appears to us more dissonant from the Hebrew then any other yet most of the Quotations of the Old Testament which we have in the new are apparently from that Version which learneth us that it is not every private Ministers work to make a new Version of the Scripture but he ought to acquiesce in the Version which God hath provided for the Church wherein he lives and not ordinarily or upon light grounds to enter into a dissent to it and if in any thing he sees it necessary to do it yet not to do it as to a particular text without great modesty and a preface of Reverence This Translation of the Scriptures into a Language understood by all people in that Country into which the Church came was lookt upon so reasonable and necessary as it was opposed by none till the Papists had patched up a Religion for the upholding of which it was necessary for them to maintain That Ignorance was the mother of Devotion after which it was very difficult in any places where these Spiritual Tyrants had a dominion to get the Scriptures translated into the Language of that Country Not to instance in other places I shall give some short account of England Our Records tell us of a Translation of some part of them into the Saxon Language which was then a great part of ours within 700 years after Christ and of the Translation of the whole into the same Language by Beda within 40 years after Beda was himself a Papist but the mystery of iniquity grew up gradually to its height Soon after Bibles which the people could understand were very scarce commodities in England and thus it continued for 600 years Wickliff who lived in the time of Richard the 2d and died 1384. being the first we know of afterward who Translated the Scriptures into a Language understood by any who were not skilled in some or other of the three learned Languages That great man easily understood that without the Scriptures in their own Language the people must take all for the Will of God that their Priests told them was so and that the Popish Priests were generally of ignorance and impudence enough to entitle God to any of their own blasphemies and superstitions But within thirty years after the death of Wickcliff Anno viz. 1414. The Council or Conventicle rather of Constance Decreed all Wickliffs Books to the Fire and though some were spared yet the battel was so hard that there were very few that escaped This was our state till the year 1527 in all which years the poor people of the Land of our Nativity were without a teaching Bible as to the common people and indeed without a teaching Priest yea and for sometime after this as we shall hear In the year 1527. God put it into the heart of Mr. Tindall to Translate the New Testament into English as also 1527. the Five Books of Moses he being then an exile in Germany for his Religion but he lost all his papers upon a Shipwrack in his passage to Hamborough and had his work to begin again which yet that faithful and most unwearied servant of God did accomplish adding some Prefaces to the several Books and some Notes to the particular chapters and verses The publishing of which much netled the Popish Bishops in England and all means were then used to suppress it Amongst others the then Bishop of London advised with one Packington a Merchant of that City concerning the most accommodate mean to that design The Merchant could think of none so probable as with a summe of money to buy up the whole impression The Bishop approving it furnished him with a round summ to that purpose which the Merchant being more a Friend to Mr. Tindal then the Bishop knew sent to Mr. Tindall and had the Impression sent him some few Copies being as we must Sculteti Annales in anno 1532. imagine first sold off with this mony Mr. Tindall supported himself in his exile and was also inabled to go on with his Translation of the other part of the Bible and to prepare a perfect English Bible In the mean time a passage happened so pleasant that I shall think it worth the while here to relate it Sir Thomas More being Lord Chancellor and having several persons accused for Heresie and ready for execution offered to compound with * George Constantine one of them for his Life upon the casie terms of his discovery to him who they were in London that maintained Tindall beyond Sea After that the poor man had got as good a security for his Life as the Honour and Truth of the Chancellour could give him he told him It was the Bishop of London maintained him by sending him a summe of mony to buy up the impression of his Testaments The Chancellour smiled saying that he believed he said true Thus was this poor Confessors Life saved But to return to our story In the year 1536. Mr. Tindall was Martyred at Villefort in Flanders For Translating into English the New Testament and part of the Old saith Sir Richard Baker but his great adversary Sir Thomas More was the year before gone Bakers Chron. p. 282. to his own place being executed for Treason Mr. Tindall and Mr. Coverdale as Mr. Fox telleth us before Mr. Tindalls death had translated the whole Bible But it came out after his death under the name of Thomas Matthews with the addition of the Apocrypha Translated by John Rogers The Lord Cromwel with Archbishop Cranmer presented it to the King and obtained an order from His Majesty for leave for any of his Subjects to read it but this was not without the great regret of the Bishops About thirteen years after this or not so much the Lord Cromwel obtained Letters from King Henry 8. for a subject 1540. of his to Reprint at Paris the Bible in English the King also wrote a Letter to Bonner at that time his Embassador in France to further it Grafton and Whitchurch undertook the work upon what seeming encouragement from Bonner may be read in Mr. Foxes 2d vol. of his Martyrology pr. 1641. p. 515. 516. But how it came to pass I cannot tell though Bonners Treachery was suspected in the case when it was upon the point finished the Copies were seized and ordered to be burnt and the work had wholly ceased but for the Covetousness of the Officer who sold four great dry fatts filled with them to an Haberdasher to lay Caps in By this means having recovered some Copies they came to London and there made a new impression But after this my Lord Cromwel being put to death the Bishops and Popish-party made so great complaint to the King whose warmth for the Reformation much abated in the latter part of his Life That the Sale of the English Bible was again prohibited and the Printer imprisoned and altho the Bishops promised the King they would make a more correct Translation
did so before the fall what then was natural is now become painful and shameful to it as nakedness and some other things were to man But it seems more probable that this Serpent before the fall either had feet or rather did go with its breast erect as the Basilisk at this day doth God peradventure so ordering it as a Testimony that some other Serpents did once go so And so the sense of the curse being applied to this particular Serpent and to its kind may be this whereas thou hadst a priviledge above other kinds of Serpents whereby thou didst go with erected breast and didst feed upon the Fruits of Trees and other Plants now thou shalt be brought down to the same mean and vile estate with them upon thy belly or rather breast as the word also signifies shalt thou go c. as they do and * Isa. 65. 25. dust shalt thou eat y Dust is the food as of Earthworms Scorpions and some other Creatures so also of some Serpents as appears both from Isai. 65. last Mic. 7. 17. and from the Testimony of Nicander Thâ—…riac vers 372. and Philo an Arabick Writer Or the dust is the Serpents sawce rather then his meat whilst creeping and groveling upon the Earth and taking his foâ—… from thence he must necessarily take in dust and filth together with it These two clauses being applyed to the Devil signifie his fall from his noble state and place to Earth and Hell the baseneâ—…s of his nature and of his food his delight being in the vilest of mâ—…n and things it being now his meâ—…t and drink to dishonour God and destroy mankind and promote the esteem and love of earthly things all the days of thy Life 15. And I will put enmity z Though now you be sworn Friends leagued together against me between thee and the Woman a And the Man too but the Woman alone is mentioned for the Devils greater confusion 1. The Woman whom as the weaker Vessel thou didst seduce shall be the great occasion of thy overthrow 2. Because the Son of God who conquered this great Dragon and old Serpent Rev. 12. 9. Who came to destroy the works of the Devil 1 Iohn 3. 8. was made of a Woman Gal. 4. 4. without the help of man Esa. 7. 14. Luk. â—… 34 35. and between thy * Matt. 3. 7. and 13. 38 and 23. 3â—… John 8. 44. Acts 13. 10. â—… John 3. 8. Seed b Literally this Serpent and for his sake the whole seed or race of Serpents which of all Creatures are most loathsome and terrible to mankind and especially to Women Mystically that evil Spirit which seduced her and with him the whole society of Devils who are generally hated and dreaded by all men even by those that serve and obey them but much more by good men and all wicked men who with regard to this text are called Devils and the Children or seed of the Devil Iohn 6. 70. and 8. 44. Acts 13. 10. 1 Iohn 3. 8. and her †Psal. 132. 11. Isi. 7. 14. Mic. 5. 3. Seed c Her off-spring first and principally the Lord Christ who with respect to this text and promise is called by way of eminency the Seed Gal. 3. 16 19. whose alone work it is to break the Serpents head i. â—… to destroy the Devil Heb. 2. 14. Compare Iohn 12. 31. Rom. 16. 20. Secondly and by way of participation all the members of Christ all believers and holy men who are called the Children of Christ Heb. 2. 13. and of the Heavenly Ierusalem Gal. 4. 26. All the members whereof are the Seed of this Woman And all these are the implacable enemies of the Devil whom also by Christs merit and strength they do overcome It shall ‖ Som. 16. 20. Heb. 2. 14. 1 John 5. 5. Rev. 12. 