. and vers 44. and five thousand more of them they killed in the High-ways as they found them in the pursuit scattered here and there vers 45. and two thousand more they slew at Gidom vers 45. and the odd hundred * Vers 46. Here the greater or round number is only expressed and not the odd 100. which is not expressed in particulars was slain as it seems some in one place and some in another so that of the Benjamites there fell that day twenty five thousand and one hundred six hundred of them only escaping who fled to Rimmon a City built on a Rock betwixt Gibeah and Bethel and abode there four months The Israelites not satisfied with the slaughter of the men of Gibeah and the Benjamites that came to fight in their Defence they fell upon all other Cities in that Tribe because they had sent Aids and had assisted their Brethren in this War and in their Rage slew Man Woman and Child and even the very Beasts and setting fire on their Cities spared no living thing that came in their way being transported with Fury that the Benjamites had undertaken the Defence of so horrible a Villany and that they had slain no less then forty thousand of the Israelites in this War Thus when the Lord had made use of Benjamin to execute his Justice upon Israel for not punishing Idolatry and for their other sins He then uses Israel to punish Benjamin for not delivering the men of Gibeah up to justice Judg. 20. whole Chapter SECT CXXXII THe Israelites having thus destroyed all the Men Women and Children of Benjamin excepting only those six hundred that fled to Rimmon they now began to consider into what a strait they had brought themselves For having slain all the Women of Benjamin and having made a Vow that none of them should give their Daughters in marriage to the Men of that Tribe either those six hundred men must take themselves Wives from the Heathens which was unlawful and the holy Seed would be thereby polluted or else a Tribe must perish from Israel and so their Body Politick which God had formed would be dismembred or themselves must break an Oath which they had solemnly taken in the presence of God Being exceedingly perplexed about this matter they thereupon went with their whole Army to the House of God in Shiloh there to bewail their Case and to inquire of the Lord what they should do in these Difficulties They rose therefore early the next morning and built there an Altar and offered thereon Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings because the Altar in the Tabernacle was not sufficient for the Offering up such a vast multitude of Sacrifices as were now brought in by the people after they had prevailed against the Benjamites see a like thing done 1 Kings 8.64 and the rearing Altars upon such extraordinary Occasions was not unlawful see Exod. 20.24 Then they began to consider what City or Town in all their Tribes had sent none to help them against the Benjamites For there had been a solemn Oath sworn by them all at Mizpeh before they engag'd in this War and it was taken with a severe Execration against any that should break it that whatsoever City or Town did not come in to help and assist them in this Quarrel should be destroyed Upon inquiry they found that Jabesh-Gilead on the other side Jordan had sent none to their assistance Hereupon they sent twelve thousand valiant men to destroy that City giving them order that they should destroy all the Men and all the Women thereof that had known man but the Virgins that were marriageable they should spare not doubting but of those there would be enough found to make Wives for the six hundred Benjamites But it seems there were were only four hundred such found in that City So that there being not Wives enough for them the Israelites much blamed themselves that they had in their rage destroyed all the Benjamitish-Women see vers 22. These four hundred Virgins being brought to Shiloh the Israelites sent a kind Message to the Benjamites at Rimmon to come to them who accordingly coming they gave to four hundred of them these four hundred Virgins to make them Wives wherein they conceived that they broke not their Oath because they were not their own Daughters But these being not enough for the remaining Benjamites the Israelites much repented their
of divers Colours of divers Colours of Needle-work so wrought that both sides are alike and of equal beauty and fit to be worn about the Necks of those to whom the best Prey belongeth as great Officers and Commanders and such as have done best Service in the Fight But alas she will find her self miserably deceived and her Son to be in another condition So let all thine Enemies perish O Lord but let them that love thee become Prosperous Glorious and Renowned and let their Prosperity grow and increase daily as the Sun when it riseth in a clear Morning doth shine brightly and gloriously and that more and more until it shew it self in its greatest strength and brightness at Noon-day Prov. 4.18 And upon this Victory the Land had Rest until forty years were up since the former Rest or Peace restored by Ehud Ch. 5. whole Chapter SECT CXXXVIII Fourth Oppression under the Midianites seven years THe Children of Israel falling again to Idolatry and doing evil in the sight of the Lord He delivered them into the hands of the Midianites who oppressed them seven years We read not indeed that they brought them into such Bondage as other Oppressors had done but only made every year Inroads into their Land and so robbed and pillaged their Country The Midianites though the Posterity of Abraham were always deadly Enemies to the Israelites and in the latter days of Moses the Israelites had destroyed multitudes of them as we may see Numb 31.17 Possibly the Midianites resolved now to take Revenge on them for it However when the Lord intends to punish a people for their sins he can raise up against them what Nation he pleases And in this time that the Midianites thus vexed Israel many of those Dens and Caves and strong Holds in Rocks which were in the Land of Canaan were made by the Israelites to hide themselves and their Goods from the Midianites These Midianites having got as it seems some of those Eastern Nations that bordered upon them as the Ishamelites Arabians c. to join with them who dwelt not in Cities or Towns but in Tents only which they used to remove from one place to another every Spring when the Israelites had sown their Corn these Midianites and their Confederates came with their Tents and Camels and Cattel that they might eat up the increase of the Land and therefore are compared to Grashoppers or Locusts vers 5. And they entred on the East passing over Jordan and went quite through the Land even as far as Gaza that lay on the Western-Sea destroying all as they went leaving in a manner no sustenance for Israel or very little and driving away their Cattel So that the Israelites were hereby greatly impoverished In this their Distress they cried unto the Lord and he sent a Prophet unto them his Name is not recorded who said to them Thus saith the Lord I brought you out of Egypt and delivered you from all those that oppressed you and drave out the Canaanites before you and gave you their Land and said to you I am the Lord your God See that you Worship not the gods of the Amorites in whose Land you dwell Because Religious Worship is always accompanied with fear and reverence of that God whom we worship therefore fear is often put for the whole Worship that we give to God but you have not obeyed my Voice and therefore you need not wonder at what is come upon you Sometime after this the Angel of the Covenant the Son of God called Jehovah vers 24. appeared unto Gideon the Son of Joash of the Family of Abiezer of the Tribe of Manasseh at Ophrath where he dwelt and not desiring to seem to Gideon any other than some Prophet sent to him by God He sate down under an Oak as a man wearied with travel and that desired to rest himself having as a Traveller a Staff in his hand Thus the Son of God did often in the Old Testament take on him an humane shape to prefigure his Incarnation And accordingly now he appeared unto Gideon who was threshing Wheat by the Wine-press to hide it from the Midianites By which it appears that Gideon though a man of Note and having many Servants under him vers 27. yet was a man also of an humble spirit and disdained not to employ himself in any honest labour The Angel salutes him thus The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of Valour Gideon the Fourth Judge this He spake as pre-signifying that great Courage and Valour the Lord intended to endow him with Gideon reply'd Oh my Lord if the Lord be with us why then is all this befallen us where are all the Miracles our Fathers told us of but the Lord hath now forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites The Angel replies Thus saith the Lord go in this thy might which I have given thee and rely on my Promise to assist thee in this great Work which I call thee to and thou shalt save Israel from the hands of the Midianites Have not I sent thee and therefore having both Authority from Me and a Promise of Success thou maist without all scruple undertake this Service And he said unto him O Lord wherewith shall I save Israel These words of Gideon seem to proceed from weakness of Faith but do not argue a total want of it for his Faith is commended Heb. 11.32 but as a man apprehensive of his own weakness he desires Direction how to carry on so great a Work and what means he should use for the atchieving so great a Design Alas says he the thousand that I belong to is poor in Manasseh I am not only weak in my self but also in Friends and Allies The Lord said unto him I will be with thee and I am All-sufficient and able to give thee such Wisdom and Power as is requisite for thee to effect it I will surely be with thee and thou shalt smite the Midianites as easily as if thou hadst to do but with one man Gideon said If I have found Grace in thy sight I pray thee shew me a sign that thou talkest with me from God and art sent of Him thus to speak unto me and tarry I pray thee a little that I may entertain thee with such Provisions as I can on a suddain make So Gideon went in and made ready a Kid and unleavened Cakes of which he provided a large quantity * V. 19. Of an Ephah of flour intending possibly to oblige this Stranger to take some of them with him to sustain him in his Journey see Gen. Ch. 18. 19. and Judg. 13.15 The Flesh and Cakes he put in a Basket and the Broth in a Pot and brought it out to Him sitting under the Oak and presented it to him For apprehending Him at present to be only a Prophet sent of God to him He desireth to give Him such Entertainment as was fit for him to
the ground about it were dry then he would look upon it as a sign that God would save Israel by his hand The Lord grants his Request without any reprehension of him at all and accordingly in the morning Gideon found the Fleece so wet that he wrung a Bowl full of water out of it the ground about it being all dry Gideon seeing this earnestly besought the Lord that his anger might not wax hot against him if he humbly desired one sign * Herein Gods great Condescention to Gideon was manifested working a Miracle forward and backward as it were yea many Miracles for the strengthening of his Faith in his Vocation and in Gods Promises more which was just contrary namely that the next morning the Fleece only might be dry and upon the ground about it there might be dew which came to pass accordingly to the great Encouragement of Gideon Ch. 6. whole Chapter SECT CXXXIX THen Gideon and all the people that were with him rose early and pitched besides the well Harod or the Well of Terror in the Tribe of Manasseh so called either from the fear that seiz'd on the twenty two thousand of the Israelites vers 3. or on the Midianites vers 21. and the Midianites encamped at the Hill Moreh on the North-side of them and in the Valley The whole Army that Gideon had gathered together were in all but thirty two thousand and the Midianites were a hundred thirty and five thousand * For there were an hundred and twenty thousand of them slain in their first overthrow and the remainder that were left with Zeba and Zalmunna were fifteen thousand Ch. 8.10 so that they were above four times as many as the Israelites and had the Israelites vanquished the Midianites with these thirty two thousand that were now come to Gideon one would think they should never have gone about to attribute the Victory to themselves or to rob God of the Glory of it But the Lord who foresaw how prone men would be to vaunt themselves upon any great Success told Gideon they were too many for him to Conquer the Midianites by lest Israel should say Mine own hand hath saved me Therefore He orders Gideon to make Proclamation That all that were afraid according as was injoyn'd Deut. 20.8 might depart from Mount Gilead (a) The Mount Gilead here spoken of must needs be not the famous Mountain of that Name without Jordan but another Mount of the same name within Jordan For a great many of this half-Tribe of Manasseh within Jordan being descended from Gilead the Son of Machir the Son of Manasseh they might also call this Mountain Gilead in remembrance of their Father in the Tribe of Manasseh within Jordan where they now were gathered together Hereupon twenty two thousand of them seeing the power and strength of the Enemy their hearts failed them and so they embraced the liberty given them to depart But their Trumpets it seems they left behind them by Gideon's order so there remained only ten thousand with Gideon The Lord tells him They were too many yet He bids him therefore bring those ten thousand down unto the water and there he would try them for him and discover who among them were fit for this Service and who not And accordingly those whom he approved for this Service should go along with him the others should depart When they were come to the water the Lord tells him That every one who coming to the water bended his body only a little and snatched up a little water in the palm of his hand and so lapped it up for his present refreshment as Dogs lap a little water and make hast presently away every such one should go with him but those that kneeling down on their knees bowed their heads down to the River and so putting their mouths into the water drank and sucked up their fill those should be dismissed For this kind of drinking argued sloth and a greedy desire of filling themselves and impatience of thirst whereas the other argued strength and ability of body and that they were content with a little refreshing being more intent upon the business they had in hand than on filling themselves This Experiment being made the number of those Lappers were found to be but 300 the rest were dismissed The Lord tells Gideon He would save them by this small number and by them vanquish the Midianites though for every Souldier Gideon had left there were four hundred and fifty of the Enemy The same night after Gideon had dismissed all his Army but these 300 the Lord spake to him in a Vision or Dream and said to him If thou fearest to go down and set upon the Enemy because of the smallness of thy number go down first privately in the night with thy Servant only and get as near to their Host as thou canst and there thou shalt hear something that shall further strengthen thy Faith Gideon accordingly crept down with his Servant to the first Sentinels of the Host and the Midianites and Amalekites lay along in the Valley like Grashoppers for multitude and their Camels were innumerable Gideon being got near to the Sentinels he heard one of them tell his Dream unto his Fellow says he Behold I dreamed that a Cake of Barley-bread tumbled into the Host of Midian and came into a Tent and smote it that it fell and so over-turned the Tent that it lay along His Fellow answered This is nothing else save the Sword of Gideon the Son of Joash for into his hand hath God delivered Midian and all the Host When Gideon heard this Interpretation of the Dream he bowed himself by way of thankfulness to the Lord for bringing him to hear this comfortable News for the strengthening of his Faith and hereby he perceived that God had alreadly stricken the Enemy with a fear of Him So returning to his little Army he acquaints them with what had passed and told them God had delivered their Enemies into their hands Then he gave to every one of his Souldiers a Trumpet and a Torch which being lighted he was to carry holding an empty Pitcher over it that no light might be seen till they had occasion to discover it Then dividing his 300 into three Companies that so they might encompass the Camp of their Enemies in several places and appear as if they were a great Army He bids them to look on him and to do as He did says He When we are come to the out-side of the Camp of our Enemies and you see me break my Pitcher and discover my Light and blow with my Trumpet do you likewise the same and with a great shout cry out The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon He would have them own God as the chief Agent but yet to name Him as an Instrument because he perceived by the Interpretation of the Dream which he had heard that his Name was terrible among them So Gideon and the three
his Mother That is he shall not stay till the usual years of other Levites which was 25 or 30 years of age but shall be brought to the Tabernacle and trained up there even from his Childhood and all that while shall continue under the strict vow of a Nazarite which ordinarily the Levites were not bound unto It seems at this very time when Hannah poured forth her prayer to the Lord and made this Vow that Eli the High-Priest sate upon a seat by a post of the Temple of the Lord that is the Tabernacle which possibly at this time had some house built for it to preserve it from weather for Ch. 3.15 we read that Samuel opened the doors of the house of the Lord whereas the Tabernacle had no Gates but only a Vail that was hung up at the entring of it Exod. 26.36 Eli sitting upon his seat and seeing Hannah stand a great while near him mumbling with her lips after an unusual manner and possibly expressing some incomposedness in her gesture through the vehemency of her affection he thought she had been drunk wherefore he said unto her How long wilt thou continue here in thy drunkenness and profane this holy place thou art come into go home and sleep out thy distemper and then come with a penitent heart and make thy peace with God Hannah replys No my Lord I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit and therefore very unlikely to be guilty of such an excess I have neither drunk wine nor strong drink this day but have been pouring * Psal 62.8 Lam. 2.19 forth my soul before the Lord count me not therefore I pray thee such a daughter of Belial nor imagine me guilty of so great a crime as drunkenness is I have only been opening my griefs and sorrows to the Lord and have been earnestly imploring help from him Eli hearing this said Go in peace and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition which thou hast asked of him Hannah desires him that he would always retain that good opinion of her and would still pray to the Lord in her behalf so being encouraged by the Spirit of God upon the prayer she had poured forth and the gracious encouragement she had received from the High-Priest she departed with inward joy and did eat bread and her countenance was no more sad The next morning Elkanah and his family before they set forth on their journey homewards presented themselves before God in the Tabernacle to worship him and to pray for a prosperous journey and success in all their other lawful affairs leaving therein to posterity a good precedent for their imitation When they were come home Hannah conceived by Elkanah the Lord remembring her and hearing her prayer and when the time was come about for her delivery she bare a Son and called his name Samuel †We read not that Samuel ever was High-Priest but an extraordinary Prophet and Judg in Israel A Sacrificer though only a Levite a rare and worthy person that is asked of God rejoicing most in this that this Son was given her in answer to her prayer Elkanah with several of his family went up to the Tabernacle to offer unto the Lord the yearly Sacrifice and his vow that is besides the yearly and ordinary Sacrifice some other oblation that he had vowed namely a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving for the birth of his Son But Hannah desired of her Husband that she might not go up till the child was weaned (d) V. 22. Educatus i. e. eo usque provectus ut ministrare possit Nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non tantum est a mamma disjungere sed educare 1 Reg. 11.20 donec maturescat sive maturus siat puer ministerio Nazaraeatui Donec efformetur puer ie ut satis membris robore efformetur ad ministrandum in Tabernaculo Mas 'T is like she would not wean him and so put him from her till he was of some age to shift for himself among strangers being also before that time unable to do service in the Tabernacle A like example we have in Sarah who would not wean her beloved Isaac till he was of some more than ordinary years for a weanling See Gen. 21.8 9. and educated and fitted in some measure to do some kind of service in the Tabernacle and then she would carry him thither and leave him there that he might continue in the service of the Lord for ever that is all the days of his life But 't is plain that Samuel sometime dwelt in Ramah and there judged Israel which hapned either after the age of fifty which was the time prefixed for the Levites service Numb 8.25 or by Gods especial dispensation who dispensed with his Vow to make him a Magistrate Elkanah consents to what his wife desired viz. that she should stay till the Child was weaned and educated Only says he let the Lord establish his word whereby he seems to mean that especial promise which God had made either to him or his wife before or after the conception and birth of the child though it be not expressed particularly what it was When Hannah had weaned and educated her Son she took him with her to Shiloh there to present him to the Lord according to her Vow and she took with her three Bullocks one Ephah of flour and a bottle of wine One of these Bullocks was offered when they presented the child and delivered him up to the service of the Lord the other 't is like were offered in other Oblations or the one might be offered as a Burnt-offering the other two for a Peace-offering The Ephah of flour contained ten Omers or tenth-deals now the Law prescribing three tenth-deals to be offered with a Bullock Numb 15.9 nine tenth-deals of this Ephah were for the three Bullocks and the other tenth-deal which was overplus might be intended for a voluntary meat-offering The bottle of wine was to be used in their meat and drink and Peace-offerings Then Hannah presenting her Son to Eli she said O my Lord as sure as thou art alive I am the woman that stood by thee here praying for this child and the Lord having granted my petition I have lent him to the Lord as long as he liveth that is I have dedicated him to his service having asked him of the Lord for that very end that I might return him to him again As he was freely given so he shall be freely devoted to Gods service And Elkanah Worshipped the Lord there and thankfully praised him for giving him this Son and also prayed unto him for his blessing upon him and that he would sanctifie him by his Spirit and inable him in an holy manner to perform that Religious service unto which he and his wife had devoted him 1 Sam. Ch. 1. whole Chapter SECT CLII. THese things being done Hannah now in a solemn manner praises the Lord for giving her a Son and prays * Orandi genâ—â—
