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A55228 A commentary on the prophecy of Micah by Edward Pocock ... Pococke, Edward, 1604-1691. 1677 (1677) Wing P2663; ESTC R8469 247,381 128

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down Gods blessings on them for their sakes as Laban confessed that God blessed him for Jacobs sake Gen. XXX 27. and by coaling and mitigating Gods wrath which otherwise would speedily burn them up if these were away as the moistning dew and showers preserve the grass and herbs from the scorching of the Sun see Gen. XVIII 26 c. and XIX 22. and Mat. XXIV 22. Mark XIII 20. This may be looked on as comprehended in though not the main intention of the words A Iewish Doctor expounding these words in this manner also viz. as describing how the remnant spoken of shall be in behaviour towards these many People in the midst of which they are makes the meaning of them to be That they shall be loving to and deal kindly with those that deal courteously with them and do good to them as dew doth to the grass and that of their own good nature without respect to profit or reward to them he means and to them alone being of contrary behaviour to others as will appear by what he saith on the next words And if this be all that he thinks meant surely he falleth far short of showing the duty and property of true Israelites who by this remnant are meant who are taught to do good to all Men Galat. VI. 10. to love not only those that love them but also even their Enemies and to good to them that hate them Mat. V. 44. that they may be Children of their Heavenly Father who sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust so must they be as the dew from the Lord and as rain by him given in the midst of many People striving to extend their good to all those many that as many as are capable of receiving good by them may receive it Mean while he may suggest to us another property which the comparing them to dew and showers requires in them viz. softness and gentleness in their behaviour in the midst of those or amongst those that will receive them and hear them which will the better bring us to the consideration of what is meant in the second similitude which is that they shall be as a Lion c. They which shall be gentle and soft in their behaviour as communicative of all good to those that will receive the truth shall against all that oppose it though many and strong be of a Lionlike courage and by God be enabled with power to beat and tread down all before them and prevail over them so as none may resist them as a Lion doth over the beasts of the forrest and a young Lion over the flocks of the Sheep This their power may well be described by the words of the Apostle 2 Cor. X. 4 5 6. in that by the weapons of their Warfare which are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds they cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ so hath Christ promised to them a mouth and wisdom which all their adversaries shall not be able to resist Luk. XXI 15. This was made good in the Apostles and such as have since succeeded them in their employment and administration of Christs Kingdom and others the true members thereof and he will never leave his Church destitute of a remnant of such valiant defenders of the truth and conquerers through the power of his Spirit of what is contrary to it though all the powers of Hell join their forces against them they shall disperse them Some learned Men refer what is here spoken to the times after the Babylonish captivity and especially those of the Maccabes wherein the Iews under valiant commanders overcame diverse strong Enemies and with Lion-like courage set on them and brought them under which though it may be granted and their victories looked on as a fulfilling what is here spoken in part yet sure it will appear to have been more evidently and fully made good since Christs coming into the World and setting up his Spiritual Kingdom among men by these conquests by his little flock obtained over the Devil and the World Sin and errour never so deeply rooted and strongly backed and all that may be comprehended under those names by the Apostle given them Eph. XI 12. of principalities powers rulers of the darkness of this World and Spiritual wickedness in high places The conquering and dispersing these as by the Church of Christ in the power of his might and invincible force of his Spirit hath been wonderfully done and converting rebellious sinners are things of a higher nature and signs of a greater strength and courage then any that is shewed in the conquering and destroying the greatest and most potent Nations that ever were on the Earth as to any temporal dominion or concerns in as much as the bringing the minds of Men into subjection is harder then the forceing their bodies And sure though Gods remnant have promises of temporal things as well as of Spiritual yet where such are mentioned as concern them as members of Christs Kingdom as the things here spoken of from the second verse all along have been shewed to be it is manifest that they cheifly relate to their Spiritual estate the things thereto pertaining being the peculiar priviledges of his Church and flock as so being a Kingdom not of this World and the happiness of that and them being according to those to be valued whereby their dignity may be made appear not so much by their being great in this World as their being great in the Kingdom of Heaven and their prevalency not over temporal and carnal but over Spiritual Enemies which are worse and require a greater force then those to subdue them in the conquering of these is the strength of the Lion of the tribe of Iudah cheifly seen The Iew last cited saith that as Israel shall deal kindly with those that have shewed kindness to them so on the contrary shall they deal with their Enemies that have done ill to them behaving themselves towards some of them to wit the Assyrians as a Lion among the beasts of the forrests killing whom they please and towards others viz. the Edomites so they call Romans or Christians to whom they have greatest hatred as a young Lion among the flocks of Sheep utterly destroying them and suffering none to escape You may see in them still the leaven of their old Doctrine in their false interpreting of the Law by Christ reproved Mat. V. 43 44. Thou shalt love thy Neighbour and hate thine Enemy but the Iews generally in expounding these words run on in their old errour which they will not retract viz. that the things here spoken concern a time not yet come viz. when those Nations by this Man mentioned or as others of them when Gog and Magog shall come to fight against Ierusalem because they will not