7 17. bruise thy head e The principal instrument both of the Serpents fury and mischief and of his defence and the principal seat of the Serpents life which therefore men chiefly strike at and which being upon the ground a man may conveniently tread upon and crush it to pieces In the Devil this notes his Power and Authority over men the strength whereof consists in Death which Christ the blessed seed of the Woman overthroweth by taking away the sting of death which is Sin 1 Cor. 15. 55 56. and destroying him that had the power of death that is the Devil Heb. 2. 14. and thou shalt bruise his heel f The part which is most within the Serpents reach and wherewith it was bruised and thereby provoked to fix his venemous Teeth there But a part remote from the Head and Heart and therefore its wounds though painful are not deadly nor dangerous if they be observed in time If it be applyed to the seed of the Woman Christ his heel may note either his humanity whereby he trod upon the Earth which indeed the Devil by Gods permission and the hands of wicked men did bruise and kill or his Saints and Members upon the Earth whom the Devil doth in diverse manners bruise and vex and afflict while he cannot reach their head Christ in Heaven nor those of his members who are or shall be advanced thither 16. Unto the Woman he said I will greatly g Or certainly as the repetition of the same word implyes multiply thy sorrow h In diverse pains and infirmities peculiar to thy Sex i. e. Thou shalt have many and those oft-times false and fruitless Conceptions and Abortive Births and whereas thou mightest commonly have had many Children at one Conception as some few Women yet have now thou shalt ordinarily undergo all the troubles and pains of Conception Breeding and Birth for every Child which thou hast Or Thy sorrows and thy Conception by a figure called Hendiaduo are put for thy sorrows in Conception or rather in Child-bearing which the Hebrew word here used signifies Gen. 16. 4. Iud. 13. 3. and thy conception In sorrow i Aristotle in his Histor. Animal 7. 9. observes that Women bring forth young with more pain than any other Creatures thou shalt bring forth k Or bear for the word notes all the pains and troubles which Women have both in the time of Child-bearing and in the act of bringing forth Children l Heb. Sons and Daughters too both being comprehended in that word as Exod 22. 24. Psal. 128. 6. And thy desire m Thy desires shall be referred or submitted to thy husbands will and pleasure to grant or deny them as he sees fit Which sense is confirmed from Gen. 4. 7. where the same phrase is used in the same sense And this punishment was both very proper for her that committed so great an errour as the eating of the forbidden Fruit was in compliance with her own desire without asking her Husbands advise or consent as in all reason she should have done in so weighty and doubtful
also unto Rachel and he loved also Rachel more then Leah and served with him yet seven other years 31 And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated c Comparatively to Rachel less loved slighted So that word is oft used as Deut. 21. 15. Matth. 6. 24. and 10. 37. compated with Luke 14. 26. Iohn 12. 25. he opened her womb but Rachel was barren d Thus variously doth God distribute his favours that all may be contented and none despised 32 And Leah conceived and bare a son and she called his name ‖ That is see â—… son Reuben for she said surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction e With an eye of pity and kindness as that general phrase is oft understood now therefore my husband will love me 33 And she conceived again and bare a son and said Because the LORD hath heard f i. e. Perceived or understood hearing being oft put for understanding that I was hated he hath therefore given me this son also and she called his name ‖ That is hearing Simeon 34 And she conceived again and bare a son and said Now this time will my husband be joyned unto me g In more sincere and fervent affection because I have born him three sons therefore was his name called ‖ That is joyned Levi. 35 And she conceived again and bare a son and she said Now will I praise the LORD e More solemnly and continually for otherwise she did praise and acknowledge God for the former mercies therefore she called his name * Matth. 1. 2. ‖ That is praise Judah and †Heb. stood from bearing left bearing CHAP. XXX 1 AND when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children Rachel envyed her sister and said unto Jacob Give me children or else I die a A speech full of impatience and bordering upon blasphemy and striking at God himself through Iacobs sides For which therefore she afterwards smarted dying by that very means whereby she hoped to prevent her death and prolong her life Gen. 35. 18. 2 And Jacobs anger was kindled against Rachel b For the injury done to himself and especially for the sin against God in which case anger is not onely lawfull but necessary and he said am I in Gods stead c It is Gods prerogative to give Children See Gen. 16. 2. 1 Sam. 2. 5 6. Psal. 113. 9. and 127. 3. who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb 3 And she said Behold my maid Bilhah go in unto her and she shall bear upon my knees d An Ellipsis or short speech she shall bear a child which may be laid upon my knees or in my lap which I may adopt and bring up as if it were my own See Gen. 50. 23. Isâ—… 66. 12. that I may also †Heb. be built by her have children by her e For as servants so their work and fruit were not their own but their masters 4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife and Jacob went in unto her 5 And Bilhah conceived and bare Jacob a son 6 And Rachel said God hath judged me * Pleaded my cause or given sentence for me as this phrase is oft taken and hath also heard my voice and hath given me a son therefore called she his name ‖ That is judging Dan. 7 And Bilhah Rachels maid conceived again and bare Jacob a second son 8 And Rachel said with †Heb. wrastlings of God great wrastlings f Heb. With wrastlings of God either with great and hard wrastlings or strivings or by wrastling with God in fervent prayer and by Gods grace and strength have I wrastled with my sister and I have prevailed g Which was not true for her sister exceeded her both in the number of her Children and in her propriety in them being the fruit of her own womb not of her handmaids as Rachels were Here is an instance how partial Judges most persons are in their own causes and concernments and she called his name ‖ That is my wrastling * Called Matt. 4. 13. Nephthalian Naphtali 9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing she took Zilpah her maid and gave her Jacob to wife 10 And Zilpah Leahs maid bare Jacob a son 11 And Leah said A troop cometh h Or Good luck cometh my design hath well succeeded an happy star hath shone upon me and such a star in the opinion of Astrologers is that of Iupiter which by the Arabians is called Gad. This may well agree to Leah and her heathenish Education and the manners of the Chaldaeans who were much given to the study of the stars And she called his name ‖ That is a troop or company Gad. 12 And Zilpah Leahs maid bare Jacob a second son 13 And Leah said †Heb. in my happiness Happy am I for the daughters †Of Men i. e. Women as Prov. 31. 29. Cant. 6. 9. will call me blessed and she called his name ‖ That is happy Asher 14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found Mandrakes i The word is onely found here and Cant. 7. 13. whence it appears that it is a Plant or Fruit of pleasant smell such as the Mandrake is said to be by Dioscorides and Levinus Lemnius and by St. Austin upon his own experience If it be said this was too early for Mandrakes to be ripe it being now but wheat harvest it may be replyed that fruits ripen much sooner in those hot Countries than elsewhere and that they are not here said to be ripe but onely to be gathered in the field and brought them unto his mother Leah Then Rachel said to Leah Give me I pray thee of thy sons Mandrakes k Which she might desire either because they were pleasant to the eye or tast or because they were thought helpful to conception 15 And she said unto her Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband and wouldst thou take away my sons Mandrakes also and Rachel said Therefore he shall lie with thee to night l Iacob either did equally divide the times between his two Wives or rather had more estranged himself from Leah and cohabited principally with Rachel which occasioned the foregoing expostulation for thy sons Mandrakes 16 And Jacob came out of the field in the evening and Leah went out to meet him and said Thou must come in unto me for surely I have hired thee with my sons Mandrakes And he lay with her that night m He ratified their agreement that he might preserve peace and love amongst them 17 And God hearkned unto Leah n Notwithstanding her many infirmities Hence it appears that she was moved herein not by any inordinate lust but by a desire of Children and she conceived and bare Jacob the fifth son 18 And Leah said God hath given me
