their eleventh station at Rephidim by Mount Sinai struck the Rock in Horeb as God commanded Him and water came forth And he named the place Massah or Meribah But here at this their 33th station 38 years after with Aaron's budded Rod having his spirit provoked by these rebellious people He smites the Rock twice without any such Command or Commission from God to smite it at all And he and Aaron likewise as it seems speak unadvisedly with their lips * See Psal 106.33 uttering words of passion and distrust possibly to this purpose Hear now ye Rebels must we fetch you water out of this Rock Never imagine that God will work such a Miracle for such a rebellious Crew as ye are However the Rock gave forth water abundantly God was very angry with Moses and Aaron that they had thus distrusted him and had not sanctified * V. 12. Ut sanctificaretis me alloquendo Petram Et miraculum cum fiducia praedicendo Ita mortem His interminatur ut populus intelligeret sibi non parciturum Deum qui viris tantis non pepercerit Porro haec Feri allegoria uti non Moses Hebraeos sed Joshua perduxit in Palestinam ita non Lex in caelum nos verum Christus evehit Demum hinc palam est quo spiritu haec Moses scripserit qui vitia net celet sua nec suorum Vide Cap. 12.1 Anonym in loc Publice peccarunt ideoque severius cum iis egit Deus quam alibi cum Moses infidelitatem proderet Numb 11.22 23. quia tum primum peccavit him inwardly in their hearts by trusting in Him 1 Pet. 3.15 nor glorified him outwardly by ascribing to him the glory of his truth and power before the Children of Israel and therefore He tells them They shall not bring that people into Canaan see Deut. 3.25 26. And as the former place at Rephidim was called Massah and Meribah viz. a place of Strife and Contention because the people there strove with the Lord that is contended with Moses his Servant which he accounts as contending with Himself so shall this also be called And thus the Lord was sanctified in them or among them that is among the Israelites by giving them water and thereby manifesting his Almighty Power Faithfulness and his Goodness and Compassion towards them notwithstanding their great Provocations Numb 20. from 1. to 14. SECT LXIX MOses now by Gods direction sends Messengers to the King of Edom to desire Him that He would please to permit them who were His own flesh and blood as being descended from Jacob Brother to Esau to pass thorow his Country that being the nearest and most convenient way into Canaan And they amiably desire this because God had charged them that they should not meddle with the Sons of Esau or their possession Deut. 2.4 5. He tells him He cannot but have heard of their sore and long Troubles and Oppressions which they suffered in Egypt and how upon their crying unto the Lord he sent his Angel viz. his own eternal Son the Angel or Mediator of the Covenant of Grace see Exod. 3.2 and Mal. 3.1 who conducted them in the way by a Cloud and Pillar of fire He tells him They would not turn aside into their Fields or Vineyards to do them any damage and would drink only of their Rivers that were common and not meddle with their Wells digged for their private use which were very precious in those hot and dry Countries without paying for it But the King of Edom would not consent to it so they were forc'd to fetch a compass thorow the Wilderness which lay about the Land of Edom. Notwithstanding as they went along their Coasts in the out-skirts of their Country the Edomites afforded them Victuals for their money Deut. 2.29 though they did not come forth to meet them with bread and water as men use to do who wish success and prosperity to those to whom they bring it see Deut. 23.3 4. Numb 20. from vers 14. to 22. SECT LXX FRom Kadesh the Camp removes to mount Hor. * A hill in Mosera Deut. 10.6 or whos 's other top was called Moscra From this Mount Hor the people that were driven out of this Country by Esau were called Horims Deut. 2.12 and Esau is called the Horite Gen. 36.20 Here God tells Moses That Aaron should be gathered unto his people that is his godly fore-Fathers that died before him see Gen. 25.8 Heb. 12.23 He commands him to bring Aaron and Eleazar his Son up to the top of Mount Hor. And they accordingly went up in the sight of all the Congregation Here Aaron being attired in all his glorious Vestments Moses strips him of them and puts them upon Eleazar his Son to shew that God had appointed him to succeed in his Fathers Office and that the High Priests eldest Son (k) Eleazar's Sons did succeed him to the time of the Judges Then the High Priesthood was translated to the Posterity of Ithamar the other Son of Aaron for Eli was of the stock of Ithamar or the next Heir of their Family unless rendred uncapable by some blemish was still to succed in that Office Thus on the first day of the fifth month in the fortieth year after their coming out of Egypt Aaron being an 123 years old (l) See Numb 33.38 died seven months and seven days before Moses and was there buried and the whole Congregation mourned for him 30 days * So long they mourned for Moses Deut. 34.8 Numb 20. from vers 22. to the end SECT LXXI AT this time King Arad the Canaanite whose Country lay in the South of Canaan understanding by the Spies he had sent forth to observe the course of the Israelites V. 1. By the way of the Spies it might be a way so called and well known by that name at that time that they were turned back again from the Red-Sea and marched directly upon the South of Canaan not knowing of Moses's purpose to compass the Land of Edom he immediately marched forth with his Army as far as Mount Hor in the edge of the Desart where the Israelites now lay and there fought with them and took some of them Prisoners The Israelites intending to renew the battel and again once more to encounter Arad and his Army they call'd upon the Lord for help and vowed unto Him that if he would please to deliver these Enemies into their hands they would utterly destroy and burn their Cities and that nothing of their Goods should be reserved for their own private use The Lord was pleased to hear their prayer so that in the second battel they vanquish'd and overcame them But how could the Israelites being so far off in the Wilderness destroy their Cities lying in Canaan Numb 33.40 into which they came not till after Moses's death It seems the performance of this Vow was long after made viz. when they were come unto the Land For the King of
* See Prov. 22.28 Hos 5.10 V. 14. Non transferes terminos i. e. lapides vel alia signa quae fixa fuerint ad distinguendos agros tuos ab agris proximi hoc enim genus furti infame quod difficulter convinci potest see Deut. 27.17 which would be a piece of great injustice and might occasion quarrels about the bounds of their Lands and Possessions Next he declares That the testimony of a single man rising up as a witness against another shall not be admitted as sufficient to prove the Crime laid to his Charge and to cause him to be condemned for it But by the testimony of two or three witnesses matters shall be established setled confirmed and stand good see Joh. 8.17 And in case two or more witnesses did rise up against a man and only one of them spake home as to the proof of that whereof he was accused if here the party accused did alledge that this man bare false witness against him then both these men between whom the Controversie is shall stand before the Lord that is shall be brought to the place which the Lord shall choose and shall be set before the Ark or Sanctuary and there the witness shall be examined as in the presence of God and possibly if they could not find out the matter by examination then the Priest was to inquire of the Lord according to that 1 Kings 8.31 32. And if the Judges find that the man hath testified falsly against his Brother then they shall do unto him as he thought to have done to his Brother that is the civil Magistrate (f) Indeed the Pharisees in Christ's time expounded this of private revenge viz. that a private person might take life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth c. this is that which our Saviour condemns Matth. 5.38 39. shall without tenderness or pity inflict such punishment on him as should have been inflicted on the party accused had he been found guilty according to that Law Exod. 21.23 And so they should put away evil from among them and those which remain should hear and fear and should no more commit any such abominable thing Chap. XX In the next place he comes to give them directions concerning War and how it should be managed 1. The Priests * Ordinarily some of the Priests went along with the Army with the holy Trumphets to animate them to the battel see Numb 10.9 31.6 should encourage the people when they drew nigh to battel with their Enemies exhorting them not to be afraid though they were more than they And they should say to them Hear O Israel you approach this day unto battel against your Enemies Let not your hearts faint fear not neither be ye terrified because of them For the Lord your God is with you and goeth forth with you to fight for you against your Enemies and to save you 2ly The Officers should proclaim to the people before the battel That if there were any man there that had built a new house and had not dedicated (g) Dedicari res dicitur quando cum solenni aliquo ritu vel convivio usus inchoatur Menoch See Title of Psalm 30. and Neh. 12.27 it or initiated it that is taken possession of it and begun to use it and dwell in it which was to be done with praying singing Psalms and feasting he might go home if he would (h) Ratio hujus legis 1. Ne quis otiosus fruatur alienis laboribus 2. Ne desiderio eorum remissius agerent in praelio sibique parrentes vel etiam fugam capessentes aliis scandalo essent damno God in this and the two next particulars manifesting a special Compassion that men should not suddainly be taken off from those Comforts which they had long laboured for even when they were first entring upon the fruition of them that being threatned as a Curse Ch. 28.30 Thou shalt build an house and shalt not dwell therein Or if any man had planted a Vineyard (i) They might not in the Land of Canaan eat of any Trees they had planted till they had consecrated the fourth years fruit unto the Lord. The fruit of the first three years was lost as uncircumcised The fourth years fruit was holy to be given to God and then the fruit of the fifth year was free for the Owner and others to eat Levit. 19.23 c. and it was not yet made common that is such as himself and others might freely eat of which he could not do by the Law till the fifth year from the planting of it he might also return to his house lest he should die in the battel and another injoy his Vineyard Or if any man had betrothed a Wife * The ancient custom was to have some time interposed between betrothing and marriage see Deut. 22.23 Matth. 1.18 whither Maid or Widow and had not yet taken her to himself he might have liberty to go home also and take her to wife And lastly If any were fearful and faint-hearted they might also depart if they would lest by their fear and faint-heartedness they should infect their Brethren also God hereby testifying how much he disliked a timerous fearful spirit in those that serve Him whom he would have by faith to trust in him and to rest secure of his Protection see Judg. 7.3 The Officers having proclaimed these things they were then to order the battel and appoint every Captain in his place to lead the several Companies of Souldiers from 1. to 10. Further he injoyns them that when they went to besiege any City out of the Land of Canaan they should first proclaim peace (k) See Richardson's Notes on vers 10. to it And if it did accept of the conditions of peace proffered to them then they should spare that City and only make them Tributary to them But if they refused the Conditions of peace tendred to them then if God delivered them into their hands they should kill every Male they found there but the Women little Ones and Cattel and all the Spoil of the City they should take unto themselves and so they should eat and injoy the Spoil of their Enemies which the Lord had given them But when they went to besiege any of the Cities of the seven Nations * Unto which the Hebrews add from Deut. 25.19 the Amalekites in the Land of Canaan see Ch. 7.1.2 which God had commanded them to destroy then they were not to spare Man Woman or Child lest being left alive they should teach them to do after their abominations which they had practised towards their gods and so occasion them to sin against the Lord. Further he injoyns them that when they besieged a City they should not cut down the Fruit-Trees that grow about it for their use in the siege except upon unavoidable necessity because those are very useful for mans food and with these the Land could not be
17. Faciet enim tibi dominus Strigelius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 malui legere quod est in margine quomodo Hieron Septuaginta verterunt quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tertia persona sumitur pro secunda sic mos Hebraeis permutandi personas Saul then perceived him in that form though it were not the true Samuel but the Devil in his likeness and stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself to him This counterfeit Samuel now asked him Why he had disquieted him to bring him up thither Saul answered I am sore distressed the Philistines make war upon me and God is departed from me and answereth me no more either by Prophets or Dreams therefore have I called for thee that thou maist make known to me what I should do The evil spirit now counterfeiting not only Samuel's person but his words and actions replied Why dost thou ask counsel of me seeing the Lord is departed from thee and become thine enemy Alas I cannot help thee for the Lord will do to thee as he hath spoken by me He will rend the Kingdom out of thine hand and give it to thy neighbour even to David because thou obeyest not his voice nor executest his fierce wrath upon Amalek and therefore it is that this judgment will fall upon thee And moreover the Lord will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines and to morrow (h) To morrow is not to be understood precisely of the next day following but indefinitely of some time near approaching So to morrow is taken Exod. 13.14 Mat. 6.34 and so here to be understood For it was not the next day after that Saul and his Sons were slain in which the Philistines were but preparing for the battel and sent away David from among them see Ch. 29. but as it seemeth by the History some few days after thou and thy sons shall be with me (i) First God may reveal things future and contingent unto Satan who may reveal them to Witches and to Sorcerers before they came to pass to encourage and harden their hearts in their Diabolical practices and the hearts of others also that resort unto them 2ly God sometimes useth Satan as an instrument to execute his judgments as he did in the case of Job and the four hundred false Prophets that were deluded by him 1 King 22.22 and then 't is easie for him to reveal those things he hath in commission to execute Permittit Deus Daemones aliquando responsa dare Idololatris quia ex malitia sua demerentur ut sic in erroribus exerceantur ut Ancilla illa Act. 16. quae nisi vera prae dixisset magnum Dominis suis quaestum non prae buisset Multa de oraculo Delphico referant omnes Historiae Craeso sciscitanti num futurum esset ut filius mutus loqueretur respondit infausto die loquuturum esse quod accidit that is shall be dead as the true Samuel was who was personated by this evil spirit Saul hearing these dismal tidings and being very faint through fasting all the day before even to that time of the night he fell on the ground in a swoon and there was no strength in him The Witch hereupon came to him and told him that she had so far obeyed him as to put her life into his hands therefore she desired him so far to gratifie her as to receive a little refreshment from her that he might have strength to return to the army But he utterly refused it till his servants together with the woman by their earnest importunity prevailed with him so he arose from the earth and sat upon the bed and the woman having a fatted calf in the stall she caused it presently to be kill'd and drest and prepar'd some of it and took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened * Panes azymos quos statim curavit coquendos non enim expectavit donec farinae illa subacta fermentaretur bread thereof and so brought her provisions and set them before Saul and his servants and they did eat of them and then arose and went their way 1 Sam. Ch. 28. from v. 1 to the end 14. The Philistines now gathered all their forces together to Aphek a Town in the Tribe of Asher and the Israelites pitched by a fountain near Jezreel The Four Lords of the Philistines led up their forces and marched with their hundreds and thousands but David and his men marched in the rear with Achish who seems to be chief among them if not their General The Princes of the Philistines observing this askt in some passion what those Hebrews did among them Achish reply'd the chief commander of them was David a servant of Saul's a man of great wisdom and fortitude who had been with him some days or rather some years he having dwelt with him one full year and four months see Ch. 27.7 and in all that time since he fell to him he had found no fault in him But the Princes of the Philistines were not satisfied with that but imagined that Achish was meerly deluded by him and that he would endanger their Army therefore they urge Achish to send him back and to cause him to return to the place he had appointed for him viz. to Ziklag lest in the battel he should fall off from them and help their enemies For how can he better contrive say they to reconcile himself to his master than by betraying the lives of this whole Army into his hands They further add that he was a most dangerous person of whose abilities they ought to be very apprehensive being highly renown'd for his military prudence and valour among his own Nation insomuch that the women sang of him in their dances Saul hath slain his thousands but David his ten thousands See Ch. 18.7 21.11 Hereupon Achish called David and told him that as sure as the Lord lived he had found him faithful to him and he could not but highly approve all his carriage since he came into the Army nay he had found no evil in him since the first day he came up to him Nevertheless he must acquaint him that the Lords of the Philistines favoured him not therefore he advised him to return with his forces to Ziklag that he might not give them any further cause of jealousie David replies what evil hast thou found in thy servant since I have been with thee even unto this day that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my Lord the King (k) Necessaria querela ne si taceret suspitionibus Philistaeonum suffragari videretur Menoch Achish answers I protest thou seemest unto me to be a person of such excellencies of such probity and goodness as if thou wert an Angel (l) Hunc loquendi modum Philistaei a vicinis hauserunt Hebraeis Conterminae enim regiones ut experientia docet multas voces phrases communes habent sent from heaven unto me I
Dei dispositus hoc factum qui neque Davidi quicquam perire voluit neque aliis propter Davidem and Davids men took all the flocks and herds which the Amalekites had taken from other places besides Ziklag and drove them before those Cattel which they had taken from Ziklag which belonged to David and his followers extolling David and proclaiming this is Davids spoil that is which belongeth to him by the Souldiers free consent and gift and accordingly afterwards he bestowed it on whom he pleased David with his men now returning with the captives and spoils they had taken he came at last to the place where he left the two hundred weary men who came forth with great joy to meet David and the people that were with him When they came near him he spoke kindly and courteously to them that they might not be discouraged at the thoughts of their absence from the fight seeing it was occasion'd by their weariness They desiring to have a part in the spoils some of the four hundred who had with David vanquished the Amalekites being wicked men and sons of Belial exprest an unwillingness that they should have any share therein but only their wives and children again though it was not cowardize but meer faintness that made them stay behind and their staying behind with the carriages to defend the stuff and being in readiness to aid and assist their fellows if they had been forc'd to retire might be lookt upon as a good service David mildly speaks to these murmurers saying to them Ye shall not do so my Brethren with the spoil the Lord hath given us and which we have gotten not by our own valour and strength but by Gods gracious favour who hath preserved us and given our enemies into our hands the thing you propose is unreasonable and unjust therefore I shall decide the matter thus As his part is that goeth down to the battel so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff that is the men that tarried behind and abode with the baggage shall have their share of the prey as well as those that marched out with me unto the battel And so from that day he revived and ratified a statute formerly made by God Numb 31.27 Josh 22.8 that the spoil should be divided betwixt those that fought with the enemy and those that stayed with the stuff And when David was return'd to Ziklag he sent some of the spoils he had taken to the Elders of Judah his friends partly by way of restitution because the Amalekites had taken much of this prey from the South parts of Judah and partly by way of thankfulness for the many kindnesses he had received from them when Saul hunted him from place to place and partly in a way of prudence to make them hereby the more firm to him and more ready to give him their assistance when he should stand in need of it Thus as it is always darkest just before day dawneth so God useth to visit his servants with greatest afflictions when he intends their speedy advancement 1 Sam. Ch. 20. whole Chapter 16. We return now to the Philistines and Israelites whom we left nigh to each other Ch. 29. who joining battel at the very time as Josephus says when David was victorious over the Amalekites the Israelites were smitten and Saul's three Sons Jonathan (a) By Jonathan's death the Lord cleared the way for Davids advancement to the Kingdom For if Ishbosheth a worthless man found so many of the people ready to side with him against David what would they have done for Jonathan so brave and worthy a Prince if he had out-liv'd his Father And Jonathan was no loser by it for instead of an earthly God gave him an Heavenly Kingdom Aminadab and Melchishua slain And the battel went sore against Saul himself for the Archâ—rs hit him and sore wounded him he saw his Army routed his friends and followers slain his dear Sons killed before his face he found himself sore wounded and inviron'd with enemies and apprehending no possibility of escaping he bad his Armour-hearer take his sword and run him thorough lest the uncircumcised Philistines should take him and put him to some ignominious death but his Armour-bearer utterly refusing to do it he fell upon his own sword And thus Saul with the sword he had drawn against David slew himself and so concluded a wicked life with a desperate death the Lord in a just judgment giving him up to act this horrid murder on himself as a punishment of his former wickedness therefore 't is said 1 Chron. 10.14 that the Lord slew him His Armour-bearer seeing what he had done followed his wicked example and fell likewise upon his own sword and killed himself Thus died Saul and his three Sons and his Armour-bearer and most of his family and kindred most of his Courtiers and Commanders with a great part of his army see 1 Chron. 10.6 And when the Israelites who dwelt on each side of this valley of Jezreel where the battel was fought and they that dwelt in it 1 Ch. 10.7 saw that their army was routed and that Saul and his Sons were slain they forsook their Cities and Towns and fled for their lives and the Philistines entred into them and possessed them On the morrow after the battel was fought the Philistines coming to strip the bodies of the slain they found Saul and his three Sons fallen in mount Gilboa and they cut off Sauls head and stript off his armour His head they carried about as a Trophy and shewed it in all parts of their Country publishing their victory and the death of Saul and his Sons in a way of joy and triumph in the houses of their Idols (b) Heb. Terrors so called because they possess the minds and hearts of their superstitious worshippers with terrors and fears and do neither teach nor comfort them Hinc superstitio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur i. e. Daemonium pavor and afterwards set it up in the house of Dagon their God thereby ascribing to him the glory of their victory as appeareth 1 Chron. 10.10 so David had before served the head of Goliath which he carried to Jerusalem Ch. 17.54 They plac'd his Armour in the house of Ashtaroth see the Note on Judg. 2.13 his body and the bodies of his Sons they fastened to the wall of Bethshan (c) A Town that belonged to the lot of Manasseh but not recovered from the Philistines in the first conquest Judg. 1.27 nor to this day as was said before of Ziklag Ch. 27.6 viz. in a street that was by the City-wall see 2 Sam. 21.12 And when the Inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to the bodies of Saul and his three Sons in gratitude to Saul who had rescued them from Nahash King of the Ammonites when he had straitly besieged their City Ch. 11.11 all the valiant men of that City arose and march'd all night and
give David speedy notice thereof and advise him not to lodge that night in the plain of the Wilderness but speedily to pass over Jordan lest he should be surprized For though he had at present as he thought diverted them from following Achitophels dangerous counsel yet he knew not how soon their minds might change Jonathan and Ahimaaz of whom before stayed at Enrogel not far from Jerusalem expecting to hear from their Fathers for they durst not come into the City being suspected to be of Davids party Therefore Zadock and Abiathar sent their message to them by a young maid who was not like to be suspected that they might conveigh it speedily to David But it seems a lad accidently saw them at Enrogel and went and gave intelligence of them to Absalom who speedily sent some to surprize them But they understanding some way or other that they were discovered hasted away presently to Bahurim and betaking themselves to a friends house they hid themselves in the well which was in the Court of the house and to conceal them the more the mans wife spread a covering over the wells mouth and spread ground-corn thereon Absalom's servants pursue them thither and inquire diligently after them the woman of the house tells them they were gone over the water telling therein as they call it an officious lye to preserve them and so when they had sought them in vain and could not find them they returned to Jerusalem They being gone Ahimaaz and Jonathan came out of the well and went speedily to David to acquaint him with what Achitophel had counselled against him and shew him that he must speedily arise and pass over Jordan if he intended to preserve himself This therefore David and his followers immediately did that night and by the morning the whole army was past over And the special Providence of God appeared herein that they were all preserved in such a dangerous passage and that in the night When Achitophel saw that his counsel was not followed but Hushai's prefer'd before his and foreseeing that this counsel of Hushai would certainly be their ruin and that David by gaining this time would so strengthen himself that he would be too hard for Absalom when they came to fight it out in the field and concluding that if David prevail'd as 't was most likely he would there was no mercy for him to be expected at his hands who had been so false and treacherous to him he being greatly discontented went to his own City Giloh and there putting his house in order making his will and disposing of his estate and taking care of all things but his soul he hanged himself * Herein he was a Type of Judas and was buried in the Sepulchre of his Father 2 Sam. 17. from v. 1 to 24. David upon occasion of Achitophel's counsel against him compos'd the 55 Psalm 12ly David by this time having gathered a good Army together marched with it to Mahanaim a City in the Tribe of Gad beyond Jordan and was there furnished with provisions by three eminent persons the first was Shobi the Son of Nahash of Rabbah brother of Hanun King of Ammon whom David had deposed for abusing his Messengers and set this Shobi up in his stead in thankful remembrance whereof he now brought provisions to David The second was Machir of Lodebar who was Guardian to Mephibosheth when David came to the Crown see Ch. 9.4 who observing how much David favoured him and what kindness he shewed to him did highly esteem him ever after for it and was the readier as 't is probable to commiserate him in this time of his troubles The third was Barzillai the Gileadite of whom we shall say more when we come to the 19th Chapter These all came to comfort David †Sic solet Deus cum usitata auxilia absunt suis de improviso suecurrere in his great distress when his own unnatural Son sought his life and they brought beds and cups and earthen vessels and wheat barley meal parched corn beans lintils and parched pulse and honey butter and sheep and cheese to refresh David and the people that were with him who they thought must needs be weary and hungry and thirsty having had so long a march thorough the Wilderness where they could not but be in great want From v. 27 to the end 13ly Absalom having now gathered together a mighty Army of the Israelites as Hushai had advised he marches out with them against his Father Amasa (a) 'T is said here that Ithra an Israelite was his father and Abigail sister to Zerviah his mother In 1 Chron. 2.17 this Ithra is call'd Jether the Ishmaelite It seems therefore that he was an Ishmaelite by birth but an Israelite by profession and habitation being become a proselyte or else he was call'd an Ishmaelite because he had lived among the Ishmaelites as upon the same account some were called Hittites and Gittites 'T is said of this I hra that he went in to Abigail and begat this Amasa on her which intimates he was not then married to her 'T is also said of this Abigail that she was daughter to Nahash sister to Zerviah 1 Chron. 2.16 17. 't is evident that both this Abigail and Zerviah were daughâ—ers of Jesse and Sisters to David Either therefore Jesse had also the name of Nahash or his wifes name was Nahash who was the mother of Abigail who was Nephew to David and Cousin-german to Joab being made his General and with them he passed over Jordan and pitched in the land of Gilead 2 Sam. 17. v. 24 25 26. 14ly The Armies of David and Absalom being now near one another David drew out his Army which was at this time much increased by the resort of many out of the two Tribes and half on the other side Jordan unto him and mustering them he set Captains over hundreds and Colonels over thousands and divided his Army into three Battalions appointing three Generals over them viz. Joab Abishai and Ittai Then he told them He would go forth with them in person to encourage them and possibly he inclined the more to it that being present in the Army he might use his best endeavour for the saving of Absalom his great Commanders and Souldiers would by no means consent that he should venture his person in the battel telling him that he was worth ten thousand of them the Commonwealth should receive more damage and the enemy more advantage if he should be kill'd than if ten thousand of them should be slain alas say they if we should flee or half of us be slain the enemy will not much regard it if thou remainest alive who art the mark at which they principally aim and who they know as long as thou livest wilt be able to raise forces and make head against them and therefore we think it much better that thou remain in the City and from thence that thou send us forth succours and