their own hearts and therefore no wonder they minded not the reproofs and counsel of their aged Father whereupon there came a man of God some Prophet extraordinarily raised up to Eli and said unto him thus saith the Lord Did not I eminently appear unto the house of thy father viz. Aaron of whom thou art descended by Ithamar joining him with Moses for the deliverance of the Israelites when they were in bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt (b) Tota Aegyptus Pharaonis domus appellatur quod ejus possessio erat Mendoza Did not I chuse him out of all the Tribes of Israel to be my Priest to offer Sacrifices upon mine Altar to burn incense and to wear an Ephod before me Did not I give unto the House of thy father some part of all the offerings (c) Partem ex victimis omnibus quas pertinere volui ad sacerdotes Ex omnibus sacrificiis aliquid nam etiam ex holocaustis pellis cedebat sacerdoti Levit. 7.8 Menoch made by fire and offered by the children of Israel unto me And are all my special favours to thy Fathers family come to this Thy Sons kick at my Sacrifices and at my offerings which I have commanded to be offered to me in my holy habitation they as it were despise and contemn them and make a scorn of them before the people as though I had afforded them too little and therefore they will take from the Sacrifices for their own use what they please themselves And though thou didst not do thus thy self but thy Sons only yet because thou didst not restrain them from these evil practises and punish them for these their great transgressions thou art guilty as well as they Nay thou shewest by thy over great indulgence to them that thou honourest thy Sons above me and chusest to please them rather than me not daring to provoke them by sharply reproving them much less by punishing them as thou oughtest to have done though thou knowest they have sacrilegiously incroached upon the fat of the offerings that belonged unto me and upon other parts also of the Peace-offerings that belonged unto the people and all this to pamper their own greedy bellies Wherefore thus saith the Lord I said (d) When God made his promise to Eli is uncertain the Scripture being silent therein indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever that is should be perpetually established in the office of the Priesthood but this promise was only conditional namely if you carried your selves well in that high calling but this condition being not performed by you the promise which I made unto you shall be reversed For those that honour me I will honour but those that despise me shall be lightly esteemed Further thus saith the Lord Behold the days come that I will cut off thine arm and the arm of thy fathers house that is deprive thee of thy strength and make both thee and thy family weak and ignoble And this was done first by cutting off him and his two Sons Chapt. 4.17 2ly By cutting off his posterity in the flower of their age which was partly accomplished in the death of Hophni and Phineas slain in the field and partly by that bloody execution that was done upon Ahimelech and eighty-five of the Priests of his family Ch. 22.16 c. And 3ly by removing the dignity of the High-Priesthood from Eli's family unto Zadok the faithful Priest spoken of v. 35. of the stock of Eleazar which was done at least eighty years after this in the days of Solomon 1 King 2.27 And thou shalt see (e) 'T is usual in Scripture to speak that of the Father which shall be accomplished in his posterity long after See Gen. 27.29 viz. in thy posterity an enemy in my habitation that is Zadok executing the High-Priests office in the Temple whom thy posterity shall envy and malign because placed in the High-Priesthood and that in all the wealth which God shall give Israel that is in those days when Israel shall flourish most in wealth and glory and when consequently the High-Priesthood shall be most desirable to wit in the days of Solomon And there shall not be an old man or a man of dignity (f) v. 31 Ut non sit senex in domo tua i. e. vir dignitate praeditus vide v. 36. in thy family (g) v. 32. Haec severa comminatio non est extendenda ad omnes Ithamaraeos sed tantum ad domum Eli. Alii senem hic ut prius accipiunt de dignitate sacerdotali qua in perpetuum abdicata est familia Eli. At in ea familia senes aetate semper desecisse non est credibile Mendoz. And the men of thy posterity whom I shall not quite cut off from serving at mine Altar shall live so miserably pining away with grief and vexation to see the adversary family enjoy their honour that if thou shouldst live to see the misery they shall be in it would make thee almost weep out thine eyes to behold it and it would grieve thee to the very heart And most of thy family shall die in the flower of their age And that which I now foretell shall come upon thy two Sons Hophni and Phineas may be a sign to thee that all my other threatnings shall in due time come to pass viz. I do foretell thee that they shall both die in one day And I will raise me up a faithful Priest that shall do according to that which is in my heart to wit Zadock (h) He did faithfully cleave to Solomon whom the Lord had appointed to succeed Dovid in the Throne when Abiathar who was of the posterity of Eli conspir'd with Adonijah against David and against Solomon 1 King 1.7 8. of the family of Eleazar and I will build him a sure house and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever that is I will multiply his family and make it prosperous and establish his off-spring in the Priesthood And accordingly we find that the High-Priesthood was continued in the line and posterity of Zadock unto the time of the Babylonian Captivity see Ezek. 44.15 And so Zadock being of the posterity of Phineas the Son of Eleazar that promise was made good which the Lord made to Phineas Numb 25.13 He shall have it and his seed after him even the Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood And he shall walk before mine anointed for ever that is Zadock and his posterity shall perform such services as belong to the High-Priest for Solomon and his Successors viz. they shall inquire of the Lord for them they shall offer Sacrifices for them and shall be ready to assist them with their counsel and advice upon all emergent occasions And those of thy posterity that shall not be cut off shall come and crouch to Zadock and his successors to beg some relief of them and shall sue to them that they may be imployed though
more careful to avoid those ways of injustice and oppression which he had told them before the Kings of the earth were prone unto see Ch. 8.11 As also that he might hereby convince them of their sinful folly in rejecting him and with him the upright and impartial Government of Judges and chusing to be under Kings from many of whom they should find but hard and oppressive usage Having thus justified himself he goes on further to argue with them concerning Gods dealing with them and their carriage towards him Now therefore says he stand still that I may reason with you concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord wherein he hath approved himself faithful and hath performed his Covenant which he made with you and your fathers and hath given you help and deliverance out of the hands of your enemies and therefore you are guilty of great ingratitude in not relying upon him but distrusting him and rejecting his Government Recollect I pray you and call to your remembrance Gods former dealings with you when Jacob was come into Egypt and his posterity exceedingly multiplied they being grievously oppressed cried unto the Lord for deliverance he then made Moses the Governour of his people and Aaron the High-Priest and sent them to deliver your Fathers out of that bondage which they accordingly did and then they led them through the Wilderness and brought them into the Land which the Lord had promised to give unto them And Moses put them in possession of that part of the land which was without Jordan and substituted Joshua in his place who gave them possession of the rest But they soon forgot the kindness of the Lord and regarded not his Commandments So he sold them into the hand of Sisera Captain General to Jabin who dwelt at Hazar and into the hands of the Philistines and into the hand of the King of Moab And when they were in these distresses they cried unto him and confessed their sins and how they had wickedly fallen to Idolatry and had worshipped Baalim and Ashtaroth and then humbly besought him to help them and deliver them out of the hands of their enemies and promised faithfully to serve him The Lord being moved with compassion towards them he sent them several Saviours and Deliverers particularly Jerubbaal or Gideon and Bedan that is Samson so called because he was of the Tribe of Dan and Jephthah * He mentions not these Judges in the order of time in which they lived and insisteth only on some of them to put them in mind of the rest V. 14. Eritis post Jehovam i. e. Jehovah antecedet vos defendet vos Pisc And to come down to your own times I hope I may without vanity mention my self also as one under whose conduct by the blessing of God you have had great deliverances and have enjoyed great tranquillity and safety But when ye understood that Nahash King of the Ammonites was coming against you nothing then would satisfie you but to have a King set over you whereas the Lord your God was your King and held in his own hands the right of governing you and ruled over you by Judges as his Substitutes and Deputies And with his Government you should have been well contented and satisfied till he was pleased to alter it And now behold seeing nothing else would content you he hath set a King over you But though you have greatly offended him and deserve to be rejected of him and cast off from being his people as you have rejected him from being your King yet if you will fear him and serve him and obey his voice the Lord will not forsake you but will be to you and your King a Leader Guide and Protector and you shall continue to be his people following of him as dutiful children do their father which will be a great honour and advantage to you But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God his hand will be against you as it was against your Fathers whom for their disobedience he caused to fall in the Wilderness But possibly you will think that all that I have said unto you in blaming you for desiring a King are but the words of a weak old man but ye shall know that I speak to you from the Lord who hath sent me unto you as his Prophet and Ambassadour and seeing you are so difficult to believe me in this thing except my words be confirmed by Miracles you shall see a Miracle to confirm you Is not this a fair and bright day as the days use to be in Wheat-harvest * Their Wheat-harvest in those dry Countries of Syria and Canaan was in the heat of Summer which dried up the vapours and exhalations that are the causes of thunder at that time especially when the day on which Samuel spake to them was fair there was no likelihood of such weather Tonitru illud tempore messis praeter naturam fuit idâ—oque mirabile propterea quod vere tanâ—um autumno fiunt tonitrua Cujus rei causa est quod concitantur ex conflictu calidi frigidi qui conflictus neque hyeme superante frigore neque aestate superante aestu fieri potest praesertim in aestuosis terris qualis Syria est Castalio you know we use to have no rain or thunder at this time of the year see Prov. 26. you see now no sign of any approaching tempest yet ye shall see me at this time by my prayer obtain both rain and thunder from God by which you may be convinced that your wickedness is great in desiring a King and thereby rejecting the Lord who is so powerful a Protector and hath thunder and rain heaven and earth at his command and is able to destroy all his and his peoples enemies as you have had lately experience Ch. 7.10 as also in rejecting me his Prophet who by my prayers can procure thunder and rain from heaven Samuel accordingly prayed unto the Lord that day and immediately the Lord sent thunder and rain in a very extraordinary manner insomuch that the people were not only convinced thereby that they had heinously sinned in desiring a King but also were much afraid that by this terrible tempest they should be destroyed They hereupon desired Samuel to pray for them saying they had added to all their former sins this also in asking a King (a) They failed in the manner of asking him 1. Asking him very unseasonably not waiting Gods time 2. They askt him with impetuous impatience brooking no delay 3. Proudly they would be like other Nations 4. Distrustfully resting more on their King than on Gods power and promises 5. Rebelliously shaking off Gods Government as weary of it and desiring to exchange it for that of a King and casting off his holy Prophet Samuel a most innocent and upright Judge Samuel encouraged them and bad them not despair of Gods mercy towards them provided they turned not aside from
him to salute and welcome him Samuel understanding how things had gone angryly said to him What hast thou done Saul tells him that having waited for him till a great part of the seventh day was spent he conceived he would not come within the time appointed and so being constrained by necessity even against his will (c) The true cause why he hastened to Sacrifice seems to be because his Soldiers run away so fast from hâ—m in whom he put more confidence than in God he had offered Sacrifice (d) V. 12. Roboravi itaque me i. e. Obfirmavi animum q. d. etiam reclamante animo obtuli holocaustum prae timore Quare cum inter se confligerent voluntas necessitas tandem vicit necessitas sed nulla erat necessitas offerendi Sacrificia contra voluntatem divinam Tali enim Sacrificio non placatur Deus sed irritatur V. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat durationem longam non tamen aeternam q. d. longo tempore dignitas illa Regia mansisset in tua stirpe In sempiternum i. e. quam diu Saulis posteritas viveret Gr. for how could he stay any longer except he would have had the enemy to come upon him and his weak and unarmed company before he had made supplication to the Lord for them and sued for his help which would have been the way to expose them to ruin and destruction Samuel said Thou hast done foolishly in not waiting full seven days as I appointed thee from the Lord Ch. 10.18 Hadst thou obeyed the Commandment of the Lord herein he would have established thy Kingdom over Israel for ever that is for a long time even as long as any of thy posterity lived But now thy Kingdom shall not continue that is shall not be established upon thee and thy posterity but shall be rent from thee and given to another It may perhaps seem strange that Saul should lose his Kingdom for this which to the eye of reason appears not so great a transgression if we consider what Saul pleaded for himself but we must also consider that there may be much wickedness of heart in doing that which outwardly seems but a small offence and Saul being the first King of Israel God was pleased by this severity against him for his violation of his command to make him an example to all that should afterwards succeed in that Throne that they might fear to transgress the Commandment of the Lord as he had done Thus the Lord did with great severity punish the first sin of Nadab and Abihu Levit. 10.1 that all the succeeding posterity of Aaron might take warning thereby and beware how they carried themselves in their Priestly Office But to go on Samuel tells Saul that because he had not obeyed the Lord he knew by revelation that the Lord intended to reject him and that he had found out a man after his own heart though he knew not at present who it was whom he had appointed and designed to be King and Captain over his people in his stead Samuel having delivered to him this sad message went up from thence to Gibeah Saul now numbring the Souldiers he had left found them to be but about six hundred the rest of his two thousand being run away with this small party he goes up to Gibeah where Jonathan joins with him the Philistines great Army was now encamped at Michmash from whence they sent out parties to spoil the Country and to fetch in booty to their Camp and therefore they went out three several ways one to Ophrah a City of Benjamin that lay North-â—ast from Michmash the other to Bethoron a City of Ephraim that lay North-west and the third towards the Valley of Zeboim which was South-East Saul had but a very small Army as we have seen before and those only armed with Clubs Bows or Slings not a Sword or Spear found among any of them but only Saul and Jonathan and the reason of it was this The Philistines when they gave the Israelites that great defeat Ch. 4.10 and took the Ark of God they disarmed them taking away their iron armes and weapons and to keep them from getting any more for the future they took away all their Smiths and would not let one of that Trade live among them lest they should make them Swords and Spears (a) The chief victory that the Israelites got over the Philistines after this was miraculous not gotten with Sword or Spear but with thunder from heaven 1 Sam. 7.10 Nebuchadnezzar also carried away the Craftsmen and Smiths out of the land of Israel possibly for the same reason 2 King 24.14 Naâ— the Israelites were in such miserable bondage that they were feign to go to the Smiths that were in the Philistines Garrisons to sharpen their Shares and Coulters their Axes and Mattocks only they allowed them Files at their own houses to sharpen their Tools when they were blunted 1 Sam. Ch. 13. from v. 1 to 23. SECT CLXV THE body of the Philistines Army remaining in the Plains about Michmash it seems a party of them went and took a passage near to them which was the passage from Michmash towards Gibeah and kept it against the Israelites Jonathan the Son of Saul being moved by a special instinct of the Spirit of God and endued not only with Heroick gifts of valour and fortitude but also with an extraordinary strong faith in Gods promises that if his people obeyed him One of them should chase a thousand of their enemies and two of them put ten thousand to flight Deut. 32.30 He had a design in his head to set upon that Court of Guard of the Philistines which kept the Michmash-passage but he acquaints not his Father with it who in likelihood would have disswaded him from undertaking so dangerous and desperate an enterprize Saul was now encamped with his six hundred men in some field or plain near unto Gibeah called Migron where having fortified himself he observ'd the motions of the enemy Abiah (a) God threatned Eli that his children should die in the slower of their age See 1 Sam. 2.21 23. the Son of Ahitub the eldest Son of Phinehas being now High-Priest came thither with the Ephod and Ark for the peoples better encouragement Jonathan now acquaints his Armour-bearer with his design Come says he let thou and I go and surprize that Court of Guard which the uncircumcised * For being aliens and not in Covenant with God they are not under his protection and we being His people and in Covenant with him have his promise that he will give us victory over his and our enemies yea a special promise that Saul shall save us out of the hand of the Philistines Ch. 9.16 Philistines keep near Michmash come let us try it may be the Lord will work for us for there is no restraint to him to save by many or by few His Armour-bearer replied Do all that is in thine heart