or commandements to wit the ten commandements so called by way of eminency for these onely were written by God upon the stony tables as appears by Exod. 34. 28. the rest were written onely by Moses in a book above ver 4. which I have written that thou mayest teach them 13 And Moses rose up and his minister Joshua g Who did not go up with Moses to the top of the mount as is sufficiently implyed both here and above ver 1 2. but abode in some lower place waiting for Moses his return as appears from Exod. 32. 17. And there Ioshua abode 40 dayes not fasting all the while but having as the rest had Manna for his meat and for his drink water out of the brook that discended out of the mount as we read Deut. 9. 21. and Moses went up into the mount of God 14 And he said unto the elders Tarry ye here for us h i. e. For me and Ioshua and here i. e. in the camp where he was when he spake these words for it was where not onely Aaron and Hur but the people might come as it here follows and therefore not upon the mount untill we come again unto you and behold Aaron and Hur i Whom Moses had made joint-commissioners to determine hard causes which were brought to them from the Elders according to the order Exod. 18. 22. Some make Aaron the Ecclesiastical head and Hur the civil head But Aaron was not authorized for Ecclesiastical matters till chap. 28. are with you if any man have any matters to do let him come unto them 15 And Moses went up into the mount and a cloud covered the mount 16 And * Num. 14. 10. the glory of the LORD k i. e. The tokens of his glorious presence in the fire ver 17. Deut. 4. 36. abode upon mount Sinai and the cloud covered l From the eyes of the people it six dayes and the seventh day m So long God made Moses wait either to exercise his humility devotion and dependance upon God Or to prepare him by degrees for so great a work Or because this was the Sabbath day called therefore the seventh with an emphatical article And God might chuse that day for the beginning of that glorious work to put the greater honour upon it and oblige the people to a stricter observance of it So it was upon a Lords Day that St. Iohn had his Revelation delivered to him Rev. 1. 10. he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud 17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like * Deut. 4. 36. devouring fire n He saith like it for it was not devouring fire as appears by Moses his long abode in it Note here whatsoever the Elders of Israel saw before the people saw no similitude of God as Moses observes Deut. 4. 15. on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel 18 And Moses went up into the midst of the cloud o The God that called him enabling him to enter and abide there whereas when he was left to himself he could not enter into the Tabernacle Exod. 40. 35. and gat him up into the mount and Moses was in the mount forty dayes and forty nights p In which he did neither eat nor drink Exod. 34. 28. Deut. 9. 9 18. whereby it seems most probable the six days mentioned ver 16. were a part of these 40 days because Moses being in perpetual expectation of Gods call seems not to have had leasure for eating and drinking nor provision neither Besides he is not said to be in the midst of the cloud so long but onely in the mount where he was those six days ver 15 16. CHAP. XXV 1 AND the LORD spake a Having delivered the Moral and Judicial Laws he now comes to the Ceremonial Law wherein he sets down all things very minutely and particularly whereas in the other Laws he was content to lay down general rules and leaveth many other things to be by analogy deduced from them The reason of the difference seems to be this That the light of reason implanted in all men gives him greater help in the discovery of Moral and Judicial things then in Ceremonial matters or in the external way and manner of Gods Worship which is a thing depending wholly upon Gods institution and not left to mans invention which is a very incompetent Judge of those things as appears from hence because the wittiest men destitute of Gods revelation have been guilty of most foolery in their devices of Gods Worship unto Moses saying 2 Speak unto the children of Israel that they †Heb. take for me bring me an ‖ Or. heave offering offering * chap. 35. 5. of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering 3 And this is the offering which ye shall take of them gold and silver and brass 4 And blue b Or Skie-coloured But here you must not understand the meer colours which could not be offered but some materials proper for the work and of the colours here mentioned to wit Wool or Threds or some such like things as appears from Heb. 9. 19. and from the testimony of the Jews and purple and scarlet and fine †Or silk linnen c Which was of great esteem in antient times and used by Priests and great Officers of state See Gen. 41. 42. Rev. 19. 8 14. and goats hair d Heb. Goats But that their hair is understood is apparent from the nature of the thing and from the use of the word in that sense in other places 5 And rams skins died red and badgers skins and Shittim-wood e A kind of Wood growing in Egypt and the Deserts of Arabia very durable and pretious See Exod. 35. 24. Numb 33. 49. Esa. 41. 19. Ioel 3. 18. 6 * chap 27. 20. Oyl for the light f For the Lamps or Candlesticks ver 〈◊〉 * chap. 30. 23 Spices for anointing oyl g Wherewith the Priests and the Tabernacle and the 〈◊〉 thereof were to be anointed and for * chap. 30. 3â—… sweet incense h Heb. Incense of Spices or Sweet-odors So called to distinguish it from the incense of the fat of Sacrifices which was burnt upon the Altar 7 Onyx-stones i Or Sardonyx-stones Note that the signification of the Hebrew Names of the several stones are not agreed upon by the Jews at this day and much more may we safely be ignorant of them the religious use of them being now abolished and stones to be set k Stones of fulness or filling or perfecting stones so called either because they did perfect and adorn the Ephod or because they filled up the ouches or the hollow places which were left vacant for this purpose in the * chap. 28. 4. Ephod and in the * chap. 28. 15. breast-plate l
is a difference among Prophets nor do I put the equal authority and honour upon all of them I the LORD will make my self known unto him in a vision k Whereby God represents things to the mind of a Prophet when he is awake as Gen. 15. 1. and 46. 2. Dan. 8. 18. and 10. 8. and will speak unto him in a dream l By which God manifests his mind to them in a dream as Gen. 20. 3. and 28. 12. 7 My servant Moses is not so * Heb. 3. 2. who is faithful in all mine house m i. e. Whom I have set over all my house i. e. my Church and people and therefore over you and who hath discharged his office faithfully and not partially and self-seekingly as you falsly accuse him 8 With him will I speak * Exod. 33. 11. mouth to mouth n i. e. Distinctly by an articulate voice immediately not by an interpreter nor by shadows and representations in his fancy as it is in visions and dreams and familiarly This is called speaking face to face 2 Epist. of Iohn ver 12. and 3 Epist. ver 14. even apparently o Plainly and certainly and not in dark speeches p Not in parables similitudes riddles dark resemblances as by shewing a boyling pot an Almond Tree c. to Ieremy a chariot with wheels c. to Ezekiel and the similitude of the LORD q Not the face or essence of God which no man can see and live Exod. 33. 20. it being invisible Col. 1. 15. and never seen by man Iohn 1. 18 but some singular manifestation of his glorious presence as Exod. 33. 11 20 c. and 34. 5 c. Deut. 34. 10. Yea the Son of God appeared to him in an humane shape which he took up for a time that he might give him a forecast of his future incarnation shall he behold wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant r Who is so in such an eminent and extraordinary manner Moses 9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them and he departed s From the door of the Tabernacle in token of his great displeasure not waiting for their answer and judging them unworthy of any further discourse 10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle t Not from the whole Tabernacle for then they must have removed but from that part of the Tabernacle whither it was come to that part which was directly over the Mercy-seat where it constantly abode and * Deut. 24. 9. behold Miriam became leprous u She and not Aaron either because she was first or chief in the transgression or because God would not have his worship either interrupted or dishonoured which it must have been if Aaron had been leprous white as snow x This kind of leprosie was the most virulent and incurable of all See Exod. 4. 6. 2 King 5. 27. It is true when the leprosie began in a particular part and thence spread it self over all the flesh by degrees and at last made it all white that was an evidence of the cure of the leprosie Levit. 13. 12 13. but it was otherwise when one was suddenly and extraordinarily smitten with this universal whiteness which shewed the great corruption of the whole mass of blood as it was here and Aaron looked upon Miriam and behold she was leprous 11 And Aaron said unto Moses Alas my lord I beseech thee lay not the sin upon us y Let not the guilt and punishment of this sin rest upon us upon her in this kind upon me in any other kind but pray to God for the pardon and removal of it wherein we have done foolishly and wherein we have sinned 12 Let her not be as one dead z Either naturally because part of her flesh was putrefied and dead and not to be restored but by the mighty power of God Or morally because she was cut off from all converse with others Levit. 13. 46. of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mothers womb a Like an untimely birth without due shape and proportion or like a still born child that hath been for some time dead in the womb which when it comes forth is white and putrefied and part of it consumed 13 And Moses cryed unto the LORD saying Heal her now O God I beseech thee 14 And the LORD said unto Moses * See Heb. 12. 9. If her father had but spit in her face b i. e. Expressed some eminent token of indignation and contempt which this was Iob 30. 10. Isa. 50. 6. should she not be ashamed c And withdraw her self from her fathers presence as Ionathan did upon a like occasion 1 Sam. 20. 34. So though God healed her according to Moses his request yet he would have her publickly bear the shame of her sin and be a warning to others to keep them from the same transgression seven dayes let her be * Lev. 13. 46. shut out from the camp seven dayes d The time appointed for cleansing the unclean See Numb 6. 9. and 31. 19. and after that let her be received in again 15 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven dayes and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again e Which was a testimony of respect to her both from God and from the people God so ordering it partly least she should be overwhelmed by such a publick rebuke from God and partly least she being a Prophetess together with her person the gift of Prophesie should come into contempt 16 And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth f Where they abode as is said Numb 11. 35. for Miriams sake and pitched in the wilderness of Paran g i. e. In another part of the same wilderness as may be gathered from Numb 10. 12. See also Deut. 33. 2. It is possible they might have removed out of one part of that wilderness into another wilderness and then returned again into another part of it as we know the Israelites had many strange windings and turnings in their Wilderness travels And this part was more especially called Rithmah Numb 33. 18. and Kadesh-barnea Numb 13. 26. Deut. 1. 19. which were two noted places in that part both which seem to be comprehended within their camp or near adjoyning to it CHAP. XIII 1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses a In answer to the peoples petition about it as is evident from Deut. 1. 22. And it is probable from the following story that the people desired it out of diffidence of Gods promise and providence though Moses liked of it as a prudent course to learn where or how to make the first invasion And God granted their desire for their trial and punishment as well knowing from what root it came saying 2 * chap. 32. 8. Deut. 1. 22. Send thou men b Do as