it He made him ride on the high places of the Earth that is he inabled them to subdue and conquer the mountainous places and the high-walled Cities of their Enemies and to possess a Land far excelling others in all Commodities whatsoever He made him to eat of the increase of the Earth to suck Honey out of the Rock that is of Bees nestling in the holes of Rocks and Oil of Olive-Trees that grow in stony places He made him to eat of Butter of Kine and Milk of Sheep with the fat of Lambs and Rams of the choice breed of Bashan and Bread made of the finest plumpest and largest kernels of Wheat resembling Kidneys in shape and to drink the pure blood of the Grape that is the choicest red Wine But Jeshurun * Jeshurun derived from Josher signifying Righteousness intimates that by their calling they ought to be a righteous people and to walk uprightly in Gods ways but Moses here by giving them this Title seems to upbraid them that they were so unlike the people they should have been being waxed fat kicked that is hath behaved himself wantonly forsaking God that made him contemptuously and lightly esteeming the Rock of his Salvation in whom alone was his help They provoked Him to jealousie and made him exceeding angry by their spiritual Fornication and worshipping strange gods They sacrificed unto Devils that is unto Idols wherein the Devil was served and not God Levit. 17.7 1 Cor. 10.20 They sacrificed to gods whom they knew not nor had any knowledge or experience of any good from them to new gods newly come up for though they had continued many hundred years in the World yet if compared to the Eternal ever-living God they might be said to be newly come up and to be meer up-starts and such as their Fathers slighted as Vanities Of the Rock that is of the strong God that created them and begat them they were unmindful and forgot Him that formed them and made them his people Isa 43.21 When the Lord saw this he abhorred them because of the provoking of his Sons and Daughters that is of those that professed themselves to be his people And he said I will hide my face from them I will see what their end will be that is I will let them see what a miserable end they will come to when I forsake them For they are a very froward Generation Children in whom there is no faithfulness or fidelity or stedfastness to keep their Covenant with me They have moved me to jealousie with that which is not god that is provoked me to Displeasure by giving that worship which is only due to me to Idols which are no gods and so preferring mear Vanities viz. Stocks and Stones before their Creator Therefore he says he would move them to jealousie that is vex and disquiet them with those that are not a people †The Jews understand this of the Chaldeans who carried them Captive and so grieved them But the Apostle understands it of the Jews rejection for refusing Christ and of the calling of the Gentiles at which the Jews were very angry see Rom. 11.14 Completum hoc cum ab Ethnicis infesterentur Judaei deinde in Gentium vocatione Confer Hos 1.10 Rom. 10.19 Anonym even with a foolish Nation that is by calling the Gentiles who were not now his people and were despised by the Jews for their blindness and folly Rom. 10.19 For a fire is kindled in mine anger and shall burn unto the lowest Hell and shall consume the Earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains that is the Judgments which God in his anger would bring upon them should be most vehement and dreadful and should utterly destroy the Land and therefore this desolation and destruction is set forth in expressions resembling the Conflagration of the World at the last day He further adds I will heap mischiefs upon them I will spend mine arrows upon them that is I will strike them with many Plagues and they shall be wounded with them as with Arrows suddainly and unexpectedly They shall be burnt with hunger that is consumed with Famine see Lam. 4.8 and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction that is with burning Carbuncles and fiery Vlcers on their Bodies I will send the teeth of Beasts upon them with the poyson of Serpents of the dust viz. that hide themselves in the dust and feed on the dust and assault suddainly They that are abroad shall be slain by the Sword and they that are within shall die with terrour and fear and this misery and calamity shall fall on all sorts old and young I said I would scatter them into Corners and make the remembrance of them cease from among men were it not that I feared the wrath of the Enemy lest the Adversaries of my people should behave themseves strangely and lest they should say Our hand is high and the Lord hath not done this God here speaks of Himself after the manner of men who oftentimes desist from doing what otherwise they intended to do for fear of encouraging the pride and insolency of wicked men And therefore God would not bring his people so near to utter destruction as their sins deserved lest their Enemies should thereupon exalt themselves as if by their own power alone or the help of their Idols they had vanquished Israel and done all that they had done see Psal 140.8 And the reason why God was so far provoked as to be ready almost utterly to destroy the Israelites had not respect to his own glory restrained him was because they were a Nation void of Counsel neither was there any understanding in them that is they went on blindly and desperately in wickedness without considering what would be the issue of it O that they were wise says God that they would consider what will befal them in the latter end if they go on in their Rebellions against me that so by true Repentance they may prevent these miseries For if they had not by their frequent and high Transgressions extreamly provoked me their Enemies should never have had that power over them that they have had seeing I had promised them in case they were obedient that an hundred of them should put ten thousand of their Enemies to flight Josh 23.10 Levit. 26.8 and this they have found true in many strange Victories which they have gotten wherein a few of them have defeated whole Armies of their Adversaries And how could it come to pass quite contrary that one of their Enemies should chase a thousand of them and that two of their Enemies should put ten thousand of them to flight except their Rock had sold them and the Lord had shut them up that is except the Lord who is their Rock and their only Stay and Strength had delivered them up into the hands and power of their Enemies to be captivated and imprisoned by them at their will and to
deserto intermissum Non jubetur idem homo iterum circumcidi sed idem populus those that were born in their Travels thorow the Wilderness who had not been hitherto circumcised And the Reasons why it was now injoyned as we may suppose were these 1. That this might signifie to them that it was by vertue of that Covenant which God had made with their Fathers whereof Circumcision was an outward Seal that they were now put into the possession of the Land of Canaan 2ly That they might more couragiously Encounter the Canaanites having upon them this Badge of their Adoption 3ly Because on the fourteenth day of this month at even they were to eat the Passover of which none might eat that were not circumcised Exod. 12.48 4ly When they came into the Land of Canaan they were to observe all the Precepts of the Ceremonial Law Deut. 12.8 9 10. and therefore this of Circumcision among the rest 5ly Circumcision was now injoyn'd them that hereby God might make trial of their Faith and Obedience And indeed a very hard trial it was if we consider that those that were the very flower and strength of their Armies were now to be circumcised viz. all that were under forty years of age and when they lay sore how easie had it been for their Enemies to have overcome them as may appear from the slaughter Simeon and Levi made upon the Sechemites when they lay in the same condition Gen. 34.25 26. So that nothing could be more dangerous in the eye of reason than that which God now injoyn'd them But thus God was pleased to try their Faith viz. whither in confidence of his Protection they would do what he injoyn'd them though it seem'd in it self so exceeding perillous Joshua therefore in Obedience to Gods Command and for these Reasons before-mentioned renewed now this Sacrament of Circumcision and 't is probable that all that were before circumcised were imployed in this Service that it might be the sooner dispatched and so the place where this was done was upon this occasion call'd the Hill of Fore-skins because there they did cast away or bury the Fore-skins of those that were that day circumcised The Israelites thus circumcised abode in their places in the Camp till they were whole no Enemy attempting any thing against them or once offering to molest them no not so much as to scare them or put them in any fright This being done the Lord said to Joshua This day have I rolled away from you the Reproach of Egypt as if he should have said Had these Israelites continued in their Vncircumcision they would rather have seemed to be uncircumcised Egyptians than the Israel of God but now being circumcised this Reproach of Egypt is rolled away from them see 1 Sam. 17.26 Gen. 34.14 Josh Ch. 5. from 1. to 10. SECT XCVII UPon the fourteenth day of this first month in the evening the Israelites celebrated their first Passover * Which was likewise intermitted in the Wilderness saving only the second year see Numb 9.1 2. in the Land of Canaan and on the morrow after did eat both unleavened Cakes of the old Corn and parched Corn of the new even the very same day whereon the Sheaf of the first-fruits of their Harvest was offered to the Lord after the offering whereof they might lawfully eat of the new Corn and not till then And Manna ceased the very day after they began to eat of the Fruits of the Land so that after that they saw it no more By which it was evident to them that Manna came not all that time they had injoyed it from any natural Cause in the Clouds but was provided for them in an extraordinary way by the Almighty Power of God Josh Ch. 5. vers 10 11 12. SECT XCVIII JOshua now approaching nearer to Jericho possibly to observe the Country about it and to contrive how he might best assail it and perhaps retiring a little alone to pray unto the Lord for direction in this matter on a sudden he beheld a man standing over against him with his Sword drawn in his hand Joshua went to him and said Art thou for us or for our Adversaries The man said Nay but as a Captain of the Host of the Lord am I come unto thee Then Joshua fell on his face to the Earth and worshipping him said What saith my Lord to his Servant And he said Loose thy shooe from off thy foot for the place whereon thou standest his holy and Joshua did so This Captain of the Lords Host was not Gabriel or any other created Angel but Michael the Arch-Angel Jude v. 9. the great Prince of Gods people Dan. 10.21 12.1 the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 Christ the eternal Son of God who appeared here and sundry other times in the shape of a man as a foregoing Presage and pre-signification of his future Incarnation and this appeareth by Joshua's adoring him as the Lord Jehovah Ch. 6.2 and his acceptance of it which a created Angel would have refused Rev. 19.10 and by his commanding Joshua to put off his shoes because the place was holy like to that Exod. 3.5 not that the place was capable of any inherent holiness in it self but hallowed by Gods holy presence in it and in relation to that only to be so esteemed and which ceased to be so when his appearance was withdrawn from it This Captain instructs Joshua about the manner of besieging and conquering Jericho He commands him for six * Thus God loves to try the saith and patience of his people to see whither they will wait for the accomplishment of his Promises when they are not presently fulfilled days together to march his Army round about the City that the Priests should carry the Ark about it and seven Priests with Trumpets of Rams-horns should blow before it and on the seventh day to do it seven several times At the last of which when the Priests blew with a long blast all the people should give a great shout at which the Walls of Jericho should fall down and so the Israelites should enter into it and destroy it Joshua having received these Directions from the Lord acquaints the people with them who believed the Lord would work this Miracle for them as he had newly divided the waters of Jordan and therefore the Apostle says Heb. 11.30 By Faith the walls of Jericho fell down Joshua tells them That the Lord would give the City into their hands but it should be accursed or devoted †See Levit. 27.28 even it and all that was therein to the Lord except Rahab and her Family who hid the Spies that is shall be offered to divine Justice as a kind of First-fruits thereby intimating that the whole Land was his but that he was pleased to give it them He tells them All the Silver and Gold and Vessels of Brass and Iron were to be consecrated to the Lord and brought into his Treasury
them to make a better use of the Successes he had given his people than their Neighbours did Accordingly they sent some of their City unto Joshua as if they had been Ambassadors from a far Country with old Sacks upon their Asses and old Wine Bottles patched and mended with old clouted Shoes on their Feet and old Garments upon their Backs and old mouldy and dry Bread and they came to Joshua at Gilgal and told him They were come from a far Country for they had heard as it seems that God had forbidden the Israelites to make Peace with the Inhabitants of Cannan vers 24. to desire him to make a League with them which the Israelites might do with the Inhabitants of remote Countries provided they would submit to become Tributaries unto them see Deut. 20.11 The men of Israel replied That peradventure they dwelled near them in that very Land that they were come to take possession of and then they might not make a League with them nor let them dwell among them see Deut. 20.15 16. The Gibeonites applying themselves to Joshua whom they discovered to be the General of the Army said unto him We are thy Servants We pray thee look upon us not as Enemies to thee as the Canaanites are but as those that are willing to be thy faithful Allies yea thy Servants and wholly to submit themselves to thy pleasure and to accept of any Conditions thou shalt please to impose on us Joshua asks them Whence they came They replied They came from a very far Country where they had heard of the Glory of the God of Israel and the mighty Works He had done in Egypt and to Sihon and Og but they mention nothing of the taking Jericho or Ai lest the taking notice of these things might have discovered them to be near Neighbours therefore say they our Elders * V. 11. They mention their Elders but no mention of their King so that they seem to have been at Commonwealth and the Inhabitants of our Country spake to us to take Victuals for our long Journey and to come and address our selves to you and to desire you to make a League with us on what terms you please And you may the rather be induc'd to believe that we came from a far Country for this Bread of ours that you see now to be dry and mouldy we took hot out of our Houses on the day we came out and these leathern Wine-sacks or Bottles which we filled with Wine were new when we came out and behold they are now rent and torn and our very Garments and Shoes you see are become old by reason of our very long Journey Then the men of Israel took and looked on their Victuals and thorow too much Credulity judged by their mouldy Bread that they were indeed come from a far Country never inquiring of the Lord by the High Priest what Answer they should give them Hereupon Joshua made Peace with them and a League promising that they should live and not be destroyed by them and the Princes of the Congregation sware to them to perform this Covenant This they might lawfully do as we said before to Cities that were far off and not of the Cities of the Canaanites But after three days they understood these Gibeonites were their Neighbours and that their Cities were nigh unto them upon this the people murmured against their Princes for this rash and hasty League But the Princes told them They had sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel to perform that Covenant and therefore might not destroy them lest wrath from the Lord should come upon them if they should violate their Oath as it happened afterwards in the days of Saul who 400 years after this slew some of the Gibeonites and so brake the Oath which their Fathers had made with them upon which God sent a Famine upon the Land see 2 Sam. 21.1 2. Joshua and the Israelites finding themselves thus deceived by the Gibeonites they marched up to them but smote them not Joshua highly expostulates with them and asks them Why they had thus beguiled them They replied It was certainly told thy Servants that the Lord thy God commanded his Servant Moses to bring you to this Land and to give it you in his Name and that you should destroy all the Inhabitants thereof before you therefore we were sore afraid of our lives and upon that account we have done what we have done And now behold say they we are in thy hands being willing to submit unto thee so that thou maist do with us and impose upon us what Service thou pleasest Joshua tells them They were cursed that is of those cursed Nations whom God commanded them to destroy but yet because of the Oath they had made to them this Curse should be upon them only in bondage and should not extend to the taking away their lives He tells them That none of them should be freed from being bondmen they should be Hewers of Wood and Drawers of Water for the House of God And so the Curse was literally and particularly fulfilled on the Gibeonites which Noah pronounced against the Canaanites in general Gen. 9.25 Cursed be Canaan a Servant of Servants shall he be unto his Brethren But yet this Curse thorow Gods mercy became in some respects a great Blessing to these Gibeonites seeing by these Services though base in themselves they had a near approach to God in the Service of the Sanctuary for the good of their Souls and were in a sort given and consecrated to God as the Name Nethinims afterwards given them doth import see 1 Chron. 9.2 and Ezra 8.20 Josh Ch. 9. whole Chapter SECT CIII ADoni-zedek King of Jerusalem with the Kings of Hebron Jarmath Lachish and Eglon hearing Gibeon was fallen off from them which was a great City and that the Inhabitants thereof were among the Children of Israel that is had incorporated themselves with them to be one people with them and to live under the same Laws and Government and that the Israelites and Gibeonites had daily free intercourse one with another they join'd their Forces together and came and besieged Gibeon resolving to Chastize it for its falling off from them and thereby to prevent the like Revolt of other Cities The Gibeonites immediately dispatch away Messengers to Joshua imploring him not to slack his hand but to come up speedily with his Forces to save and help them for these five Neighbouring Kings whose Cities were situate on Hills and Mountains were come up against them The Lord appears to Joshua and bids him not fear them for He had delivered them into his hand they should not be able to stand before him Joshua accordingly made hast and marching his Army all night came upon them suddenly and the Lord discomfited them before Israel and they slew them with a very great Slaughter near to Gibeon and chased them along the way that goeth to Bethhoron * There were
two Cities of this Name One fell to the lot of the Ephraimities and the other to the Benjamites So that it seems there were an upper and nether Beth-horon which were afterwards rebuilt beautified and fortified by Sherah a famous woman of the stock of Ephraim 1 Chron. 7.24 and smote them unto Azehah and Makkedah And as they fled some towards the upper and some towards the nether Beth-horon the Lord cast down great and prodigious Hail-stones upon them which destroyed more of them than the Israelites had killed with the Sword This storm of Hail was miraculous not only in regard of the exceeding greatness of the stones but in that they fell only on the Canaanites and not on the Israelites who pursued after them Joshua being now with his Army in the heat of pursuit and execution of their Enemies and fearing he should want day-light to finish his Work His spirit was excited humbly to beg of God that the Sun and Moon might stand still in the Heavens and give them light till they had done their work The Lord was pleased by some special instinct of his Spirit to assure him that his Request was granted whereupon in the presence of his Souldiers and for their future Encouragement looking up to Heaven He said Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the Valley of Ajalon †This was a Plain into which men descended from Beth-horon v. 11. and in respect of the small distance between it and Gibeon it is by the Prophet who alludeth to this story call'd the Valley of Gibeon Isa 28.21 And accordingly the Sun and Moon stood still and the whole frame of the Heavens by the space of almost an whole day till they had avenged themselves on their Enemies So that both these great Lights beginning and ending their standing still together the Astronomical Account was no way confounded by this stay even as in Musick the Harmony is not in any sort broken if all the Voices rest at the same time and then begin again every man in his own part going on until the end of the Lesson as Laurentius Codomannus observes This is written in the Book of Jasher * Fuit hic liber quasi Sanctorum Catalogus de Heroum Sanctorum gestis-scriptâ—s metrico versu Bonfrerius which seems to be some continued Chronicle of the memorable Acts of Gods Worthies in those times which Book is since lost though 't is mentioned again 2 Sam. 1.18 see also Numb 21.14 And there was no day like this either before it or after it wherein God at the prayer of a man made the Sun and Moon to stand still and made the day twice as long as it should have been Indeed in Hezekiah's time the day was miraculously lengthened by the Suns going backward 2 Kings 20.11 and Isaiah the Prophet cried unto the Lord and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward by which it had gone down in the Dial of Ahaz and yet it was not lengthened so much by far then as it was now to wit not above two hours and an half Neither was that done in such a manner as this was viz. upon Joshua's prayer to God first desiring it and then commanding in his Name that it should be done see Hab. 3.11 Joshua having the day thus miraculously lengthened out for him and following the Chase those five Kings fled to a Cave in the Country belonging to Makkedah and there hid themselves Joshua being informed thereof commanded that the entrance into the Cave should be rammed up with great stones and a Guard set upon it but that the rest of the Army should pursue after their Enemies and smite the hindmost of them and not suffer them to get into their fenced Cities lest they should put them to a new trouble For says he God fights for us and hath delivered these our Enemies into our hands therefore let us not by sloth and negligence lose this opportunity of destroying them which he now affordeth us Accordingly Joshua and his Souldiers made that day a great Slaughter of their Enemies so that only a few of them escaped which got into their fenced Cities For though he at present destroyed the Enemy in the Field yet it seems he did not take their fenced Cities till some time after though they are related in this Chapter as taken presently because the Writer of this Book did resolve to give as it were one short Draught of the War Now those whom Joshua had sent forth to pursue the Enemy returned to him in peace that is sound and safe to Makkedah where his Camp was at present And now the Canaanites were very quiet and durst not offer the Israelites the least Disturbance no not so much as a Dog barked against them to allude to that proverbial Speech Exod. 11.7 Then Joshua caused the five Kings to be brought out of the Cave to him and He called for his Captains and chief Commanders and bad them put their feet upon their Necks not in a proud insulting manner but to teach them that they were to shew no mercy to this people and to intimate to them that thus they should tread all their Enemies under their feet Then Joshua commanded that these five Kings should be slain and hanged * Quia Regum stagitia plurimis exemplo nocent ideo acerbiore supplicio merito debebant Expiari Masius on five Trees where they hung till evening and then they took them down and cast them into the Cave where they had been hid and laid great stones in the Caves mouth which remained when this History was written See Josh 8.29 and Psal 91.13 and Psal 149.8 110.1 Joshua 10. from 1. to 27. SECT CIV JOshua like a prudent General pursueth his Victory while the Canaanites were under so great a terrour and consternation upon the defeat of the five Kings and their Armies And therefore now He resolves to set upon their Cities And first He took Makkedah (c) A City in the uttermost Confines of the Tribe of Judah towards the West see Ch. 15.41 and destroyed all the people therein Men Women and Children reserving the Cattel to themselves for a Prey see Ch. 11.14 And he did unto the King thereof as he had done unto the King of Jericho that is He hanged †Hoc non indicat Scriptura ex caeterorum tamen Regum exemplo colligunt eum suspensum fuisse Bonfrerius him From Makkedah he marched the whole Army that was with him to Libnah (d) A City situate in the Tribe of Judah Ch. 15.42 and given to the Priests Ch. 21.13 and the Lord delivered that City also into his hands and he put all to the Sword he found therein and did unto their King as he did unto the King of Makkedah From Libnah he marched to Lachish (e) A strong City in the Confines of Judah restor'd Ch. 15.39 whose King was one of those that made War against Gibeon and besieged it