my self worthy to be husband to a Kings daughter So far was he from aspiring to this honour though so justly due to him But though David sufficiently approved his valour in fighting the Lords battels and contrary to Saul's expectation escaped many dangers and won much honour yet Saul perfidiously broke his promise with him and at the very time when he should have married his daughter he gave her to Adriel the Son of Barzillai the Ephraimite born at Meholah see Judg. 7.22 David bears this great indignity patiently without expressing any unbeseeming resentment of it But God to whom vengeance belongeth would not suffer the malice and wickedness of Saul exprest herein to go unpunished for all the five Sons (d) They were certainly Adriels Sons by Merab though they were brought up by Michal of which see the note on 2 Sam. 21. that Adriel had by this daughter of Saul were hanged up to satisfie the Gibeonites for the cruelties which Saul had exercised upon them as we may see 2 Sam. 21.8 17 18 19. 4ly David being thus treacherously defeated of Merab Michal Saul's youngest daughter falls in love with him This being made known to Saul he seemed to like it very well hoping by that means to bring his purpose about of destroying David So pleasing to a malicious mind is the very hope of doing mischief to a person whom he hates Saul therefore resolves to give this daughter to David to wife that she might be a snare to him and a means one way or other to run him into danger and he hoped that she being his daughter would be brought to complot and join with him in effecting his ruin but it pleased the Lord to cross his design in this also for he made Michal an instrument of preserving him from the snare which her Father had laid for him Chap. 19.11 12. But to proceed Saul carrying on this treacherous design against David in his mind he tells him that though he failed him before yet now he would make him amends he had but two daughters and one of them he resolv'd he should have and if he became his Son-in-law by marrying either of them he supposed it would be no great wrong to him though he had not the elder David was not very forward to believe Saul in this proposal nor greedy to embrace this motion having been before deceived by him Saul perceiving this set his Courtiers to perswade him as of themselves that the King very much delighted in him and that all his servants loved and highly valued him and therefore why should he not readily accept of this honour that was offered him to be the Kings Son-in-law David answers them Seemeth it to you a light and small thing to be Son-in-law to a King and do you think me worthy of it who am a poor man and not able to give a Dowry (e) In those days and long before it was the custom to give Dowâ—ies to their wives and not as now to receive portions See Gen. 34.12 Exod. 22.16 Deut. 22.29 and the Dowry was at the womans disposing and if her husband died before her served for her maintenance and education of her children if no other portion were left them fit for the Kings daughter and possibly upon that account I was slighted before when I should have had his other daughter The Courtiers relate to Saul what David had said Saul bids them go to him again and tell him that he desired not any Dowry for his daughter but only an hundred foreskins of the Philistines to take thereby some revenge on them they being his and his peoples enemies This was that which Saul hypocritically pretended whereas his great design was to make David fall in the attempt or else to provoke the surviving Philistines to revenge themselves on him if he did effect it And observable it is that he requires their foreskins not their heads the more to enrage them against David for he knew that the circumcising and cutting off the foreskins of the slain Philistines would be looked upon by their surviving brethren as a matter of the greatest scorn and disgrace that could be put upon them However David hearing on what terms he might be the Kings Son-in-law namely if he brought him so many foreskins of the Philistines within such a time and finding the time was not yet expired he accepts the terms and accordingly went out with his men and slew of the Philistines two hundred and brought their foreskins and gave them in full tale to the King and having thus perform'd double to what was required of him and within the time limited Saul had no colour or pretense to deny him his daughter and therefore forthwith gave him Michal to wife However Saul seeing and finding by continual experience that God prospered David in all his ways and blessed him in all his concernments he was the more afraid of him apprehending that he was the man whom God would set up in his stead and upon that account he became his implacable enemy The Princes of the Philistines besides former provocations being now extreamly enraged at the slaughter David had lately made among them when he kill'd two hun-hundred of them and especially at the dishonour he had put upon their Nation by cutting off their foreskins and bringing them to Saul they with their forces invade the land of Israel and David though a new married man and so by the Law Deut. 24.5 exempted from going to war this year yet it seems readily went out and behaved himself more prudently and valiantly in this expedition than any of Saul's Commanders so that his name became very precious and renowned among the Israelites from v. 20 to the end 5ly Saul now seeing that none of his secret designs against David took effect but that he prospered in all his undertakings and so gained more and more reputation among his Courtiers and all the people he now openly gives command to Jonathan and to his servants to kill him Jonathan who truly loved and much delighted in David gives him notice of his Fathers bloody purpose towards him and advises him to look to himself that night following and to hide himself in some Cave or secret place of the field where Saul was wont to walk and take the air and thither he himself would accompany him and would speak to him in his behalf and what he saw to be his temper and inclination towards him he would discover to him Jonathan accordingly waited upon his Father into the field and there spake good of David to him and though he knew he was sometimes troubled with frantick fits and might in a rage do him a mischief for it yet he resolves to hazard that rather than desert his friend in a righteous cause 'T is true whilst David was esteem'd a favourite with Saul all his Courtiers carried it fair towards him Ch. 18.5 and faun'd upon him but now when Saul had openly discovered his ill will to
Israelites home with them While David and his forces were here about Keilah Abiathar the Son of Ahimelech who only escaped of the Priests at Nob being now High-Priest in his Fathers room came to David and brought the Ephod with him which was a visible pledge that God had forsaken Saul and would be with David to direct him in all his ways So that David hath now the High-Priest and a Prophet in his army Abiathar relates to him the sad story of Saul's destroying Nob and the Priests that were there David replies I fear'd when I was at Nob that Doeg would acquaint Saul therewith Alas I must needs say to my great grief and sorrow that I have been the occasion though not intentionally of the death of thy Fathers family seeing they suffered these calamities not only for my sake but partly through my fault However abide thou under my protection and I shall take care of thee that I may as much as lyes in me make thee some amends Thou maist assure thy self that I will be as careful of thy safety as of my own for I know that he that seeks my life seeks thine also 1 Sam. Ch. 23. from 1 to 7. Ch. 22. from v. 20 to the end 7ly Saul now understanding that David with his forces had got into the City of Keilah which he had lately rescued from the Philistines he said God * Hypocritae semper praedicare solent Deum a se stare sibi esse propitium hath delivered him into my hands for he is shut in being entred into a Town that hath gates and bars He thought it seems he had him in such a trap that he could not escape Saul immediately therefore gathers a great army together to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men David by secret intelligence understood that Saul was contriving mischief against him therefore he call'd to Abiathar the High-Priest to bring the Ephod and to put it on and to inquire of the Lord for him by Vrim and Thummim and David joyning his request to the Lord said O Lord God of Israel thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul intendeth to come to Keilah to destroy the City for my sake I pray thee inform me by thine holy Oracle whither he will come or no and in case he do come whither the men of Keilah will be treacherous to me and endeavour to deliver me into his hands The Lord who by his Prescience * Deus â—erto praescit non solum quae re ipsa absoluâ—e futura sunt sâ—d etiam quae quavis conditione posita futura essent A Lap. knoweth future contingents which will come to pass in a course of natural causes if not prevented or crossed by other contingents he telleth him that Saul would come thither that is if he viz. David staid there and the men of Keilah would deliver him into Saul's hands that is if their intention and purpose were not prevented and crossed by his speedy departure from them David having received this answer he with his men which were now about six hundred †Semper in cruce crescit numerus pionum quod ex omnibus sacris Historiis facile possumus intelligere P. Martyr arose and departed out of Keilah and went whither soever they could go and sought up and down for some place to shelter themselves in and Saul hearing they were gone from Keilah forbear to go with his army thither 1 Sam. Ch. 23. from v. 7 to 14. 8ly David intending only to stand on his own defence and not to raise an offensive war betakes himself with his forces to the strong holds in the Wilderness of Ziph in the Tribe of Judah and particularly to Hachilah-Hill South of Jessimon And Saul continually sought his life but the Lord delivered him not into his hands Jonathan having as it 's probable secret intelligence from David where he was he went privately to him and strengthened his hands in God by putting him in mind of the promises of God and assuring him of his protection and favour and thereby strengthening his faith he filled his heart with comfort and courage He bad him be of good courage for the hand of Saul his Father should not find him to do him any hurt Thou shalt says he be King over Israel and that my Father knows very well from the words of Samuel Ch. 15.28 see also Ch. 20.30 31. and I shall be next unto thee Of this it seems he conceived some hope grounded on David's great love to him and possibly on some particular promise he had made to him and the firm Covenant that was between them though he had no assurance of it God having made no such promise to him but intending otherwise to dispose of him and to take him to a better Kingdom so that he lived not to see David sit on Israel's Throne Jonathan having spoken after this manner to David they renewed and confirmed their Covenant in the presence of the Lord which they had formerly made and Jonathan went to his own house David abiding still in the Wood. The Ziphites being terrified possibly with that severity Saul had used against Nob and the Priests of the Lord there Ch. 22.18 19. they come now and acquaint him that David did hide himself in the Wood near them and if he would please to come down with his forces thither they would do their utmost to deliver him into his hands Saul took their message very kindly Blessed be ye says he of the Lord for ye have compassion on me Go therefore and prepare or order the matter with care and diligence before hand and observe all his haunts and lurking places that we may not misse of him For I understand he is very cùnning and subtile in his proceedings when you have found out these things come to me again with certain intelligence of them and I will go along with you and will find him out if he be above ground though he lurks in the most secret corner of the land So these Ziphites went before to do as Saul had injoin'd them But David understanding that they had discovered him to Saul * Upon this occasion he composed the 54 Psalm as the Title doth shew and that Saul was coming with an army to take him he removed with his forces from that place which was near Hachilah-Hill to a Plain in the Wilderness of Maon which lay Southward from Jeshimon Saul pursues after him thither and at last there was only a hill between them and that not likely to keep them long asunder seeing Saul's men being many in number began to compass David and his men round about David was here in great fear of being surprized and therefore made all the hast he could to get further out of Saul's reach Just in this nick of time God so ordering it by his Providence news came to Saul that the Philistines had invaded the land which caused him speedily to draw off his
beasts I pray thee therefore consider what is fit to be done in the case for David is a man of courage and prowess and will never suffer such a gross abuse and injury offered to him to go unchastised For my part I am afraid he will revenge himself on our whole family I thought good to speak to thee of it that thou maist consider of some way to prevent it As for our Master he is such a Son of Belial of such an harsh and churlish temper that a man knows not how to speak to him Abigail being greatly awakened by this representation of her servant she speedily without acquainting Nabal therewith provided and took two hundred loaves and two leather-sacks of wine and five sheep ready dressed and five measures of parched corn and a hundred clusters of raisons and two hundred cakes of figs and laid them on asses and bad her servants go before with them and she would follow after and riding upon her ass attended with her servants who had the charge of the presents on a sudden as she came under the hollow of the hill she met David and his men Seeing David coming she lighted off her ass and bowed her self to the ground and fell at his feet and said Vpon me * Crimen initio transfert ab odiosa persona in favorabilem my Lord upon me let the punishment of this great iniquity (b) Iniquitas hic peccati paenam significat and transgression fall which has so much provoked thee yet I pray thee let thy hand-maid speak a few words in thy ears which may possibly dispose thee to forbear taking revenge upon us Let not my Lord regard this man of Belial this Nabal Nabal is his name and indeed he answers his name for folly is with him it will not be for thy honour to regard his words or actions wise men do not use to regard the words of fools He is not worthy that thou shouldst trouble thy self about him much less that thou shouldst destroy me and my whole family for his sake She spake not thus to disgrace her husband for his folly was too notoriously known but because she had no other excuse to make for him to preserve him from ruin As for me she says I saw not the young men whom my Lord did send Had I seen them or known of their coming I should have treated them more civilly And now my Lord as sure as the Lord liveth and as sure as thou thy self art alive thou oughtest to believe that by my coming to meet thee and to pacifie thy anger the Lord doth intend to hinder thee from coming to shed blood and from avenging thy self with thy own hand and seeing I trust the Lord will by his alwise Providence so over-rule thy heart my earnest prayer is that God would make all thine enemies like Nabal that is as weak and unable to hurt thee as Nabal is And as for the present (c) V. 27. Benedictionem id est munus sive donum sive rem a benedictione Dei profectam that thy handmaid hath here brought to my Lord though it is so mean that it is not worthy of thy acceptance yet do not I pray thee disdain it seeing it may be of some use to thy servants that follow thee And I beseech thee vouchsafe to forgive the trespass of thy handmaid seeing I take the blame of all this miscarriage wholly upon my self I do verily believe the Lord will give thee the Kingdom and that thy Kingdom will be lasting and durable †* Stabile manebit regnum in familia tua and nothing better becomes a a King than clemency and mercy And that which enduces me to believe this is because I see thou fightest the Lords battels and hast often engaged thy self having warrant from him in a just defence of his cause and people and no self-revenge or cruelty hath been found in thee all thy days hitherto therefore I pray thee do not stain thine honour now by shedding innocent blood Indeed Saul is risen up unjustly to pursue thee and seek thy life but all his attempts will be in vain for the Lord will carefully preserve and charily keep thy life as men are wont carefully to bind up those things in bundles which they much value and intend to preserve And that mans rage must needs be vain who seeks to destroy him whom the Lord will preserve and protect But as for the lives of thine enemies them will he by a violent death sling out as men use to sling out stones out of their slings which they value not And it shall come to pass when the Lord shall have performed all his promises which he hath made unto thee and hath setled thee in thy Kingdom and made thee Ruler over all Israel then it will be a comfort to thee to remember that thou didst spare us and thou wilt not be tormented with anguish and trouble of conscience that thou didst shed innocent blood as certainly thou wilt be if thou shouldst proceed to execute thy bloody purpose And when thou art come to thy Kingdom let me find favour in thine eyes when my occasions and necessities shall require me to wait upon thee Abigail having thus spoken David said Blâ—ssed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou who hast kept me this day from shedding blood and avenging my self with my own hand for in very deed as sure as the Lord liveth who hath graciously kept me back from hurting thee and thy family except thou hadst thus seasonably met me I had utterly destroyed by the next morning Nabal and all that belonged to him But thou maist now assure thy self that my wrath is appeased and as an evidence thereof I do kindly accept of the present thou hast brought me and will not avenge the wrong offered me by thy husband either upon him or any of his family I have heard thy suit and do grant all that thou desiredst therefore go in peace to thy own house and the Lord be with thee Abigail returning to her husband Nabal behold he kept a Feast that day in his house like the Feast of a King for plenty of provisions and multitude of guests And he had been so merry with his guests that he was very drunk wherefore she said nothing to him more or less of his danger till the morning In the morning when he had slept out his drunkenness and dâ—bauch she acquainted him with the desperate danger he had by his folly run them all into and how near destruction they all were if in the very nick of time it had not been by a wonderful Providence prevented He hearing this was so terrified with the horrour and dread of the danger he had been in that his heart died within him and falling into a swoon he became as a stone and about ten days after the Lord smote him with
Son David David answers It is my voice my Lord O King And I pray thee wherefore doth my Lord thus pursue after his servant What have I done or what evil is in my hand Now therefore let my Lord the King vouchsafe to hear the words of his servant If the Lord hath stirred thee up against me let him receive an offering * Placato iram ejus Sacrificio munere Chald. Paraph. suspiciat oblationem meam cum voluntate that is let him be appeased with a sacrifice and oblation which I will offer for the sin whereby I have provoked him But if they be Court-Sycophants and malicious persons that by their lyes and slanders have incensed thee against me I leave them as cursed creatures to Gods just vengeance who will plead my cause against them For they have endeavoured to drive me out from abiding in the Inheritance of the Lord and from enjoying his Ordinances and by forcing me as an exile to flee into Idolatrous Countries They have in effect said to me Go and serve other Gods And now seeing thou knowest my innocency let not my blood I pray thee be shed without cause for the Lord will see it and will not let it go unpunished Besides it is not honourable for the King of Israel to pursue me with so many men who have so little power to hurt him For I am but as a flea forced to skip hither and thither to save my self or a partridge on the mountains forced to flee from place to place to escape thy hands Then said Saul I have sinned Return my Son David to thy former condition for I will no more do thee harm seeing my life was precious in thine eyes this day and thou hast spared me when it was in thy power to kill me Behold I have played the fool and erred exceedingly I do acknowledg my fault and folly and openly take shame to my self for it in the hearing of all that are about me David desires him to send one of his young men to fetch his Spear having taken it from him only to evidence his innocence and that he had no evil intention in his heart against him And therefore says he let the Lord recompence every man according to his righteousness and faithfulness Thy life was indeed in my power this day but I would not stretch forth my hand against the Lords anointed And as thy life was precious in mine eyes so let my life be precious in the eyes of the Lord my God and let it please him to preserve it though thou shouldst fail of thy promises made to me and shouldst seek again to take it away Then Saul said unto David Blessed be thou my Son David thou shalt do great things and shalt at last prevail maugre all the malice of thine enemies Then David retired and betook himself to some place of safety not trusting Saul for all his goodly words and promises having formerly found him so false and malicious And Saul returned to Gibeah where he kept his Court. 1 Sam. Ch. 26. whole Chapter 12ly David now seriously considering the condition of his affairs began through the weakness of his faith to think that he should at one time or other notwithstanding all his former deliverances perish by the hand of Saul if he did not speedily get himself out of his reach therefore he thought there was nothing more adviseable in his present circumstances than that he should send to the King of the Philistines and try if he could be received with his forces into his protection This indeed was no warrantable course that he now pitched upon for his preservation For first God had once before commanded him by the Prophet Gad to abide in the land of Judah see Chap. 22.5 2ly He having before been such a formidable enemy to the Philistines and having so hardly escaped with his life once before when he sought privately to shelter himself among them there was no likelihood he should be entertained by them on any other terms than that he and his Souldiers should turn to the Philistines and declare themselves enemies to Saul and the people of Israel 3ly This must needs tend to the great grief of those that were righteous in the land and would give his enemies occasion exceedingly to triumph and to say that now he discovered what he was seeing he had deserted his own people and religion and had joined himself to their uncircumcised enemies But thus it is when mens hearts sink through distrust of God as it seems Davids now did they seek to help themselves by any means they can David therefore having as 't is probable sent his Agents before hand to the King of the Philistines and having obtained assurance from him under the publick faith that he and his Souldiers should live safely in his land which 't is like out of meer policy he consented unto knowing the hatred that Saul bear him and believing that David and his forces would be ready to join with him and his subjects against Saul he passed over with six hundred men that followed him to Achish King of Gath. He carried also his two wives along with him Ahinoam and Abigail and his followers likewise carried their wives and families not thinking it safe to leave them behind them in the land of Israel and for some time by Achish's permission they dwelt in Gath or about it When it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath he gave over any further thoughts of seeking after him he being in the land of his enemies and so out of his reach David being desirous to dwell apart by himself with those that followed him that he might have the more freedom for the exercise of his Religion and might keep his Souldiers from being corrupted with the Vices and Idolatries of the Philistines and that he might from thence go out and prey the more secretly upon the enemies of Gods people without having any notice taken of it he humbly desired Achish that his Officers might assign him and his followers some place in the Country to live in it not being fit for him a stranger to live with the King in the Royal City especially having so many people with him who must needs be burdensome and might sometimes prove offensive to him and the inhabitants of his City Achish consents thereunto and accordingly gave him Ziklag which being allotted to the Tribe of Judah Josh 15.31 was afterwards given to Simeon Josh 19.5 but the Philistines having gotten possession of it had kept it to this day and now Achish giveth it unto David and so it was not only joined to Judah's portion * Hac donatione justos ad Heredes rediit Achish dedit Davidi non solum ad inhabitandum sed ut in illius dominium cederet but was also upon this occasion designed to be ever after a part of the Crown-land of the Kings of Judah Here David dwelt a full year and four months