therefore this will be no great inconvenience nor burden to thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it 5 Onely if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day 6 For the LORD thy God blesseth thee as he promised thee and * chap. 28. 12 44. thou shalt lend unto many nations i Thou shalt be rich and able to lend not onely to thy poor brother but even to strangers of other nations yea to many of them but thou shalt not borrow and thou shalt reign over many nations but they shall not reign over thee 7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother 8 * Mat. 5. 42. Luk. 6. 34 3â—… But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him k i. e. Deal bountifully and liberally with him giving him as it were by handfuls and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth 9 Beware that there be not a †Heb. word thought in thy †Heb. Beâ—… wicked heart l Suppress the first risings and inward motions of such uncharitableness saying The seventh year the year of release is at hand and thine eye be evil m i. e. Envious unmerciful unkind as this phrase is used Prov. 23. 6. Matth. 20. 15. as a good eye notes the contrary disposition Prov. 22. 9. against thy poor brother and thou givest him nought and he cry unto the LORD against thee and it be sin n i. e. It be charged upon thee as a sin and as a great sin as the word sin sometimes signifies as Prov. 24. 9. Iohn 15. 24. Iam. 4. 17. unto thee 10 Thou shalt surely give him and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him o i. e. Thou shalt give not onely with an open hand but with a willing and chearful mind and heart Rom. 12. 8. 2. Cor. 9. 7. without which thy very charity is uncharitable and not accepted by God who requires the heart in all his services because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto p i. e. In all thy works as before for the hand is the great instrument of action 11 For * Mat. â—… 〈◊〉 Joh. 12. â—… the poor shall never cease out of the land q God by his providence will so order it partly for the punishment of your disobedience and partly for the trial and exercise of your obedience to me and charity to your brother both which are best discovered by your performance of costly duties therefore I command thee saying Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother to thy poor and to thy needy in the land 12 And * Exod. 〈◊〉 Jer. 34. 〈◊〉 if thy brother an Hebrew man or an Hebrew woman be sold unto thee r See on Exod. 22. 3. and serve thee six years s To be computed either 1. From the year of release as they gather from hence that personal and real debts were both released together But that seems to be supposed rather than proved nay there is a manifest difference between them for the release of real debts is expresly mentioned and required in the year of release but so is not the release of the personal debt of servitude either here or elsewhere Or rather 2. From the beginning of this servitude which is every where limited unto the space of six years as here and below ver 18. and Exod 21. 2. Ier. 34. 14. And it seems a strange and forced exposition to take these six years for so much of the six years as remains until the year of release which possibly might not be one quarter of a year whereas an hired servant serves for a far longer time and this is said to be worth a double hired servant in regard of the longer time of his service ver 18. Adde to this that it is mentioned as the peculiar priviledge of the year of Jubilee that such servants were then freed though their six years of service were not expired then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee 13 And when thou sendest him out free from thee thou shalt not let him go away empty 14 Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock and out of thy floor and out of thy wine-press of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him 15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt and the LORD thy God redeemed thee t And brought thee out with triumph and with riches which because they would not God did give to thee as a just recompence for thy service and therefore thou shalt sollow his example and send out thy servant furnished with all convenient provisions therefore I command thee this thing to day 16 And it shall be if he say unto thee I will not go away from thee because he loveth thee and thine house because he is well with thee u Because he is sensible that he fares well with thee Or because it is good i. e. acceptable in his eyes or pleasing to him to be with thee 17 * Exod. 21. 6. Then thou shalt take an awl and thrust it through his ear unto the door and he shall be thy servant for ever x i. e. All the time of his Life or at least till the year of Jubile See on Exod. 21. 6. and also unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do likewise y i. e. Either dismiss her honourably and with plenty of provision or engage her to perpetual servitude in the same manner and by the same Rites Whence it appears that this case differs from that Exod. 21. 7. and that the maid-servant there was taken in upon other and better terms than this here 18 It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee for he hath been worth a double * See Isa. 16. 14. hired servant to thee x Or he deserves double wages to an hired servant because he served thee upon better terms both without wages which hired servants require and for a longer time even for six years as it here follows whereas servants were ordinarily hired but from year to year Levit. 25. 53. or at most but for three years as they gather from this place and Isa. 16. 14. in serving thee six years and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest 19 * Exod. 34. 19. â—…ev 27. 26. Num. 3. 13. All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt
to the Birth of the Messiah who was to be Born of an Israelitish Woman I and my fellows 38 And he said Go. And he sent her away for two months and she went with her companions and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains 39 And it came to pass at the end of two months that she returned unto her father who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed a Qu. What was it which Iepthah Vowed and Performed concerning his Daughter Ans. Many especially of Modern Writers conceive that Iephtha's Daughter was not Sacrificed but only Devoted to perpetual Virginity which then was esteemed a great Curse and Reproach This they gather 1. From v. 37 38. where we read that she bewailed not her Death which had been the chief Cause of Lamentation if that had been Vowed but her Virginity 2. From this v. 39. where after he had said that he â—…id with her according to his Vow he adds by way of declaration of the matter of that Vow and she knew no Man But for the first there may be a fair reason given That she could not with Honour bewail her Death which she had so generously and chearfully accepted of because it was attended with and occasioned by the Publick Good and her Fathers Honour and Happiness v. 36. and was a kind of Martyrdom and moreover an act of Religion the payment of a Vow which ought to be done chearfully but onely bewailed the circumstance of her Death that it was in some sort accursed and opprobrious she having had no Husband to take away her reproach as they speak Isa. 4. 1. and leaving no Posterity to her Fathers Comfort and the Increase of Gods People And for the second that Clause and she knew no man is plainly distinguished from the Execution of his Vow which is here mentioned before and this is added not as an Explication of the Vow but as an aggravating Circumstance that this was executed when she had not yet known any man Besides this Opinion seems liable to weighty Objections 1. There is no Example in all the Scripture of any Woman that was obliged to perpetual Virginity by any Vow of her own much less by the Vow of her Parents nor have Parents any such Power over their Children either by the Law of Nature or by the Holy Scripture 2. The express words of the Vow v 31. mention nothing of her Virginity but onely that she should surely be the Lords i. e. Devoted to the Service of the Lord which might be without any obligation to perpetual Virginity for even Samuel who was as fully devoted to the Lord by his Parents as she could be 1 Sam. 1. 11. and Sampson who was Devoted not onely by his Parents but by God himself and that in the highest degree even to be a perpetual Nazarite Iudg. 13. 5 7. yet were not prohibited Marriage nor were any of the most Sacred Persons Levites or Priests or High Priests though they were the Lords in a singular manner obliged to perpetual Virginity and therefore if she was not Offered up for a Burnt-Offering as the Authors of this Opinion say but onely was Consecrated to God there was no occasion to bewail her Virginity which for any thing that appears she was not tied to 3. If this were all here was no sufficient cause why so wise and valiant a man as Iepthah should so bitterly and passionately lament over himself or his Daughter And therefore it may seem most probable that Iepthah did indeed Sacrifice his Daughter as he had Vowed to do which was the Opinion of Iosephus the Jew and of the Chaldee Paraphrast and of divers of the Iewish Doctors and almost all the Ancient Fathers and many eminent Writers and this best agrees with the words of the Vow delivered v. 31. Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me shall surely be the Lords and I will offer it for a Burnt-Offering Nor is there one word in all the following Verses which denies that she was thus offered onely the execution of the Vow is delivered in more ambiguous and general terms v. 39. which in all reason and by the Laws of good Interpretation ought to be limited and explained by the more plain and particular description of it It is true these words may seem capable of another interpretation the conjunctive Particle and may be here par for the disjunctive or as it often is as Exod. 21. 16 17. Levit. 6. 3 5. 2 Sam. 2. 19 â—… and so the meaning is that what I first meet shall sureâ—… be the Lords or I will offer it up for a Burnt-Offering to wit if it be a Creature â—…it to be so offered Otherwise â—…y they if a Dog or an Ass should have met him first he should have been obliged to offer them which was against the Law But it is sufficiently evident that he speaks of 〈◊〉 Humane person from the very Phrase of coming forth to meet him at his return which plainly argues a design to meet him purposely to Congratulate his Return this phrase of going to meet a person coming being very oft used in Scripture and constantly of one person meeting another as Gen. 14. 17. and 18. 2. and 24. 17 c. and never of any bruit Creature And although and is sometimes put for or yet it is not to be so used without necessity which seems not to be in this place nor is it very proper to distinguish two Sentences in this manner where the one is more general and the other being more special is comprehended within it which is the case here for it shall surely be the Lords is the general and its being offered up for a burnt-offering is the particular way or manner how it was to be the Lords as it were very improper to say This is either a man or it is my servant Iohn because the latter branch is contained in the former and therefore in all the alledged instances where and is put for or they are two distinct persons or things and not one comprehended within another as Exod. 21. 17. Father or Mother 2 Sam. 2. 19. right hand or left But the great objection against this Opinion is this That it seems a most horrid Act directly contrary to the Law of Nature and to plain Scripture thus to Sacrifice his own Daughter and that it seems altogether incredible either that such a man as Iepthah so eminent for Piety and Wisdom and Zeal and Faith should either make so Barbarous a Vow or pursue it for above two Months space and that none of the Priests of that time should inform him of the unlawfulness of executing so Wicked a Vow and of the liberty he had to redeem such a Vow by vertue of Levit. 27. 2 3. c. or that Iepthah would not willingly receive information especially where it was so agreeable to his own interest and natural affection or that the Priests and People would
old habitation because of the Wars and Troubles wherewith Iudah was annoyed Go depart get ye down from among the Amalekites leâ—…t I destroy you with them for ye shewed kindness p Some of your Progenitors did so Exod. 18. 12. Numb 10. 31. and for their sakes all of you shall fare the better You were not Guilty of that sin for which Amalek is now to be Destroyed 〈◊〉 all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites 7 And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to * Gen. 16. 7. Shur that is over against Egypt q i. e. From one end of their Country to the other he sâ—…ote all that he met with but a great number of them â—…led away upon the noise of his coming as is usual in such cases and secured themselves in other places until the Storm was over when they returned again of whom we read before chap. 13. 6. and 14. 22. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive r Whom Saul spared either out of foolish pity for the goodliness of his Person which Iosephus Notes or for his respect to his Royal Majesty in the preservation of which he thought himself concerned or for the Glory of his Triumph Compare v. 12. and * Seâ—… Chap. 3â—… 1. utterly destroyed all the people s To wit the Body of the People but not every individual Person as hath been shewed Universal Particles are commonly thus understood as is confessed with the edge of the sword 9 But Saul and the people t The one proposed to do so and the other consented to it and so both were Guilty spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and ‖ Or of the second sort of the fatlings and the lambs and all that was good u Which it is more than probable they reserved for their own use rather than for Sacrifice because they knew God would not accept a Sacrifice contrary to his own command and would not utterly destroy them but every thing that was vile and refuse that they destroyed utterly x Thus they obey God onely so far as they could without inconvenience to themselves they Destroyed onely what was not worth keeping nor fit for their use 10 ¶ Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel saying 11 It * â—… Sam. 24. 16. repenteth me y Repentance properly Notes grief of heart and change of Counsels and therefore cannot be in God who is unchangeable most Wise and most Blessed but it is ascribed to God in such cases when men give God cause to Repent and when God alters his Course and Method of dealing and Treats a Person as if he did indeed Repent of all the kindness he had shewed to him that I have set up Saul to be king for he is turned back from following me and hath not ‡ Heb. conâ—… performed my commandments And it grieved Samuel and he cried unto the LORD all night z To implore his Pardoning Mercy for Saul and for the People so far was he from rejoycing in their Calamities as an envious and self-seeking Person would have done 12 And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning it was told Samuel saying Saul came to Carmel a Not Mount Carmel of which Iosh. 12. 22. but another Mountain or Town in the Tribe of Iudah of which see Iâ—…sh 15. 55. and behold he set him up a ‡ Heb. hand place b i. e. A Monument or Trophy of his Victory as the same Hebrew word is used 2 Sam. 18. 18. And this may be here Noted by way of censure That he set it up not to God's honour but to himself i. e. to his own praise which he minded in the first place and afterwards went to Gilgal as it here follows to offer Sacrifice to God and is gone about and passed on and gone down to Gilgal 13 And Samuel came unto Saul and Saul said unto him Blessed be thou of the LORD c I thank thee and I beg that God would Bless thee for sending me upon this Employment and giving me this opportunity of manifesting my Obedience to God I have ‡ Heb. conâ—… performed the commandment of the LORD d To wit for the main and substance of it to wit the Extirpation of that wicked People for he thought the sparing of Agag and the Cattel very inconsiderable in the case though indeed it was expresly contrary to Gods command but self-Interest made him exceeding partial in his own Cause or else like a bold Hypocrite he pretends that for his part he had obeyed God resolving it seems to cast the blame upon the People as he did 14 And Samuel said What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears and the lowing of the oxen which I hear e How can this Evidence of Guilt consist with the profession of thy Innocency 15 And Saul said They f i. e. The People Thus after the manner of all Hypocrites he excuseth himself and lays the blame upon the People whereas they could not do it without his privity and consent and he should have used his Power and Authority to over-rule them for God's sake as he had done formerly for his own sake But the truth is he was zealous for his own Honour and Interest but luke-warm where God onely was concerned have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the shâ—…ep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the LORD g It is not likely that this was his and the Peoples Design but this he now pretends and ascribes that to his Piety which was indeed the effect of his Impiety and Avarice thy God h Whom thou Lovest and Servest and therefore must needs be pleased with our Pious respect to him and his Service and the rest we have utterly destroyed 16 Then Samuel said unto Saul Stay and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night And he said unto him Say on 17 And Samuel said When thou wast little in thine own sight i i. e. Modest Humble and Submissive as 1 Sam. 9. 21. and 10. 22. Whereby he implies that now he was grown Proud and Stubborn and Impudent both to commit sin and justify it wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel 18 And the LORD sent thee on a journey and said Go and utterly destroy the sinners k So called by way of Eminency as that word is used Gen. 13. 13. Matth. 9. 19. Iohn 9. 24 31. the Amalekites and fight against them until ‡ Heb. 〈◊〉 consuâ—… them they be consumed 19 Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD but didst flye upon the spoil and didst evil in the sight of the LORD l Who cannot be