of their City and their great Wealth lived voluptuously without fear of any Enemy and after the same manner lived the Inhabitants of Laish 2ly They observed they had no Magistrate in the Land that might put them to shame in any thing and so restrain them from Vice for shame doth oftentimes more restrain men from sin than smart or corporal punishment 3ly They observed they were far from the Sidonians with whom possibly they had a League or had some dependance on them and therefore they could not suddainly come to aid them 4ly They observed they had neither League nor Commerce with their Neighbours either of which might have obliged them to afford them help in their need Having taken notice of these things they return to their Brethren who sent them out and tell them what they had observed concerning this people They tell them the Land was a very good Land a place where there was no want of any thing that is in the Earth and if they would go up they need not doubt of obtaining it for say they God hath given it into your hands This confidence of theirs possibly was grounded partly on what they observed when they were among the people and partly from the encouragement that Micah's Priest had given them Whereupon 600 men of them well armed went up from thence upon this Expedition In their march they first pitched at Kirjath-jearim in the Confines of Judah Dan and Benjamin Thence they passed to Mount Ephraim and came near the house of Micah When they came thither the five Spies told them there was in one of those houses of Micah an Ephod and Teraphim a graven and a molten Image Now therefore consider say they what ye have to do consider whither this will not be a good Booty for us and whither we should not take all these along with us to use them in the Places where we shall come as in our former Journey we asked Counsel by them of God and received an Answer that our Journey should be Prosperous The Souldiers hearing these things went presently to Micah's house and the 600 Men placing themselves at the Gate the five Spies went in and saluted Micah and probably acquainted him with their design and then brought out his Priest to their Brethren whom He kindly saluted and as 't is probable wished them good success in their Enterprise and discoursed with them In the mean time the five Spies went back into the house and took away the Ephod and Teraphim and the Images graven and molten The Priest seeing this asked them what they did They bid him hold his peace and go along with them and be to them a Father and a Priest They tell him It was much better for him to be a Priest to a whole Tribe than to one man The Priest notwithstanding the kindness and respect Micah had shewen him hoping to have more advantage by these Danites than He had by Him away he goes with them and immediatly placed himself with this Idolatrous Trash in the midst of their Army either for the better defence of his Person and these Trinkets or else in a kind of Apish imitation of the Israelites who carried the Ark in the midst of their Host When they departed from Micah's house they ordered that their Wives * The bringing of their Wives little Ones and Cattel with them shews with what assurance of success they went up against Laish little Ones and Cattel and their Carriages should march before their Army For they feared not any Enemy before them but supposed that Micah with all the strength he could make would pursue after them Micah accordingly with what Company of his Neighbours he could get together pursued after them and when He came up to them the Danites asked Him What ailed him and why He came after them with such a great Company He cries out Ye have taken away my gods and my Priest and do you now ask me What aileth me Alas I esteem all that ye have left me as nothing now my gods and my Priest are gone The Danites answered Let not thy Cry be heard among us lest some angry Fellows of our Company run upon thee and destroy thee and thy Houshold When Micah saw they were too strong for him he turned back and so the Danites carried away the Priest and the Images with them to Laish When they came thither they easily took the City and smote the Inhabitants thereof with the edge of the Sword there being none to deliver them out of their hands And though in taking of it they burnt it yet afterwards they built it again and called it Dan in honour of Dan from whom they were descended And then they set up the graven Image there which they had taken from Micah and established this Idolatrous Worship of their false gods among them and so this Levite whose Name was Jonathan the Son of Gershom and his Posterity were Priests unto these Idolatrous Danites all the time the Tabernacle remained at Shiloh till the Captivity of the Land that is till the Ark was taken and carried away by the Philistines 1 Sam. 4.10 11. which was at the death of Eli at which time there was a great slaughter of the Israelites and no doubt many of them were carried away Captive together with the Ark and all this befel them because of the Idolatry that was then practised in the Land Psal 78.58 59. But though this Idol was pulled down as 't is probable in Samuel's time or Saul's when the Tabernacle was at Nob 1 Sam. 21. yet these Idolatrous Priests might in secret especially continue to do this impious Service for the Danites unto the times of Jeroboam and then might be employed as Priests for his golden Calf which he here erected 1 Kings 12.29 and so they might continue till the general Captivity of the ten Tribes Judg. Ch. 18. whole Chapter SECT CXXX THe Israelites tolerating this Idolatry of Micah and the Danites and never stirring against it this Toleration breedeth all Iniquity in so much that Gibeah a City in Benjamin becometh as abominable as Sodom as appears by the story following It happened in those days when there was no Supream Magistrate to curb and restrain the Disorders and evil Manners of the people that a certain Levite that sojourned in Mount Ephraim had taken to himself a Concubine from Bethlehem-Judah Some Concubines there were among the Hebrews that were esteemed lawful Wives as to the right of the Bed and their Children were accounted Legitimate though they were not esteemed in the rank of other Wives principally and most properly so called For they had not the honour of being accounted the Mothers of the Family neither had they the Rule in the Family nor their Children any Inheritance but only Gifts or Portions The case of Jacob's Sons by Bilhah and Zilpah was extraordinary See Sect. 15. of Ch. 3. Other Concubines there were that were plain Whores or Harlots but this
ordinarios ut probabile est Tyrannus Sabin è medio sustulerat Deborah a Prophetess judged Israel not Governing chiefly and properly as a Judge whose Office was to hear and determine Causes and in those times especially to make War against their Enemies but as a Prophetess counselling and directing the people that came to her in hard and difficult Cases and revealing to them the Will of God by the Spirit of Prophesie which God had given her 'T is like the Tyrant Jabin would not have suffered any man to have been Judge or Governour among them but as for Deborah a Woman possibly he took no notice of her Deborah as it seems used to give forth her Directions and Counsel sitting under a Palm-Tree that was between Rama and Bethel in Mount Ephraim Deborah now by the special Direction from God sends for Barak Son of Abinoam who dwelt at Kedesh-Naphtali and imparts to him what God had revealed to her either by the secret Inspiration of his Spirit or perhaps by the Ministry of an Angel †That some Angel did appear to her either before or after the battel sought with Sisera may appear from Ch. 5.26 She tells him God had commanded him to go and draw together to Mount Tabor an Army of the Israelites and to take ten thousand of the Children of Naphtali and of the Children of Zebulun because they were nearest at hand and those of Naphtali were likely to be forwarder in this Work because Barak was of that Tribe and they also were most oppressed by Jabin and Sisera Hazor and Harosheth being both in their Tribe She tells him When he had gathered this Army together the Lord would incline the heart of Sisera Jabin's General to come with his Multitudes and Iron-Chariots to fight him at the River Kishon that runs near to Mount Tabor and would deliver him into his hands Barak it seems believed what Deborah told him viz. that Sisera should be vanquished by him and therefore his Faith is commended Heb. 11.32 33. but yet his Faith was assaulted with some doubts and fears for he tells her If she would go with him He would go else not 'T is like he was desirous to have her at hand being a Prophetess to give them Counsel and Advise upon every Emergency she readily yields to go with him but withall shews him that because of his fear the Lord would deprive him of a great part of that glory he should otherwise have had And because he would not undertake this Enterprize without the presence and encouragement of a Woman therefore a Woman should carry away a part of the Honour of the Victory to wit Jael the Wife of Heber into whose hands Sisera should fall and by whom he should be slain Deborah therefore accompanying Barak he went to Kadesh in Naphtali the place of his Birth and here gathering together an Army mostly consisting of the Tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali though some of the other Tribes did voluntarily joyn with them as appears Ch. 5. he marched with ten thousand men following him towards Mount Tabor whither he was commanded to go Near unto this City of Kedesh-Heber the Kenite had his Tent (r) The Kenites lived in Tents and not in Houses who for some Reasons not here mention'd had severed himself from the rest of the Kenites who were seated among the Children of Judah see Ch. 1.16 and now lived in the Tribe of Naphtali Sisera hearing that Barak had got together an Army about Tabor He gathers together speedily all the Forces he could make which were very many and with them and his 900 Chariots he marches to Kishon to encounter him Deboral hearing of his approach encourages Barak to go out and fight him telling him That the Lord was gone out before him as General of his Army to fight for him and would certainly give him Victory over Sisera So Barak marched down from the hill with ten thousand men following of him They joyning battel Sisera was totally discomfited insomuch that he himself lighting out of his Chariot he was forced to run away on foot His whole Army was routed slaughtered or scattered not a man left in the Field to make resistance Those that fled fled towards Harosheth whom Barak vigorously pursued but Sisera himself fled to Hebers Tent the Kenite who though joyning with God's people in the profession and practise of the true Religion yet paying possibly to Jabin some kind of Tribute he had taken him under his Protection and the rather because he lived only as a Sojourner among the Israelites and laid no Claim to the Land and lived a Peaceable and Pastoral kind of life and so was not like to rise up in Rebellion again Jael the wife of Heber meeting Sisera desired him to turn into her Tent and bids him fear * V. 20. Timere quidem probibet nil tamen spondet nothing He accordingly does so and she gave him Water to drink and Milk and Butter to eat and covered him with a Mantle that he might repose himself being very weary He desires her to stand in her Tent door and if any came to enquire after him she should not acknowledge he was there Jael seeing he was fallen asleep by a special and extraordinary Instinct of the Spirit of God took a long Nail such as they us'd to fasten their Tents with and drove it on a sudden into his Temples and so fastned his head to the ground Barak pursuing Sisera Jael went out to meet him and told him She would shew him the man whom he sought after Barak coming into the Tent found Sisera dead and the Nail driven through his Temples So God subdued Jabin that day and his Host before the Children of Israel And the Israelites prevailed so far against him that they brought him and his people to an utter and final destruction But however the Lord made use of Barak and his Army as Instruments in obtaining this great Victory yet He himself was the Principal Agent in it partly by taking away the Courage of the Enemy and possessing them with fear and partly by fighting against the Canaanites from Heaven and sending into their very faces an impetuous storm of Hail unto which Deborah alludeth Ch. 5.20 Judg. Ch. 4. whole Chapter SECT CXXXVII AFter this Victory Deborah being a Prophetess composed as 't is thought a Triumphant Song and She and Barak and the Commanders of the Army and the Elders of the people Sang it together to the Glory of God who subdued their Foes before them They begin thus Praise ye the Lord for avenging of Israel when the people offered themselves willingly principally hereby intending Zebulun and Naphtali who first appeared and came in as Voluntiers at the sound of the Trumpet Barak having no Authority to press them to this Service But with them also some others joyn'd in the day of Battel viz. Ephraim Manasseh Issachar vers 14 15. Then in a Poetical strain she calls upon Kings
whom he marched on foot from Mount Tabor into the Valley being so commanded by an Instinct from God and willingly exposed himself to great danger in that place where Sisera had great advantage of Him coming against him with Iron-Chariots and Horse-men She then declares how For the divisions of Reuben whereby they were kept from sending any Aid to their Brethren in this just War there were great heart-burnings and discontents O Reuben says she why didst thou desert thy Brethren and stay at home upon so poor a Pretence as to look after thy Cattel The Cries and Groans of God's oppressed People had been more worthy thy regarding than the bleatings of thy Flocks For the divisions of Reuben great Exceptions were taken and great wondrings and musings and strange Conjectures made that they should desert their Brethren in so just a Cause As for the Gileadites that is the Tribe of Gad and the other half-Tribe of Manasseh who had the Country of Gilead for their lot Josh 13.14 c. she says They abode beyond Jordan that is they pretended they dwelt so far off that they could not come in time enough to the help of Barak As for Dan she says He remained in his Ships that is the Danites living by the Sea-Coast pretended they were Sea-men and Merchants and so could not without neglecting their Traffick engage in this War and possibly they thought that if the War did not succeed they could most of them get away in their Ships and carry their Estates with them and so they minded their own private safety and profit before the Publick Good Asher also that dwelt nigh unto the Sea pretended that the Breaches and Ruines in the walls of their Cities were such that they durst not leave them in such a weak condition lest in their absence the Neighbouring Canaanites should seize upon These were weak Excuses to keep them from so necessary a Service which God now called them to But as for the Children of Zebulun and Naphtali they shewed themselves brave men indeed For they fought couragiously against Sisera and jeoparded their lives in the high places of the Field and beat the Enemy from the Hills and sought them also in the most open Vallies But though several of the Tribes of Israel were backward to help their Brethren yet Jabin had many Confederate Canaanitish Kings that joyned with him either in their own Persons or by their Forces to help him against the Israelites And Sisera and his Forces being worsted at Tabor and flying as it seems to Taanach (t) Megiddo an eminent City which Manasseh had in Issachar Josh 17.11 not far from Jezreel and the River Kishon Taanach a Royal City near Megiddo Josh 12.21 and there being re-inforc'd with the Souldiers of these Confederate Kings renewed the battel but were there totally discomfited And 't is observable that these Confederate Canaanites came not to fight for gain or pay but out of love to the Cause and out of enmity and hatred to the Israelites from whose overthrow they expected much spoil But they got nothing by the bargain but lost all they had and themselves too Nay further says she we may truly say that God himself fought for us from Heaven For the Stars in their stations by extraordinary influences at God's appointment raised stormy Meteors and prodigious Thunder and Hail all which did help to ruine Sisera's Army The River Kishon also swept them away For many of them in their flight attempted to get over the River and were drowned and their dead bodies were carried down by the stream Then in a Triumphant Gratulation she cries out O my Soul thou hast trodden down strength as if she should have said Oh my Soul God hath heard thy prayers and given the Army rais'd at thy Instigation Victory over their proud Enemies who gloried in their strength Yea though they had many Horses high-fed and pampered yet they prov'd unserviceable and did not hurt the Israelites by reason that through their overmuch mettal and spirit and their pawings and pransings they brake their hoofs and foundred their feet in that hot hard and stony-ground All these things says she declare the wonderful goodness of God towards us and call for high Praises and Thansgivings from us But the Angel of the Covenant the Son of God whose Prophetess I am hath bid me to call for your Curses against Meroz and the Inhabitants thereof who dwelling near to the place where this battel was fought and as it were within the noise of our Trumpets yet came not forth to the help of the Lords people against their mighty Enemies What the effect of this Curse was we do not find but there is no more mention made of this City any where in the Scriptures which gives occasion to some to suspect that some dismal Fate befel it But though Meroz was cursed yet Jael was blessed Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be that is she shall be highly extolled and applauded and many blessings shall be wished unto her for her heroick Act in killing Sisera and people shall pray that she may be blessed above all women who live in Tents as she and the Kenites do Sisera fled to her Tent to hide himself and being very thirsty asked a little water of her And she gave him not only water but Milk and Cream or possibly Buttermilk and that in a large great Bowl suitable to his Greatness and Dignity He falling asleep she gave him a deadly blow on the head with an Hammer He strove to rise (u) V. 27. Est haec pulcherrima 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quares gesta oculis perspicue quasi subjicitur describuntur motus qui proprij sunc repente violenta morte pereuntibus Accepto quippe gravissimo vulnere conabatur surgere sed viribus distitutus rursum cadebat ac inter pedes Jahelis misere jacebat but could not for having received his deaths wound he fell down again yea he fell down dead at her feet so she nailed his head to the ground with an iron Pin or Nail and then cut it off This was a wonderful disappointment to Sisera's Mother who with impatience exspected his Return with Victory She looked out at the window (x) V. 28. Here we have another figurative amplification befitting a Poetical Hymn whereby is supposed how it was likely Sisera's Mother and her Maidens would behave themselves upon occasion of his not coming when they expected him We have here also a lively and ironical representation of Pride and carnal Confidence presuming of Success in Enterprizes upon carnal grounds without regard to God's Power and Providence and asked why is his Chariot so long in coming why tarry the wheels of his Chariot Her Women about her answered her yea she was ready to give this Answer to her self They have undoubtedly sped and now stay to divide the Spoil to every Man a Damsel or two but to Sisera a prey
the ground about it were dry then he would look upon it as a sign that God would save Israel by his hand The Lord grants his Request without any reprehension of him at all and accordingly in the morning Gideon found the Fleece so wet that he wrung a Bowl full of water out of it the ground about it being all dry Gideon seeing this earnestly besought the Lord that his anger might not wax hot against him if he humbly desired one sign * Herein Gods great Condescention to Gideon was manifested working a Miracle forward and backward as it were yea many Miracles for the strengthening of his Faith in his Vocation and in Gods Promises more which was just contrary namely that the next morning the Fleece only might be dry and upon the ground about it there might be dew which came to pass accordingly to the great Encouragement of Gideon Ch. 6. whole Chapter SECT CXXXIX THen Gideon and all the people that were with him rose early and pitched besides the well Harod or the Well of Terror in the Tribe of Manasseh so called either from the fear that seiz'd on the twenty two thousand of the Israelites vers 3. or on the Midianites vers 21. and the Midianites encamped at the Hill Moreh on the North-side of them and in the Valley The whole Army that Gideon had gathered together were in all but thirty two thousand and the Midianites were a hundred thirty and five thousand * For there were an hundred and twenty thousand of them slain in their first overthrow and the remainder that were left with Zeba and Zalmunna were fifteen thousand Ch. 8.10 so that they were above four times as many as the Israelites and had the Israelites vanquished the Midianites with these thirty two thousand that were now come to Gideon one would think they should never have gone about to attribute the Victory to themselves or to rob God of the Glory of it But the Lord who foresaw how prone men would be to vaunt themselves upon any great Success told Gideon they were too many for him to Conquer the Midianites by lest Israel should say Mine own hand hath saved me Therefore He orders Gideon to make Proclamation That all that were afraid according as was injoyn'd Deut. 20.8 might depart from Mount Gilead (a) The Mount Gilead here spoken of must needs be not the famous Mountain of that Name without Jordan but another Mount of the same name within Jordan For a great many of this half-Tribe of Manasseh within Jordan being descended from Gilead the Son of Machir the Son of Manasseh they might also call this Mountain Gilead in remembrance of their Father in the Tribe of Manasseh within Jordan where they now were gathered together Hereupon twenty two thousand of them seeing the power and strength of the Enemy their hearts failed them and so they embraced the liberty given them to depart But their Trumpets it seems they left behind them by Gideon's order so there remained only ten thousand with Gideon The Lord tells him They were too many yet He bids him therefore bring those ten thousand down unto the water and there he would try them for him and discover who among them were fit for this Service and who not And accordingly those whom he approved for this Service should go along with him the others should depart When they were come to the water the Lord tells him That every one who coming to the water bended his body only a little and snatched up a little water in the palm of his hand and so lapped it up for his present refreshment as Dogs lap a little water and make hast presently away every such one should go with him but those that kneeling down on their knees bowed their heads down to the River and so putting their mouths into the water drank and sucked up their fill those should be dismissed For this kind of drinking argued sloth and a greedy desire of filling themselves and impatience of thirst whereas the other argued strength and ability of body and that they were content with a little refreshing being more intent upon the business they had in hand than on filling themselves This Experiment being made the number of those Lappers were found to be but 300 the rest were dismissed The Lord tells Gideon He would save them by this small number and by them vanquish the Midianites though for every Souldier Gideon had left there were four hundred and fifty of the Enemy The same night after Gideon had dismissed all his Army but these 300 the Lord spake to him in a Vision or Dream and said to him If thou fearest to go down and set upon the Enemy because of the smallness of thy number go down first privately in the night with thy Servant only and get as near to their Host as thou canst and there thou shalt hear something that shall further strengthen thy Faith Gideon accordingly crept down with his Servant to the first Sentinels of the Host and the Midianites and Amalekites lay along in the Valley like Grashoppers for multitude and their Camels were innumerable Gideon being got near to the Sentinels he heard one of them tell his Dream unto his Fellow says he Behold I dreamed that a Cake of Barley-bread tumbled into the Host of Midian and came into a Tent and smote it that it fell and so over-turned the Tent that it lay along His Fellow answered This is nothing else save the Sword of Gideon the Son of Joash for into his hand hath God delivered Midian and all the Host When Gideon heard this Interpretation of the Dream he bowed himself by way of thankfulness to the Lord for bringing him to hear this comfortable News for the strengthening of his Faith and hereby he perceived that God had alreadly stricken the Enemy with a fear of Him So returning to his little Army he acquaints them with what had passed and told them God had delivered their Enemies into their hands Then he gave to every one of his Souldiers a Trumpet and a Torch which being lighted he was to carry holding an empty Pitcher over it that no light might be seen till they had occasion to discover it Then dividing his 300 into three Companies that so they might encompass the Camp of their Enemies in several places and appear as if they were a great Army He bids them to look on him and to do as He did says He When we are come to the out-side of the Camp of our Enemies and you see me break my Pitcher and discover my Light and blow with my Trumpet do you likewise the same and with a great shout cry out The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon He would have them own God as the chief Agent but yet to name Him as an Instrument because he perceived by the Interpretation of the Dream which he had heard that his Name was terrible among them So Gideon and the three
hundred men that were with him approached the Enemies Camp about Midnight when they had newly set the Watch and spreading themselves round the Camp as far as their number could extend and breaking their Pitchers and discovering their Lights and blowing their Trumpets cried out The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon The Enemy in the dead of the night being terrified at the sight of so many Lights on a suddain burning about them and hearing so many Trumpets sounding and so many men crying out The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon could not but apprehend they were encompassed with a mighty Army and thereupon all the Host made an hideous Out-cry and ran and fled and shifted for themselves as well as they could In this great Consternation the Lord by his Providence ordered it so that they fell one upon another and slew their Friends instead of their Enemies See the like 1 Sam. 14.15 20. 2 Chron. 20.23 And some of the Midianites fled to one place and some to another in the Tribe of Manasseh where the Over-throw was given The men of Israel hearing of this great Defeat and routing of the Midianitish-Army gathered themselves presently together out of Naphtali Asher and Manasseh to assist Gideon in the pursuit And Gideon sent Messengers through all Mount Ephraim to desire them to come in to his Assistance and especially to take care to stop the Midianites at all the Fords and Passages of the River Jordan that reached down as far as Beth-barah The Ephraimites did as He desired them and accordingly took at the Fords of Jordan Oreb and Zeeb two of their Princes with many others so that there were no less than an hundred and twenty thousand of the Midianites and their Confederates destroyed within Jordan And they slew Oreb on the Rock Oreb and Zeeb at the Wine-press of Zeeb places so called in after-times upon this occasion and lying at the East-end of Mount Ephraim near Jordan Gideon understanding that many of the Midianites to the number of fifteen thousand together with their Princes Zeba and Zalmunna had escaped over Jordan before the Passages could be secured He with his three hundren men went in pursuit after them and coming near to Succoth a City in the Tribe of Gad and his Souldiers being faint he desired the men of that City to give them some Loaves of bread for their present refreshment for they were very weary and faint and so it would be an act of mercy to relieve them and they were in pursuit of the Common Enemy and so it would be but an act of Justice to strengthen their hands in so good a Design But the men of Succoth * Which had its name from Booths which Jacob made there at his return from Mesopotaemia Gen. 33.17 answered him Churlishly What say they are Zeba and Zalmunna thy Prisoners Are they in thy Power that should respect thee as Victor over them or rather have we not cause to fear they will recruit their Army and return and revenge it upon us if we shew thee any kindness Thus they incensed Gideon by refusing him Succour and that with contemptuous Scorn and in favour of their Tyrannical Enemies see the like 1 Sam. 25.10 Whereupon he told them That when the Lord had delivered Zeba and Zalmunna into his hands he would for this tear their Flesh with the Thornes and Briers of the Wilderness Then he marched up to Penuel a City also in the same Tribe and desired some Relief of them for his Souldiers in this their extremity and they answered him with the like scorn and contempt that the men of Succoth had done He told them That when he returned in peace that is safe and victorious he would for this barbarous Usage destroy them and break down their strong Tower or Fort in which they had so much confidence Zeba and Zalmunna with those fifteen thousand that had escaped were got to Karkor a City on the other side of Jordan towards the East Gideon fearing he should be discovered if he followed right on towards them He fetched a compass about by the way of the Arabians that dwelt in Tents and so came upon them on the East-side viz. on the East of Nobah and Jogbehah from whence they feared no Enemy and so were very secure not imagining that they had been pursued by the Israelites Gideon being thus come up to them he fell upon them on the sudden probably in the night discomfited all their Host and in the pursuit took Zeba and Zalmunna After this Victory carrying these two Kings along with him he marched in the night towards Succoth that he might surprize them And coming near the City before the Sun was up he took a young man that was come out of the City and examining him strictly concerning the Elders of the City he gave him their Names in writing which were 77 in all and possibly told him where they dwelt and how they might be known For Gideon knowing the Magistrates only to be in fault that he was so scornfully denied a little refreshing for his Souldiers therefore he was the more careful to inquire after their Names that none might suffer but those that were guilty Gideon having got this Intelligence entred the City of Succoth and then told them They might now behold Zeba and Zalmunna with whom they did before upbraid him and asked him in scorn Whether they were his Prisoners He should now teach them what it was to use their Brethren that were fighting for them so scornfully and unworthily So he took the Elders of Succoth and with the Briars and Thornes of the Wilderness which lay between Succoth and Penuel he caused them to be scourged to death * For being equal in guilt with the men of Penuel in reason we cannot suppose that their punishment was less than theirs see vers 17. and by this severe Punishment inflicted on them he taught the rest of the people to take heed for time to come of committing any such hainous Trespass against God and their Brethren or slighting those whom God imploys Then he went to Penuel and slew the Magistrates of that City also as he had done before at Succoth and threw down their Tower or Fort. These Executions being over Gideon now calls Zeba and Zalmunna to account for what they had done He tells them He had heard that in their last Invasion they had put many of those Israelites to death who had hid themselves in those strong Holds and Caves of Mount Tabor and fearing lest his own Brethren were of the number of those whom they had thus slain because they had not been heard of since He asks them What manner of men they were that they had slain at Tabor They answered As thou art so were they that is they were of a goodly and comely Personage as thou art and such as might well beseem men of a Princely and Royal Stock He then perceived they were his Brethren He