perceive every thing to prosper that thou takest in hand However the Princes of the Philistines have resolv'd that thou shalt not go with them to battel wherefore arise very early in the morning and with thy forces that are Saul's subjects depart and be gone lest our people fall upon thee Achish intended no more by his advice than this but God had a further design in it for by this means David was not only freed from the danger of being perfidious and ungrateful to Achish who so much trusted in him but also from fighting against his brethren and Country-men and hereby also he came in time to rescue the prey out of the hands of the Amalekites which they had carried away from Ziklag * As he went forth with the Philistines and as he returned from them divers fell to him of the Tribe of Manasseh as we may see 1 Chron. 12.19 20 21 22. 1 Sam. Ch. 29. whole Chapter 15. David according to Achish's advice marches back with his forces and coming on the third day after to Ziklag he found it to his great astonishment burnt by the Amalekites for such of them as had escaped Saul's sword formerly and his sword of late taking advantage of the Philistines and his absence and resolving to revenge themselves on him they suddenly invaded the South part of the Philistines (a) V. 14. Called Cherethites some part of the Philistines Country being call'd Cherith and thence the Philistines called Chereshim or Cherethites See Ezek. 25.15 16. Zeph. 2.5 Country and the South of Judah (b) By the South of Caleb is meant the South of Judah belonging to Calebs posterity Josh 14.13 where Davids possessions lay which he had by Abigail Nabals widdow and surprizing Ziklag burnt it or at least a great part of it and carried away the women and children captive God so over-ruling their hearts that they did not put any of them to death but kept them alive to sell them †Quod mirum cum David occidisset omnes Cap. 27.9 11. sed Deus ipsorum furorem mitigavit as 't is probable for slaves and to make merchandize of them among the rest that were carried away captive were David's two wives Ahinoam and Abigail David and his men coming to Ziklag were extreamly surpriz'd at this dismal calamity and bursting out into tears they wept till they had no more power to weep David now felt the hand of the Lord sore upon him for his distrust of God and seeking to help himself by flying to the Philistines the professed enemies of Gods people and for his lying and dissembling and pretending to Achish as if he had a desire to fight against Saul and against the Israelites never was he in greater straits than at this time for his followers being transported with rage and discontent for the loss of their wives and children began to mutiny (c) Hac omnia Davidi acciderunt cum jam sibi videretur esse in tuto and talk of stoning him as the chief cause of this their great calamity and misery because having provoked the Amalekites by invading their Country and slaughtering their people Ch. 27.8 9. he had imprudently drawn out his forces out of the city and left it naked to the malice of their enemies all this only to imploy them in assisting the Philistines in a pernicious war against their own people However in this desperate danger David encouraged himself in the Lord his God and by an humble and actual trust cast himself upon his power goodness and fatherly care of which he had had so large experience then calling to the High-Priest Abiathar to bring the Ephod and by it to enquire (d) This David had divers times neglected to do upon weighty occasions as particularly before he fled out of Judea into the land of the Philistines and before he followed Achish in the war but having smarted for it he is now unwilling to do any thing without Gods direction of the Lord whither he should pursue those Amalekites and whither he should overtake them he had a gracious answer encouraging him to pursue them and a promise that he should without fail recover all that they had taken away Wherefore immediately with his six hundred men he marches after them as far as the brook Besor in the borders of Simeon where two hundred of them being faint and tired could march no further Here God was pleased to try and exercise his faith again in that after he had encouraged him to pursue his enemies he seem'd now to cross him by disabling one third part of his men from going on against them and this he did that the glory of the victory might be ascribed unto him and not to David therefore with these four hundred men leaving the other two hundred with their baggage going on in the pursuit at last they found a poor Egyptian in the field almost ready to perish thorough sickness and hunger having neither eaten nor drunk any thing for three days and three nights together this poor creature they refreshed with bread and water and a piece of a cake of figs and some raisins and then brought him to David who examining him whence he was and to whom he belonged he told him he was by Nation an Egyptian and serv'd an Amalekite that was in the army gone before who left him there in the field three days ago upon his falling sick He tells him he came out with his master and they had inroaded and plundered the South part of the Philistines and of Judah and had burnt Ziklag David asks him if he could bring him down to the Camp where his master was It seems the Amalekites had told him where they intended to encamp that so if he recovered he might come to them Accordingly he tells David that if he would swear to him by God that he would neither kill him himself nor deliver him into the power of his master he would bring him down to them David promised him faithfully he would not and so he brought them to the place where the Amalekites had pitched David found them in a careless posture spread abroad upon the earth eating and drinking and dancing and rejoicing for the great spoils they had gotten out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah seeing them in this posture he fell upon them immediately at the evening of the day and smote them to the evening of the day following and destroyed in a manner all of them excepting only four hundred young men that rode upon Camels and so escaped He spared none he could lay his hands on they being a Nation destin'd by God to utter destruction David and his men having thus vanquished this great band of the Amalekites they rescued all the women and children which had been carried away by them and there was nothing lacking to them either small or great either sons or daughters they recovered all (e) Miro
hitherto and so highly advanced me And yet as if this were but a small thing in thy sight thou hast promised to continue thy favour not only to me but to my posterity after me for many generations And is this the manner of men O Lord God to deal so bountifully with them that have no way deserved of them surely such love as this is not to be found among mortals but is only peculiar to thy self who art God omnipotent And what can I speak more to thee or ask more of thee for my honour or benefit than thou of thy free grace and mercy hast already promised me and art ready to confer upon me see 1 Chron. 17.18 For thou knowest thy servant and what is good for me better than I my self And thou knowest the desire of my heart is to praise thy name though with my tongue I am not able sufficiently to do it Thou hast conferred all these benefits on me not for any desert in me but of thy meer grace and love and for thy truth and promise sake that thy servant might know what thou meanest to do for him and his in time to come Thou art the great and only true God there is none like thee nor besides thee according to all that we ever heard or understood And what one Nation is there in all the earth like unto thy people so advanced in high and holy priviledges V. 23. To do for you great things here is an Apostrophy to the people In the next words his speech is directed to God again for thy land before thy people whom God came as it were down from heaven to redeem and separate for a people to himself for the glory of his great name and hath done such great and terrible things for them openly in their sight whereby he hath delivered them out of Egypt and subdued their enemies in the land of Canaan and rescued them from all Nations that sought their ruin and from their false gods on whom they foolishly relyed for help And thou hast confirmed and established the people of Israel for a people to thy self for ever that is the natural Israel for a very long time viz. to the coming of the Messiah and the spiritual Israel consisting of true converts both among Jews and Gentiles for ever And now O Lord let the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever and do as thou hast said and let thy name be magnified for ever that it may be said the Lord of hosts is God over Israel Yea let the house of thy servant be established before thee for thou Lord hast made known to me what was formerly hidden from me saying to me I will build thine house and continue the Kingdom to thee and thy posterity after thee therefore thy servant hath found his heart moved to make this prayer unto thee that it may be so having thy promise as a sure ground of his faith and confidence and cannot doubt of obtaining his request for thy words are true and sure to be performed and thou hast faithfully promised this goodness unto thy servant Let it therefore please thee so to bless the house of thy servant that it may continue before thee for ever Thou hast O Lord spoken it and I firmly rest on thy promise for the performance of it Thou hast promised to bless my house and I firmly believe it shall be blessed 2 Sam. Ch. 7. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 17. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 22. v. 8 9 10. 2 Chron. Ch. 6. v. 8 9. 1 King Ch. 8. v. 18 19. SECT CLXXXIX WE shewed in the former Section that one reason among others why the Lord would not permit David to build him an house was because he would not have leisure to do it by reason of the many wars he was to be engaged in Indeed from this time to the birth of Solomon most part of his time as we shall see afterwards was spent in wars wherein he was very victorious and successful and therein God made good to him the promise concerning the prosperity and flourishing estate of his Kingdom and the enlarging of his Dominion which by these conquests stretched not only from Shicor a river in Egypt in the South to * A City in Syria which is thought to be Antioch Hamath in the North see 1 Chron. 13.5 but from thence to the river Euphrates which was the utmost bound of all that land which had been formerly promised to the seed of Abraham Gen. 15.18 compared with Deut. 11.24 and Josh 3.4 and was never possessed by any of them save only by David and Solomon see 1 King 4.21 24. There are in this Chapter five wars mentioned that he was engaged in The first (a) This was indeed his 3d Engagement with the Philistines after he was anointed King over all Israel was against the Philistines descended from the Egyptians whose Progenitor was Mizraim the second Son of cursed Cham they were Heathens and commonly bitter enemies to the Israelites these therefore David now set upon and subdued and took their strong City Gath (b) It was afterwards called Dio-Caesarea it stood in the frontiers of Palestine at the entrance into Judea and Ephraim and the mountainous tract of ground whereon it was built it seems was called Ammah Per hanc urbem Philistaei olim fraenabant Judaeam nunc David fraenat Philistaeos imponens illi militare praesidium with all the Towns under its jurisdiction see 1 Chron. 18.1 called Metheg-Ammah or the Bridle of Ammah because it bridled and kept in awe all the Country round about it His second war was with the Moabites descended of Lot's Incest with his daughter Gen. 19.37 At the coming of the Israelites out of the Wilderness they were forbidden by God to invade the Moabites land or do them any hurt because he had given it to the children of lot for a possession Deut. 2.9 and God restrained them from distressing them because they had not then done them any wrong but afterwards they proved malicious enemies and thereupon were interdicted from entring into the Congregation unto the tenth generation Deut. 23.3 They shewed their ill will to them in not relieving them with bread in their necessity and afterwards they hired Balaam to curse them and when that would not do they followed his cursed counsel in tempting them by their women to commit fornication and to joyn with them in their Idolatrous feasts Numb 25. whereby a great plague was brought upon them They oppressed them also by Eglon their King in the time of the Judges 'T is true the King of Moab gave entertainment to David's Father and Mother 1 Sam. 22.3 3. looking upon him at that time as an enemy to Saul and his people but when David was once established King over all Israel it seems the Moabites expressed the same hostile mind against him which they had formerly against Saul But what
surprize me before I was aware so that I should not escape so Achitophel contrived but the Lord was my stay and upon him I did relye and trust The Lord also freed me from the great straits I was in and set me at liberty and that not for any merit in me but of his own free grace and mercy and that he might graciously reward me according to my innocency and integrity so that I may with great thankfulness say The Lord hath rewarded me according to my righteousness †He doth not here speak of his righteousness in reference to God for in this sense he prayeth Psal 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant but of his righteousness as to his enemies though the obedience of Gods servants is a due debt which they owe to God and it is God that enables them to do what they do yet God of his free grace rewards them for their works when they are performed with sincerity though they be far short of what they should be the Lord rewards men according to their works that is acding to the nature and quality of their works though not for any merit in their works If their works be good they shall have a good reward if their works be evil their reward will be accordingly according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me that is according to the righteousness of my cause and the innocence of my intentions and actions as to my enemies I being clear of those faults and crimes they slanderously charged me with I have kept the ways of the Lord that is I have desired to walk in his precepts and the ways by him prescribed and though I have had many slips and failings yet I have not wickedly and presumptuously resolved to go on in them and so to make a desperate defection from God For all his judgments and statutes were before me that is I have set the whole Law of God before me as the rule of my life and actions and do endeavour to observe them one as well as another And though I have had many failings yet what I have done in Gods service hath not been in hypocrisie or dissimulation I was upright before him and kept my self from mine iniquity I restrained my self from that sin * Cavi ne scelus admitterem quod antea admississeÌ„ unto which I was otherwise by nature prone to fall into Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness according to my innocency which he saw in me He now by an elegant Apostrophe turns his speech to God extolling his goodness and mercy towards the godly and his equal and just dealing with the wicked With the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful with the upright thou wilt shew thy self to act uprightly with the pure thou wilt shew thy self to act purely and holily but with the froward and perverse thou wilt shew thy self wayward (†) V. 27. Perverse ages i. e. retribues illi secundum perversitatem ejus and unpleasing inflicting sharp judgments upon them As they walk contrary to thee so thou wilt walk contrary to them crossing them in all that they go about according to Levit. 26.27 28. The afflicted people thou wilt save and preserve but as for the haughty thy eyes are upon them to bring them down He now comes to shew how the Lord was his lamp that enlightened his darkness that is that shined upon him and comforted him in the darkness of his afflictions and directed him what course to take He declares also that it was the Lord that enabled him to run thorough the thickest troops of his enemies and by his assistance he had scal'd their walls and taken their Cities And from his own experience he infers that the Lord is perfect in all his ways not failing in any of his promises and that his word is tried and hath been prov'd to be true by unquestionable proof and experience That he is a buckler and shield to defend all that trust in him Then in a way of thankful admiration he crys out Who is a God save the Lord And who is a rock save our God As for me I do declare that I have had all my streâ—gth and power from him He hath made my way perfect or plain removing impediments and prospering my attempts and undertakings so that I have not failed to perfect what I went about He makes my feet like hinds feet that is swift to escape danger and to stand safe upon my high places as hinds speedily run up to the top of inaccessible rocks and there are safe He teacheth my hands to war he hath given me skill in military affairs and to skill he hath given me strength of body fit for war so that I am able not only to draw a strong and stiff bow of steel but if I please I can break it in pieces Yet I ascribe nothing to my self for thou O Lord hast given me the shield of thy salvation that is thou hast been as a shield to me to defend me against mine enemies and thy gentleness (a) V. 36. Et ex exauditione tua magnum reddebas me Heb. per respondere tuum Pisc hath made me great that is by thy right hand thou hast upholden and strengthened me in the day of battel and by thy hearing of my prayers thou hast made me great and victorious Thou hast enlarged my steps under me or widened my passage given me room to walk steadily and safely in so that I was prosperous and successful in my marches so that I have pursued mine enemies and destroyed them and they are fallen under my feet Thou hast girded me with strength in battel those that rose up against me thou hast subdued under me Thou hast given me the necks of mine enemies and I have prevailed against them when they were in extremity they looked for help from man but there was none to save them and then they cried unto God but he did not answer them Thus being helpless I have beaten them to pieces as the small dust of the earth and stamped them as the mire of the streets and dispersed them as men spread dung on the ground By which Hyperbolical expressions he intimates that he had not only subdued his enemies but in a disgraceful manner trodden and trampled upon them Then he acknowledges how God had delivered him from the strivings of the people viz. in the insurrections of Absalom and Sheba and had brought many Nations of the Heathen to be in subjection to him and to acknowledg him for their Lord and head Strangers * This is true both of David and of Christ of whom David was a type viz. in respect of the conversion of the Gentiles who were aliens and strangers from the Common-wealth of Israel says he will now submit themselves unto me and neighbouring Nations will become Tributary to me as soon as they hear of my coming against them they will yield