was Meditating upon these things and then alter his Posture though it be not here expressed and betake himself to Prayer Or rather Secondly His continuance there as this Hebrew word is oft used as Gen. 27. 44. Levit. 14. 8. 1 Sam. 1. 22. and 20. 19. that he did not barely present himself before God but abode there for some competent time that he might with Gods leave pour out his Soul freely before him For howsoever one may in some cases pray sitting yet it is most probable that David would in this Holy place and upon this occasion use a more Humble and Reverent gesture such as kneeling is which therefore David prescribeth or adviseth Psal. 95. 6. and Solomon accordingly practiseth 1 King 8. 54. 2 Chron. 6. 13. How infinitely unworthy am I and my Family of this great honour and happiness before the LORD and said Who am I O LORD God and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto k 19 And this l To wit which thou hast already done for me as he now said That thou hast brought me hitherto i. e. to that pitch of Honour and Peace and Prosperity in which through thy favour I now stand was yet a small thing in thy sight O LORD God m Though it was more than I deserved or could expect yet thou didst not think it enough for thee to give to me but thou hast spoken also of thy servants house for a great while to come n For many future Ages and indeed to all Eternity and is this the ‡ Heb. law manner of man O LORD God o Do men use to deal so freely and kindly with their inferiors as thou hast done with me No this is the Prerogative of Divine Grace to give such promises and largesses as this So these are words of admiration which very well sutes with the foregoing and following words Or And is this the Manner or Law or Custom of mean or obscure men c. as the Hebrew Adam is confessed sometimes to signify as Psal. 49. 2. and 62. 9. Isa. 2. 9. i. e. Is this the manner of mens dealing with mean and obscure persons such as I am So the Hebrew haadam is the Genitive Case of the object which is frequent in the Hebrew and other Languages And this seems more probable because it exactly agrees with the parallel place 1 Chron. 17. 17. where the words are thou hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree i. e. thou hast dealt with me as if I had been not a poor mean Shepherd but the Son of some Great Monarch to whom such honours best agree 20 And what can David say more unto thee p Either First In way of gratitude and praise to thee words cannot express my obligations to thee nor my sense of these obligations Or rather Secondly In way of prayer as appears by the parallel place 1 Chron. 17. 17. What can I ask or desire of thee more than thou hast freely done for ‖ Or but. thou LORD God knowest thy servant q Thou knowest Either First My deep sense of thy favours and my obligations to thee Or rather Secondly My condition and necessities what I do or may need hereafter and as thou knowest this so I doubt not thou wilst be ready to supply me accordingly Compare Matth. 6. 8 32. 21 For thy words sake r That thou mightest fulfil thy promises made to me by Samuel and Nathan and thereby demonstrate thy Faithfulness and according to thine own heart s i. e. Of thine own meer liberality and good pleasure without any desert of mine So far was David though now a very gracious man from thinking his actions Meritorious hast thou done all ‡ Heb. this greatness these great things to make thy servant know them t i. e. That thy gracious and wonderful purposes of Mercy towards me which lay hid in thine own heart might be manifested unto me and others by thy most kind words and actions So it agrees with 1 Chron. 17. 19. 22 Wherefore thou art great u Both in Power and in Goodness as appears by the great and good things which thou hast done for me O LORD God for * Deut. 3. 24. and 4. 35. and 2. 39. Sam. 2. 2. 〈◊〉 45. 5 18 〈◊〉 there is none like thee neither is there any God beside thee according to all that we have heard with our ears x What we have heard from our Parents or out of thy word concerning the incomparable excellency of thy Majesty and of thy Works of that I have this day eminent experience 23 And * Deut 4. 7 32. and 33. 29. Psal. 147. 20. what one nation in the earth is like thy people even like Israel whom God went y To wit into Egppt. An expression of God after the manner of men to redeem for a people to himself and to make him a name z To advance the Glory of his Power and Goodness and other perfections Compare Exod. 9. 16. and to do for you great things and terrible for thy land before thy people which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt from the nations and their gods 24 For thou hast confirmed to thy self a Partly by thy Promises and that sure Covenant which thou hast made with them and partly by thy Glorious Works wrought on their behalf as it appears this day thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever and thou LORD art become their God b In a peculiar manner and by special Relation and Covenant for otherwise he is the God and Father of all things 1 Cor. 8. 6. 25 And now O LORD God the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house establish it for ever and do as thou hast said 26 And let thy name be magnified for ever saying The LORD of hosts is the God over Israel c i. e. Do thou never cease to manifest thy self to be the God and Governor of Israel and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee 27 For thou O LORD of hosts God of Israel hast ‡ Heb. opened the ear revealed to thy servant saying I will build thee an house therefore d Because thy Promise hath given me incouragement to Pray and assurance of Answer hath thy servant found in his heart e Or found his heart i. e. taken Courage as a man is said to lose his heart when he wants Courage to pray this prayer unto thee 28 And now O LORD God thou art that God f That God who hast declared thy self to be Israel's God and in particular my God and * John 17. 17. thy words be true and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant 29 Therefore now ‡ Heb. be thou pleased and bless let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant that it may continue for
a Let his Excellency discovered in his works be the Matter of your joy and praise O ye righteous for * â—…sal 147. 1. praise is comely for the upright b It well becomes them to Exercise themselves in this work of praising and blessing of God Partly because they have such singular and abundant Obligations and Occasions to do so and Partly because they will praise God worthily and Heartily and with due Reverence and Thankfulness as God requires and deserves to be praised whereas ungodly men do indeed disparage and 〈◊〉 the Holy Name of God while they 〈◊〉 to praâ—… and therefore God rejects their Praâ—…s and Prayers See 〈◊〉 5â—… 16. and 109. 7. Prov. 28. 9. 2. Praise the LORD with harp sing unto him with the psaltery and * Psal 92. 3. an instrument of ten strings c He mentions these Instruments because they were used in the publick Worship and Praises of God in the Tabernacle 3. * Psal. 96. 1. 〈◊〉 1. 149. 1. 〈◊〉 â—…2 10. Sing unto him a new song d Either 1. Newly Composed As God gives you 〈◊〉 occasions so do not you content your selves with the olâ—… Songs or Psalms made by the holy Men of God but make New ones suited to the occasions But neither had all the Rigâ—…ous to whom he speaks v. 1. the Gift of Composing Songs nor was it of any Necessity or Importance that they should make new Songs to praise God at least for the Works here mentioned when there were so many made by David and other Holy Prophets for the use of God's Church and People when they had any such occasion Or 2. Renewed or repeated or sung again in which Sence Iob saith his Gâ—…y was Nâ—…w or fresh in him Iâ—…b 29 20. i. e. Renewed or continued from Day to Day and the Command of Love is called New Iob. 13. 34. because it was renewed and re-inforced by Christ. So this Song is here called Nâ—…w not so much from the Matter as from the singing of it because it was sung afresh or again play skilfully with a loud noise 4. For the word of the LORD is right e All God's Counsels and Commands either contained in the Scriptures Or given forth in his Providence for the Government of the World are wise and Just and Good without deceit or defect and all his works are done in truth f i. e. All his works of Providence agree with his Word and are no other then the accomplishment of his Promises or Threatnings or other Declarations of his Mind and Will in his Word although sometimes for a season they may seem contrary to it 5. * Psal. 4â—… 7. He loveth righteousness and judgment g i. e. Just judgment by a Figure called Hendyadis as Ier. 22. 3. Or Iustice relates to the Sentence and Iudgment to the Execution of it He not onely doth Justice to all men as was implied v. 6. but which is more he Loves it and Delights in it * Psal 119. 64. the earth is full of the ‖ Or mercy goodness of the LORD h He not onely doth no man wrong but he is very kind and merciful to all Men in the World to whom he gives many Favours and Invitations to his Love and Service See Mat. 5. 45. Act. 14 17. Rom. 1. 20 21. 6. * Gen. 1. 6 7. Heb. 11. 3. 2. Pet. 3. 5. By the word of the LORD i Either 1. By the Hypostatical word Christ who is oft called God's Word even by the Chaldee Paraphrast as also Iohn 1. v. 1 2 3. where he is said to be that â—…rd by whom all things were made So that which is here spoken more darkly and doubtedly according to that state of the Church is more clearly declared in the New Testament Or 2. By his Will or Command as this very Phrase is here used v. 4. and as it seems to be explained v. 9. And so it hath a great Emphasis in it that God made this admirable structure of the Heavens and all its glorious Stars not with great pains and time and help of many Artists and Instruments as men do far meaner Works but with one single Word which is much to the Glory of the Creator were the heavens made and all the host of them k The Angels Or the Stars See on Gen. 2. 1. * Job 26. 13. by the breath of his mouth l Either 1. By the Holy Ghost so called Iob 33. 4. And so here are all the Persons of the Trinity Iâ—…hovah the Father and the Word and the Spirit to each of which this Work of Creation is elsewhere ascribed as was noted on Gen. 1. 26. Or 2. By his Word as it was expressed in the last Clause which is so called Isa. 11. 4. 2. Tâ—…s 2. 8. 7. * Gen. 1. â—… 〈◊〉 26. 1â—… 〈◊〉 â—…8 8. He gathereth m Or gathered For he speaks of the first Creation when this was done Gen. 1. the waters of the sea together * Psal. 78. 1â—… as an heap o Either in the Clouds or in the Bowels of the Earth Whence he can draw them forth when he sees fit he layeth up the depths in store houses o Either in the Clouds or in the Bowels of the Earth Whence he can draw them forth when he sees fit n By which Expression he brings to our Minds this great work of God that the Sea which is lighter and higher than Earth is yet Confined within its Bounds that it might not overâ—…ow the Earth 8. Let all the earth p All the people of the Earth as the next Clause expounds this not only Iews but Gentiles who equally enjoy the Benefit of this great and glorious work of God fear the LORD let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him 9. For * Psal. 148. 5. he spake and it q The work here mentioned v. 6 7. Or stood forth as a Servant at his Masters Command Or was or did exist was done he commanded and it stood fast r. 10. * Isa. 19. 3. The LORD †Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bringeth the counsel of the heathen s Or of the Nations though Nations combine themselves and their Counsels together yet he defeats them when he pleaseth Thus he passeth from the work of Creation to the works of Providence and from the Instances of his Power in Sensless and unreasonable Creatures to manifest his power in over-ruling the Thoughts and Wills and Actions of all Men whether single or united to nought he maketh the devices of the people of none effect 11. * Prov. 19. 2â—… Isa. 46. 10. The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever t All his Purposes and Designs and especially those which concern his choseh people of whom he speaks in the next Verse are always successful and irresistible the thoughts of his heart †Heb. to Generation and Generation