out with her importunity he at length opened his heart unto her and told her that he had from his mothers womb been a Nazarite unto God and no razor had come on his head therefore if he were shaven and his locks * His strength did not lye in his hair but was the free gift of God conferred on him particularly and not upon another Nazarite and it seems God had bestowed it upon him upon condition of his strict observing this Law of the Nazarite in keeping his hair uncut and probably God had some way or other revealed this to Samson himself cut his strength would depart from him and he should be but like other men Behold here the weakness of man when left to himself Samson one of Gods great Worthies commended for his faith Heb. 11.32 and innobled by his Glorious victories who with his bare hands rent a roaring Lion as if he had been a Kid and slaughtered and routed an whole army of his enemies is now become so weak as to reveal a secret that concern'd his life to a treacherous Harlot Thus God did justly leave him to fall into the following miseries that thereby he might severely yet deservedly correct him for his former uncleanness and relapsing again into the same sin But to proceed when Dalilah saw by his serious carriage in this relation that he had told her his very heart she sent for the Lords of the Philistines to come to her once again assuring them that though before they had lost their labour yet they should not do so now for Samson had discovered his whole heart to her Hereupon they came up and brought the money with them they had promised to give her to engage her to be faithful to them Then Dalilah getting Samson upon a time to lay his head and sleep upon her lap she caused a man to cut off his seven locks she might have suddenly dispatched him by cutting his throat but God did not permit her to take away his life that he might have space to repent and having his strength renewed might destroy more of the Philistines at his death than he had done in his life Dalilah now jogging and rouzing him out of his sleep and telling him the Philistines were upon him he suddenly awoke and thought to have gone out and to have shaken up himself and rouz'd up his spirits to do as he used to do but he soon found the case altered with him for his locks being cut God had withdrawn his supernatural strength from him whereof his hair was a sign Being thus deprived of his strength the Philistines that lay in wait came and took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of brass and made him grinde in their Prison-house See Exod. 11.5 Herein the Philistines had their ends and God had his unto which he made theirs subservient Samson had by the wanton and lustful glances of his eyes upon Harlots highly offended God and now God permits the Philistines to put out his eyes they carry him down in triumph to Gaza and that must be the place of his punishment where he first acted his sin of uncleanness and he that had inslav'd himself to an Harlot is now condemn'd to that mean and abject slavery to grind in a mill It seems it was a good while * Per tres forte aut quatuor menses in carcere fuit that Samson continued in this slavery before they brought him forth to make them sport at Dagons (d) Dagon was an Idol-god of the Philistines his Image was in the upper part like a man and in the neather like a Fish as may be gathered from 1 Sam. 5 4 perhaps the Philistines whose land lay on the Sea-coast worshipped him as the God of the Sea As the Heathens did their Neptune or Triton Dagon seems to be derived from the Hebrew word Dag signifying a Fish Feast During which time reconciling himself to God by unfeigned repentance his hair the sign of his strength began to grow again After some time the Lords of the Philistines and their chief men met together at Gaza to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god for delivering Samson their enemy and the destroyer of their Country into their hands and to feast and rejoice together When they were frolick and in their cups they call'd to have Samson brought forth to them out of the Prison to make them sport and that they might laugh at him Samson being brought into that magnificent house and Idol-temple where there were gathered together all the Lords of the Philistines from the several Lordships of the Country with a vast number of other persons of note both men and women and about 3000 people having got up to the roof of the Temple that was flat (f) Tecta in Palaestina Plana erant ut in illis commode ambulare liceret habebantque fenestras ita dispositas ut videre possent quidquid erat in inferiori domus parte Menoch that they might thorough the windows and lattices that were thereon see the sport Samson desiring the Lad that led him to suffer him to feel the Pillars on which the house mainly leaned he prayed unto the Lord and said Remember me now O Lord I beseech thee and strengthen me this once that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes for they have not only done me a private injury in my own person but have thereby disabled me to fight in thy quarrel for the deliverance of thy people Then being moved by an extraordinary instinct (g) Ut patet a viribus ei a Deo subministratis ad patrandum hoc miraculum of the Spirit of God not to murder (h) Quamvis directe primario per se suam ipsius mortem deligere procurare non liceat Licet tamen indirecte secundario per aliud quod per se bonum honestum cum sit non potest nisi morte nostra obtineri Patet in quotidianis bellicae fortitudinis Martyris exemplis Lessius Non eligitur inquit Cajetanus in hujusmodi casibus mors propria in seipsa sed per se eligitur mors hostium concomitans propria mors toleranda admittitur propter bonum ultionis Non proprie physice seipsum occidit Samson sed tantum indirecte permissive se in eadem clade quam evadere non poterat involvit quod sicut magnae fortitudinis fuit sic magna pro praeteritis culpis poena fuit A Lapid himself but to undervalue his own life so he might thereby as a Judg and publick person execute Gods vengeance upon his and his peoples enemies he took hold on the two Pillars by which the house was born up of the one with his right hand and of the other with his left and bowing himself with all his might and crying let me die with the Philistines the house fell upon the Lords and all the
convinced that the keeping of the Ark among them was the true cause of their present calamities they resolved to send it back and thereupon called for their Priests and Diviners to advise them in what manner they should do it that they might appease the wrath of the God of Israel and that he might heal their land and remove their plagues The Priests advise them that if they did resolve to send it back they should not send it without some gift or present or trespass-offering because they had trespassed against the God of Israel by carrying away his Ark captive and had not given it that honour and respect that was due to it And then say they ye shall be healed if his hand has been upon you by reason of your detaining his Ark but if it were upon you for any other cause it will be upon you still after the Ark is sent home Thus the alwise-Providence of God causeth these Idolatrous Priests who were enemies to him and his true Worship to give such counsel as tended to his honour and the shame of their Idols and false worship The Philistines ask their Priests what Trespass-offering they should send They answer five golden Emerods and five golden Mice according to the number of the Princes of the Philistines and the five principal Cities with their villages that were under their command For one and the same plague was on them all see v. 17 18. even on all the land of the Philistines which extendeth unto the great stone of Abel that is mourning see v. 19. so called from the peoples great lamentation for the slaughter God made among them upon an occasion which we shall speak of afterwards By these presents they acknowledged that the God of Israel brought upon them those plagues of the Emerods and Mice for their detaining his Ark and so by them they gave glory to his great name see Josh 7.19 'T is possible Satan might instigate these Diviners to send such absurd and ridiculous gifts as these with the Ark in contempt of God but if it were so that which Satan intended as a dishonour the Lord by his over-ruling Providence so disposed of as tended to his glory seeing the Philistines themselves were made to send into the land of Israel such things which would there remain as perpetual Monuments and Memorials of those shameful punishments wherewith God had humbled them However this is the course these Priests advise them to take at this time and peradventure say they God will hereupon lighten his hand from off you and from off your Gods so that it seems not only Dagon but several other of their Idol-gods were thrown down and broken to pieces by a secret hand of God in all their Cities whither the Ark was brought as 't is probable the like was formerly done in Egypt see Exod. 12.12 and Numb 33.4 But though many of the Philistines were for sending back the Ark presently yet it seems some of them were of a contrary judgment and stiffly opposed it wherefore the Priests blamed them for thus hardning their hearts against the means which God had afforded them to convince them of their sin why will you say they retain the Ark after you have suffered such great and grievous punishments by it herein resembling Pharaoh and the Egyptians who held the people of Israel in cruel bondage notwithstanding Gods hand was so heavy upon them till at last going on in their sin their whole Army was drown'd in the Sea If you would avoid the like heavy Judgments do not imitate them in their sin Now therefore take our advice make a new Cart which hath never yet been put to any common use and take two young heifers on which there hath come no yoke and fastning the Cart to them shut up their Calves at home from them and take the Ark and put it into the Cart and put those Jewels of Gold viz. those Golden Images of Emerods and Mice which ye return for a Trespass-offering in a little Coffer by the side thereof and send it away that it may go and by this experiment ye shall discern whither the God of Israel hath inflicted these punishments upon us or no. If these young heifers untamed and untrained quietly bear the yoke and carry the Ark directly in the way that leadeth to Bethshemesh a City belonging to the Priests †Josh 21.16 of Judah and if the kine do carry the Ark thitherward not offering to go out of the way or to return to their sucking Calves shut up at home it will then be evident that their natural love and affection to their young ones is restrained by a Supernatural power and that the kine would never have done it if Gods hand had not been in the business and so we may conclude that it was he that smote us whilst we kept the Ark. But if things happen otherwise then we may conclude that it was not his hand that smote us but it was only a chance that happened to us The Philistines agree to do as their Priests directed them and all things being prepar'd the Kine went directly to Bethshemesh as if they had been sent thither by God to deliver the Ark into their hands to whom it belonged to take care of it But yet by a natural instinct they sometimes lowed after their Calves left behind them but notwithstanding went on directly in the way towards Bethshemesh not turning to the right hand or left into any cross or by-ways being moved to go on with the Cart and to carry the Ark thither by the all-powerful Providence of God And the Lords of the Philistines went after them unto the borders of Bethshemesh to observe the issue of this experiment and then returned home v. 16. The men of Bethshemesh were at this time reaping their Wheat-harvest * Wheat-harvest in that Country used to be in our May at the Feast of Pentecost Lev. 23.16 whence we may gather that the Ark was taken about November before seeing it was seven months in the custody of the Philistines but lift up their eyes to their great astonishment and joy they saw the Ark coming towards them and the Cart came into the Field of Joshua a Bethshemite and stood there where there was a great stone and the Priests who were of the Tribe of Levi came and took down the Ark of the Lord and the Coffer that was with it and set them on the great stone and they clave the wood of the Cart and offered the Kine as a Burnt-offering to the Lord. 'T is true the Law did command that only males should be offered in Burnt-offerings Levit. 1.3 but this seems to be an extraordinary act of devotion whereunto the Priests were led by reasons grounded upon this strange and extraordinary work which God had wrought and perhaps by a special instinct of his Spirit and is not therefore to be judged of according to the rules of ordinary Burnt-offerings They considered
thousand and the men of Judah (a) Where by the way we may observe the humble submission of the Tribe of Judah to the Government of Saul notwithstanding they had the promise of the Kingly Scepter because they saw it thus determined by the pleasure of God thirty thousand having got this great Army together Saul and Samuel sent away the messengers that came from Jabesh-Gilead to inform the Inhabitants thereof that on the morrow by that time the Sun was well up they might expect them to come for their help The messengers returning to the City with this news the Inhabitants thereof were wonderfully revived at it and sent to Nahash who besieged them that on the morrow they would come out to him meaning and understanding thereby if no help came for them in the mean time But this they concealed (b) Sic non tam ipsi decipiebant suos hostâ—s quam permittebant ut ipsi deciperentur that nothing might be presently attempted against them and to make their enemies the more secure that Saul might have the greater advantage against them Saul dividing his Army into three parts and marching as it seems all night by the morning-watch he came upon the enemy and surprized them unawares and slew a vast number of them and so scattered the rest that there were very few of them left together And thus he raised the siege of Jabesh and freed the Inhabitants thereof from that horrid cruelty intended against them (a) How thankful the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead were afterwards to Saul for this great benefit we may see Ch. 31.11 12 13. The Israelites were so transported with joy for this victory and so taken with the prudence and brave conduct of Saul in the obtaining of it that some of them came to Samuel and said Where are the men that said Saul shall not reign over us bring them forth that we may put them to death But Saul said There shall not a man be put to death this day on my account I shall never consent that a day of so much joy and triumph and wherein God has so eminently shewed himself gracious unto us shall be stained with severity against those that slighted me or with the least sorrow or mourning among the people And here we see again what a difference there was betwixt Saul in his first Government and what he was afterwards when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him Now none more humble and gentle than he not a man shall be put to death for him but afterwards in his dealing with David and the Priests of the Lord he was another man even blood-thirsty cruel and implacable beyond measure But to go on Samuel upon this victory spake to the people after this manner Come says he let us go to Gilgal and renew the Kingdom there that is let us by a general consent confirm Saul's Election and settle and invest him in the Kingdom Accordingly the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before the Lord * V. 15. that is in a solemn manner as in Gods presence and possibly before the Ark the sign of his presence which by Samuel's appointment might be brought hither at this time that they might consult with God as occasion served in this weighty business and also it may be that it might grace the action that is they anointed him publickly as before Samuel had done privately and performed all other Solemnities requisite for his Inauguration sacrificing Sacrifices of Peace-offerings and Thanksgiving before the Lord and rejoicing and praising him for their late victory and for their new King by whose conduct under God they had obtained it and praying to the Lord for him and craving his blessing upon his Government 1 Sam. Ch. 11. whole Chapter SECT CLXIII THE Children of Israel being at this time wonderfully transported with joy for their new King and possibly flattering themselves that God was well pleased with them for asking a King seeing he had given them one by whom they had obtained so great a victory Samuel thought fit to take this occasion to make them sensible of their mistake and that they had grievously sinned in asking a King whereby they rejected God from reigning over them as their Soveraign and himself as his Deputy and Vicegerent Behold says he I have hearkened to your voice and have according to your desire the Lord also permitting it set a King over you And now you have a King setled among you to govern you and go before you as your General to war And as for my self I have very great cause to be well pleased being old and gray-headed that the burden of the Government is taken off from my shoulders And as for my Sons behold they are with you now not as rulers but as private men they are before you to give account to you and your King of their former behaviour and carriage and to make satisfaction (a) q. d. Filios meos habetis in potestate vestra Si quid dignum severo supplicio commiseâ—int non substraham eòs legitimae satisfactioni Si enim quid perperam in sua gubernatione commiserint id me praeceptore non didicerunt neque talia excusabo for any thing they have done amiss whilst they were in place of Government And as for my self I may truly say that I have endeavoured faithfully and in the uprightness of my heart to perform the duties of my place in the sight of you all both in the service of the Sanctuary in my younger days when I was a Levite and in my riper age by administring justice since I was called to be a Judg. And seeing the Government is transferred from me to another you need not now fear to speak your minds of me and therefore if you can justly accuse me of any evil speak it freely and witness it against me before the Lord and before his anointed whose Ox * A rare precedent for such to look upon as are in any publick place or office I pray you or whose Asse have I wrongfully taken away whom have I defrauded or whom have I oppressed of whom have I received bribes to blind mine eyes †See Deut. 16.19 and to cause me to wrest judgment If any such injurious dealing can be proved against me here I am ready to make restitution and to give satisfaction The people answered Thou hast not defrauded or oppressed us at all neither hast thou taken ought of any mans hand to pervert justice Well then says he let the Lord be witness and let his anointed here present be witness that you acknowledg and declare that you have not found any injustice or injurious dealing in me They answered let them be witnesses Possibly he desired thus to justifie and clear himself as to the whole course of his Government as Moses likewise had done Numb 16.15 both that he might be an example to their new King and make him the
my self worthy to be husband to a Kings daughter So far was he from aspiring to this honour though so justly due to him But though David sufficiently approved his valour in fighting the Lords battels and contrary to Saul's expectation escaped many dangers and won much honour yet Saul perfidiously broke his promise with him and at the very time when he should have married his daughter he gave her to Adriel the Son of Barzillai the Ephraimite born at Meholah see Judg. 7.22 David bears this great indignity patiently without expressing any unbeseeming resentment of it But God to whom vengeance belongeth would not suffer the malice and wickedness of Saul exprest herein to go unpunished for all the five Sons (d) They were certainly Adriels Sons by Merab though they were brought up by Michal of which see the note on 2 Sam. 21. that Adriel had by this daughter of Saul were hanged up to satisfie the Gibeonites for the cruelties which Saul had exercised upon them as we may see 2 Sam. 21.8 17 18 19. 4ly David being thus treacherously defeated of Merab Michal Saul's youngest daughter falls in love with him This being made known to Saul he seemed to like it very well hoping by that means to bring his purpose about of destroying David So pleasing to a malicious mind is the very hope of doing mischief to a person whom he hates Saul therefore resolves to give this daughter to David to wife that she might be a snare to him and a means one way or other to run him into danger and he hoped that she being his daughter would be brought to complot and join with him in effecting his ruin but it pleased the Lord to cross his design in this also for he made Michal an instrument of preserving him from the snare which her Father had laid for him Chap. 19.11 12. But to proceed Saul carrying on this treacherous design against David in his mind he tells him that though he failed him before yet now he would make him amends he had but two daughters and one of them he resolv'd he should have and if he became his Son-in-law by marrying either of them he supposed it would be no great wrong to him though he had not the elder David was not very forward to believe Saul in this proposal nor greedy to embrace this motion having been before deceived by him Saul perceiving this set his Courtiers to perswade him as of themselves that the King very much delighted in him and that all his servants loved and highly valued him and therefore why should he not readily accept of this honour that was offered him to be the Kings Son-in-law David answers them Seemeth it to you a light and small thing to be Son-in-law to a King and do you think me worthy of it who am a poor man and not able to give a Dowry (e) In those days and long before it was the custom to give Dowâ—ies to their wives and not as now to receive portions See Gen. 34.12 Exod. 22.16 Deut. 22.29 and the Dowry was at the womans disposing and if her husband died before her served for her maintenance and education of her children if no other portion were left them fit for the Kings daughter and possibly upon that account I was slighted before when I should have had his other daughter The Courtiers relate to Saul what David had said Saul bids them go to him again and tell him that he desired not any Dowry for his daughter but only an hundred foreskins of the Philistines to take thereby some revenge on them they being his and his peoples enemies This was that which Saul hypocritically pretended whereas his great design was to make David fall in the attempt or else to provoke the surviving Philistines to revenge themselves on him if he did effect it And observable it is that he requires their foreskins not their heads the more to enrage them against David for he knew that the circumcising and cutting off the foreskins of the slain Philistines would be looked upon by their surviving brethren as a matter of the greatest scorn and disgrace that could be put upon them However David hearing on what terms he might be the Kings Son-in-law namely if he brought him so many foreskins of the Philistines within such a time and finding the time was not yet expired he accepts the terms and accordingly went out with his men and slew of the Philistines two hundred and brought their foreskins and gave them in full tale to the King and having thus perform'd double to what was required of him and within the time limited Saul had no colour or pretense to deny him his daughter and therefore forthwith gave him Michal to wife However Saul seeing and finding by continual experience that God prospered David in all his ways and blessed him in all his concernments he was the more afraid of him apprehending that he was the man whom God would set up in his stead and upon that account he became his implacable enemy The Princes of the Philistines besides former provocations being now extreamly enraged at the slaughter David had lately made among them when he kill'd two hun-hundred of them and especially at the dishonour he had put upon their Nation by cutting off their foreskins and bringing them to Saul they with their forces invade the land of Israel and David though a new married man and so by the Law Deut. 24.5 exempted from going to war this year yet it seems readily went out and behaved himself more prudently and valiantly in this expedition than any of Saul's Commanders so that his name became very precious and renowned among the Israelites from v. 20 to the end 5ly Saul now seeing that none of his secret designs against David took effect but that he prospered in all his undertakings and so gained more and more reputation among his Courtiers and all the people he now openly gives command to Jonathan and to his servants to kill him Jonathan who truly loved and much delighted in David gives him notice of his Fathers bloody purpose towards him and advises him to look to himself that night following and to hide himself in some Cave or secret place of the field where Saul was wont to walk and take the air and thither he himself would accompany him and would speak to him in his behalf and what he saw to be his temper and inclination towards him he would discover to him Jonathan accordingly waited upon his Father into the field and there spake good of David to him and though he knew he was sometimes troubled with frantick fits and might in a rage do him a mischief for it yet he resolves to hazard that rather than desert his friend in a righteous cause 'T is true whilst David was esteem'd a favourite with Saul all his Courtiers carried it fair towards him Ch. 18.5 and faun'd upon him but now when Saul had openly discovered his ill will to