the plea of an Elder Brother and has Abiathar and Joab on his side if he can strengthen himself by this marriage he will not then fear to shew himself and endeavour to get the Kingdom for himself and then Abiathar and Joab will King it under him Then falling into a passion he said God do so to me and more also and bring upon me greater misery than I dare now mention see Ruth 1.17 if I do not make it appear to all the world that Adonijah hath spoken this word against his own life For as the Lord liveth who hath set me on the Throne of my Father and made me a family and Court according to the dignity of a King as he promised 2 Sam. 7.12 13. Adonijah shall surely this day be put to death So he immediately gave order to Benaiah Captain of his Guard to fall upon him and kill him which accordingly he did * Thus what Nathan threatned against David 2 Sam. 12.10 viz. that the sword should not depart from his house was fully verified Then sending for Abiathar he told him He was worthy to be put to death also for thus joining with Adonijah in this conspiracy but says he I will not at this time put thee to death because thou didst bear the Ark of God before my Father David and hast been a great sharer with him in all his afflictions and sufferings therefore get thee to Anathoth a City in the Tribe of Benjamin which with the fields about it belongs to the Priests and there live a private life and meddle no more with the Priesthood or Civil affairs And thus Solomon by thrusting out Abiathar from his office and placing Zadok in his room fulfilled the word of the Lord which he spake concerning Eli 1 Sam. 2.31 when the Tabernacle was at Shiloh and concerning Phineas Numb 25.13 These things being thus transacted tidings came presently to Joab that Adonijah was slain and Abiathar confin'd to Anathoth whereupon being conscious of his own guilt in joining with Adonijah in his aspiring to the Crown though he would not join with Absalom in the like case he fled to the Tabernacle at Gibeon and there laid hold on the horns of the Altar thinking possibly by that means the rather to escape because Adonijah had there not long before found favour 1 King 1.52 Solomon hearing where he was presently sends Benaiah and commands him to kill him there Benaiah coming to the Tabernacle would have perswaded Joab to come forth thence but he utterly refused it saying if he must die he would die there which possibly he spake hoping that by hanging on the horns of the Altar he should save his life and not imagining that they would put him to death there And thus it seems he forgot what God himself had said Exod. 21.14 That he that hath slain a man wilfully shall be taken from the Altar Benaiah being loth of his own head to shed blood at the Altar went back to the King and told him what Joab said The King replied Do unto him as he hath said that is seeing he resolves to die there let him die there and there fall upon him and kill him and then bury him decently for the honour of his place and his former services and so thou wilt take away from me and my fathers house the guilt of that innocent blood which he so barbarously shed and so the Lord will return blood upon his head who fell upon two men more righteous and better than himself for in that cause for which he killed them they were innocent He slew Abner for fear lest David should prefer him above himself And he slew Amasa because my Father had preferred him to the place of General in his room So that they were both innocent and not worthy of death upon that account he shall die therefore that their innocent blood may return upon his head and that the blot and stain of it may remain upon his posterity and accordingly they shall feel the sad effects of it for many generations And I doubt not but that upon the house of David and upon his Throne and upon his family there will be peace and prosperity for a long time from the Lord. For by executing judgment on murderers guilt is taken away from the Magistrate and from the Land Numb 35.33 So Benaiah went up to the Altar at Gibeon and as 't is like dragging Joab from thence he slew him and buried him in his own house in the wilderness and the King made Benaiah General of the Army in his room Then the King called for Shimei and said to him Build thee an house in Jerusalem and dwell there and go not forth thence any whither for it shall be that the day thou goest out and passest over the Brook Kidron (a) Solomon would not permit him to go over Kidron which was the way to Bakurim his own city lest he should raise some sedition there where was his own inheritance 2 Sam. 16.5 Kidron was about a mile from Jerusalem so that Shimei had room enough thou shalt surely die and thy blood shall be upon thine own head thou thy self wilt be the only cause thereof Shimei said unto the King The saying is good thy command is just and equal As my Lord the King hath said so will I do and I do bind my self by a solemn Oath which I now make unto thee in the presence of the Lord That I will not go out of the limits thou hast set me v. 42. But how he performed his Oath and promise we shall see afterwards Sect. 221. 1 King Ch. 2. from v. 12 to 39. SECT CCXV HAdad the Edomite who in the days of David had fled into Egypt and had been there for a great while kindly entertained when he heard that both David and Joab were dead he returned into his own Country and proved afterwards a great enemy to Solomon as we shall see hereafter 1 King Ch. 11. v. 21 22. SECT CCXVI SOlomon now contracts affinity with Pharaoh King of Egypt by marrying his Daughter and he brought her into Sion into the Palace of David intending afterwards to build a stately house for her when he had finished the Temple the wall of Jerusalem and his own Palace And he preferred her before the rest of his wives they being of Nations that were his subjects but she the daughter of a potent King And by this match and affinity with such a great neighbour Prince he designed to secure himself the better against foreign enemies 'T is not said whether she had embraced the Religion of the Israelites when he took her to wife yet considering that he is no where blamed for this marriage 't is most like she forsook her Idolatry and that either before or after her marriage she became a Proselyte and worshipped the true God because Solomon in this marriage is made a type of Christ wooing the Gentiles to make them his Spouse and calling them
receiving it see Mark 7.11 Having spoken of the Ornaments of the Temple it will not be amiss to speak something also of the Temple-Officers The Temple-Officers were Priests Levites Nethinims The Priests were distinguished into Chief Priests Inferiour Priests of the twenty four Courses 1. The chief Priests were two the High Priest and his second The High Priest was by Gods appointment that person who was the right heir in Aaron's line or the Eldest that descended in a direct line from his loyns One great part of his office was upon the day of expiation to perform the solemn rights of that service in entring into the Holy of Holies with blood and to perfume the Oracle Exod. 30.10 Levit. 16.34 Heb. 9.7 2. The second Priest was the most eminent among the rest who in case of the sickness or pollution of the High Priest or any other emergency did supply his place (a) So Annas and Caiphas are called the High Priests Luk. 3.2 not that there were two in that great office at once but the one was a substitute to the other 2 King 25.18 3. The ordinary Priests were such as sprang from the loyns of Aaron and were in a Collateral line of kindred allied to the High Priest they were all Levites as descending from Levi the great Grandfather of Aaron But the Priests were separated from the rest of the Levites for the more immediate service of God and the term Levite is restrained to all others of the posterity of Levi besides the line of Aaron These Priests for the more easie carrying on of Temple-service were divided into twenty four Courses by lot as we have shewed before each Course ministred to the Lord for eight days together viz. from Sabbath to Sabbath The work of the Priests was 1. The Government of the Sanctuary and house of God 1 Chron. 24.5 2. Sacrificing with all its rites on the Altar of Burnt-offering 1 Chron. 6.49 2 Chron. 29.22 3. They set the new prepared shew-bread on the Golden Tables within the Sanctuary every Sabbath and removed the old 4. They ordered the lamps of the Golden Candlesticks 5. They kindled the daily incense to make a sweet perfume in the Temple 6. They were the Judges of Leprosie and jealousie betwixt man and wife Levit. 13.2 3. 7. They blew the Trumpets to the Solemn feasts also before the Ark at its removals and were also to accompany the Captains of the host in war with their silver Trumpets Joel 2.15 2 Chron. 13.12 1 Chron. 15.24 Chap. 16.6 Numb 10.8 Chap. 31.6 8. They were to look to the burning of wood continually upon the brazen Altar that the fire that descended from Heaven might not be extinguished Levit. 6.12 13. 9. They were to make the holy ointment with the appointed spices Exod. 30.22 1 Chron. 9.30 10. They were to instruct the people in the Law of God Mal. 2.7 2. Of the Levites The Levites strictly taken were all such as came from the root of Levi excepting the children of Aaron they were divided into four ranks and accordingly appointed to four sorts of work 1. Some of them were appointed to wait on the Sons of Aaron in the Courts of the Temple and in the Chambers and in the purifying of all the holy things belonging to the service of the house of God 1 Chron. 23. from 28 to the end They were at first to enter upon their office at the age of thirty years but after the days of David at twenty because then they did not carry the Tabernacle nor the vessels thereof 1 Chron. 23. from 24 to 28. Their number in the latter end of David's reign was computed at thirty eight thousand whereof twenty four thousand were appointed for the work and service of the house of God six thousand to be Officers and Judges four thousand to be Porters and four thousand to be Singers and players on Instruments 1 Chron. 23.3 4 5. 2 Chron. 8.14 1 Chron. 16.4 So that out of the Levites were taken their Judges Lawyers Scribes Recorders Genealogists and the greatest dignities and offices excepting only the Royal dignity of the Tribe of Judah were enjoyed by those of this Tribe They were the only persons that preferred learning and knowledg the Schools of the Prophets being under their Institution 3. Of the Nethinims These were the most inferiour sort of persons that were imployed in any Temple-service being the race of the Gibeonites Josh 9.17 and called Nethinims because they were given and delivered over to that service Some think that David a little before his death did dispose them into their set courses as he did other Officers of the Temple see Ezra 8.20 but of this we shall not determine Concerning the Priests garments their solemn times of worship their various Sacrifices and Offerings with their appendant rites and the revenues and profits assigned to the Priests and Levites we have spoken before when we went over Exodus Leviticus and Numbers and shall not need here to repeat them SECT II. IN the 11th year of Solomon 's reign the building of the Temple was finished with all things belonging thereunto having been seven years and an half in finishing 1 King 6.38 2 Chron. 3.2 but the Dedication thereof was put off till the next year because of the Jubilee And in the seventh month (a) The whole Edifice and most material things were now finished but possibly they were perfecting some things till the 8th month 1 King 6.38 of that year call'd Ethanim and the seventh day of that month was the first day whereon Solomon celebrated with great magnificence the Dedication of this glorious Temple so that from the seventh day to the fifteenth the tenth day which was the great fast and day of expiation being excepted * On which the Jubilee was to be proclaim'd with sound of Trumpet Levit. 25.9 was this feast of Dedication celebrated and from the 15th to the 23. was the Feast of Tabernacles and the 23d was the last day of this feast and always very solemnly kept and the day following the people were dismissed Having thus described the parts of the Temple and the Ornaments and Officers thereof we shall now return to speak of the great and magnificent solemnity of this Dedication which was on this wise 1. Solomon assembled the Elders and Heads of all the Tribes and a mighty Congregation of all the Nation to meet at Jerusalem on this solemn occasion 2. By the Ministry of the Priests and by such rites as were appointed by the Law he hallowed the middle of the Priests Court wherein either they did erect other Altars or made use of the pavement for that present occasion because the brazen Altar was too little to receive so many Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings as he intended then to offer 1 King 8.64 2 Chron. 7.7 3. The Princes and Elders of the people being now assembled waited upon the King to Mount Sion where the Ark was and whither as 't
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
wives yea furthered it by suffering them to build Temples for their Idols and thus his Idolatrous wives turned his heart from the Commandments of God which enjoin'd him to root out Idolatry but it seems his carnal love to them devouring his zeal for God he was so far from rooting it out that he permitted it and thereupon is said to have followed * Dicitur sequutus Deos alienos quod eorum cultum non repulcrit Debuit quatenus vir ab Idololatria uxores reprimere quatenus vero Rex ditionem suam in vero Dei cultu retinere Horum neutrum praestitit sed uxorum blanditiis dilinitus Templa Fana extruxit impensas ad Sacrificia Sacerdotes suppeditavit after Ashtaroth (e) See Judg. 2.13 the Goddess of the Zidonians and Milcom (f) Levit. 18.21 or Molech the Abomination of the Ammonites namely because he connived at the worship of these Idols And to the great aggravation of his guilt he permitted (g) V. 7. Aedificavit scil permisit ut uxores aedificarent Non increpavit eas a Temple or an Image or both to be built for Chemosh (h) Numb 21.29 the Abomination of Moab and for Molech on Mount Olivet (i) And there it seems they continued till Josiahs days 2 King 23.13 nigh unto Jerusalem even in the very face and as it were to affront the Temple of the living God And though at first possibly he granted this favour but only to two or three of his Idolatrous wives yet the rest by degrees so far wrought upon him that he was fain to gratifie all of them that sought to him for it and undoubtedly many of the people were hereby ensnar'd And thus he shewed that his heart was not so upright with God as his Father Davids was For though David was guilty of many gross sins yet he never yielded to any Idolatry but kept the worship and service of God pure all his days And a great aggravation of Solomon's guilt it was that he turned from observing the Commandments of the Lord who had in so extraordinary a manner twice appeared to him viz. once at Gibeon Ch. 3.5 and a second time at Jerusalem Ch. 9.2 and had commanded him particularly to take heed of this thing namely not to go after other Gods The Lord therefore had just cause to be angry with him for this and accordingly he sent Ahiah the Shilonite or some other Prophet to him to speak to him after this manner Thus saith the Lord Forasmuch as thou hast done this and hast not kept my Covenant (a) A Covenant when applied to God signifies a Law appointed or enjoyned to be kept and that with promise of reward to them that keep it and of penalty to such as transgress it Deut. 29.9 25. and my statutes which I commanded thee I will surely rend the greatest part of thy Kingdom from thee and will give it to thy servant But I will not do it in thy days because of my promise to David thy Father 2 Sam. 7. from v. 12 to 16. but I will rend it out of the hand of thy Son and so thou shalt be punished (b) Monentur hinc Parentes ut sancte vivant ne filiis poenas intempestive attrahant in him Yet I will not rend away the whole Kingdom from him but will give him one (c) He speaks here of one of the Tribes that belonged to the Kingdom of Israel considered as separate from the Kingdom of Judah which in regard of its eminency was reckoned apart from the rest of the Tribes See 1 Sam. 11.8 So much also of Simeon as lay within Judah was comprised under Judah See Josh 19. from 1 to 9. of the Tribes of Israel viz. Benjamin besides the Tribe of Judah See 2 Chron. 11.12 And this I will do for David my servants sake and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen for the place of my publick worship and the seat of the Kings from whom the Messiah who I have promised is to come 1 King 11. from v. 1 to 14. SECT XVI SOlomon as 't is conceived was so terrified with this threatning that he repented of his sin and as an evidence of his repentance wrote his Book call'd Ecclesiastes in which he publisheth to the world his remorse for his former sins and follies and the vanities to which he had been too intemperately addicted * Ecclesiastes or the Preaching Soul truly penitent gathering it self to the Church and by wholsome admonitions gathering others also that were going astray after vanity In this Book he reflects upon the honours pleasures and wealth he had so abundantly enjoyed the errors and miscarriages he had fallen into the observations he had made of things Natural Moral Domestical Civil Sensual and Divine and the curious enquiry he had made after true happiness And in the first six Chapters he shews wherein it doth not consist and in the six last wherein it doth And first he shews it doth not consist in knowledg either Natural or Moral 2. Not in pleasures or sensual delights 3. Not in honour greatness and power which is so far from making men happy that without the fear of God to correct and temper it it is ordinarily the occasion of much wickedness in them that have it and of much misery to others 4. Not in an outward formal religiousness 5. Not in riches and great possessions which are often snares and occasions of much hurt to the possessours who must leave them and many times they know not to whom Then he shews wherein mans happiness doth consist 1. In contentation of mind and the free and regular and joyful fruition of Gods blessings and the comforts he gives us with humility moderation and thankfulness 2. In a quiet and humble acquiescence in the will of God 3. In sincerity of heart in the worship of God and in a due care that we offend not in vows prayers and addresses unto him 4. In patience of spirit under all oppressions 5. In a composed preparedness of mind to undergo afflictions 6. In a pious and prudent behaviour towards all men that so we may preserve our names from calumny and our persons from danger 7. In meekness charity and patience towards such as offend us considering humane frailty 8. In a due deportment of our selves towards our Superiours that our lives may not be made uncomfortable to us by their dispeasure 9. In a practical prudence or wisdom rightly to judg and discern of times wherein things are to be done 10. In submission to the holy and invincible Providence of God admiring his works and adoring his judgments 11. In a conscionable industriousness in our particular Callings And lastly he concludes that in old age elegantly described by him and at death it will appear that to fear the Lord and keep his commandments is both the duty and the happiness of man and the chief thing wherein it consists And so
give thee And then pour out of thy own pot of oyl into those empty vessels thou hast borrowed and as one vessel after another is full set it aside and do the like by the next till all are filled The Prophet having given her these directions she believed his word and did accordingly and her Sons brought the vessels to her and thereby testified also their faith in God And when all the vessels they had borrowed were full she not knowing it seems she had filled them all called for another vessel for still the vessel out of which she poured continued to have oyl in it One of her Sons told her there was not an empty vessel left And immediately the oyl ceased when there were no more vessels to hold it God not being willing to manifest his extraordinary power further than there is need Then the widdow came to the man of God and told him how she had sped He bad her go and sell the oyl and therewith in the first place to pay her debts and then she and her children might live upon the remainder teaching thereby that she ought first to be careful that she be just and to pay what she owes before she provides for her self and children 2 King 4. from v. 1 to 8. Not long after as Elisha went up and down seeking opportunities of doing good it happened that he came to Shunem a City in the Tribe of Issachar not far from Mount Carmel where dwelt a Gentlewoman of great quality a pious and prudent Matron who very friendly and kindly entertained him at her Table The Prophet having been so kindly entertained there as oft as he passed by that way he us'd to visit that family that he might do some good among them as well as eat bread with them The Gentlewoman at last said to her husband I perceive this is a very holy man of God and a person of singular sanctity who useth to visit us as he passeth by I pray thee let us make a little Chamber for him on the top of the house * In Hebraeo est sublimitatem parietis parvam i. e. Conclave sublime parvum seperatum a nostris aedibus and let it be separated by a wall or partition from our other rooms that so he may be there private and undisturb'd and let us provide for him a bed and a table and a stool and a candlestick and when he comes this way let him be there lodged and accommodated Her husband agreeing hereunto this Chamber was accordingly made and furnished Shortly after Elisha coming thither took up his lodging in the new Chamber provided for him The Prophet finding himself so kindly entertained by this Gentlewoman began to think how he should recompence her and that the kindness he intended might be the more acceptable he desired to know what would be most agreeable unto her for such kindnesses are usually the best which best suit our present necessities Accordingly he bad his servant Gehazi to go to her and to say to her from him Behold thou hast been very careful for us and hast expressed much kindness to us what is there that I can do for thee that will be pleasing unto thee Hast thou any suit to make to the King or to the General of the Army If thou hast I think I have so much interest in both their favours since I was with them at Moab that I can serve thee and I will readily undertake thy business * It seems the succour and supply of water that Elisha had afforded the three Kings when they went against Moab had brought him into great favour at Court The Gentlewoman replied I dwell quietly and contentedly here among my own people among my neighbours and friends in a condition not so high as to be envied nor so low as to be despised or trampled upon and though I thankfully accept thy Masters offer yet I pray thee acquaint him that I have no need at present of his friendship at the Court †But she needed a friend at Court afterwards 2 King 8.3 4. viz. when Gehazi obtained that her land should be restored to her again Gehazi carrying back this answer to Elisha he said to him what shall we do to gratifie this good woman for though Elisha was so great a Prophet yet he disdained not in some cases to consult and advise with his servant Gehazi understanding that she had no children he told his Master that he thought a child of all things in the world would be most acceptable unto her especially seeing both her husband and her self were well in years and I suppose says he thou canst by thy prayers unto God obtain such a blessing for her Elisha accordingly prayed to the Lord for her and obtaining a gracious answer bad Gehazi go and call her to him When she came she stood in the door thereby expressing her modesty that she would not enter into the Prophets Chamber though it were in her own house till he himself invited her in The Prophet having now receiv'd a revelation from God about this matter he told her that about that time (a) About this season according to the time of life that is about this time of life the year returning as it is now Secundum tempus vivens h. e. hoc ipso tempore vigente revertente Junius vide Gen. 18.10 next year that is the year returning to what it was then she should bring forth a Son and embrace him in her arms she being strangely surpriz'd at this replied O my Lord thou man of God do not deceive thy poor handmaid with the promise of a thing that is not at all like to come to pass Thus like Sarah Gen. 18.13 being something doubtful and as it were betwixt hope and fear she desires to be further satisfied Hereupon the Prophet assured her it would be so and accordingly it came to pass for not long after she conceived and at the time of the next year which the Prophet mention'd she bare a Son to her own and her husband's great joy and comfort This was Elisha's sixth miracle This child afterwards being grown up went out one morning into the field to his Father who was with his Reapers whither being come he said to his Father O my Father my head my head akes extreamly His Father bad one of his younger servants to carry him home presently to his Mother who taking him and setting him on her knees about noon he died in her arms Thus we see how God in his infinite wisdom often tries his dearest servants in their dearest outward enjoyments See Gen. 22.2 His mother perceiving that he was dead she took and laid him on the Prophets bed and shut the door having some inward hope as it seems that he might be restored to life again by Elisha's prayers and perhaps she the rather hoped it because she had heard that Elijah had restored to life a widdows son as we read 1 King