not necessary to understand this and the foregoing Clause of what these Passengers did for their own use as they travelled through this or such like places but it may be meant of what pious persons did before that time who having their hearts set upon God's House and the pathways leading to it as was said Verse 5. and being desirous to advance the worship of God and to encourage the people to come to Ierusalem endeavoured to make those ways some parts whereof were very incommodious easie and convenient and particularly because those Eastern Countries were hot and dry and springs of water were scarce there as we may learn from Gen. 26. 15. and Iudg. 1. 15. and many other passages of Sacred Scripture and other Authours which was a great annoyance to Travellers they made these pits and pools or cisterns in such places where they were most necessary and through which great numbers of people passed in their journey to the House of God 7 They go ‖ Or from company to company from strength to strength p The further they travel onward in that way instead of being â—…aint and weary as Travellers in such cases use to be they grow stronger and stronger being greatly refreshed with the comfortable end of their journey expressed in the following words Or they go from company to company For they used to travel in Troops or Companies for many reasons and some companies were before others accordingly as they were nearer to the place of worship or more diligent or expedirious in their travel And such as were most zealous would use their utmost endeavours to out-strip others and to overtake one company of Travellers after another that so they might come with the first unto God in Zion †Heb. the God if gods shâ—…ll be iâ—… Zion So Gr. every one of them in Zion appeareth before God q This is here added as the blessed design and fruit of their long and tedious Journey as that which put life into them and made them bear all inconveniences with great chearfulness they are all graciously admitted into the presence of God in Zion But the words are and may be otherwise rendred until every one of them appear before the God of gods in Zion Or the God of Gods shall be seen or useth to appear or manifest himself for the future Tense oft notes the continuance of the action in Zion Which is mentioned in the Close as the reason of that affection and industry which is described in the foregoing passages 8 O LORD God of hosts n hear my prayer s In restoring me to thy House and service which is my chief desire Verse 2. 3. give ear O God of Jacob. Selah r Who canst easily remove and subdue those enemies of mine who banish and keep me from the place of thy worship 9 Behold O God our shield and look upon the face t Do not turn away thine eyes from him as men do from those whom they hate or despise but cast a favourable eye towards him By face he means either his person the word face being oft redundant as it is Gen. 43. 3. or his state and condition of thine anointed u Either 1. Of Christ whose proper name is the Messiah or the anointed So the meaning may be Lord I deserve not one good look from thee because by my great wickedness I have procured thy just displeasure and this banishment but look upon thy Christ whose coming and meritorious passion though future to us is present to thee and for his sake look upon me Or 2. Of me who though a vile sinner am thine anointed King 2 Sam. 12. 7. and 23. 1. 10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand x Understand elsewhere which is necessary to compleat the sence or in the tents of wickedness which may be supplied out of the next Clause Such Ellipses are usual in Scripture as Psal. 91. 7. at thy side i. e. left side Prov. 19. 1 c. †Heb. I would â—…oose 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 aâ—… the threshold I had rather be a door-keeper y Which was generally held a mean and contemptible Office and belonged to the common Levites 1 Chron. 9. 19. and 26. 1 and therefore might seem very dishonourable for David in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness z Than to live in the greatest glory and plenty and pleasure which is ordinarily the lot of wicked men as David observed before Psal. 17. 14. and 73 6 7. and elsewhere 11 For the LORD God is a sun a To enlighten and quicken and direct and comfort all his people whereas they that live without God in the world Walk in darkness and know not whither they go as is said Iohn 12. 35. and * Gen. 15. 1. Psal. 119. 114. shield b To save his People from all their Enemies and from those dreadful and deadly miseries which attend all other men the LORD will give grace c His favour and friendship which is better than life Psal. 63. 3. and all the blessed fruits of it and glory d Not the Vain-glory and Splendour of this World of which David would not have spoken so magnificently because upon all occasions he expresseth a great contempt of those things but the honour which comes from God here and that eternal and ineffable Glory lay'd up for God's People in the future world * Psal. 34. 9 10. no good thing e Nothing that is truly good in it self and which is good for them for sometimes afflictions which are evil in themselves are good and necessary and highly advantageous to good men and the good things of this world would do them much hurt which is verified by frequent experiments will he withhold from them that walk uprightly f That worship God sincerely and order their conversations aright Which Clause David seems to me to add designedly to prevent or remove an objection against what he had now said which might be taken from his own case whereby it appeared that God was no such sun or shield to him but exposed him to great and sore calamities Which being certain and evident David here assigns the true reason of it which was not from any defect in God's goodness and sufficiency but onely from his own gross miscarriages whereby he had clouded this sun and cast away this shield and forfeited these priviledges by departing from his integrity 12 O LORD of hosts * Psal. 2. 12. blessed is the man that trusteth in thee g Who though he be deprived of the opportunity of paying that outward Worship to thee which is appropriated to thy House yet giveth thee that inward worship which is more valuable in thy account and placeth his chief trust and hope and happiness in thee alone PSAL. LXXXV The ARGUMENT This Psalm is thought to have been made after the Peoples return
Angels just occasion to praise thee O LORD and thy saints shall bless thee 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power 12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom 13 Thy kingdom is †Heb. a kingdom of all ages an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations 14 The LORD upholdeth all h Either 1. all that look up to him for help or 2. all that are upheld whose support is not from themselves nor from other men but onely from Gods powerful and good providence that fall and * Psal. 146. 8. raiseth up all those that be bowed down 15 The eyes of all i Of all living creatures ‖ Or look unto thee wait upon thee k Expect and receive their supplies wholly from thy bounty Expectation is here figuratively ascribed to brute creatures as Psal. 104. 27. Rom. 8. 22. and * Psal. 136. 25. thou givest them their meat in due season l When they need it 16 Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing m Or as divers render it and which is more agreeable to the order of the words in the Hebrew Text thou satisfiest every living thing with thy favour or good-will i. e. with the fruits of thy bounty the Pronoun thy being easily and fitly understood out of the foregoing clause 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and ‖ Or merciful or bountiful holy n Or rather merciful as this word most commonly signifies There is a mixture of mercy in the most severe and terrible works of God in this life judgment without mercy being reserved for the next life Iam. 2. 13. Revel 14. 10. in all his works 18 * Deut. 4. 7. The LORD is nigh unto all them o To answer their prayers for relief that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth p Sincerely or with an upright heart trusting to him and waiting upon him in his way 19 He will fulfil the desire q So far as it is agreeable to his own will and convenient for their good not inordinate desires which God commonly denies to his people in mercy and granteth to his enemies in anger of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them 20 The LORD preserveth all them that love him but all the wicked will he destroy r Frequently in this world but infallibly in the next 21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD and let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever PSAL. CXLVI The design of this Psalm is to perswade men to trust in God and in him alone 1 †Heb. Hallelujah PRaise ye the LORD Praise the LORD O my soul. 2 * Psal. 104. 