some plague or sickness whereof he died When David heard of the death of Nabal though he rejoiced not in the evil that was befallen him yet he could not but rejoice in the manifestation of Gods justice upon him and that the Lord himself had pleaded his cause against him and had returned his wickedness upon his own head and had withheld him from revenging himself Sometime after David understood that Saul out of malice to him had given his wife Michal to one Phaltiel * Ishbosheth upon Davids desire restored her to him again 2 Sam. 3.14 15. the Son of Laish who was of Gallim a place in the Tribe of Benjamin wherefore reflecting upon the piety the prudence the modesty and comeliness of Abigail and possibly something upon her portion also as being in likelihood of very great wealth which his present condition might cause him to consider he sent some of his Attendants to her to treat with her about marriage And he chose rather to send others than to go himself that Abigail might be the more free in her choice not being over-awed with his presence and also that he might come off with less disgrace if his motion were not accepted The messengers coming to Abigail acquaint her with their business she as one wonderfully surprized at the strangeness of the motion bowed her self to the earth before them and addressing her self to the principal person among them said Alas I am utterly unfit for so high a dignity and advancement Let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord. I hardly think my self worthy to be a servant to his servants Herein Abigail shewed not only her great humility but her faith also who could think so honourably of David when he was in such a persecuted state and such a despised condition But the messengers pressing her further she at last consented and as 't is like sometime after when the messengers came again to fetch her she rode upon an ass after them having five young maidens to attend her And so she became Davids wife David also took to wife Ahinoam of Jezreel a City in Judah by whom he had Amnon his first-born 1 Sam. Ch. 25. from v. 2. to the end 11ly From hence he fled back again to Hachilah-Hill which is before Jeshimon for though the Ziphites had once sought to betray him there yet he hoped he should find more favour from them now seeing they knew how wonderfully God had delivered him And besides possibly he apprehended this place more convenient for him upon his marriage with Abigail because her possessions lay near it However the Ziphites fearing possibly that if David came to the Crown he would remember them for their former treachery against him bring Saul tidings a second time that he was there that so he might be cut off and they secur'd from any danger from him Saul accordingly without delay came with three thousand chosen men of Israel to find him out David having some intelligence of his coming he sent out Scouts to see if it were so and was by them informed that it was so indeed Saul being come near to him with his forces David arose and went secretly himself and possibly disguiz'd to the place where Saul had pitched and he beheld where he lay and Abner the Captain of his host and he saw that Saul lay inclosed with the Carriages and his Souldiers about him but they were all fast asleep David being moved doubtless by a special instinct of Gods Spirit to undertake this dangerous Enterprize and being desirous once more to manifest his innocence to Saul he spake to Abimelech the Hittite one of his Commanders being so by birth though an Israelite by Religion and to Abishai the Son of Zerviah (a) She had three Sons Joab Abishai and Asahel all valiant men she being Davids Sister is always mentioned and not her husband who possibly was of no great family and his name no where mentioned in Scripture his Sister 1 Chron. 2.15 16. demanding of them which of them would adventure to go with him into the Camp to Saul Abishai readily answered he would go with him David and Abishai accordingly entred into Saul's Camp through the midst of his Army and found Saul and his men fast asleep his Spear sticking at his head and a Cruse of water standing by him Then Abishai said to David God hath at this time delivered thine enemy into thy hands it would be a strange and unaccountable neglect if thou shouldst let slip this opportunity which Providence plainly offers thee let me I pray thee smite him with the Spear that stands at his head and let me alone I will smite him so surely at the first blow that I shall not need to give him a second David charges him not to touch him (b) Nusquam magis eluceo Clementia Davidis quam hoc loco ca. 24. Privato qualis adhuc erat David non actu Rex vide ca. 16. 13. non licet regem suum occidere quamvis Tyrannum P. Mart. for says he who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords anointed and be guiltless Possibly the Lord himself will smite him with some mortal disease as he did Nabal or he will die a natural death as other men do by sickness or old age or he will come to his end by some casualty falling in battel But as for me God forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against him or smite him my self or suffer him to be smitten But I pray thee take the Spear that stands at his boulster and the cruse of water that stands by him and let us be gone So they took away the Spear and the cruse of water neither Saul nor any of his men about him awaking for a dead sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them See Gen. 2.21 Then David went over to the other side and stood on the top of an hill at some distance from Saul's Camp but so as his voice might be heard and he called aloud to the people and to Abner and it seems he called often before he could awaken him at last Abner awaking said Who art thou that criest unto the King so as to disturb him in his rest David answers what art thou Abner a man so esteemed for valour that there is scarce any in Israel like unto thee wherefore then hast thou not kept thy Lord the King better For I do assure thee there came one of my followers into your Camp that would have destroyed the King had not I prevented it as the Lord liveth thou and the people about the King are worthy to die because ye have not watched better about your master the Lords anointed And now behold here in my hand the Kings Spear and the Cruse that stood at his head How came I by these Saul being now awake and hearing David speak to Abner after this manner he cries out What is this thy voice my
to revenge Ishbosheth's death Accordingly these Conspirators came to Ishbosheth's house who was then reposing himself on his bed and they came it seems in the disguise or habit of Country men or Merchants that came to buy wheat (h) Non mirum Tirticum in Regia domo repositum esse Nimis delicati sunt antiquae simplicitatis ignavi qui ad hodiernam Aularum elegantiam pristinas Regum Aulas exigunt whereof Ishbosheth's lands yielded great store or of Porters that came to carry some away that had been bought and by this colour having free access into his house and finding him asleep upon his bed they desperately murder'd him and cutting off his head took it away with them and travelling all night from Mahanaim through the Plain of Jericho to Hebron they brought it to David and presented it to him saying Behold the head of Ishbosheth thine enemy who sought thy life and the Lord hath avenged my Lord the King this day on Saul and on his seed David being enraged at this their desperate wickedness and treachery against their Lord and Master said As sure as the Lord liveth who hath hitherto deliverd me out of all my troubles I will inflict upon you the punishment that your heinous crime deserves when the Amalekite came to me and told me that Saul was dead thinking to have brought me acceptable tidings and said moreover that upon Saul's request he had helped to kill him and rid him out of his pain See 2 Sam. 1.10 I took hold of him and slew him in Ziklag though he thought I would have given him a reward for his tidings how much greater reason then have I to execute severe justice on such bloody and wicked Assasinates as you are who have murder'd one that was just and innocent as to you having done you no wrong but contrary deserved well of you and that so basely and treacherously in his own house and upon his bed where he lay secure suspecting no such danger Have not I reason therefore to require his blood at your hands and to take you away from the earth for committing such an abominable villany Having thus spoken he commanded the young men about him to fall upon them and slay them which they immediately did and cut off their hands and their feet and hanged them up over the Pool in Hebron that all men might see how much David abhorred this fact of theirs and how far he was from knowing any thing of it or giving the least encouragement to them that did it As for the Head of Ishbosheth they took and buried it in the Sepulcher of Abner in Hebron 2 Sam. Ch. 4. whole Chapter SECT CLXXXIII IShbosheth being dead the Elders and Heads of the several Tribes of Israel and the Captains and many thousands of the people that bare armes came unto David to Hebron to settle the Kingdom of Saul upon him as God had appointed and some of them addressing themselves to him in the name of the rest spake after this manner We are thy bone and thy flesh that is Israelites as thou art and therefore doubt not but we shall find favour with thee And when Saul was King over us thou wast our Captain and didst lead forth our Armies against our enemies and broughtest them back again crowned with victory and laden with spoil And therefore the experience we have had of thy wisdom and prowess moves us to desire thee for our King And further God did by Samuel appoint thee to rule over us and said unto thee Thou shalt feed my people Israel and be a Captain over them And we are bound to accept him for our King whom God shall chuse for us Deut. 17.15 upon all these accounts we are willing to accept of thee and submit to thee as our King David graciously received them and their address and declar'd himself ready to forget all that was past and to receive them as his subjects into his protection And so he made a league with them promising to govern them according to the rule prescribed in Gods Law and they promised to obey him as his loyal and liege people And this being done with invocation of God as a witness of their league it is said to be done before the Lord and so they anointed * David now a third time anointed David King over all Israel He was thirty years old at this time he had reigned seven years and six months over Judah in Hebron before and after this he reigned over all Israel thirty three years so that his whole reign was almost forty years In the 1 Chron. 12.23 we have the number of those who out of the several Tribes came to Hebron upon this solemn occasion Of the Children of Judah six thousand and eight hundred ready armed they had before anointed David King over them therefore it was not necessary they should appear in greater numbers at this time Of Simeon seven thousand one hundred mighty men of valour Of Levi four thousand and six hundred though this Tribe was set apart peculiarly for the service of God yet many of them being men of valour did it seems go out into the wars and David being now to be inaugurated and anointed King the Levites were willing to shew their forwardness also to establish him in his Kingdom Of the Aaronites or Priests three thousand and seven hundred with Jehojada their leader And Zadok (a) This Zadok seems to be the man who in Davids reign was joined with Abiathar 2 Sam. 8.17 and by Solomon was put into Abiathars room and made High-Priest 1 King 2.35 a young man of great valour was another leader among the Sons of Aaron and with him came twenty two Captains that were Priests and of his Fathers house Of the Chilren of Benjamin three thousand no more of them it seems appeared because they being of the same Tribe with Saul a multitude of them endeavoured to continue the Kingdom in Sauls race (b) V. 29. Observabant observationem domus Saulis i. e. adhaerebant domui Saulis capessentes mandata Ishboshethi Pisc and were unwilling the Royal dignity should go from them Of the Children of Ephraim twenty thousand eight hundred mighty men of valour and famous in their Tribe Of the half Tribe of Manasseh that was seated within Jordan eighteen thousand which were chosen by name to be imployed in this service Of the Children of Issachar that were singularly prudent and able to give advice for the doing of any thing that was to be done in the fittest time * Vide Esth 1.13 and season (c) They had much given themselves to observe seasons wherein matters of moment were meetest to be done and whose brethren were at their command out of the high esteem they had of their prudence and wisdom of these the Heads or Captains were two hundred and therefore undoubtedly had divers thousands under their command who came along with them Of Zebulon no less than
bound himself by a solemn vow that he would not rest till he had set himself upon the accomplishment of it as they gather from Psal 132.2 3 4. But God delayed not to bring David quickly out of his mistake and therefore that very night he spake to Nathan to go to him and to speak to him after this manner Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name thou didst well that it was in thine heart 1 King 8.18 but it shall not be done by thee but by thy Son 2 Chron. 6.7 8 9. it is not my pleasure that thou shouldest do it and that for these reasons 1. Because thou hast been a martial man and hast shed much blood (c) Haec verba non leguntur 2 Sam. 7. Ergo pertinent ad Paralipomena i. e. ad praetermissa unde hi duo libri nomen acceperunt which though it was the blood of mine and my peoples enemies and so was a service well pleasing to me yet the Temple being to be a Type of the Body of the Messias the Prince of Peace it shall be built by a Peaceable Prince 2ly Though thou enjoyest peace now yet thou hast many wars to wage with the Nations about thee that are not yet subdued and so canst not have leisure to go through with so great a work as that is 3ly I have not made choice of any standing permanent house wherein to manifest my gracious presence to this day but have manifested my self in a Tabernacle flitting and removing from place to place yet all that while I have been present with my people ever since coming out of Egypt as their God Alsufficient therefore there is no absolute need at present of building any other house for me which shall be done when my own time is come 4ly I did never speak to any of the Tribes of Israel or to the Judges whom I appointed as faithful shepherds to govern and provide for my people that an House of Cedar should be built for me Moreover do not think that my forbidding thee to do it proceeds from want of love to thee for thou maist remember how I have taken thee from the sheep-coat from following the sheep to be ruler over my people and have prospered thee in all thine enterprizes and have destroy'd all thine enemies that rose up against thee and have made thee famous and formidable to the Nations round about thee and have given thee a name like the name of the great Princes and Potentates of the earth And as I have already multiplied many blessings upon thee so I am still ready to do it for time to come Moreover I have not only blessed thee but I will bless the whole Nation under thy Government As I have appointed a place (a) V. 10. I have appointed a place for my people So the Dutch Annotations read it In the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posui a good land for them so I will plant (b) How was this promise fulfill'd that the Lord would so plant them in a place of their own that they shouâ—d thence move no more and that the children of wickedness should not afflict them any more as in former times c. when after Solomons days both the Kingdom of Israel and Judah were often invaded and wasted by many of the neighbouring Nations and the people at last carried away captive to Assyria and Babylon Either this promise therefore must be restrain'd to the times of David and Solomon in whose days they did enjoy the land as their own without molestation from the neighbouring Nations or else it must be understood as a conditional promise viz. if they were obedient else God reserved liberty to himself to deal otherwise with them them there and so settle them in the land that they shall quietly enjoy it as their own lawful inheritance and not be dispossessed of it and tossed up and down as formerly they have been neither shall they be molested and vexed continually by their oppressing neighbours the children of wickedness as they have been ever since I appointed Judges to rule over them even unto this time that I have set thee over them and have given thee rest from all thine enemies round about And seeing thou hadst a purpose to build an house for me I will saith the Lord make thee an house that is I will establish and continue thy Kingdom in thy posterity and which is far more raise up out of thy seed the Messiah who shall be an everlasting King over his people And when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers I will set up one of thy Sons viz. Solomon on the Throne after thee and will establish his Kingdom and he shall build an house for my name for my worship and service and I will establish the Throne of his Kingdom for ever (c) This is proper and peculiar to Christs Kingdom alone and cannot be literally understood of Solomons seeing the Kingdom continued in his posterity only to Zedekiah therefore the promises here are some peculiar to Solomon and some to Christ and some to both I will be to him a Father (d) This promise belonged both to Solomon and Christ to Solomon as we read 1 Chron. 28. to Christ as we read Heb. 1.5 To Solomon by grace and adoption to Christ by natural eternal generation and he shall be my Son and if he commit iniquity (c) This is to be understood of Solomon and not of Christ who committed no sin I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men that is I will correct him for his sin as a loving Father doth his beloved Son with Fatherly chastisements for his amendment and not in wrath for destruction but I will not quite cast him out of my favour and deprive him of his Kingdom as I did Saul And thine house and thy Kingdom shall be establisht for ever before thee that is thy Kingdom shall be establisht in thy self unto the day of thy death and shall in thy sight be setled upon Solomon thy Son 1 King 1.28 whence thou maist assure thy self of the continuance of it in thy posterity for a long time (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Hebraeos non semper significat tempus infinitum sed pro materia de qua agitur aliquando solum tempus bene longum Thus Nathan faithfully delivered unto David all that was revealed unto him in the vision he had from the Lord though it was contrary to the advice which he himself had before privately given him David having received this message went into the Tent where the Ark was and having for some time sat down and meditated on the great goodness and mercy of God to him he then addressed himself in prayer unto the Lord after this manner Who am I O Lord God and what is my Fathers house that thou hast brought me
supplies as we have occasion The King tells them that seeing they would have it so he would do as they desired So standing at the Gate of the City to see his Army march he spake to the three Generals in the audience of the people that they should deal gently for his sake with the young man Absalom For besides his tender natural affection to him 't is like he feared lest he should die in his sins and under the heinous and heavy guilt of Murder Incest and Rebellion The Armies now approach each other and the Battel was fought in that part of Gilead which belonged to the Tribe of Gad near unto the Wood Ephraim so called either because it was close by Jordan right against the portion of Ephraim on the other side of the river or else because this was the place where Jeptha slew the Ephraimites Judg. 12.5 6. The Armies furiously engaging against each other Absalom's Army was discomfited and a great slaughter of them made and being disordered and routed and scattered a great many of them fled into the wood whither being pursued they were easily slain in that confusion and fright they were in so that more of them were slain in the wood * V. 8. The wood devoured more that day than the sword Frequens est ut id ab aliquo loco factum dicatur quod in illo loco ab allis perfectum est Sanctius than in the field the Country people as 't is like falling upon all straglers they met with so that the number of all the slain amounted to about twenty thousand Absalom flying among the rest happened to run upon a party of David's Souldiers which when he perceived striving to decline the danger he was in he fled into the wood and running his Mule fiercely to escape it happened that his head was catched in a crotch or forked bough of an Oak and his Mule going from under him he hung between heaven and earth as unworthy to live in either of them One of David's Souldiers seeing him thus hung told Joab thereof Joab asks him why he did not presently smite him and kill him Had he done it he would have given him ten shekels of silver and a military girdle for his pains which would have been a great honour to him The man replies though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in my hand yet I would not put forth my hand against the Kings Son for the King in our hearing charged all you his Generals that none should touch the young man Absalom and if I should have done otherwise than I have done I should have wrought falshood and treachery * Fecissem inique contra animam meam q.d. whatever encouragements had emboldned me to do it they would have prov'd false and deceitful I should have wrought falsehood against my own life for he that wittingly doth any thing to the prejudice of his life may be said to work falshood against it against my own life for had I killed Absalom the King would have found out who did it and then thou thy self wouldst have set thy self against me as much as any other Joab angrily replied that he must not stand to talk with him but bad him shew him where it was that Absalom hung which he accordingly doing Joab preferring the peace and welfare of the King and Kingdom before the personal command and private affection of the King took three darts in his hand and run them through the midst of Absalom's body near his heart while he hung in the Tree and then the young men his Armour-bearers came and killed him out-right Absalom being dead Joab sounded a retreat and recalled his Souldiers from pursuing the Israelites that followed Absalom who thereupon stole home to their own houses Joab's Souldiers took Absalom's body and threw it into a great pit in the wood and cast a great heap of stones upon it and this was all the burial he had It seems sometime before this God had taken away his three Sons mentioned Ch. 14.27 not judging him worthy of children that would not honour his own Father and had basely murdered his own brother Absalom hereupon being depriv'd of his Children who should have kept up his name reared up for himself a pillar or some famous Sepulchral Monument possibly something like one of the Pyramides of the Kings of Egypt in the Kings dale †Call'd the Kings dale as some think because the King of Sodom and Melchisedeck King of Salem did there meet Abraham Gen. 14.17 lying between Jerusalem and Mount Olivet to perpetuate his name and memory But now God disappointed his pride and ambition by causing him to be buried in a pit under a heap of stones in an ignominious manner like a Malefactor The Army of David having obtained this great victory over Absalom and his forces Ahimaaz the Son of Zadock desired Joab to send him to the King with the glad tidings of it that the King might know how God had avenged him of his enemies Joab tells him that he should not go now for there was a mixture of joy and grief in this news and he would send him another time when he should be a messenger only of good Joab knew that the news of Absalom's death would so imbitter the joy of the victory to David that Ahimaaz would have but a cold welcome for bringing it So he bad Cushi a servant and possibly a footman to David to run to the King and tell him what he had seen Cushi runs accordingly Ahimaaz desires of Joab that he may run after him Joab asks him why he was so desirous to go seeing he had no news to carry that would be pleasing to the King but if he were so bent upon it he might go if he would Cushi ran the nearest way which was hilly and mountainous but Ahimaaz ran the way of the plain which though longer about yet was the more easie to run and so he outran Cushi The Watchman from the Turret of the Gate of Mahanaim discovering a man running thitherward acquaints the King with it who sat there earnestly expecting news The King said if he be alone he brings good tidings for they that are beaten in battel do flee in companies whereas the victors do usually dispatch only one or two to carry news of the victory being themselves otherwise employed in pursuing the enemy Then the Watchman discovered another running alone The King said he also bringeth us good news The Watchman said methinks the foremost seems to be Ahimaaz The King said if it be he he is a good man and undoubtedly comes to bring me good tidings Ahimaaz then immediately approached and as soon as he came near to the King he cried all is well then falling upon his face to the earth before the King he said Blessed be the Lord thy God who hath delivered the men that lifted up their hands against thee to be slain by thy servants The King asks
Is the young man Absalom safe Ahimaaz answers that when Joab sent away Cushi the Kings servant and him to bring tidings he saw a great tumult but knew not what the matter was He knew undoubtedly of Absalom's death but through humane frailty fearing to displease the King he here miserably faulters Then came Cushi who cried out Good tidings my Lord the King for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all those that rose up against thee Then said the King is the young man Absalom safe Cushi replied let the enemies of my Lord the King and all that rise up against him be as that young man is David was smitten with a wonderful consternation at this news and his grief and passion brake out so violently that it almost overwhelmed him he now retires into the Chamber over the Gate there in secret to pour out his sorrow and as he went up he cried out O my Son Absalom my Son Absalom would God I had died for thee my Son Absalom if my temporal death would have saved thee from eternal misery 2 Sam. Ch. 18. whole Chapter 15. The King taking on so immoderately for the death of Absalom his excessive grief came to be known in the Army and caused great trouble of spirit among them also so that the victory was turned into mourning neither came they up like a victorious army with joy and triumph to the City but dispersing themselves secretly stole into it not as if they had been Conquerours but rather as if they had been beaten and fled away from their enemies The King still took on excessively and covered his head in token of extream sorrow and cried out O my Son Absalom O Absalom my Son my Son Joab understanding this and seeing in what a discontent the Souldiers were hereupon and how their hearts began to be alienated from the King so that they were even ready to fall quite off from him he comes in a great rage to him and highly expostulates with him and tells him He had shamed the faces of all his faithful servants that day who had saved his life and the lives of his wives and children with the extreme hazard of their own and had frustrated them of their deserved praise and reward this strange carriage of thine saith he sheweth as if thou lovedst thy enemies in that thou mournest so excessively for this Traytor Absalom and hatedst thy friends seeing thou dost thus discountenance their faithful service Thou seemest not to regard thy faithful subjects let them be of what degree or quality they will I perceive that if that Arch-Rebel Absalom had lived thou hadst not much cared if all we had died I solemnly protest to thee if thou wilt not give over thy whining for that Rebel and go forth presently and speak comfortably to thy people and congratulate their victory and give them thanks for their venturing their lives for thee I believe they will all forsake thee as a person unfit to govern them who canst not govern thine own passions and possibly they will think of chusing another * Prospicient sibi de alio rege site aequum habere non possint and that will be worse to thee than all the afflictions thou hast hitherto met with in all thy life David being startled at this bold speech of Joab's which though harsh and tart yet was needful at this time he took his counsel and went and sat in the Gate and there shaking off sorrow manifested his kindness and grace to his Souldiers to win their hearts again to him As for those that had followed Absalom and escaped in the battel they were fled to their own houses 2 Sam. Ch. 19. from v. 1 to 9. 16. The people now through all the Ten Tribes of Israel began to blame one another for siding with Absalom against his Father and to call upon one another and upon their Elders and Officers to submit themselves unto David and to go and fetch him back again to the City of Jerusalem with honour they began to recount the great and manifold benefits they had enjoyed under his Government and how he had saved them out of the hands of their enemies especially the Philistines And they saw that God was against them in that attempt of making Absalom King and therefore there was great reason they should go and seek reconciliation with David whom they had so highly injured and offended This resolution of the Israelites to fetch their King home with honour coming to his ears and he perceiving that the men of Judah who had been first and chief in siding with Absalom and had delivered up to him the City of Jerusalem and the strong fort of Sion being conscious to themselves of their great ingratitude against him were now afraid to address themselves to him or to go to fetch him home therefore he sent to Zadock and Abiathar who had stayed all this while at Jerusalem that they should acquaint the Elders of Judah how ready he was to pardon them and to forget all that was past They were also to assure them of his singular affection to them they being his brethren and of the same Tribe therefore he would not have them to be the last in fetching home their King who ought to be the first He sends also unto Amasa whom Absalom had made General of his Army and who if he should despair of pardon might draw a great party of the Israelites after him to assure him that he was ready to receive him into his favour and to regard him as his nephew nay he intended to prefer him and to make him General of his Army as long as he lived in the place of Joab Indeed Joab had incurred his displeasure by killing Abner and several other unjustifiable acts yet he had also done him great services and had been always faithful to him whereas Amasa had been faithless and rebellious Besides the place of General belonged to Joab both by Davids promise and his own purchase he having hazarded his life in that dangerous service of assaulting and taking the strong fort of Sion However David being now offended with him for killing Absalom he resolv'd to prefer Amasa before him thinking by that policy to reduce all Absaloms party that stood out against him under his obedience By this kind message to the men of Judah and to Amasa David bowed the hearts of the men of Judah even as the heart of one man so that they sent this word unto the King Return thou and all thy servants we are most willing to receive thee and submit unto thee David considered that it might cost a great deal of blood to subdue them by force therefore he thought it best by these tenders of grace to bow their hearts to him and it happened according to his desire for the men of Judah now agreed to meet together at Gilgal and from thence they passed over the river Jordan to meet the King and to bring him