the cause of all our misery seeing he hath perswaded me to hold out the City thus long assuring me of help from God but I see none comes And thus being transported with rage against Elisha he sent a messenger immediately to cut off his head The Prophet was at this time in his lodging and some grave and Religious persons of the City were with him who possibly came to him for counsel and comfort in that their great extremity He understanding by Revelation from God the Kings bloody purpose against him even as he knew the King of Syria's secret plots and Gehazi's secret practices he says to the Elders that were with him behold this wicked Joram shews himself the true Son of wicked Ahab who was the murderer of Naboth for he hath sent a man to cut off my head though I have deserved no such usage from him I tell you his Messenger is coming to kill me but when he comes shut the door and hold him fast and prevent him from executing his bloody purpose and behold the sound of his Masters feet is behind him that is I perceive the King himself follows hard after him And while he was speaking the messenger came who being stopt at the door immediately the King himself came thither also who as it seems having his heart toucht with remorse for the rash and cruel order he had given when he came to the Messenger now detain'd at the door he gave him a countermand So quickly can God change the cruel minds of men Then Elisha discoursing with him and perswading him to have patience a little longer and to wait upon the Lord for deliverance he said This great evil and calamity that is upon us is certainly from the Lord and we have waited long for help but none comes and I despair that any will come and therefore why should I wait upon the Lord any longer I had better surrender the City than that my self and my subjects in it should perish by famine The Lord then reveals to Elisha the deliverance he intended to give them the very next day and that there should be then great plenty in the City Whereupon he said to the King I do assure thee from the Lord that about this time to morrow a measure * That is about a peck and a pottâ—e of fine flower shall be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel (a) A shekel is 2 s. 6 d. of our money in the gate of Samaria A great Officer of State a Lord on whose hand the King leaned hearing the Prophet say this answered If the Lord should make windows in heaven and rain corn down upon us there could hardly be such a plenty as thou speakest of Well says Elisha seeing thou art so unbelieving †Infidelity deprives men of the benefit of Gods promises which others enjoy thou shalt see this plenty with thine eyes but shalt not eat of it It so happened that there were at that time four leprous men that dwelt at the entrance of the Gate who being almost famished said one to another Why sit we here until we die If we say we will venture to go into the City alas the famine is there and there we shall certainly die and if we continue here we shall die also for our provisions are all done What shall we then do and what course shall we take Come lâ—t us go to the host of the Syrians in a desperate case we must take a desperate course Possibly they may shew us mercy and give us some relief But if they should kill us we shall but die which we are sure to do if we stay here and 't is better to be slain by the enemy than to perish by hunger Hereupon agreeing to take that course that very night in the twilight they went to the Camp of the Syrians and when they came to the outermost part of it to their great astonishment they found no man there for the Lord had a little before terrified the Syrians with an hideous noise which he made them to hear of the ratling of chariots and neighing of horses See the like 2 Sam. 5.24 the shouting of souldiers and the sounding of Trumpets as if some great host had been upon them This noise they heard but neither the City nor the Lepers heard any thing of it It seems the Syrians when they first heard this noise being in a great consternation said the King of Israel hath hired the Kings of the Hittites (b) Hereby they might mean such Hittites and Canâ—anites as remain'd in the land or else some other people that dwelt in Islands See Jer. 2.10 and the Kings of the Egyptians and Ethiopians to come upon us And so being dreadfully affrighted they arose and fled in the twilight a little before the Lepers came and being so terrified they left their horses and asses not daring to stay to saddle them and left their Tents and their Camp as it was and fled for their lives The Lepers thus coming to their empty Tents they ventured to go into one of them where finding good provisions they fell to eat and drink and refresh themselves being almost starved and finding also silver and gold and raiment there they took it as spoil and carried it out and hid it that it might not be taken from them then going into another Tent and finding the like there they carried it out and hid it also Thus at first they thought only of providing for themselves But then better bethinking themselves they said one to another We do not do well thus only to provide for our selves this is a day of good tidings we see the enemy are all fled we do not do well to conceal this gladsome news from our brethren of the City If we tarry till morning light till they themselves perceive the enemy to be fled possibly they will inflict some severe punishment on us for concealing the matter so long now therefore let us go and acquaint the King and the City therewith So they came to the Gate of the City and call'd to the Porter and Watchmen and told them that they being sorely distressed ventured to go out to the Camp of the Syrians to seek some relief and when they came thither they found no man there but they found many horses and asses tyed and the Tents furnished with provisions as they used to be when the Camp lay there The Porter of the Gate immediately ran and call'd up the Porters of the Kings Palace and acquainting them with what the Lepers had said they acquainted the King with it The King immediately suspected that the Syrians had only drawn off themselves in policy They says he know that we are almost starved and therefore they have withdrawn themselves and hid themselves in the field that when we come out they may surprize us and so enter the City This shews that he little regarded or believed what the
in a seeming piety said he would not tempt the Lord by desiring a sign whereas they do not tempt God who ask a sign when he allows them as we see in the instances of Gideon Judg. 6.36 37. and Hezekiah 2 King 20.8 but they that will not believe he will save them according to his promise except he shews them a miracle to confirm his promise as may be gathered from Luk. 11.16 Seeing therefore Ahaz refused to ask a sign when the Lord permitted him to do it Isaiah tells him that the Lord himself would give him a sign without asking and that was this Behold one that is now a (a) Though in the first sense the Virgin here meant was the Virgin which Isaiah afterwards took to wife by whom he had a Son call'd Immanuel whose name was to signifie to the Jews that the Lord would be with them yet in a second and more sublime sense the Virgin Mary is here signified who was a Virgin and a Mother both in sensu composito as the School speaks that is a Virgin even when she was a Mother And the Son who was to be born of her was Immanuel not only in name but in deed For he was true God and being made man dwelt with us and among us men and came into the world to be our Saviour of whom Immanuel the Son of Isaiah was but a Type And he was not only signum portendens but signum operans a sign not only foreshewing but working out our Redemption Virgin shall be married * Some understand this of that Prophetes whom Isaiah possibly being at this time a widower immediately after took to wife See Ch. 8 v. 3. and shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel This Son shall be born before Rezin and Pekah shall lay siege to Jerusalem and the childs name Immanuel shall signifie that God will be with the Jews to help them Further the Prophet tells him that this child shall eat butter and hony therefore there shall be plenty of food in Jerusalem during the siege And before the child shall come to the use of reason and know how to refuse evil and choose good the lands of Syria and Israel which Ahaz so much abhorred and dreaded shall be rid of both their Kings and they shall be taken away by a violent death This was the sign the Lord would give him And accordingly these two Kings came up and besieged Jerusalem but could not prevail against it and were fain to return without taking of it and what became of them afterwards we shall see in the sequel of the story This wicked King Ahaz was no sooner delivered from this great danger but he forsook God his deliverer and forthwith walked in the ways of the Kings of Israel and set up the Idolatrous worship of Baal and made molten images for that Idol and offered sacrifice in the valley * This was a valley near Jerusalem See 2 Chr. 33.6 'T was call'd Tophet from Toph a Drum because they used Drums other sounding Instruments to drown the cry of the child that was sacrificed See Jer. 7.31 Thence Gehenna came to signifie Hell and Tophet to be used in the like sense Isa 30.33 of Benhinnom and made one of his Sons to pass through the fire and offered him as a sacrifice to Molech contrary to the express Law of God Lev. 18.21 even after the abomination of the heathen whom God had cast out before the children of Israel and he offered sacrifices in the high places and upon the hills under every green tree †Non tantum in lucis sed etiam sub magnis arboribus sacra saciebant Grot. which in height and shade excelled others and seemed fit for that purpose see Deut. 12.2 When Ahaz had thus forsaken God God also forsook him whereupon Rezin and Pekah dividing their forces came again up against him and overcame him which before when both joined together they could not do For the Lord being provoked by his grievous sins first gave him up into the hands of the Syrians who having worsted him carried away a great multitude of his people captive to Damascus Then Rezin at the same time as it seems subdued Elath which Vzziah had recovered to Judah and built it a new and placed his Syrians to dwell there The Lord also gave him up into the hands of the King of Israel who made a great slaughter of his people God therein using one Idolater to scourge another for Pekah slew in one day an hundred and twenty thousand of them Zickri a man of Ephraim slaying one of the Kings Sons and two other great officers of the Kings which is mentioned for his particular honour and the King of Israel carried away two hundred thousand prisoners of the Jews among whom were many women and children There was at that time a Prophet of the Lord in Samaria whose name was Oded whereby we see that God was not wanting to send the Israelites Prophets to admonish them even then when they were most corrupt This Prophet met the host of Israel coming triumphantly with their spoils and captives towards Samaria to whom he spake after this manner Because the Lord was wroth with Judah he hath delivered them into your hands and ye have slain them with a rage reaching up to heaven And now I perceive ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and to make the captives ye have taken bondmen and bondwomen whereas the Law of God forbids you Levit. 25.39 40 41. to make any of your brethren bondmen But consider I pray you are there not with you even with you sins against the Lord your God Now therefore hearken unto me I advise you to send back these prisoners and captives of your Brethren which ye have taken or else assure your selves the fierce anger of the Lord will fall upon you It seems some eminent men of great authority in Samaria whose names to their lasting honour are set down 2 Chron. 28.12 met the Army also at the same place with many others of the City and hearing what the Prophet had said they were so mov'd thereby that they stood up against the Army and told them they should not carry their prisoners into the City for say they we have offended against the Lord already and have sins too many upon us to answer for and ye if you go on according to your intentions will add more to our sins For our trespasses are great and there is fierce wrath from the Lord hanging over our heads for the cruelty we have already exercised against our Brethren and therefore you shall carry these prisoners no further The Providence of God so wrought upon the hearts of the Commanders and Souldiers of the Army that they presently submitted and left their prisoners and spoils to those Princes and the people there present to dispose of them as they should think fit Hereupon these Governours took those of the
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
thou shalt be so perfectly recovered that thou shalt go up to the Temple to render praises and thanksgivings unto me for thy sudden and wonderful recovery and moreover I will deliver thee and this City out of the hands of the King of Assyria and I will defend it for my own glories sake and for the sake of David my servant The Prophet having delivered this comfortable message to the King he then directed him to lay a mass made of dry figs as a plaister upon his boil or plague-sore for so it is conceived to be and though the medicine prescribed was proper for the cure in a natural way yet if we consider the speediness of the cure we may well conclude there was a supernatural and miraculous virtue added by God to hasten the operation of it Hezekiah though he made use of the means prescribed by the Prophet yet for the strengthning of his faith he humbly desired a sign from the Lord that he should recover because this new promise was so contrary to the former threatning Isaiah tells him he shall have this sign from the Lord the shadow on the Sun-dial of Ahaz should suddenly either go backward or forward ten degrees or ten half-hour lines which he should choose The going backward or forward of the shadow which always follows the motion of the Sun ten degrees on a sudden would have been a wonderful miracle yet because it is natural for the Sun and consequently the shadow to go forward and not backward and though it had moved faster away forward now then at other times it had not been so great a miracle as to remove backward which was a course directly against nature therefore Hezekiah chose the going backward of the shadow to be his sign Isaiah thereupon prayed unto the Lord and the Sun went back ten degrees see Isa 38.8 and so caused the shadow on Ahaz's Dial to go back ten degrees also and 't is like the shadow went back in the same manner in all their Dials as we may gather from 2 Chron. 32.31 though here in the Dial of Ahaz it was most observed And thus was Hezekiah's faith confirmed and accordingly he was healed on the third day as was promised 2 King 20. from v. 1 to 12. 2 Chron. 32.24 Isa 38. fr. 1 to 9. v. 21 22. Hezekiah sometime after his recovery composed and set forth an excellent song of praise and thanksgiving wherein he magnifies the mercies and loving kindnesses of the Lord towards him in preserving him from that dangerous sickness which Song he begins thus I said in my extream sickness when the Lord was about to cut off my days and to take away my life I shall go down to the gates of the grave and shall be laid in my sepulchre I said my life is cut short I am deprived of the residue of my years which in the ordinary course of nature I might have hoped to live I said I shall not visit the Temple of the Lord any more among those that will there worship I shall no longer converse with men on the earth I said mine age that is the residue of my years which I might have hoped to live is departed from me and is removed out of my sight as a shepherds tent which we see pitched here to day is to morrow remov'd we know not whither I said I have caused * Est Metonym effecti the Lord by my sin to cut off my life as if a weaver should cut off his web from the thrumb before it be finished I said the Lord will cut me off with a grievous sickness which makes my flesh to consume and pine away I said every day and all the day long that the Lord would make an end of me before the night came and when the night came I thought every hour that as a lion he would break my bones and destroy me before morning and so again after the morning came I thought every hour I should die by reason of the extremity of my pain Like a crane or a swallow so did I chatter that is I made a doleful noise through the greatness of my pain and anguish I did mourn as a dove and so long did I lift up mine eyes towards heaven in prayer that they were weary and dim with looking up I said often O I am oppressed by my disease Lord undertake for me and rescue me from this oppressing pain When he had thus set forth his sad and deplorable condition he then declares Gods unexpected mercy and goodness to him in revoking his former sentence against him stirs up himself to all possible thankfulness What shall I say says he in what words shall I express the loving kindness of the Lord who hath not only graciously removed my disease but hath promised to add to my life fifteen years The Lord hath promised it unto me by his Prophet and I doubt not but he will * Isa 38.15 Himself hath done it a preterperfect tense is put for a future perform it I shall go softly all my years that is I shall pass the rest of my life chearfully and quietly after (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic valet post i. e. postquanâ—â— expertus sum hanc amaritudinem morbi Pisc this bitterness of my soul after this sharp brunt is past and gone O Lord by these things men live that is by thy promises and performances is the life of man prolonged and mine among the rest whom thou hast graciously restored to health again And thus thou hast * Enallage temporis recovered me and made me to live Behold for health I had bitter sickness but thou hast in great love to me (b) To my soul that is to me a part being put for the whole man by Synecdoche delivered me from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back and freely forgiven them and thereupon hast taken away the punishment which they had brought upon me And thou hast done all this for me that I might praise thee in the land of the living For the dead (c) He puts death for the dead per metonymiam adjuncti that lye in the grave cannot praise thee nor celebrate thy name The dead that go down into the pit cannot hope nor expect thy truth and faithfulness in performing thy gracious promises as the living may The living the living he will praise thee for thy mercy shewed unto him as I do this day The living Fathers will declare to their children thy goodness and mercy which thou hast shewed unto them and I hope I shall transmit to my posterity how ready thou wert to save me when I was brought so very low And accordingly I and my people will sing this and other songs of praise to thee in the Temple with stringed instruments all the days of my life Isa Ch. 38. from v. 9 to 21. Sennacherib hearing of Tirraka King of Ethiopia's coming against him went