33. While I live will I praise the LORD I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being 3 * Psal. 118. 8. 9. Put not your trust in princes a In men of greatest wealth and power in whose favour men are very prone to trust nor in the son of man in whom there is no ‖ Or salvation help b Who are utterly unable frequently to give you that help which they promise and you expect 4 * Psal. 104. 29. Eccl. 12. 7. His †Heb. spirit So Gr. breath goeth forth he returneth c In his body Eccles. 12. 7. to his earth d To that earth from which all mankind Princes not excepted had their original in that very day e As soon as ever he is dead his thoughts f All his designs and endeavours either for himself or for others perish 5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the LORD his God 6 * Gen. 1. 1. Which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is which keepeth truth for ever g Both because he liveth for ever to fulfil his promises and because he is eternally and unchangeably faithful 7 * Psal. 103. 6. Which executeth judgment for the oppressed which giveth food to the hungry * Psal. 68. 6. the LORD looseth the prisoners 8 * Mat. 9. 30. John 9. 7 32. The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind h Either 1. the eyes of their mind which he enlightens and directs in doubtful and difficult cases or 2. their bodily eyes which he did abundantly by his Son Jesus Christ. * Psal. 145. 14. Luke 13. 13. the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down the LORD loveth the righteous i Even when he doth afflict them which also he doth out of love Heb. 12. 6. 9 * Deut. 10. 18. Psal. 68. 5. The LORD preserveth the strangers he relieveth the fatherless and widow but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down k He overthroweth their goings as the phrase is Psal. 140. 4. He maketh them to lose their way he not onely frustrateth their plots and enterprises but turneth them against themselves This and all the foregoing sentences are so many arguments to encourage all good men to trust in God in all their straits and afflictions 10 * Exod. 15. 18. Psal. 10. 16. 145. 13. The LORD shall reign for ever even thy God O Zion unto all generations Praise ye the LORD PSAL. CXLVII This Psalm may seem from v. 2. 13. to have been composed by some holy Prophet after the return of Israel from the Babylonish Captivity It containeth an ample celebration of Gods praises both for common mercies and for special favours 1 PRaise ye the LORD for it * Psal 92. 1â—… is good a It is acceptable to God and greatly comfortable and beneficial to our selves to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and * Psal. 33. 1. praise is comely 2 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem b It is the Lords own doing and not mans * Deut. 30. 3. he gathereth together the out-casts c Or the banished who were carried captives out of their own land and dispersed in divers strange countries of Israel 3 He healeth the broken in heart d Either with the sence of their sins or with their sorrows and grievous calamities He seems to speak peculiarly of the captive Israelites now returned and bindeth up their †Heb. griess wounds 4 * Isa. 40. 26. He telleth the number of the stars e Which no man can do Gen. 22. 17. For those thousand and twenty five which Astronomers number are onely such as are most distinctly visible to the eye and most considerable for their influences he calleth them all by their names f This signifies 1. that he exactly knows them as we do those whom we can call by name he is able to give distinct names to each of them because he
this people not for their immoralities or lewd lives but for their errors and superstitions in Divine Worship Other sins provoke God to wrath but those of this nature alone are enough to ruine Souls and Nations that wherein I delighted not 13 Therefore thus saith the Lord God u You sinned deliberately chusing sinful courses the things which I hated which are here as often expressed by a Meiosis called the things in which God delighteth not In matters of Worship we ought to chuse nothing wherein God delighteth not and reason as well as Scripture will assure us he can delight in nothing of that nature which himself hath not directed It is observable that ruine is here threatned to this people not for their immoralities or lewd lives but for their errors and superstitions in Divine Worship Other sins provoke God to wrath but those of this nature alone are enough to ruine Souls and Nations Behold my servants shall eat but you shall be hungry x As there are a party amongst you who instead of serving God are the Servants of men in complying with Idolatry and superstition so I have some Servants amongst you who have distinguished themselves by keeping close to my institutions from the rest of you I will distinguish them from you in the dispensations of my Providence those that have eat bread at their Idol Feasts shall be hungry my people that would not do so they shall have enough those who have furnished a drink-offering to Meni or that number of Idols shall want that drink by which they have so prophaned my name but my Servants from whose mouths you pull'd the drink because they would only furnish a drink-offering to me they shall drink My Servants whom now you make to mourn and upon whom you pour shame and contempt shall rejoice and you shall be ashamed you that now rejoice and shout while my Servants that cannot comply with you are afflicted and by you made to mourn you shall cry for sorrow and houl through vexation whiles my Servants who keep close to my institutions shall sing for joy of heart Those who in an hour of Persecution for Religion can have patience under the Enemies Triumphs and Rage will find that the Rod of the wicked shall not alwaies rest upon the lot of the righteous Behold my servants shall drink but you shall be thirsty Behold my Servants shall rejoice but ye shall be ashamed 14 Behold my servants shall sing for joy of heart but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart and shall houl for vexation of Spirit ‖ Breaking 15 And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen y Your name shall rot as Pâ—…ov 10. 7. or only be used when men would curse others saying let them be made like such persons as the names of Leah and Racâ—…el Ruth 4. 11. and others of Gods Servants were used in blessing so your names shall only be used in cursing or when men will curse themselves they shall use your names as examples of the eminent wrath of God upon sinners for the Lord God shall slay thee z For you shall not perish by an ordinary hand but by the hand of the Lord God and as is the God so is his justice so is his strength yea God himself shall look upon your name as accursed and not suffer his people to be called by it they shall not be called Iews but Christians Acts 11. 26. The Children of God Iohn 1. 12. So detestable a sin is Idolatry that God will not suffer himself to be called by a name given to Idols how proper soever it be to express his perfection Hos. 2. 16 17. Nor yet suffer his own people to be called by a name by which Idolaters are known and * Chap. 62. 2. call his servants by another name 16 That he who blesseth himself in the Earth shall bless himself in the God of truth a I will bring it to pass that over all the world if any man bless himself or bless another it shall be in God Amen So the Heb. we translate it the God of truth Amen is a name given to Christ Rev. 3. 14. 〈◊〉 things saith the Amen the faithful and true witness being here applied to God many think it makes a great proof of the God-head of Christ and judge the sense of this text to be That under the times of the Gospel men should not bless themselves as before in the names of Abraham Isaac and Iacob but in the name of Christ in the God Amen nor is this an improbable sense Others taking it more appellatively by Elohim Amen here understand that God who shews himself true and faithful in his promises and * Deut. 6. 13. Psal. 63. 11. Chap. 19. 18. 45. 23. Zeph. 1. 5. he that sweareth in the Earth shall swear by the God of truth b In like manner it is prophesied that those that swear by which some understand worship God others calling God to be a witness should swear by the God of truth or in the God of truth Either worshipping God in Christ the Amen or calling the faithful God to attest their sincerity or swearing by that God who hath approved his truth and faithfulness by saving and delivering his people because the former troubles are forgotten and because they are hid from mine eyes c because they shall see what God promised is fulfilled the troubles of his people are at an end and they are hid from Gods Eyes that is they are at an end 17 For behold c I will tell you yet a more admirable thing I am about wholly to alter and change the state not only of my people who are now afflicted restoring them to a more lightsome state more free from trouble afflictions but I create * Ch. 66. 22. 2 Pet. 3. 13. Rev. 21. 1. new heavens and a new earth d Bringing a new face upon the world sending my Son to raise up a new Church and to institute a new worship Iohn 4. 21. 24. and giving out my spirit in a more plentiful manner Acts 2. 17. which new state shall abide until a new Heavens and Earth appear in which shall dwell nothing but righteousness 2 Pet. 3. 13. Rev. 21. 1. and the former shall not be remembred nor †Heb. shall come upon thy heart come into mind e That state of things shall be such and so glorious as the former state of my People shall not be remembred nor come into mind whether this new Heavens and new Earth here promised signifies such a state of the Church wherein Christ shall personally reign upon Earth over his Saints the wicked being destroyed as some have thought he shall for a thousand years I very much doubt do not see how from this and the parallel texts any such thing can be concluded 18 But be you glad and rejoice for ever f You