the ways of Jeroboam and hast made my people to sin by thy example and hast provoked me to anger behold I will cut off thy posterity and will make thy house as the house of Jeroboam And as this judgment was pronounced against Jeroboam 1 King 14.11 viz. that such of his house as died in the City the dogs should eat and such as died in the fields the fowls of the air should eat that is they should die unhappy deaths and not come to an honourable burial the very same judgment must I pronounce against thee and in the same words see v. 4. because thou persistest in the same sins Baasha died in the twenty fourth year of his reign and was buried in Tirzah and his Son Elah reigned in his stead 1 King 15.33 34. 1 King 16. from 1 to 8. ELAH began to reign in the 26th year of Asa Fourth King of Israel Elah and reigned two years though not compleat Being upon the Throne his servant Zimri Captain of half his Chariots conspired against him and as he was drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza his Steward he slew him in the second year of his reign his forces lying then encamped against Gibbethon and then Zimri immediately by the assistance of the Souldiers that were under his command slew all his kindred and near relations and so destroyed all the house of Baasha he left him not one that pisseth against a wall by which Proverbial speech an utter destruction of all that belonged to him is to be understood Thus the Lord dealt with the house of Baasha For as Baasha slew Nadab when he had reigned two years and that whilst he was laying siege to Gibbethon and then immediately destroyed all the rest of his family so Zimri slew Elah the Son of Baasha in the second year of his reign and then immediately cut off the rest of his family and friends and that whilst his army lay encamped against Gibbethon And thus God destroyed both the house of Baasha and Elah for their great sins and transgressions whereby they had provoked him and particularly by their vanities that is Image-gods and Idols 1 King 16. from 8 to 15. ZIMRI having thus wickedly made himself King Fifth King of Israel Zimri his reign continued but a week for notice that the King was slain coming to the Camp at Gibbethon all the host of Israel that were there encamped presently made Omri their General King over Israel Omri hastens with his Army to Tirzah to besiege Zimri and so the siege of Gibbethon was a second time raised Zimri when he saw the City was taken by storm betook himself to the Kings Palace and burnt himself with it that he might not fall into the hands of his enemies Thus those that are cruel to others are oftentimes given over to be cruel at last to themselves But though Zimri reigned but seven days before Omri was proclaimed King by the Soldiers yet perhaps it was longer e're he was forced to burn himself And besides within the space of those seven days he might by his Edicts make known to the people his resolution to continue the worship of Jeroboam's Calves and might destroy the family of Baasha 1 King 16 v. 17 18 19 20. Things being now at this pass the people of Israel were much divided some of them misliked that the Souldiers should choose a King for them and they chose Tibni for their King Between Tibni and Omri there were continual wars for about four years till at last Omri prevailed and Tibni dying Omri reigned alone 1 King 16. from 15 to 23. OMRI reigned twelve years Sixth King of Israel Omri reckoning from his first election whereof six years in Tirzah Zimri having burnt the Royal Palace in that City he removed the Seat of his Kingdom from thence to Samaria which he built in the hill which he bought of Shemer for two Talents of Silver * A Talent of Silver was reckoned at 375 l. sterling but a Talent of Gold at 3750 l. so he paid 750 l. sterl for the Hill and so made that his Royal City and the Metropolis of his Kingdom He did evil in the sight of the Lord and worse than all that went before him For it seems he did not only obstinately continue in the Idolatry of Jeroboam himself but with violence forced and pressed the people thereunto notwithanding all the judgments he had seen on all the former Kings of Israel for that sin In Micah 6.16 we read of the Statutes of Omri to wit concerning their Idolatrous worshipping of the Golden Calves He was buried in Samaria and Ahab his Son succeeded him 1 King 16. from 23 to 29. AHAB in the thirty eight year of Asa began to reign Seventh King of Israel Ahab and reigned two and twenty years over Israel He did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that went before him and as if it had been a small thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam he took to wife Jezebel * Who was a most wicked woman Jehu complain'd of her Witchcrafts and Whoredoms 2 King 9.22 and she is often mentioned as a great persecutor of Gods Prophets and a great promoter of the Idolatry of Baal and therefore St. John calls that false Prophetess who in his time had seduced many to Uncleanness and Idolatry in the Church of Thyatira Jezabel Rev. 2.20 the daughter of the King of the Sidonians and served Baal the Idol-god of that people and built an house and an Altar for him in Samaria Now this Idolatry was far worse than that of Jeroboam's for in that though they had Idols to wit the Golden Calves yet they pretended still to worship the true God but in this they worshipped Baal as their God In his days did Hiel the Bethelite which shews the horrible prophaneness and contempt of God at this time adventure to rebuild Jericho which though belonging to the Tribe of Benjamin yet it seems was at this time under the power of the King of the Ten Tribes notwithstanding Joshuah's curse pronounced against any that should attempt it and therefore it had continued a heap of rubbish from that time till this but now that bold wretch Hiel that dwelt at Bethel undertook the work and paid dear for it as Joshua had threatned for it cost him the loss of all his sons of the first-born when he began it and of some more of them as he went forward with the work and of the youngest when he finished it and hung up the Gates of it Josh 6.26 And Joshua adjured them at that time saying Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this City Jericho he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born and in his youngest Son shall be set up the gates of it Though the Israelites were at this present fallen to the horrid Idolatry of worshipping Baal †〈◊〉 was the God of the Sidonians Ahab
Souldiers into Samaria than there are handfuls of dust in that City Ahab hearing of this proud speech of his bad them say to him Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he may do that putteth it off intimating thereby that the issue of war was uncertain and 't was a foolish thing to triumph before the battel was ended Benhadad and the petty Kings that were with him were drinking themselves up to drunkenness in his Pavilion when this was told them from Ahab whereupon in a rage he charged those of his Commanders that were about him to attack the City presently and to place their Engines against it to batter it down to the ground It seems there was at this very time a true Prophet of the Lords secretly lurking in Samaria and being sent of the Lord to Ahab he went confidently to him though he knew he had cut off many of the Lords Prophets before Ch. 18.4 and said unto him Thus saith the Lord Hast thou seen from the towers of Samaria all this vast host and great multitude of the enemy I will deliver them into thy hand this day and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that give victory and not Baal Ahab greedily asks him by whom this deliverance should be wrought he tells him he should not by his experienced Captains or old Souldiers prevail over the Syrians but by a forlorn of the young men that waited on the Princes of the Provinces Ahab then asks him who shall order the battel He tells him he himself should do it Whereupon Ahab numbred the young men before mentioned and found them 232 then he numbred all the rest that were fit to bear arms in Samaria and found them to be seven thousand And at noon they marched out first the young men as the forlorn and then the body of the Army followed Benhadad understanding that there was a party come out of the City he gives this insolent order that if they came out to sue for conditions of peace they should take them prisoners and bring them to him though it was against the Law of Arms and if they came out as Souldiers he commands his men thinking it scorn to fight with them to take them all alive that so he might put them to cruel deaths or imprison them or deal with them as he saw cause The forlorn and the army of the Israelites now approaching the enemies Camp fell upon them and slew every man his man that is as many of the enemies as they themselves were in number viz. 7232 whereupon a panick fear seising upon the rest of the Syrians they fled and Benhadad himself made shift to escape with his Horsemen to his own Country Ahab with such Troops of Horse as he had pursued them and smote many of their Horses and Chariots and slew them with a very great slaughter Shortly after this the Prophet that had foretold this victory to Ahab having by Divine revelation knowledg of the enemies intentions and designs he came to him again and said Go strengthen thy self and be not secure and careless as if thou wert free from all danger for at the return of the year when the time is seasonable the King of Syria will come up against thee again Accordingly the servants of the King of Syria were forward to engage their Master to another encounter telling him that the gods of the Israelites were Gods of the hills possibly they thought so because the Israelites did use to worship God and sacrifice to him on hills and high places They reflect not at all on the true cause of their overthrow viz. their own sensuality pride and insolence but assign this only for the cause of it viz. the Gods of the Israelites were Gods of the hills and this battel being fought in an hilly Country they were worsted but say they let us fight with them in the plain and then surely we shall be stronger than they Further they desired the King that if he intended to make a new invasion into the Israelites Country that he would please to dismiss those petty Kings he had in his Army before who were fitter to drink than fight and to put valiant Captains and experienced Souldiers into their rooms and to provide such an Army both of Horse Foot and Chariots as he had before and then say they we will fight them in the plain and doubt not but we shall prevail against them Benhadad hearkened to their counsel and accordingly at the return of the year he mustered a great Army and marched with them to Aphek in the Tribe of Asher and he intended if he could to fight with the Israelites thereabout not only because it was a plain Country but because this was one of those Cities which his Father had formerly taken away from the Israelites and hither they might fly as to a place of retreat if the battel should go against them Upon this second invasion the children of Israel put themselves into the best array they could to resist the Syrians and all the Israelites that were appointed came to their general Rendezvous and they divided their forces into two bodies and they were but like two little flocks of kids before the Syrians that filled the Country Then the Prophet before mentioned came again to Ahab and said to him Thus saith the Lord because the Syrians have said the Lord is God of the hills but not of the vallies therefore will I deliver all this great multitude into thy hands and though you by reason of your great wickedness deserve not this favour at my hands yet to confute this blasphemy of the Syrians even in the vallies I will overthrow them and thereby give you a plain evidence and demonstration that I am the only true God So the two Armies faced one the other for seven days and on the seventh day the battel was joined and the Israelites slew of them an hundred thousand footmen in one day so that they slew now many more than every one his man and the rest fled to Aphek and Benhadad himself among them who was fain to hide himself in an inner chamber in a private house in the City The Israelites drawing up their forces now to Aphek and the Syrians as it seems placing themselves round about upon the wall of the City to defend it the wall either by an earthquake or some immediate hand of God fell upon twenty seven thousand of them and killed them Benhadad being now in a deadly fear of being taken his servants that were about him gave him this advice The Kings of Israel say they as we have heard are merciful Kings * It seems their merciful dealing with those they had taken in battel had got them this good report Let us therefore put sackcloth on our loins and ropes on our necks and go out to the King of Israel peradventure he will be perswaded to save thy life Benhadad consenting hereunto in this abject posture they
there came a man from Baalshalisha * It was called Shalisha before 1 Sam. 9.4 but since Baal was set up there Baalshalisha a place in Ephraim and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits viz. twenty loaves of barley and full ears of corn in the husk thereof such as were under the Law appointed to be brought to the Priests Deut. 18.4 This was certainly some pious man and one that feared God seeing in obedience to the Law he was willing to dedicate of his first fruits unto the Lord but because he could not carry them to the Lords house as the Law required Exod. 23.19 Numb 18.12 nor to the ordinary Priests they being retired into Judah he brought them to this extraordinary Prophet and to this Colledg of Prophets who instructed the people instead of the Priests and the rather that he might supply their necessities in this present dearth Thus he honoured God with his first fruits Prov. 3.9 Elisha bids his servant to set those loaves this man had brought before the Sons of the Prophets that they might eat His servant answered What shall I set this small quantity of provision before an hundred men The Prophet again bad him do it telling him from the Lord that they should not only have enough for the present but should leave some for another time So he set this provision before them and they did eat and left thereof See Joh. 6.11 And this was Elisha's ninth Miracle 2 King 4. from v. 42 to the end Naaman the King of Syria's General was a person of great honour and power in his own Country 't is probable that the Army that fought against the Kings of Israel and Judah 1 King 22.29 was commanded by him and under his conduct the victory was obtained For though the Syrians were heathens and enemies to the Israelites yet God then gave them victory over his own people and the victory is attributed to the Lord for the Syrians were but his instruments This Naaman was a mighty man of valour but he was a leper so that the greatest of men are not exempted from the worst of diseases The Syrians used often by their Troops to make inrodes into the land of Israel to spoil and pillage and in one of their incursions among other prisoners they carried away one fair and comely young damsel who thereupon was brought as a present to Naaman and by him given to his wife to wait upon her This was ordered by a special providence of God as the sequel of the story will shew This young maiden observing Naaman to be a leper she said one day to her Lady I wish my Lord were with a famous Prophet we have in Israel I doubt not but he would soon cure him of his leprosie * Though she had not heard of any leper cured by Elisha for saith our Saviour Luk. 4.27 Many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elizeus the Prophet but none of them was cleansed c. but by other miracles he wrought she believed he could cure this disease also Naaman understanding this told the King of Syria thereof The King had so great a kindness for him that he readily yielded he should take any course that might be thought conducing to his good and though the leprosie was generally thought among them to be incurable yet he was willing he should make trial whither he could be cured or no. So he consented he should go and told him he would send a Letter to Jehoram King of Israel in his behalf Naaman accordingly provided himself for his journey and set out with a very great retinue and a noble equipage carrying with him ten Talents * A Talent of silver amounts to 375 l. sterling of silver and six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of raiment to make presents to the Prophet and possibly to some of Jehoram's Courtiers And he brought also to the King from his Master the King of Syria a Letter which spake to him after this manner When this Letter is come unto thee be pleased to understand that I have with it sent Naaman my servant that thou maist recover him of his Leprosie that is maist take care to have him recovered if thou hast any body in thy land that can do it When the King of Israel read the Letter he rent his clothes testifying thereby the great passion he was in What says he doth the King of Syria think that I am a God or have power like God to kill or make alive whom I please that he sends to me to cure a man of a Leprosie the cure of which is as hard as to raise a man from the dead Then turning to his own Courtiers and Counsellors that were about him You see says he how this man seeketh a quarrel against me and a pretense of a new war in requiring such a thing of me that he knows I cannot do It seems he never thought of Elisha of whose power in working miracles he himself had had so much experience But some about the King that bare a good respect to Elisha quickly informed him of Naaman's coming and of the Letter he had brought and how angry the King was at it and how ill he resented it Elisha hearing this sent to the King that he wondred he should express so much passion at the receiving of this Letter seeing he knew there was a Prophet in his land that had by the power of God done as great a miracle as was the cure of the Leprosie and that before his own eyes See Ch. 3.16 c. Let him come to me says he and he shall know that there is a Prophet of the Lord in Israel Jehoram having received this message from Elisha he sent Naaman to him Accordingly Naaman came in his Chariot and with all his Train and Attendants to the house of Elisha The Israelites had not at least the generality of them taken so much notice of this eminent Prophet that was among them as they should have done and therefore God will now make him more taken notice of by the application of this great man who was a stranger unto him When he came to the Prophets house Elisha went not out to him himself as he expected but only sent a messenger to him for the further trial of his faith and obedience to tell him that he should go and wash in Jordan seven times and so he should be cured Naaman being a person of so great quality look'd upon this carriage of the Prophet as a great neglect of him and resented it accordingly what says he is this all the help I shall have from this famous Prophet I thought he would have come out to me and stood and called on the name of the Lord his God for me and would have stroked his hand over my flesh where it is infected with the leprosie and so have cured me And is this all the direction I shall have from him to go
acception for those Countries that lay beyond Jordan but Westward something Southward and that some of them were already come to Engedi a City on the West-side of that Sea Jehoshaphat was hereat much startled and being greatly afraid he set himself to seek help from the Lord and proclaimed a †See Judg. 20.26 1 Sam. 7.6 Ezra 8.21 23. Neh. 1.4.9.11 Esth 4.9 Fast throughout all Judah that they might all joyn in humbling thomselves before the Lord and earnest supplication to him for mercy and so their prayers might be the more prevalent and effectual And Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the Cities and Towns that belong'd to Jehoshaphat's jurisdiction and came to Jerusalem to the Temple to seek the Lord and to beg help of him And Jehoshaphat stood before this great Assembly probably upon the Brazen Scaffold in the great Court (a) We read Chap. 15.8 that Asa renewed the Altar of the Lord which stood in this Court He might also repair the whole Court Or perhaps Jehoshaphat himself had done it Others understand it of the Court of the people which had been lately repaired and perhaps divided into two Courts the one being appointed for the men and the other for the women For though when Solomon built it it was but one Court yet afterwards they say it was divided into two where the people used to meet which was before the Priests Court newly repaired and beautified and prayed unto the Lord saying O Lord God of our Fathers art not thou God in heaven and rulest thou not over all the Kingdoms of the heathen and in thy hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee Art not thou our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend * This Title is three times given to Abraham here and Isa 41.8 and Jam. 2.3 Thus our Saviour stiled Lazarus Friends Joh. 11.11 and his Disciples Friends Joh. 15.15 for ever †That is to the coming of the Messiah And they dwell therein and have built a Temple therein for the honour of thy name and they humbly desired of thee when they consecrated it 1 King 8.30 that if any evil came upon them at any time as the sword pestilence or famine or any other dreadful judgment and they stood before this house in which thy name is call'd upon and cried unto thee in their affliction that then thou wouldst please to hear and help them And now behold O Lord the children of Moab and Ammon and Mount Seir whom thou wouldst not permit Israel to invade when they came out of the land of Egypt but didst command them to turn from them and not to destroy them behold how they now reward us who are coming in this hostile manner to cast us out of the possession which thou hast given us O our God wilt not thou judge them and punish them for this As for our selves we must needs acknowledg that we have no might or power comparatively to resist this vast body of people that cometh against us we know not what to do but our eyes are upon thee on thee only we rest and depend and from thee alone we humbly expect help Thus all Judah for some from every place were there present stood before the Lord with their wives and little ones For in times of publick humiliations they us'd to bring their little ones to the publick assemblies see Joel 2.16 that their own bowels might be the more moved at the sight of their children now in danger to be cruelly butchered by the enemy and so their hearts might be stirred up to be more serious and earnest in their supplications to God for help Immediately the spirit of Prophesie fell upon Jehaziel a Levite of the Sons of Asaph as he stood in midst of the Congregation and he spake to the King and all the Congregation Thus saith the Lord Be not afraid nor dismaid by reason of this great multitude for the battel is not yours but Gods God himself will fight for you he will not so much as use you for instruments to vanquish this great host To morrow go ye down against them behold they come by the cliff of Ziz and ye shall find them at the end of the valley before the wilderness of Israel Ye shall not need to fight in this battel Compose your selves quietly to expect the deliverance that God will give you Stand ye still fly upon your enemies you shall see the salvation of the Lord will be with you and he will deliver you therefore fear not nor be dismaid Jehoshaphat hearing this joyful news bowed his head with his face to the ground and all the people also fell down before the Lord and worshipped him and the Levite-singers stood up to praise the Lord with an high and loud voice accounting the victory already gotten because promised by one of the Lords Prophets And so they departed with great comfort for that time The next morning they rose very early and marched forth into the Wilderness of Tekoa betwixt which and Israel was the Cliff of Ziz and as they marched forth Jehoshaphat said to them Believe and trust in the Lord your God so shall ye be established and your minds setled believe his Prophets particularly what Jahaziel yesterday prophesied unto you and so shall ye prosper And when he had consulted with the Commanders of the Army what was fit for them to do he as being by faith assured of the victory appointed some of the Levite-singers to go before the Army and to sing the high praises of God and to praise the Lord in whom is the beauty and perfection of holiness * V. 21. Some by the beauty of holiness understand Gods most holy Majesty who dwelleth in Heaven where is the beauty of Holiness and to do it according to that beautiful and holy order that was prescribed in the Temple and especially to sing praise ye the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever which was the foot of several Psalmes of Thanksgiving composed by David and particularly of the 136 Psalm It might seem a strange thing for an Army to march against a potent enemy in such a manner as this but Jehoshaphat firmly relying on what God had promised he found the success answering his faith for when the Levites began to sing praises unto the Lord and as it were to triumph before hand for the victory promised the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir that is sent a spirit of discord and dissention among them so that the Ammonites and Moabites suspecting those of Mount Seir * The Edomites that join'd now with the Moabites and Ammonites against Jehoshaphat might be only some voluntarie mercenaries not sent out by the State of Edom that was in subjection to the Kingdom of Judah and it seems they