of my sight as I have removed Israel that is out of the land which I chose for my habitation and to manifest my gracious presence in and will cast off this City of Jerusalem which I have chosen and the house of which I said my name shall be there 2 King 23. from 21 to 28. 2 Chron. 35. from 1 to 20. Now after Josiah had prepared the Temple and setled the true worship of God therein and made such a great reformation of all things as we have before shewn yet it so happened that in the thirty first year of his reign Pharoah Necho King of Egypt came up with his Army to fight against Carchemish a City lying upon the River Euphrates which the King of Babylon who was also now King of Assyria had taken from him He entred the Kingdom of Judah with his Army but designed only to pass thorough it to Carchemish without doing any injury or hurt to Josiah but it seems Josiah thought himself bound in faith and honour to hinder his passage and to prevent as much as lay in him his enterprize against the Babylonians to whom he was obliged either by Covenant made at the enlargement of Manasseh or by their giving him that part of the Country which he held in the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes Pharoah Necho understanding he intended to oppose him sent Ambassadours to him one of whom personating their King spake to him after this manner What I have to do with thee thou King of Judah I come not out against thee this day but against the house of the Assyrian with whom I have war For God hath commanded me by some of his Prophets to make hast and to assault them therefore I advise thee to forbear hindring me who go out with Gods commission lest therein thou be found to oppose God himself and he destroy thee for it But it seems Josiah did not believe that he had warrant from God for what he did and therefore resolv'd to oppose him and fight with him and being thus resolv'd he disguised himself that he might not be known in the battel to be the King and that he might fight the more boldly and successfully for he was sensible that if the enemy knew him they would bend their chief force against him The Armies met and came to a battel in the valley of Megiddo in the Tribe of Manasseh near Hadadrimmon the Archers of the Egyptians shot desperately at Josiah either suspecting him to be the King or else observing his valour in the fight they were the more provoked to aim at him and to endeavour to take him off as a principal enemy But so it was that he was thereby sorely wounded in his chariot and thereupon spake to his servants to have him out of the fight which they did and put him into another chariot intending to bring him to Jerusalem but being mortally wounded he died in the way Thus God punished the wickedness of the people by taking away their good King from them And because he died before those troubles and calamities fell upon that Nation which Huldah the Prophetess foretold and which afterwards ensued and whilst the Kingdom was in a flourishing condition and died in the love and favour of God therefore he may be said to be gathered to his grave in peace according to Huldahs prediction He was buried in one of the Sepulchers of his Fathers and the whole people wonderfully lamented his death and the Prophet Jeremiah more especially who knew the evil that would follow after his death and all the singing-men and singing-women spake of Josiah in their lamentations and made mention of his death even in the mournings they made for others insomuch as it came to be a constant custom and as it were a setled ordinance to speak of Josiah's death in their doleful Elegies And it grew almost into a common Proverb The lamentation of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo Zach. 12.11 And possibly upon the loss of so good a King a law or ordinance was enacted that some doleful Elegies or lamentations should yearly be sung for him and these were recorded and set down among other mournful Elegies which upon occasions of publick calamity were us'd to be sung 2 Chron. 35. from 20 to the end 1 King 23. v. 29 30. The Prophet ZEPHANY Prophesied in this Kings reign as Jeremy also did The Prophesie of ZEPHANY His Prophesie may be divided into four parts 1. He denounces dreadful judgments against Judah and Ierusalem which should be distressed by the Caldeans without within and in every corner and there should be a great spoiling of their goods and slaughtering of their people 2. He sets before them the heinous sins that were found among them which would draw these judgments upon them 1. Idolatry in worshipping Baal and the host of heaven 2. Corrupting of Religion and mingling the worship of Idols with that of the true God 3. Apostasie after their solemn Covenant made with the Lord. 4. The pride of apparel among those of the Court and others 5. Oppression 6. Blasphemy denying Gods Providence 7. Security in sinning being setled upon their lees 8. Infidelity 9. Incorrigibleness 10. Stupid incogitancy being not moved to repent by the examples of Gods judgments which they saw poured out upon the Nations round about them 11. Tyranny in their Princes and Iudges 12. Vanity and treachery in their Prophets 3. He exhorts them to repentance and to seek the Lord to seek righteousness to seek meekness and that speedily before the decree bring forth Which if they would do he tells them it may be they may be hid in the day of the Lords anger This he further urges upon them from the exemplary judgments that God would inflict on other Nations that were impenitent viz. the Philistines Moabites Ammonites Ethiopians and Assyrians 4. And lastly he gives some gracious promises from the Lord to the faithful He tells them the Lord would leave in the midst of them an afflicted and poor people and they should trust in his name He prophesies of the conversion of the Gentiles and that they shall be joined to the Church He promises the restauration of the Iews and their return from captivity and that God will destroy their afflicting adversaries and will sanctifie them protect them and take away their punishments in contemplation of which he calls upon the daughter of Zion to rejoice and especially in Gods gracious presence and residence among them and making them the satisfying object of his love in so much he would rejoice over them to do them good and would rest in his love * Câ—â—â—â—â—escit in amoâ—â— suo erga te WE read of four Sons Iosiah had 1 Chron. 3.15 Iohanan Iehoiakim Zedekiah The 17th that reigned in the Kingdom of Judah JEHOAHAZ the son of JOSIAH and Shallum Probably Iohanan the first-born died before his Father for of him we find no where else any mention But the youngest
residul exulibus insultabant tolerantia Dei abutebantur magis obdurescebant that should be valued the other as refuse that should be cast away intimating that those that went into captivity should be brought back again and established in their own possessessions and that the Lord would give them an heart to know him and to turn to him But as for those that remained in the land viz. Zedekiah his Princes and people he threatens them with exile ignominy and scorn and destruction by sword famine and pestilence Jer. 24. wh Ch. In the beginning also of Zedekiah's reign the Prophesie concerning the Elamites or Persians viz. both of their fall and rising again was uttered by the Prophet Ieremy Ier. 49. from v. 34 to the end For Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Astyages the whole Province of Elamais with the City Susa the Metropolis thereof which was seated upon the river Vlai and annexed it to the Empire of the Chaldeans as we may see from Ier. 25.25 compared with Dan. 8.1 2. But afterwards those Elamites combining with the Medes against the Babylonians see Isa 21.2 when Belshazzar was destroyed recovered their State again under Cyrus and their chief City Susa was made by him the seat of the Persian Empire as Strabo in his fifteenth Book declareth Ambassadours now come in the first year of Zedekiah but the fourth after the Sabbatical course or seventh years rest Ier. 28.1 from the several Kings of Edom Moab Ammon Tyre and Sidon to Ierusalem to visit the new King Zedekiah and to perswade him to revolt from the King of Babylon but God appoints Ieremy to deliver to every one of them bonds and yokes to be presented to their several Masters commanding them withal to submit themselves to Nebuchadnezzar and not to give ear any longer to their wizards and stargazers their diviners and dreamers who advised them to the contrary and Prophesied a lye to them in the name of the Lord though he sent them not He advises also Zedekiah to be faithful and to hold himself fast and firm to the King of Babylon and not to believe false Prophets and lastly both by threats and promises he perswades all sorts of people to submit unto and obey the King of Babylon Jer. 27. the whole Chapter In the fifth month of the same year Hananiah a false Prophet Prophesieth other manner of things viz. that the power of the King of Babylon should be broken and declares that at the end of two years all the vessels and furniture of the Lords house and Ieconiah and all the people that were carried away captive to Babylon should return and be brought home again And when Ieremy gainsaid him he took a yoke of wood which he had put about his own neck and brake it saying Thus shall the Lord break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar within two years from off the neck of all Nations which he hath brought under his power Ieremy says Amen to this Prophesie wishing from his heart it might prove true but intimates that he vehemently suspected it of falshood and refers it to the event For he shews that Prophets are to be judged whether they are true or false by the event of their Prophesies But the word of the Lord coming anew to Ieremy he declares that God instead of that wooden yoke would put an iron one upon the neck of all those Nations under which they should bow and serve the King of Babylon and to assure the people that Hananiah had prophesied falsely and had made them trust in a lye he foretelleth that he shall die that very year because he had taught rebellion against the Lord that is had encouraged the people to rebell against the admonitions given them by his Prophets and accordingly so it came to pass in the seventh month of that year Ier. 28. whole Chapter Zedekiah now sends Ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon and by them Ieremy sent a Letter to the Elders Priests and Prophets and the rest of the people who had been carried away captive in which he instructs them how to demean themselves in that condition of their captivity viz. that they should build themselves houses and plant gardens and marry wives and give wives to their sons that they might increase and multiply there and advises them that they should seek the peace of the City Babylon whither they were carried captive and pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof they should have peace Then he comforts them with promises of deliverance at the expiration of seventy years then the Lord would perform his good word towards them in causing them to return He foretels them of the grand calamities that would befall Zedekiah and those Iews that were left behind and of the miserable end that Ahab and Zedekiah two false Prophets among them should come unto he shews that for their Prophesying lyes and for their adulteries with their neighbours wives they should fall into the King of Babylons hands and he should rost them with fire and their names and memories should be used afterwards in forms of execration and cursing viz. people should say when they curs'd a man The Lord make thee like Ahab and Zedekiah whom the King of Babylon rosted in the fire Jer. 29. from 1 to 24. Shemaiah another false Prophet among the captives in Babylon sent a Letter as it seems by Zedekiah's Ambassadors when they returned unto Zephaniah who was the second chief Priest 2 King 25.18 and the rest of the Priests at Ierusalem bitterly inveighing against what Ieremy had written to them He sets before Zephaniah the duty of his place which was to punish every man that of his own head made himself a Prophet but was indeed none intimating that Ieremy was such a kind of person The Lord says he hath made thee Priest instead of Iehoiada c. that thou shouldst put in prison and in the stocks every man that is mad or a Fanatick and maketh himself a Prophet c. He reprehends him for not using Ieremiah after that manner Why hast thou not reproved Ieremiah says he who maketh himself a Prophet to you but is none He hath written to us to build houses and plant gardens and marry wives intimating that our captivity will be long and thereby thou maist see what manner of Prophet he is Zephaniah reading this Letter to Jeremy he presently denounced a heavy judgment from the Lord upon Shemaiah saying Thus saith the Lord Behold I will punish Shemaiah and his seed he shall not have a man to dwell among this people neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord Jer. 29.32 Whereby the Prophet intimates that neither he nor his posterity should live to see the promis'd deliverance And at this time as it seems were given to Jeremy those other notable Prophesies contained in the two next Chapters which he is commanded to write in a Book that they
near Gibeon took from him all his prisoners and set them at liberty and Ismael with only eight men more escaping his hands fled to the Ammonites Jer. 41. from 10 to 16. Johanan and his Captains with the rest of the people remaining for a while about Bethlem fearing at last that the Caldeans would send in some forces upon them to revenge the death of Gedaliah and the Caldeans that were slain with him and so utterly destroy all the Jews that were in the land they thought it best to fly with the people that were left into Egypt But first they consult Jeremy about it and desire him to ask counsel of the Lord for them in that matter Hereupon they promising faithfully to conform themselves to the will of God whatever it should be he after ten days brought them an answer advising them all not to stir out of their own Country assuring them if they staid of Gods protection there but telling them that if they went into Egypt they should there every man of them perish either by sword famine or some other kind of death But notwithstanding their former promise they would needs go down into Egypt and carried Jeremy and Baruc against their wills along with them And when they were come to Taphnes Jeremy sharply reprov'd them and there declar'd to them under a type of great stones hid in clay in a brick-kiln the destruction of Egypt even by Nebuchadnezzar The death of Jeremy of whom they were so much afraid And there as 't is thought he was stoned to death by his own ungrateful Countrymen Jer. 41. from 16 to the end Jer. 42. whole Chapter Jer. 43. whole Chapter 2 King Ch. 25. v. 26. In the twelfth year of Jeconiah's captivity the fifth day of the tenth month tidings came to Ezekiel of the taking of Jerusalem and then he prophesied of the utter destruction which should befall the last remainder of the Israelites for their sins even of those few who remained in their desolate Country after the departure of those before mentioned who went into Egypt The evening before these tidings came to him his mouth was opened again to prophesie to his own people which he had not done since the day that Nebuchadnezzar first laid siege to Jerusalem three years ago whereof one year and an half was taken up in that siege and the rest of the time had passed since the City was taken Ezek. 33. from 21 to 30. The Prophet now after so long a silence having his mouth opened and being appointed a watchman and willing to perform his duty he declareth first to murmurers and hypocrites among the captive Jews that God dealeth justly both with penitents and back-sliders that he delighteth not in the death of a sinner that his ways are just and equal notwithstanding their calumnies He threatens such as mocked the Prophets and went on in their wickedness and hypocrisie Ezek. 33. from 1 to 21. And from v. 30 to the end In the next place he threatens the shepherds of Israel both Civil and Ecclesiastical for their unfaithfulness to the flock Ch. 24. from 1 to 11. He shews the tender care that God himself will have of his flock from v. 11 to 23. He promises to raise up and send the chief shepherd and Prince of his Church Jesus Christ under whose Government his sheep shall be blessed from v. 23 to the end Ezek. 24. whole Chapter He also threatens the Ammonites and Moabites and mount Seir or Edom and the Philistines for their pride hatred and cruelty against Israel Ezek. 25. whole Chapter The Prophesie of OBADIAH Obadiah also as 't is probable about this time uttered his Prophesie against Edom which shamefully insulted over the calamities of the Jews when Jerusalem was destroyed He threatens they shall be totally spoiled even more than an house by night-robbers or a vine by grape-gatherers He foretells that their counsellors wisdom shall fail and their Souldiers and that they shall be destroyed by the Caldeans as it afterwards happened After the minatory part the Lord by his Prophet comforts his afflicted Church with a promise of deliverance and victory over their enemies and enlargement of their possessions most truly fulfilled in the calling of the Gentiles and of the Lords dominion over all And the like did Jeremy and also the Authors of those Psalms Psal 79. 137. who wrote as it seemeth all about the same time And hitherto possibly the 63. of Isaiah is referrable though prophesied long before Obadiah whole Chapter Jer. 49. from 7 to 23. Psal 79. Psal 137. Isa 63. from 1 to 7. Ezekiel now comforts the people of Israel promising them that the Lord would avenge them of their enemies who had so spitefully used them He promises restauration and prosperity unto them in their own land He shews that God was necessitated to punish and chastise them for their sins for the honour of his name But he will again out of his free grace and mercy abundantly bless them both with spiritual and temporal blessings Ezek. 36. whole Chapter He Prophesies also of their return out of Babylon though their condition therein was as hopeless as of dead men in their graves who are become dry bones And by the type of two sticks becoming one in the Prophets hand he shews the union and incorporation of Israel into Judah and possibly the uniting Jews and Gentiles together under one King viz. Christ the true Messias Ezek. 37. whole Chapter Further he prophesies of a glorious victory they shall have over Gog and Magog who shall distress them after their return from captivity whereby some understand the Scythians and Tartars that shall distress the Jews converted unto Christ toward the latter end of the world Ezek. 38. whole Chapter Ezek. 39. whole Chapter In the twelfth year of Jeconiahs captivity on the first day of the twelfth month Ezekiel uttered his Prophesie concerning the grievous calamity Nebuchadnezzar should bring upon Egypt And upon the 15th day he Prophesies against Egypt again and foretels that Pharoah and his people should be brought down as low as hell with the rest of the uncircumcised Nations Ezek. 32. whole Chapter Jeremy had it seems some time before prophesied of the destruction which should follow the Israelites that were in Egypt for their desperate obstinacy and Idolatry there practised saying it went well with them when they sacrificed to the Queen of heaven and for a sure sign of their misery gave them Pharoah himself whom they should see brought to all extremities before their eyes Jer. 44. whole Chapter The Lamentations of Jeremy it's probable were written about this time The Lamentations of JEREMIAH These are not those of Jeremy for Josiah mentioned 2 Chron. 35.25 And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing men and the siging women spake of Josiah in their Lamentations to this day and made them an Ordinance in Israel and behold they are written in the Lamentations But
down over the face of the whole earth and returning answer to the Angel that sat upon the red horse to wit the Son of God appearing in humane shape that all other Nations and people about Judea were at rest and ease in peace and prosperity only Gods own people the Jews could not recover themselves from their late calamities but were still under great molestations Christ upon this intercedes for the Church whereupon in the hearing of the Prophet God the Father gave a gracious answer speaking many comfortable words to the Angel who intreated him to cease his anger and fury which had been so hot against the Jews and Jerusalem and the Cities of Judah now these seventy years Ch. 1. from v. 7 to 18. 2ly He had a vision of the four Horns and four Carpenters signifying how God would break the power of his Churches enemies Ch. 1. from v. 18 to the end 3ly The vision of the man with the measuring line in his hand to measure Jerusalem intimating the reedifying the City and Temple and safety of both and that God would be their protection and a wall of fire about them and their glory To which is annexed an exhortation to the Jews yet remaining in Babylon to repair to Jerusalem Ho he come forth and flee from the land of the North saith the Lord c. Ch. 2. 4ly A vision of the continuance of the Priesthood among them in which he sees Joshua resisted by Satan whom the Lord rebukes and honours Joshua by taking away his filthy garments and setting a fair miter on his head and establishing him in the Priesthood The thing typified hereby was the Eternal Priesthood of Christ who is described by his names viz. The branch rising out of the stock of David and the stone full of eyes that is of wisdom and providential care for his Church and graven that is beautified with the Graces of the Spirit who giveth remission of sin and peace of Conscience Ch. 3. 5ly The vision of a Golden candlestick and two Olive-trees intimating that as the Candlestick was supplied with oyl naturally dropping from the two Olive-trees standing by it so God without the help of man nay notwithstanding mans opposition would raise and maintain both his material Temple and his Church Chap. 4. Zach. Ch. 1. Ch. 2. Ch. 3 Ch. 4. The Prophet hath now a sixth and seventh vision viz. that of the large flying Roll and that of the Ephab intimating that sin continued in would first bring on private calamities and having filled up its measure would also draw down publick judgments upon the whole Nation By the first vision viz. that of a large flying Roll was typified Gods judgment swiftly coming and ready to be executed upon such as were guilty of theft or perjury and that it should consume their houses and families In the second vision under the type of an Ephah or measure A Talent weighed 3000 Shekels Exod. 38.25 26. or an 125 pound and of a woman sitting in the midst of it and a talent of lead laid upon her to press her down is represented the sinful Nation of the Jews whose wickedness grew to a full measure for which Gods heavy judgments were ready to fall upon them and by the two women carrying away the Ephah with the woman in it into the land of Shinar was signified the Jews dispersion into the Eastern parts of the world viz. into Chaldea Babylon and Mesopotamia where chiefly they reside at this day though generally dispersed all over the world Zach. 5. whole Chapter Zachary hath now an eighth vision of four Chariots coming out from betweeen two mountains of brass drawn by four sorts of horses intimating Gods provident decrees and counsels immoveable as mountains of brass and his directing the Angels of Heaven those ministring spirits in the executing his will upon the enemies of his Church and so as may tend to his Church's good The Prophet is shewn also the effect of their imployment viz. the quieting of Gods Spirit in the North Country that is by their executing his wrath upon them they pacified his anger Ch. 6. from v. 1 to 8. 2ly Vnder the type of two Crowns made of silver and gold offered by strangers and set upon the head of Joshua is typified that the office of King and Priest should be united and continued in Christ who is described first by his name importing his humane nature viz. the Branch 2ly By his works building the Temple of the Lord raising the glory of the Kingly and Priestly office which till his time should be but mean uniting the Kingly and Priestly office in himself and uniting the Gentiles to the Church from v. 8 to 15. In the close of the Chapter the Prophet tells them that they should know by experience that the Lord had sent him unto them and that obedience was the only way wherein they might expect the comfortable fruits of these promises v. 15. Zach. 6. whole Chapter But to return to our History the means that the Adversaries of the Jews used for the hindring the building of the Temple proved effectual through the gracious providence of God for the finishing thereof for search being made for Cyrus's decree it was found at Acmetha in the Province of the Medes which decree was to this purpose that Cyrus in the first year of his reign had decreed that the house of God should be built at Jerusalem in the same place where the former Temple had stood and the foundations thereof strongly laid The Cubits here meant 't is like were the common cubits whereas in the 1 King 6.2 2 Chron. 3.4 the Sacred or Geometrical cubits were meant that the height thereof should be sixty cubits and the breadth sixty cubits with three rows of great stones and a row of new timber which seems to be meant of the buildings about the Priests Court and that they should be made as formerly with three galleries of stonâ— and one of timber and that the expences thereof should be allowed out of the treasure which appertained to the King in those parts And that the Golden and silver vessels of the Temple which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away should be restored This was the decree of Cyrus Darius understanding this gave command to Tatnai and Shetharboznai that they should no way hinder the building of the Temple And further the King not only ratified Cyrus's decree but made a new decree of his own whereby he enlargeth that of Cyrus with more grants and priviledges and chargâ—d Tatnai and his Companions that they should furnish the Jews with moneys out of his tribute to carry on the work as also to buy bullocks rams and lambs for burnt-offerings to be offered to the God of heaven and to buy wheat salt wine and oyl for the sacrifices that they might offer sacrifices of a sweet savour unto the Lord of heaven and earth and pray for the life of the King and of his Sons Also