Christ was already come because Bethleem was now brought to ruine and not inhabited by the Iews that there might be any probability of any other Christ then him whom we acknowledge to be born there In our Lord Christ did both these concurr that he was both a branch out of the root of Iesse the Bethleemite of the house and lineage of David and also God so directing it by his providence born in Bethleem So that in him all that can be by this expression in this Prophecy understood or expected was fully completed as also what is farther expressed that he that was to come forth out of Bethleem to have his rise thence and that for the place of his Nativity was to be ruler in Israel Who he is that is spoken of as so is inquired An ancient Commentator mentioning some who would have it Hezekiah saith of them that they do more Iudaize then the Iews themselves for so little do the things here spoken of agree to Hezekiah who was not born in Bethleem if he were not born before this promise of one to be born as probably he was that the Iews themselves would not go to attribute them to him And the same censure will in great part take hold on those who attribute them to Zorobabel who neither was born there and in whom such other things as are here spoken cannot by any means be said to have been made good For though by what is delivered by some ancicient Fathers of the Christian Church we may think that heretofore some Iews did avow the person here spoken of to be Zorobabel yet those who better considered the matter and have given us their mind in writing say no such thing but unanimously none we suppose contradicting affirm that person to be the Messiah or King Messiah in which so far they agree with us Christians but with great difference otherwise they affirming the words to note such a Messiah as is not yet come and labouring from these and the following words to prove it we that he that is here promised the true Messiah is already come and that these words prove that he is so and that it appears from them that our Lord Jesus Christ is he that should and did come forth of Bethleem and be ruler in Israel As this is here foretold of our Saviour Christ so when he was now to be born into the World the Angel bringing to his Mother the good tidings thereof faith Luk. I. 32 33. The Lord shall give unto him the Throne of his Father David and he shall reign over the house of Iacob for ever and of his Kingdom there shall be no end and this was made good in him But here the Iews object Iesus ruled not in or over Israel but they ruled over him and put him to Death and as yet neither do believe in him or serve him The answer to which is easy they did indeed and had power over him so far but not to hinder or impair his Dominion over them here promised but more to discover the true Nature of it which they were and continue mistaken in and to further the manifestation and propagation of it not only over Israel in the narrow sense wherein they appropriate it to themselves alone who are Israel according to the flesh only but over the whole Israel of God all those that truly know him and believe in him and are his chosen People Herein was the mistake of their ancestors and is still theirs that they expected him to be a carnal ruler whereas his dominion was to be spiritual as he declares that ●his Kingdom was not of this World which duly observed is an answer to all their cavils Had his Kingdom been of this World his servants would have fought that he should not have been delivered to the Iews Ioh. XVIII 36. and whose service ●could he not in that kind have commanded whose command even the winds and waves yea the Devils themselves obeyed who by his word cured the Blind Deaf Dumb and lame and every way impotent raised Men from Death to Life and could have obtained from his Father more then twelve legions of Angels for his guard Mat. XXVI 53. Or could he not the bare breath of his mouth have made all his Enemies fall to the round as he did some of them that came to take him Ioh. XVIII 6. But then how should the Scriptures have been fulfilled Mat. XXVI 56. thus far it behooved him to suffer for fulfilling them and through suffering enter into his Glory It behooved him to be lifted up upon the Cross that he might draw all Men to him Ioh. XII 32. His so far submitting himself did not diminish but encrease the Glory of his Dominion That blasphemous scoff of the ancient Iews Mat. XXVII 42. If he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the Cross and we will believe in him could not then hinder many as well of the Iews as of other Nations from coming in to him and believing that he was truly the King of Israel and the obstinacy of many of their posterity in still persisting to say we will not have this Man whom our Ancestors Crucified to reign over us must not beat us off from acknowledging this Prophecy so far fulfilled in him as that he was the person here spoken of that should come forth to God out of Bethleem and be ruler in Israel but considering how all the other Prophecies seeming to them to cross this were together reconciled and jointly fulfilled in and by him to infer with the Apostle Peter Acts II. 36. therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Iesus whom ye crucified both Lord and Christ. Those that do otherwise and will not acknowledge him so do not prove him not to be so but themselves not to be the Israel of God though insisting on the outward priviledges of the flesh they call themselves Israel That is the true Israel in which he ruleth not by a carnal Scepter or Weapons but by his word of which his Scepter the greatest part of the World hath so many years seen and acknowledged the power and that therefore which most concerns us is not being moved by the groundless cavils of Iews or any other against his Dominion by yielding him willing obedience to approve our selves in the number of those in and over whom he ruleth so shall we approve our selves to be the true Israel of God whilst others falsly and in vain so call themselves Where he is not ruler there is no true Israel Whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting or as in the margin the daies of eternity He goes on in describing of him who he saith should come out of Bethleem be ruler in Israel by another more eminent coming or going forth then that from that place even before that place was ●from all