were suspected not to be firm against Judah and therefore were slain by the men of Moab and Ammon fell unexpectedly upon them like men that rise suddenly out of an ambush upon their enemies and when they had destroyed them they fell out among themselves and destroyed one another The Army of Jehoshaphat coming now to the Watch-tower of Ziz in the Wilderness they looked towards the formidable army of their enemies and they saw none but dead bodies on the ground they saw none flying or escaping whom they needed to pursue or fall upon and so that was accomplished which the Prophet foretold v. 17. Ye shall not need to fight in the battel When Jehoshaphat and his people came to the field where their enemies lay slaughtered they found very rich spoils among the dead bodies viz. rings on their fingers chains about their necks jewels in their ears besides the wealth and riches they brought on their beasts and in their carts and carriages and their being so vast a number of the enemy slain the Israelites could not carry away all in one day but were three days in gathering the spoil it was so much so God not only freed them from their enemies but greatly enriched them by them On the fourth day they marched to the valley of Berachah or blessing and there solemnly praised the Lord for this great victory and from thence that valley had this name given it Then they all marched with great joy to Jerusalem Jehoshaphat marching in the front of them for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies And they came to Jerusalem playing on Psalteries and Harps and with the sound of Trumpets and so went to the house of the Lord to offer up there their more solemn praises and sacrifices of thanksgiving And the fear of the Lord fell on all the Kingdoms round about when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of his people So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet for his God gave him rest round about But notwithstanding this signal deliverance and though Jehoshaphat had been reproved by the Lord for joining first with wicked Ahab and then with Ahaziah his wicked Son in building and fitting out Ships to go to Tarshish yet he fell again a third time into the like sin by assisting Jehoram the second Son of Ahab who succeeded Ahaziah and going forth with him and the King of Edom against the Moabites In which expedition he and the two other Kings were in great danger of perishing for want of water had they not been supplied by the prayers of Elisha the Prophet who had a great regard for Jehoshaphat 2 King 3.14 and so they obtained a great victory over their enemies 2 King 3. from v. 4 to the end Of this we may see more in the life of Jehoram King of Israel This seems to have happened about the 22th year of Jehoshaphat and then 't is probable he set up his Son Jehoram again as his Viceroy or took him into Copartnership with him in the Kingdom 2 King 8.16 as he had made him his Viceroy before when he went to visit Ahab Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 21.2 is call'd King of Israel that is of the Israelites that lived in the Kingdom of Judah He reigned 25 years and they buried him with his Fathers in the City of David and his Son Jehoram succeeded him who reigned eight years which together are 33 years Yet in Chronological account there were not above 29 years in the reigns of them both because Jehoshaphat did set up his Son Jehoram as partner with him in the Kingdom whilst he himself was alive see 2 King 8.16 which was about the 22th year of his reign so that the four last years of his reign and the four first of his Son Jehoram's were not eight but only four years seeing both of them reigned together at the same time 1 King 22. from 41 to 51. 2 Chron. 17. whole Chapter 2 Chron. 18. wh Ch. 2 Chron. 19. wh Ch. 2 Chron. 20. wh Ch. 2 Chron. 21.1 The 5th King that reigned in Judah was JEHORAM JEhoshaphat had designed his Son Jehoram to be King and appointed him to govern the Kingdom in his absence in the 17th year of his reign a little before he went with Ahab against Ramoth-Gilead thence the beginning of the reign of Jehoram King of Israel is counted to be both in the 18th year of Jehoshaphat * 2 King 3.1 and in the second year of Jehoram †2 King 1.17 Son of Jehoshaphat but at his return resumed the Royal power wholly to himself not communicating the same again to his Son until the fifth year of Jehoram King of Israel which was the 22th of Jehoshaphats own reign and then this King being old took Jehoram his Son as partner with him in the Government The cause whereof in all probability was some discord or differences that brake out even then between him and his younger Brethren which moved Jehoshaphat to give to his younger Sons great gifts of gold and silver and jewels and to commmit to their custody some strong fenced Cities in Judah 2 Chron. 21.3 the better to secure them against the power of their Elder Brother and on the other side he put his Eldest Son into the possession of the Kingdom whilst himself was living for fear of tumults and commotions that might arise after his death Jehoram therefore being 32 years old succeeded his Father and reigned eight years in Jerusalem to wit four years together with his Father and four years by himself alone He walked in the Idolatrous ways of the Kings of Israel as did the house of Ahab whose daughter he had married viz. Athaliah and a vertuous daughter she was like to be that sprang from the cursed root of Ahab and Jezebel she soon drew him to follow her Fathers courses so great an influence have bad wives upon their husbands to draw them to evil He did that which was very evil and provoking in the sight of the Lord howbeit the Lord would not destroy the house of David because of the Covenant he had made with him to give him always a light that is a royal glory in a successor and to continue the Soveraignty in his race as long as that Kingdom should last See 1 King 11.36 When he was setled in the Kingdom he sought to make himself strong as Jeroboam did 2 Chron. 13.7 that he might the better effect his mischievous intents and purposes and accordingly getting his six younger brethren into his hands he like a cruel Tyrant slew them and many also of the great men of the land who he thought favoured them and had a kindness for them He made great innovations in Religion erecting those Idolatrous places in mountains which his Father and Grandfather had with so much zeal destroyed He caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit spiritual fornication in worshipping of Baal and to embrace that Idolatry which himself had learned from
in the enterprize But Amaziah was nothing mov'd with what he said for whom God intendeth to destroy he usually first hardens and God intended to punish him for his abominable Idolatry into which he had lately fallen Joash understanding this would not stay till Amaziah came to him but he enters Judah with a strong Army wisely resolving to make his Enemies Country the stage of the war So they met in a pitcht field at Bethshemesh which belongs to Judah and Judah was worsted before Israel and Amaziah himself taken prisoner and brought in Triumph * Thus in this Amaziah the Son of Joash King of Judah God did yet further revenge the death of Zachariah the Son of Jehniada who was most inhumanely and ungratefully murdered in his fathers days according to what he said at his death the Lord will look upon it and require it and withall Amaziah himself was severely punished for his Apostacy to Idolatry to Jerusalem by Joash which City as it seems standing out against him he battered down that part of the wall by the North-gate which was towards Ephraim even four hundred cubits in length and so took the City by force then he seized upon all the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the house of the Lord with the posterity of Obed-Edom who were porters and keepers of the treasures in the Temple 1 Chron. 26.15 as also the treasures of the Kings house And having made what spoil he thought fit in Jerusalem he set Amaziah free upon certain conditions imposed upon him and his subjects and for the surer performance of the Covenants on Judah's part he took hostages of him viz. some noble mens children whom he carried along with him to Samaria And he chose rather to go away with his present spoil than to hazard all by endeavouring to conquer the Kingdom of Judah which he was not like to hold if he did obtain the subjects thereof being so greatly addicted to the house of David Amaziah lived after this fifteen years but a very miserable life for his subjects were so disaffected to him for the Idolatry he had brought in that from that time they began to conspire against him though it broke not forth openly till by his rash unadvised and unprosperous war with Joash he had brought so many miseries upon his Kingdom The conspiracy now breaking forth he fled to Lachish and possibly there hid himself and lived in obscurity so those that had conspired against him as it seems governed the affairs of the Kingdom in his absence About twelve years after these conspirators being men of power in the Kingdom upon some new occasion were so enraged against him that they sent some to Lachish to slay him Amaziah being dead they brought him from Lachish in a Chariot drawn with horses and buried him in Jerusalem with his fathers 2 King 14. from v. 1. to 21. 2 Chron. 25. wh Ch. Tenth King of Judah UZZIAH VZZIAH or Azariah as he is called 2 King 15.1 Son of Amaziah was the next that reigned in Judah In Mat. 1.8 't is said that Vzziah succeeded Joram And Joram begat Ozias whereas there were four that reigned in Judah between Joram and Vzziah viz. Ahaziah Athaliah Joash and Amaziah Some think that these were omitted because of their evil Government and unnatural deaths each of them being slain one after another or because by the mother-side they descended from the stock of wicked Ahab whose house the Lord doomed to be rooted up Vzziah when his Father was slain was about four or five years old and there seems to have been a kind of Interregnum or vacancy in the Throne of Judah for about twelve years viz from the 15th to the 27th year of Jeroboam the second King of Israel at which time Vzziah being sixteen years of age was setled in the Throne by the general consent of the people and not till then And this possibly may be intimated to us by that unusual phrase And all the people of Judah took Vzziah being sixteen years old and made him King instead of his Father 2 King 14.21 And this might happen partly by reason of his minority and partly through the prevalency of some powerful men who perchance had had a hand in putting his Father to death or possibly the Government of the Kingdom might be carried on in his name all that time though he came not to the full exercise of his Regal power till the 27th year of Jeroboam So that the twelve years from his Fathers death which happened in the 15th year of Jeroboam see 2 King 14.23 unto the 27th of Jeroboam when he was put into full possession of the Crown are to be accounted into the number of the fifty two years he is said to have reigned and according to this account in the 26th year of his reign Jeroboam died After which it seems there was an Interregnum or vacancy in the Kingdom of Israel also for about eleven or twelve years viz. to the 38th year of Vzziah's reign After which Zachariah reigned in Israel six months Shallum one month Menahem ten years Pekahiah two years and Pekah had reigned a year or something more before he died which was in the fifty second year of his reign 2 King 15.27 so that he lived in the times of six Kings that sat on the Throne of Israel In the beginning of his reign he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and maintained the worship of God uncorrupt as his Father had done save that the high places were not removed but the people still offered sacrifice and burnt incense on them And during the life of Zachariah Son of that Zachariah that was stoned in the Temple who was an eminent Prophet and had understanding in the visions of God that is was accustomed to see visions and had a singular understanding in ancient Prophesies and so was able to counsel and instruct Vzziah in matters that concerned the knowledg of God and his Laws and possibly was skilful to interpret the dreams and night-visions of others as Joseph and Daniel were I say during the life of this Prophet Vzziah sought the Lord and so long the Lord made him to prosper He recovered Elath a City near the Red-Sea which had been taken from the Crown of Judah by the enemies bordering upon it and repair'd and fortified it In Ahaz's time it was lost again being taken by the Syrians see 2 King 14.22 He was a great warrior he had under his command three hundred seven thousand five hundred fighting men under two thousand and six hundred Captains all which were dispos'd into Regiments and companies and registred that they might be in readiness against any urgent occasion And he furnished all these with Shields and Spears Helmets and Habergeons * Armour for Back and Brest and Bows and Slings to cast stones He was very victorious against the Philistines of whose Towns he brake down the
their sins intermixing exhortations and consolations to the penitent 2. From the 13. Ch. to the 29. he Prophesies against the bordering Nations that were enemies to the Jews viz. the Babylonians Philistines Moabites Syrians Assyrians Ethiopians Egyptians Arabians Tyrians and lastly against the Israelites of the Ten Tribes 3. From the 29. Ch. to the 40. he Prophesies of the Conquest of the Jews by the Babylonians and their leading them Captive into Babylon In which there are four Historical Chapters viz. Ch. 36 37 38 39. occasionally interposed about the invasion of Judea by Senacherib of which we shall speak more particularly in the life of Hezekiah 4. From Ch. 40. to 49. he foretels the deliverance of the people of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity 5. From 49. to the end are contained Prophesies of the Messiah and his Kingdom This Prophesie was always of very great account in the Church our Saviour himself whose Sermons were all Text took his Text out of this Prophet Luk. 4.17 18. The Ethiopian Eunuch read this Prophet in his Chariot Act. 8.27 30. 'T is oftner quoted in the New Testament than any Book of the Old excepting the Psalms which are quoted sixty four times and this Prophesie of Isaiah no less than sixty as the learned Alsted observes * In Praecogn Theolog lib. 2. cap. 122. And this is all we shall say at present concerning this Prophet Another eminent Prophet whom God raised up at this time and sent him to Prophesie to Judah and Jerusalem was Joel The Prophet JOEL He sets forth to them how the fierce anger of God was manifested against them in that terrible judgment of dearth and famine now upon them occasioned by an extream drought and swarms of Caterpillars with Lionlike teeth and other such destroying insects the one devouring what the other had left Thereupon he exhorts them to true repentance and deep humiliation before the Lord shewing it must be general of all sorts and conditions because they had generally offended and it must be serious and hearty testified by fasting weeping and mourning to which they must join earnest prayer and supplication for mercy which if they would do he promises not only deliverance to them from that terrible plague but that their losses should be repaired and made up to them again by a wonderful plenty And from a promise of these temporal blessings he rises to shew them what spiritual blessings in their due time the true Israel of God should enjoy under the Messiah foretelling the plentiful effusion of the gifts of the Holy Ghost which should then be poured forth viz. on the day of Pentecost He also tells them they should have deliverance from their enemies the heathen round about them and that God himself would judg their adversaries and take vengeance upon them for the wrongs they had done to his people And so much concerning that Prophet Vzziah who had before shewed himself to be a worthy Prince towards the latter end of his reign after he had been so wonderfully helped and blessed by the Lord and made so prosperous grew proud and his heart was lifted up to his destruction so prone are men to abuse the mercies of God to pride and presumption which is usually a forerunner of ruin Vzziah would needs now out of a strange arrogance usurp the Priests office and go into the Temple to burn incense Accordingly he goes presumptuously into the holy place to the Altar of Incense which none but the Priests might do The High Priest as soon as he understood whither he was gone immediately followed after him attended with eighty Priests men of courage who coming to him just as he was ready with a Censer in his hand to burn incense they withstood him and plainly told him he had highly trespassed in coming thither it appertained not to him but to the Priests only and that by Gods appointment to burn incense Therefore they advise him to go presently out of the Temple for he would receive no honour from God for what he had done but contrarily might expect some severe punishment Vzziah was very wroth at this their reprehension Kings and great men usually scorning to be stopt in the career of their sins by the servants of God but his wrath against them did but the more incense the wrath of God against him for immediately the Lord smote him with a leprosie in his forehead as he stood besides * V. 19. Megnal pro Inal juxta the Altar of Incense And thus having sinned with so bold a face and so much arrogance he was punished in his forehead that his sin might be read in his punishment The Priests seeing this and being encouraged by Gods so eminently owning of them and appearing for them they thrust him out of the Temple yea he himself hasted to go out perceiving that the Lord had smitten him And from hence forward to the day of his death he was a leper and dwelt in an house apart by himself and so was cut off from the house of the Lord and he that had so presumptuously gone into the holy place was now excluded from going even to the Court of the people there to worship God Vzziah being thus smitten of the Lord Jotham his Son as Viceroy and Deputy-King governed the Kingdom in his stead as 't is thought about four years Vzziah's Acts were written by Isaiah the Prophet though that Book seems not now extant as not necessary for the use of the Church as neither that of Jasher mentioned 2 Sam. 1.18 Vzziah being dead they buried him in the field where the Sepulchers of the Kings were but in some remote corner thereof where none of the former Kings Sepulchers were because he was a Leper †Supplicium triplex lepra excommunicatio funus inglorium ut a populo vivum lepra defunctum a Regibus aliis dimoverit Anonym in loc When this King died it seems the Philistines greatly rejoiced and triumphed because he had been such a scourge to them as is related 2 Chron. 26.6 Whereupon Isaiah Prophesied that a King should spring from this Vzziah viz. Hezekiah the Son of his Grandchild Ahaz who should sting them worse than ever he had done Isa 14.29 Rejoice not thou whole Palestina because the rod of him that smote thee is broken for out of the serpents root shall come forth a cocatrice and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent 2 King 14.21 22. 2 King 15. from v. 1 to 8. 2 Chron. 26. wh Ch. The 11th King of Judah JOTHAM JOTHAM was twenty five years old when he began to reign and he reigned sixteen years He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord as his father had done before him that is he maintained and encouraged the true worship of God as his Father had done but did not go into the Temple to burn incense as his Father had done so that he was like him not in the evil he
done the Prophet humbly prays unto God expressing a great admiration of his Majesty and works and representeth unto him the great conflict he had in his spirit for this thing Whereupon God assureth him he will indeed first punish his people for their great sins but afterwards perform his promise of their return and moreover will bestow on his Church the grace of the new Covenant He will give them one heart and one way that they may fear him all their days for the good of themselves and their children after them Jer. 32. During his imprisonment the Prophet hath another promise made to him of their return from their captivity also of the blessed joyful and quiet state they should be in under Christ the branch of righteousness whose name is The Lord our Righteousness whose Priesthood and Kingdom should be continued and his seed be blessed Jer. Ch. 23. Ch. 32. Ch. 33. Zedekiah being now besieged in Jerusalem Pharaoh Hophra King of Egypt came with an army to relieve him The Babylonians thereupon raise their siege and go out to meet the Egyptians Jeremy upon the raising of the siege being set at liberty Zedekiah sent messengers to him to desire him to pray for them and to intercede with the Lord for their deliverance from their enemies But the Prophet returned him answer that those succours out of Egypt should return into Egypt again and that the Chaldeans should return to Jerusalem and take the City and burn it with fire Jer. Ch. 37. from 1 to 11. The men of Jerusalem seeing the siege raised presently took back their Hebrew servants again whom they had formerly set at liberty according to the Law and made them serve as before contrary to their Covenant for which as for an impious act Jeremy reproves them and to requite them according to their doings he from the Lord proclaims a liberty to the Sword Pestilence and Famine to destroy them telling them withal that the Chaldeans should come again to the siege and should take their City and utterly demolish it Jer. 34. from 11 to the end Whilst the Chaldeans who had raised their siege were gone to encounter the Egyptian army Jeremy intended to go out of the City to save himself knowing the City would be taken But Irijah a Captain took him and brought him before the Princes and charged him that he intended to go to the Chaldeans They being highly enraged at him smote him and put him into the dungeon that was in the prison in the house of Jonathan the Scribe and there he lay many days Jer. Ch. 37. from 11 to 17. Nebuchadnezzar at his going out against the Egyptian army took eight hundred thirty two men which had fled out of Jerusalem to him for safety and sent them all away to Babylon Jer. Ch. 52. v. 29. In the tenth year of the Captivity of Jeconiah on the twelfth day of the tenth month Ezekiel uttered his Prophesie against Pharaoh and all Egypt declaring that he should prove but a staff of reed to the house of Israel and that Pharaoh should have an overthrow given him in the desert of Lybia and that Egypt should be miserably wasted by the Babylonians and that that desolation should last forty years Ezek. 29. from 1 to 17. Nebuchadnezzar having routed the Egyptian army returned and laid siege again to Jerusalem The Prophet Jeremy having remained in the dungeon many days the King sent and took him out and askt him privately whither he had any word of Prophesie from the Lord he tells him he had and it was this that he must be delivered up into the hands of the King of Babylon Moreover Jeremy said unto the King Wherein have I offended against thee or against thy servants or against this people that ye have put me in prison where are now your Prophets which prophesied unto you saying the King of Babylon shall not come against you nor against this land Therefore hear now I pray thee O my Lord the King let my supplication be accepted before thee that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the Scribe lest I die there Then Zedekiah the King commanded that they should commit Jeremiah unto the Court of the prison and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the Bakers street until all the bread of the City were spent and so Jeremiah remained in the Court of the Prison Jer. 37. from 16 to the end The siege continuing Zedekiah sent again to Jeremy but he returning the same answer viz. that both King and people must fall into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and that they that would stay in the City should perish either by famine sword or pestilence but they that would go out should have their lives saved The Princes were so exceedingly enraged against him for this answer that they desired of the King that he might be put to death looking upon him as a person that weakned the hands and hearts of the people and the King leaving it to them they cast Jeremy into Malchias dungeon which was in the Court of the prison into which being let down by cords his feet sank in the mire when he came to the ground from which lothsome dungeon he was delivered by the intercession and help of Ebedmelech one of the Kings Eunuchs and put again into the Court of the prison Jer. 21. whole Chapter Jer. 38. from 1 to 14. Zedekiah sends for Jeremy once more and in the principal entry of the Lords house privately consults him The Prophet expressing his fear that the King would kill him or give him into the hands of those men that sought his life if he dealt faithfully with him The King thereupon sware to him saying as the Lord liveth who made us this soul no such thing shall happen to thee whereupon he counselled the King by yielding himself to save his life The King having commanded the Prophet to conceal what passed between them from the Princes he departed and Jeremy continued in the Court of the prison to the day the City was taken Jer. 38. from 14 to the end Jeremy remaining thus in the Court of the prison he assures Ebedmelech who had been so kind to him from the Lord that he should be free from all danger and harm in that approaching calamity because he had put his trust in the Lord. Jer. 39. from 15 to the end In the eleventh year of the Captivity of Jeconiah the first month God by Ezekiel foretels the calamity of the City of Tyre which much rejoiced at the miseries the Jews were fallen into by the Babylonians that she also should fall by the same hand And he foretels also that the like misery should befall the Sidonians their neighbours to the glory of God and comfort of the Church At that time it seems the fame of Daniel's wisdom was grown so great even in foreign Nations that they used to say by way of Proverb As wise as Daniel
things shall go better with them At the evening time it shall be light he prophesies also that the Doctrine of Salvation shall spread to all parts of the world and that Christ shall be King over all the earth and shall be acknowledged as the only Saviour both by Jews and Gentiles and that his name only shall be preached invocated and worshipped and that Idols shall be rejected Further a particular promise is made of the exaltation restitution and safety of converted Israel v. 10 11. and sore judgments are threatned against the enemies of the Church viz. that they shall be cut off as by a consumption v. 12. by intestine discord v. 13. by the hand of the Church v. 14. and that the stroke should reach all those means they had imployed against the Church viz. their very beasts for carriage and service should share in the plague v. 15. Next there is a promise of the conversion of many of these enemies of the Church when they shall see Gods judgments on the rest and that they shall acknowledg Christ and joyn with the Church in this publick spiritual worship which is expressed in terms taken from the outward ceremonial worship of the old Testament v. 16. And if they did not God would impart none of his blessings to them but inflict a curse upon them v. 17 18 19. Lastly there is a promise of the holiness and purity of the Church in that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses holiness to the Lord that is all the superfluities of these new converts shall be turn'd into charity and so consecrated to God and they shall offer frequent sacrifices of thanksgiving described in a way of allusion to the ancient ceremonial service and that in the time of the Messiah no people or Nation shall be excluded from the worship of God for the Nations that were before unclean shall then be holy to the Lord. Chap. 14. whole Chapter Sixth year of Darius In the sixth year of Darius towards the latter end thereof on the third day of the twelfth Month called Adar was the structure of the Temple finished about twenty years after the foundation was laid The Dedication whereof the Israelites which returned out of the Captivity celebrated with great joy and abundance of Sacrifices though it was not to be compared to the magnificent dedication of Solomons Temple of which we read 1 King 8.5 v. 63. 2 Chron. 7.5 And they set the Priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service of the Temple according as Moses had enjoyned Upon the 14th day of the first Month they and the proselytes that had joyned themselves to them celebrated the first Passover in the second Temple keeping also the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great joy for that God had turned the heart of the Emperour of Persia who was now also King of Assyria towards them whereas Cambyses's had been turned against them Ezra 6. from 19 to the end The seventh year of Darius In the seventh year of Ahashuerus's reign when Esther was brought unto the King she obtained favour in his eyes above all other damsels insomuch that he put the Crown of the Kingdom upon her head and made her Queen in the room of Vashti Esth 2. from 12 to 18. Ahashuerus in honour of his new Espousals made a most sumptuous feast for all his Princes and servants and called it Esther's feast at which he eased the Provinces of many Taxes and gave gifts answerable to the state and magnificence of so great a King Esth Ch. 2. v. 18. When there was a second gathering of Virgins possibly to chose some out of them to attend upon Queen Esther Mordecai was one of the Kings Porters and attended at the Gate of the Palace It so happened that two of the Kings Chamberlains being exceedingly offended as 't is probable at the Kings putting away of Vashti on whom as 't is like they had attended and at his taking of this new Queen who was crowned with so great solemnity they conspired to take away his life This as Josephus thinks was discovered to Mordecai by a Jew who was servant to one of them Mordecai immediately discovered it to the Queen and she to the King acquainting him that Mordecai had done him this faithful service that so she might bring him into his favour Inquisition being made about this matter and it being found to be true the Conspirators were both hanged and the thing was registred in the Book that continually lay before the King for him to read in at his pleasure Esth 2. from 19 to the end Sometime after as it seems Ahashuerus promoted Haman the Son of Amadetha of the Royal stock of Agag King of the Amalekites who were ever bitter enemies to the Jews as may appear Deut. 25.17 19. and advanced him above all his Princes and commanded his servants to bow unto him and do him more than ordinary reverence Mordecai was not satisfied in conscience to pay him that respect because he was a professed enemy of Gods people and withal one of that accursed Nation against whom the Jews were by the Law bound to oppose themselves in perpetual enmity Exod. 17.16 The Apocryphal Additions of Esther do assign this as the true reason of Mordecai's refusal whom they bring in saying thus Chap. 13.12 13 14. O Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that it was neither in contempt nor pride nor for any desire of glory that I did not bow down to proud Haman I could have been content with good will for the salvation of Israel to have kissed the soles of his feet but I did this that I might not prefer the glory of man above the glory of God So far that Author But however it was Haman was desperately enraged at it yet thought it a mean revenge for him to destroy Mordecai alone and therefore resolved for his sake to be reveng'd on all his Nation and if possible to root it quite it out And for the better executing of this his bloody purpose that he might find out the most lucky and successful time as he superstitiously thought for the accomplishing of it on the first month Nisan in the twelfth year of Ahashuerus about four years after Esther was married to him he caused Pur that is a lot to be cast before him which was a kind of divination used in those times to find out what month and day would be most lucky for the accomplishing his intended revenge And the lot fell upon the twelfth and last month of the year and the thirteenth day of it And thus by the Providence of God over-ruling the superstition of this wretch a way was made for the preservation of the Jews as we shall see afterwards Haman having found out the lucky time as he thought for the accomplishing his wicked intent he comes now to the King to get leave and authority from him to put it