course we can to bring these desperate Offendors to deserved punishment Judg. Ch. 19. whole Chapter SECT CXXXI THen all the Children of Israel that is the chief of them viz the Elders Officers and Captains from Dan to Beersheba together with those without Jordan met together as one man at Mizpeh (d) In the Tribe of Benjamin or in the Confines of Judah and Benjamin and so reckoned among the Cities of both Tribes Josh 15 38. Ch. 18.26 which was a place they usually held their publick Assemblies in 1 Sam. 7.5 Judg. 10.15 as being in the heart of the Land excepting only the Benjamites who it seems refused to come to this meeting or to send any Messengers to them resolving to defend the men of Gibeah against them The Israelites came together to act this weighty business as in Gods presence and to ask Counsel of Him and to hear what He would give them in charge about it No less then four hundred thousand men now met who expressed their Zeal to punish this abominable Fact of the men of Gibeah But though they were sensible of the injury done to the Levite and his Concubine yet it seems they took no notice of the great and provoking Injury done to God by tolerating the Idolatry of the Danites for which we shall see that God now intends to reckon with them This great Assembly being thus met the Levite came and declared his Case to them He shews them how barbarously the men of Gibeah had used his Concubine and how they had abused her even till they had killed her and they thought to have done the like to him also which rather than he would have endured he would have lost his life And therefore seeing they were all Israelites they ought to take to heart that such and so foul an Abominaiion was committed in Israel and ought to revenge it accordingly The people were so inflamed hereat that they vowed they would not so much as go home to their own houses till they had executed Judgment upon those that were guilty of so abominable a Villany Then they sent Messengers to the Tribe of Benjamin to desire them to deliver up these Sons of Belial in Gibeah to deserved punishment who were guilty of this Crime that so wrath might not be poured forth upon the whole Land for it and herehy they would prevent a Civil War and great blood-shed which else was like to ensue The Benjamites it seems thinking it a dishonour to them that the other Tribes should intermeddle with punishing any within their Territories and being highly conceited of their own strength and ability for Martial Affairs and presuming possibly that they were able to make good their part against all the other Tribes of Israel they would not hearken to their Brethren but prepared to fight it out The Israelites perceiving that the Benjamites would not deliver the Malefactors into their hands but were resolved rather to defend them they vowed that if they vanquished the Benjamites as they doubted not but they should they would not give any of their Daughters in marriage to any of them that were left alive see Ch. 21.1 and likewise that they would destroy every Town throughout the whole Land of Israel that would not send some of their people to this Assembly nor help them in this War Ch. 21.5 Then they determined to cast lots who among them should go up to fight against Gibeah and who should go forth to fetch in Provisions for the Camp For they thought that one in ten had need be set apart for this Service and who they should be the lot should decide Then they went to Shiloh to inquire of the Lord by the High Priest having on the Ephod Numb 27.21 which of them should go up first to the battel against the Children of Benjamin They did not inquire of the Lord Whither they should go up against the Benjamites or whither they should prevail They did not pray to God for his help nor by Fasting and Humiliation and true Repentance humble themselves for their manifold Sins nor by offering up Sacrifices of atonement seek to make their peace with God but relying on the justness of their Cause and their great Numbers and strength like men presuming of the Victory to prevent variance among themselves and striving for the honour of the day They desire only to know which of the Tribes should go up first against Benjamin They concluded that having eleven Tribes against one and four hundred thousand fighting men on their side they must needs prevail The Lord tells them Judah shall go up first The Children of Benjamin also on the other hand prepared themselves for the Encounter and numbring their Forces they found they were twenty six thousand fighting men besides the Inhabitants of Gibeah which were seven hundred chosen men and in this their Army they had seven hundred choice men left-handed every one of them could sling a stone at an hairs breadth (e) An hyperbolical expression signifying they were exceeding skilful in slinging stones and could commonly hit a small mark and not miss Matters being thus ordered on both sides the men of Israel went out to battel against Benjamin and the Benjamites drew out their Forces out of Gibeah against them and they joyning battel the Benjamites prevailed and cut down to the ground and destroyed twenty two thousand of the Israelites that day The Israelites upon this ill success retired to Shiloh and wept before the Lord but it seems it was more for the shame of the defeat and their loss of men than for their sins They inquire of the Lord again whither they shall go up a second time against Benjamin their Brother but neither crave his Assistance nor inquire of the Success whereby they intimate that they supposed the cause of their ill Success before was because God was not pleased with their warring against their Brethren but they think not of their sins the true cause and therefore God answers them accordingly Go up says He against Him as if He should have said though Benjamin be your Brother yet you may fight against him So the Children of Israel encouraged themselves and went up against the Children of Benjamin the next day The Benjamites drew out again out of Gibeah and defeated the Israelites a second time and slew eighteen thousand more of them Upon this second overthrow the Israelites run to Shiloh again and there fast and mourn and repent of their sins in good earnest Now they perceived that though God liked their Cause yet he was displeased with their persons They saw that God did avenge his Own Cause upon them because they would not avenge his Cause against Idolaters Therefore they now afflict their Souls in a most solemn manner and offer Burnt-Offerings and Peace-Offerings to make atonement for their Sins that so they might obtain Gods favour They now inquire again of the Lord by Phineas the High Priest and by Vrim and
is like they had brought the Tabernacle with all the things appertaining to it from Gibeon The Priests * 2 Chron. 5.4 'T is said the Levites took up the Ark because the Priests were also Levites that is of the Tribe of Levi. took up the Ark on their shoulders the Levites according to their several appointed ranks carried the Tabernacle with the boards and curtains and the holy vessels belonging thereunto The King and the Elders walked after in a solemn procession to Mount Moriah (a) The Temple to speak properly was not built on Mount Sion but on Mount Moriah but because the whole City of Jerusalem is usually called Sion and Mount Sion from that Mount that was a chief part of it thence it is that the Temple Gods dwelling place is usually said to have been in Sion where the Temple was built whither being come the Priests carried the Ark into the Oracle or most holy place and set it under the wings of the Golden Cherubims But they drew out the staves of the Ark something from under the wings of the Cherubims that they might be seen in the holy place which was before the Oracle but they were not seen as taken out of the Ark 2 Chron. 5.9 And possibly these staves were the rather thus disposed to remember the people that if they brake Gods Covenant the staves yet remained within the rings of the Ark ready to bear away the Symbol of Gods gracious presence from them The Levites also disposed those things which they carried belonging to the (b) The Tabernacle was carried about in the Wilderness forty years it remained in Gilgal about fourteen years it remain'd in Shiloh till Samuels time 1 Sam. 4.4 it then remain'd in Nob till Saul destroyed that place 1 Sam. 22.19 it was in Gibeon all Davids time from thence it was brought into Zion and from thence into the Treasuries of the Temple Tabernacle into the Treasuries of the Temple there to remain as Sacred things not again to be removed When the Priests had set the Ark in its place and were come out immediately an hundred and twenty of them with silver Trumpers and the Levite-singers viz. Asaph Heman and Jeduthun with their Sons and Brethren being arrayed in white linnen and having Cymbals Psalteries and Harps in their hands stood at the East-end of the Altar and the Trumpets sounding and they playing on their Instruments and lifting up their voices with one consent and making one melodious harmony sang as it seems the 136 Psalm the burden of which is For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Whilst they were thus employed suddenly the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud which was an extraordinary manifestation of the presence of God 2 Chron. 5.14 't is said the glory of God filled the house which intimated that the brightness of his glory was such that if it were not clouded over no mortal eyes could behold it It seems the cloud was such and so amazing that the Priests could not continue to minister in the Sanctuary where the cloud was and by this visible sign of his presence the Lord did sanctifie to himself this place see Exod. 40.34 and shewed his approbation of all that was done Solomon standing upon a Brazen Scaffold made for him in the outward Court right before the door of the Priests Court through which he might look and apprehending this cloud to be a manifestation of Gods gracious presence and acceptance of the house he had built for his service in a rapture of joy he brake out into these words The Lord said he is pleased to dwell in thick darkness Levit. 16.2 and by a cloud he hath usually testified his presence among his people as when he led the Israelites by a cloud Exod. 13.21 In a cloud he appeared at the giving of the Law Exod. 19.16 In a cloud he appeared that covered and filled the Tabernacle as soon as it was reared up by Moses Exod. 40.34 and therefore doubtless in this cloud the Lord doth now appear unto us and testifies his favourable acceptance of our service in building this house for his name Then directing his speech to God he said O Lord I have built a Temple for thee to manifest thy gracious presence in an house not to be removed as the Tabernacle was but a setled place for thee to abide in (c) Officium Templi non est prastare Deo habitationem sed hominibus directionem ad soliâ—m divinum sempiteruâ—â— quod in câ—lo est Cajet to be there ready on all occasions to resolve us in such cases as we shall humbly propound unto thee and to hear such prayers as we shall make unto thee and to grant such blessings as we shall humbly crave of thee and to accept such sacrifices and services as we shall there offer up and present unto thee And O Lord I pray thee accept this house for thine and ever manifest thy gracious presence therein as long as this dispensation we are now under shall last and till the truth of this type shall be exhibited Then the King turned his face to the people standing about him and blessed them and said Blessed and praised be the Lord God of Israel who spake to David my Father that I should build a Temple for his great name and hath by his good hand upon me enabled me to do it The Lord also said since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt I chose no City out of all their Tribes in which I appointed an house to be built that my name might be there in a peculiar manner worshipped But having chosen David to be King over my people it was in his heart to build an house for my name And thereupon I said to him whereas it was in thine heart to build an house to my name I like it well that it was in thine heart to do it Nevertheless thou shalt not build this house for me but thy Son that shall come out of thy loins he shall build it And the Lord hath now graciously performed the word that he spake and I am risen up in my fathers room to sit on the Throne of Israel and have built an house for the Lord as he promised I should do and an abiding place for the Ark wherein are the two Tables of the Law which the Lord gave as a Covenant to his people requiring obedience on their part and promising many blessings on his part to the obedient Then Solomon turned his face towards the Altar of Burnt-offering and towards the most holy place and having stood a while he then kneeled down and spreading forth his hands towards heaven poured forth this Divine Prayer saying O Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee in heaven above or in earth beneath who keepest Covenant and shewest mercy to thy servants that walk before thee in the integrity of their hearts Thou hast kept thy
word and performed thy promise to thy servant David in raising me his Son up to build a Temple for thee perform also I pray thee unto my father what thou didst further promise him * 2 Sam. 7.13 to wit that there shall not fail a man lineally descended from him to sit upon the Throne of Israel and to reign in thy sight provided his children take heed to their way to walk before thee with that integrity that he did Now let thy word I pray thee be verified and fulfilled which thou spakest to my father concerning this matter But why do I speak of my building an house for thee Will God indeed dwell on earth Behold thou art an infinite and immense being Thou canst not be contained within any compass or space The Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee much less this house that I have builded But though thou canst not be contained within this house yet I pray thee have regard to the prayer and humble supplication of me thy poor servant which I make to thee in behalf of this house namely that the eyes of thy favour and providence may be open towards it day and night seeing thou hast said of it that thy name †Deut. 12.11 shall be there call'd upon and worshipped I humbly beseech thee therefore when ever either my self or any of thy people shall pray unto thee in this place or towards it (a) V. 30. Versus hunc locum quasi respiciens ad promissionem praesentiae tuae in hoc loco exemplum in Daniele cap. 6. v. 10. that then thou wouldst please to hear in Heaven thy dwelling place where thy glory is most eminently manifested and when thou hearest be pleased to forgive and pardon our transgressions against thee For there is no comfort in obtaining any other mercy if our sins be not forgiven Particularly I humbly request of thee that if any man be charged that he hath trespassed against his neighbour and he be brought before thine Altar (b) Tacto Altare jurare mos omnium prope Gentium Intrepidi quicunque altaria tangunt Juv. in the Court of this house to clear himself by Oath sufficient proof by witnesses being wanting that thou wouldst please to deal with him according to innocence or guiltiness punishing him if he be faulty and bringing his wicked way upon his own head but justifying and acquitting him if he be innocent Or if thy people be smitten before their enemies in the field because they have sinned against thee and shall turn again to thee and confess thy name to wit thy justice in suffering their enemies to prevail against them and shall acknowledg thy mercy and power and so seek to thee for pardon and help and shall make supplication to thee turning their faces towards this house then hear thou in heaven and forgive their sin and bring them again into the land which thou gavest to their fathers Or when the heaven is shut up and there is no rain because thy people have sinned against thee if they shall pray towards this place and confess thy justice in punishing of them and turn from their sin then hear thou in heaven and forgive their sin and teach them the good way (c) V. 36. Et ostende eis viam bonam wherein they should walk and then give rain upon the land which thou hast given thy people for an inheritance Or if any of these great judgments fall upon the land to wit famine pestilence and blasting or if there be any plague or sickness upon thy people what prayer and supplication shall be made by any man singly or by all thy people jointly who shall know every man the plague (d) 2 Chron. 6.29 When every one shall know his own sore and his own grief Grief is put for that which should cause grief viz. Sin of his own heart to wit the sins for which he is punished and shall spread forth his hands towards this house then hear thou in heaven and forgive and do what in thy infinite wisdom seemeth good and give to every man according to his ways not his former sins but his present repentance whose heart thou seest to be sincere and upright For thou and thou only O Lord knowest the hearts of all the children of men And I humbly beseech thee to deal thus mercifully with thy people that they may fear thee and walk in thy ways all the days of their lives Moreover if a stranger that is not of thy people Israel who hears of thy wondrous works and righteous Laws and this holy house shall come from his own Countrey to testifie his high esteem of thy great name and to worship and praise thee and shall pray towards this house (a) Or in this house viz. in the Court of the Gentiles then hear thou in heaven and grant all that he shall pray unto thee for which is agreeable to thy holy will that all the people of the earth may know thy name and learn to fear thee as do thy people Israel and that they may know that thy name is called upon in this house that I have built to wit that it is call'd the Temple of the Lord and the house of God and is so in reality by thy hearing the prayers that are here made unto thee Furthermore if thy people shall go out to battel against their enemies and shall pray unto thee and seek thy favour and help in that enterprize looking towards this City and this house which I have built for thy great name then hear thou in heaven their prayer and supplication and maintain their just and righteous cause by giving them good success But if they by their sins provoke thee for there is no man that sinneth not so that thou givest them up into the hands of their enemies and they carry them away captive either further off or nearer hand however if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive and shall repent and make supplication to thee saying we have sinned and done perversly we have committed wickedness and so shall return unto thee with all their heart and all their soul and shall pray unto thee looking towards this land this City and this house then hear thou in heaven their prayer and supplication and maintain their cause taking part with thy people that repent and pray unto thee against the unjust oppression of their enemies and then turn thou O Lord the hearts of their enemies towards them that they may have pity and compassion on them For remember O Lord they are thy people and thine inheritance (b) This people were to God as a mans inheritance is to him which he hath bought and made his own for ever See Dâ—ut 32.9 which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt even out of an iron furnace (c) Deut. 4.20 And furthermore let the eyes (d) 2 Chron. 6.40 of thy favour be upon me thy poor servant