Royal apparel presented her self in the inner Court before the King as he sat on his royal throne as soon as he saw her his heart was towards her and she obtained favour in his sight which he manifested by stretching forth his golden scepter to her and she went up and touched the end of it in token of her reverence and obedience And if we consider what absolute obedience the Persian Kings required of all their subjects and that Vashti his former Queen was cast off for as small an offence as this of Esthers and that he had not called for her of thirty days before we may well think there was a special hand of God in moving the Kings heart to shew her such favour and that it was a gracious answer to his peoples prayers The King graciously asks her What was the request she had to make to him it should be granted her even to the half of the Kingdom (d) This it seems was a Proverbial speech whereby Princes promised liberally and largely Herod used the sâ—me to the daughter of Herodias Mat. 6.23 She told him that she only desired that his Majesty would please to honour her that day with his presence at a Banquet she had provided and that Haman might come also The King readily accepts her invitation and he and Haman came to her Banquet accordingly At the Banquet the King askt her again what her request was she not finding as yet a fit opportunity to make known her desires to him she told him that her petition and request at present was only this that the King and Haman would favour her once more with their presence at a banquet she should prepare for them the next day and then she would make known her suit unto the King God undoubtedly by the secret instinct of his Spirit inclined her heart thus to put off her petition to another time he intending in the interim to advance Mordecai before her next banquet was prepared Haman went away from this first banquet very joyful and with a glad heart being not a little proud of the honour the Queen had done him in inviting him with the King to her banquet but when he came to the Palace-gate he saw Mordecai refuse to rise up to him which kindled his indignation highly against him When he came home he sent for his wife and his friends and there in a boasting fashion set before them the greatness of his riches the multitude of his children * Ten of his Sâ—ns are reckoned up by name Ch. 9. 6. which he esteemed a great honour to him the great offices the King had conferred on him and how the Queen had invited none to her banquet which she made for the King but himself alone and that on the morrow he was invited again unto her with the King All these he shews them were great things and such as few subjects attained unto yet he could not but tell them that all these honours dignities and preferments did not so much comfort him as the neglect and contempt of that vile Jew Mordecai did vex and trouble him for he would not so much as rise up to him nor pay him the respect that all others did His wife and friends advise him not to trouble himself about him but to get a Gallows of fifty cubits high presently set up and on the morrow to get leave of the King to hang him thereon Haman liked their counsel very well and gave order accordingly to have the Gallows prepared Esther Ch. 5. The wheel of Providence begins now to turn for the deliverance of the Jews as we shall see in the sequel of the story for on that very night Ahasuerus could not sleep being restless he calls for the records to be brought and read unto him to divert him wherein among other things it was recorded how two of his servants viz. Bigthan and Teresh had conspired to take away his life and that Mordecai had revealed this conspiracy and so preserv'd him The King hereupon asks what honour and dignity had been done to Mordecai for this His servants about him tell him none at all It being now as it seems morning the King asks who of his Counsellors were in the outward Court They told him Haman was there for he was come early to beg of the King that Mordecai might be hanged on the Gallows he had provided for him the King sends for him he being come the King asks him what shall be done to the man whom the King delights to honour Haman presently imagining the King intended this honour to him and to no body else he thought he would not give scant measure to himself and therefore says he let the royal robe that the King uses to wear be put upon the man the King delights to honour and let him ride on the Kings own horse and let the Crown royal be set on his head and let one of the Kings most noble and illustrious Princes attend him riding in this state through the streets and proclaim before him Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to honour Haman having said this the King commands him immediately to take Mordecai whom of all persons in the world he most hated and to do all this for him and that he should not fail in any one particular This was as a dagger to Hamans heart but he durst not refuse doing it and did it accordingly Mordecai having received this strange and unexpected honour returned to his ordinary office and place at the Kings gate again not being at all puft up with it But Haman hasted to his own house being almost heart-broken through grief and vexation and covering his head through shame and discontent Being come home he acquainted his wife and friends with what had hapned to him they told him that if Mordecai before whom he had begun to fall were of the seed of the Jews he would not be able to prevail against him but would certainly be worsted by him For these being as it seems prudent persons and wise in their way had observed formerly Gods wonderful appearing for his people against all their enemies as particularly against those Princes that had plotted against Daniel Dan. 6.4 and thence they infer that 't was probable the Lord would do the like for Mordecai While they were speaking of these things the Kings Chamberlains came to Hamans house to call him away to the Queens banquet Esther Ch. 6. The King and Haman being again royally entertained by the Queen and the King being highly pleased therewith he asked her again what her suit and request was which he assured her should be granted her whatever it was She then humbly prostrating her self at his feet with tears besought him to spare her own life and the lives of her people for says she I and my people are sold to be slain and to be destroyed and had we been sold for bondmen and bondwomen though our condition
then would have been exceeding sad yet I had held my tongue for there would have been a possibility that by our good service we might have obtained some favour from those that had bought us But now we are all adjudged to death without any exception Had we been sold for bond-slaves some profit might have redounded to the King by our sale but yet the Kings loss in his tribute and in so many useful subjects could never have been repair'd by all that our enemies can do or ever will do for the King The Queens petition both the matter of it and the manner of delivering it so much affected the King that being in a great rage and passion he said to the Queen Who is he and where is the man and what is his name that durst presume in his heart to do such an abominable thing as this Queen Esther replies Our adversary and implacable enemy is the wicked Haman At this we may suppose Haman's heart did not a little ake and tremble The King being now sensible as 't is like and ashamed of his own folly in yielding so rashly to such a bloody Edict which involv'd not only thousands of his peaceable subjects but his beloved Queen her self and being highly incensed against the author and contriver of so great a mischief he rose up suddenly as a man disquieted in his mind and went into his Garden to take a turn or two to give vent to his passion The King being gone Haman stood up to make request to the Queen for his life and that she would mediate with the King for him for he saw that evil was determined against him The King after a little time returning into the Banqueting chamber again he found Haman fallen upon the bed whereon the Queen sat that is he had prostrated himself before her and as is supposed clasped her feet in his hands to testifie the earnestness of his desire and that he would not let her go till he found some favour from her The King seeing him in this posture what says he will this villain force my Queen before my face and in my own house Thus it was just with God that he that falsely accused the Jews to the King should now by the King be charged with that which he never intended The servants and attendants perceiving the Kings mind presently apprehended Haman and as the custom it seems among the Persians was they covered his face as a condemned person and one unworthy to behold the Kings face or the light of the Sun but sentenced to perpetual darkness Harbonah one of the Kings Chamberlains who it seems was sent to Hamans house to bring him unto the Queens banquet when he was there saw that extraordinary Gallows of fifty cubits high which he had erected for Mordecai who now was acknowledged to have done great service for the King and he now acquainted the King with it The King hearing this commanded that they should immediately take Haman and hang him thereon And accordingly they hanged Haman on that very Gallows he had prepared for Mordecai which being done the Kings wrath was pacified Thus God who turned the heart of this King to Esther and to Mordecai now alienated it quite from Haman and pacifyed and quieted his spirit after execution done upon him Esther Chap. 7. On the same day the King gave Hamans house and goods and estate to Queen Esther and Mordecai was taken into his especial favour the Queen declaring how nearly related he was unto her And the King took off his ring that had been before given to Haman * See Ch. 3.10 and which he kept till the Kings wrath was manifested against him and then being sent to execution they pulled it off his finger and returned it to the King who now gave it to Mordecai as a pledg of his favour (a) Possibly hereby Mordecai was made keeper of the Kings private signet as Haman had been And Esther set Mordecai over the house and estate of Haman which the King had given her to take care about it and to manage it for her use Esther also fell down at the Kings feet and humbly besought him with tears that he would please to prevent the execution of that mischief and destruction which Haman had devised against them And she said If I have found favour in thy sight O King and if I be pleasing in thine eyes let letters be sent out to reverse the letters devised by Haman by which he designed to destroy all the Jews that are in any part of the Kings dominions for how can I endure to see the destruction that will come upon my kindred and the evil that will come upon my people thereby if it be not prevented The King would not reverse the former decree it being against the laws and customs of the Medes and Persians so to do but he told Esther and Mordecai that they might write what they thought fit or could devise in favour of the Jews and for their preservation provided the former decree were not in express terms reversed and they might write it in his name and seal it with his ring and what was so written and sealed none durst gainsay Hereupon the Kings Scribes being called on the 23d of the third month two months and ten days after the first decree for their destruction was sent forth * During which time we may imagine in what a sad condition the Jews were but yet there being eight months and 20 days still behind before their fatal day did come which was the 13th of the 12. month all this time they had to provide for their own defence it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded and he wrote in the Kings name and sealed it with his ring and the letters were sent by Posts into all the 127 Provinces under the Kings dominion that the King granted to the Jews in every City and Country liberty to gather themselves together on the day appointed for their massacre and to stand upon their guard and to kill and slay all that should assault them (a) So the Kings Grant to Mordecai was as large as that to Haman Yea to kill their wives and children also and to take the spoil of them to themselves for a prey By the former Edict the Natives of each Province were authorized to destroy the Jews and by this second Edict the Jews were authorized to destroy those that should set upon them but yet this would hardly have prevented their ruin they being but few in comparison of those among whom they lived had not this new discovery of the change of the Kings mind much abated the malice of their enemies Mordecai being now in great favour with the King went out from his presence in royal apparel of blew and white and with a great Crown of gold on his head not the Crown royal but such as Princes in great place used to wear and a garment of fine linnen and
to his posterity †David in the 68. Psal 32. v. useth the word Hasmonim to express Princes and great men Mattathias was earnestly prest by the Kings Officers to sacrifice on the Heathen Altars but he utterly refused to do it yea he proceeded so far as to kill a certain Jew whom he beheld so sacrificing and after that he slew the Kings Commissioner who forced the people to sacrifice and threw down the Altar Being so far engaged he exhorted all that had any zeal for the Law of God to follow him and so with his five Sons he fled into the Mountains leaving all their goods behind them in the City Many went after him and lived with their wives and children in dens and caves which when it was discovered to Philip Governour for the King at Jerusalem the Garrison-Souldiers were presently drawn out to pursue them who falling on many of them on the Sabbath-day and they not at all resisting in honour to the day they destroyed the number of about a thousand persons of them When Mattathias and his friends were informed of this they much lamented the case of their Brethren and decreed that from thence forward if they should be assaulted by their enemies on the Sabbath-day they would resist them with arms Then the Asidaeans a sort of religious men joyning with him and several others who daily fled out of the Country he made up a little army and therewith prosecuted the wicked ones and marching up and down threw down Altars circumcised all children whom they found uncircumcised in the coasts of Israel and pursued the sons of pride and the work succeeded very prosperously in their hands After Mattathias had been Captain of this wandring company for the space of a year he died having first exhorted his Sons to piety and a valiant defence of the Law of God and having appointed his Son Simon for a Counsellor and his Son Judas Sirnamed Maccabeus for a Captain to them His Sons buried him in the Sepulchers of their Fathers at Modin and the Israelites bewailed him with great lamentation 1 Mac. 2. Judas being assisted by his Brethren and such as followed his Father fell upon the enemy burnt divers of their Towns and seized upon several commodious places coming usually upon them in the night insomuch that he forced many of them to quit the land Apollonius the Governour of Samaria coming against him Judas overthrew and slew him and getting his Sword ever after used it in the wars After this he overthrew Seron the Governour of Caelosyria who marched against him with the forces under his command his whole army was routed by Judas and eight hundred slain on the place the rest fled into the land of the Philistines near the Sea-coast Antiochus hearing of this success of Judas was exceedingly enraged at it and levying all the strength of his Kingdom and giving them a years pay he commanded them to be in readiness he purposed to have marched immediately against Maccabeus but he found his Treasury much exhausted by the pay of his Army and he saw he had lost 300 Talents of yearly tribute by the Jews revolting from him and much also which he was wont to receive from other places who were in combustion because he would force them to quit their ancient rites For his persecution raged even in the Grecian Cities insomuch that he spared not the very Gentiles but endeavoured to make them abjure their ancient superstitions and to come up to a conformity of worship with himself and by these things his revenues were much impaired Fearing therefore he should not have enough to defray his charges and gratuities wherein he took a pride to exceed all his Ancestors he resolved to make a progress first into Persia and the upper Countries to gather the Tributes thereof and fill his coffers But before his departure he made Lysias his kinsman Governour of the Regions betwixt Euphrates and Egypt committing to his care his young Son Eupator and gave him half his forces and this also in charge to blot out the Nation of the Jews utterly and to give their Country to be inhabited by strangers Philip the Governour of Jerusalem observing how that Judas grew stronger and stronger every day wrote unto Ptolemy Son of Dorymenes Governour of Coelosyria and Cilicia to lend his helping hand to the Kings affairs who presently dispatching Nicanor one of his chiefest friends with 20000 men purposed to root out the whole stock of the Jews and to him also he joyned Gorgias a man of great experience in Military affairs Lyfias also dispatched away Ptolomy himself as a reserve to them so that under these three Commanders Ptolomy Nicanor and Gorgias were mustered 40000 foot and 7000 horse who marching with this their great army pitched by Emmaus in the plain Country Antiochus was at this time behind hand with his tribute to the Romans the sum of 2000 Talents and Nicanor making sure of the victory before hand resolved to wipe off that score by the sale of the captive Jews and to that end invited out of the Cities near the Sea-coast a thousand Merchants promising that he would allow ninety slaves for a Talent which was no sooner divulged but the Merchants of the Country with their Attendants repair to the Camp to purchase the Jews for slaves great Companies also flocked out of Syria and other parts to barter for the same commodities The Heathen now holding Jerusalem and the Temple Judas Maccabeus in this great extremity removed with his Army to Mizpeh for there before the building of the Temple was the Israelites place of Worship 1 Sam. 7.5 6. and there he proclaimed a fast and with most servent prayers importuned the Lords help against this formidable host for he had with him but six or seven thousand against the vast power of the enemy After this such as had betrothed wives planted vineyards or were fearful he dismissed according to the Law Deut. 20 6 7 8. and then divided his army into four Squadrons and appointing his Brothers to command them committed to each 1500 Souldiers so the Army removed and pitched on the South-side of Emmaus opposite to the enemy That night Gorgias had a design to surprize them unawares and to that end took along with him 5000 foot and a 1000 choice horse and came towards the Jews Camp having the Garrison-Souldiers of Sion-fort for his convoy Judas having notice hereof wisely turned it to his advantage resolving to march straightways to Emmaus and so to fall upon Nicanor in the absence of the other who was the more experienced Captain Gorgias arriving at the Jews Camp and finding no body there thought they had fled for fear of him into the mountains and so he sought for them there but they being got to Nicanor engaged him in the morning Judas having first encouraged his men and given the word in the help of God through the assistance of the Almighty they routed Nicanor's whole army laying above
5000 dead upon the place and had the chase of the rest a great way Among others who were thus vanquished were the Merchants who nothing doubting of the victory followed the Kings army in hope to get a good bargain of the captives and now became a prey themselves and the Jews seized on their money which they brought to buy them And when they had had a long pursuit of them but being prevented by time they sounded a retreat for the evening on which the Sabbath began drawing on after they had gathered up the Armes of the vanquished Host and taken the spoils from them they composed themselves for the celebration of the Sabbath magnifying the mercy of God for this so marvelous a victory 2 Mac. 8. Gorgias returning from his fruitless expedition and perceiving by the smoke of the Tents set on fire that that other division of their army was routed and seeing Judas on the plain standing in Battalia with his forces ready to receive them they all shifted for themselves The coast thus cleared Judas returned to the spoil where he found plenty of gold silk and purple which the Phoenician Merchants had left behind them and much wealth all which the Souldiers shared among themselves having first deducted a portion for the maimed Souldiers widows and orphans Then with joint supplication they desired the Lord to continue still to be gracious unto them After this Judas overthrew Timotheus and Bacchides both of the Kings party and killed above 20000 men and made themselves masters of many strong holds and divided among themselves much spoil always admitting the maimed orphans widows and aged persons into equal portions with themselves Lysias was exceedingly vext that things fell out so contrary to his expectation and therefore the next year invaded Judea with an Army of 60000 choice foot and 5000 horse Judas having first implored the Divine assistance meets him with an army of 10000 men Lysias received such a blow that with the loss of 5000 men he was glad to retreat to Antioch intending greater preparations for his next expedition Judas and his Brethren having now some respite from their enemies march with all their forces to Jerusalem and recover the Temple and all the City except Sion-fort The Altars and Chappels which the enemy had built in the open streets they demolished And by the assistance of the Priests they cleansed the Temple built a new Altar repaired the holy and Holy of Holies hallowed the Courts made new holy Vessels brought into the Temple the Candlestick the Altar of Incense and the Table of shew-bread and so they burnt Incense upon the Altar lighted the Lamps which were in the Candlestick and placed shew-bread upon the Table and spread the Vails and finished whatever they had taken in hand Then on the 15th of the ninth month called Casleu two years after he had succeeded his Father in the Government but three years compleat since the Gentiles first sacrificed in that place having furnished themselves with fire by striking stones one against another they offered sacrifice according to the Law upon their new Altar of Burnt-offerings so that on the very same day of the same month on which the Gentiles profaned the old Altar Judas consecrated this new one This Dedication was celebrated with Songs and Hymns and Instruments of Musick very joyfully and all the people fell prostrate on the ground and worshipped the God of Heaven who had so prospered them beseeching him that he would not suffer them to fall again into such calamities but that if they offended him he himself would punish them and not suffer them to fall into the hands of the barbarous Gentiles They kept this feast of Dedication eight days and ordained that it should be kept yearly for the same space of time and should begin the 25th of the same month Casleu In the Gospel Joh. 10.22 't is called the feast of Dedication Whilst these things were doing Antiochus Epiphanes prospers in his wars against Artaxias King of Armenia and in the upper Countries though in his attempt to plunder the Temple of Venus or Diana at Elemais in Persia he was repelled by the inhabitants and caused shamefully to retreat In his return homewards hearing first of the overthrow of Nicanor and Timotheus and then of the defeat of Lysias and the throwing down of the Idol of Jupiter Olympius and fortifying of the Sanctuary he fell into an extream rage and resolved to be revenged on the Jews proudly vaunting that he would make Jerusalem the common burying place of them when he should come thither Scarce had he made an end of threatning when he was stricken with an extream torment in his bowels but being brought thereby to no better a temper of mind he breathed out menaces against the Jews still and calling to his Chariot-driver to make hast it hapned that in this his so furious career he fell out of his Chariot and was much bruised by the fall and his limbs put out of joint and after that being carried to and fro in a horse-litter worms bred so fast in his body that his flesh rotted so that none could endure to carry him for the noisomeness of the stench being forced to stay at Taba a Town in Persia in this pitiful plight despairing of recovery he openly acknowledged all those miseries to have fallen upon him for the injuries he had done to the Jews When he could no longer endure his own smell he said It is meet to submit to God and for mortal man not to set himself in competition with God He vowed if God would restore him to grant to the Jews a free exercise of their Religion and of their own laws and customs and that he would beautifie the Temple with most rare gifts and restore all the holy vessels and that with advantage and defray the charges of the Sacrifices out of his own Exchequer and that he himself would turn Jew and go through the whole habitable world declaring the power of God But when he saw his end to draw nigh he caused most kind Letters to be written to the Jews desiring them to stand faithful to his Son Then constituting Philip the Guardian and Protector of his Son who was but nine years old till he should come to age he died and that a miserable death in a strange land after he had reigned twelve years Antiochus his Son Sirnamed Eupator succeeds him Lysias who had brought him up would not part with the Government of him whereupon Philip who was appointed his Guardian by his Father fled into Egypt Gorgias who had the command of those parts about Judea fomented a continual war with the Jews and with him joyned the Idumeans who entertained all the Jerusalem-runagadoes and infested the Jews and did what they could to keep the war on foot against those therefore Judas Maccabaeus marches takes divers places and puts 20000 of them to the sword After which setting upon the Ammonites he overthrew them
in divers engagements and taking Jazer with the Territories thereunto belonging returned into Judea Timotheus the General of the Ammonites hereat enraged and gathering together multitudes of forreign forces came as if he would devour Judea But Judas and those that were with him having humbled themselves and sought to the Lord for help marched out of Jerusalem against them and being encouraged by an Apparition of Horsemen in the Heavens fighting for them they slew of the enemy 20500 Foot and 600 horse Timotheus himself fled to Gazara a strong Garrison kept by his Brother but that being taken he was pulled out of a cave where he had hid himself and slain with his Brother After this the Gentiles about Galaad and Galilee sorely afflicting the Jews of those parts Maccabaeus divided his Army into three Brigades one whereof consisting of 3000 men he gave to his Brother Simon to relieve them of Galilee the second to Joseph the Son of Zachariah to defend Judea charging them not to fight with any enemy till his return with the third he marched himself to the succour of those of Galaad Simon notwithstanding fought many Battels with the enemy and killed many of them And Judas had the like success taking many Towns and putting many thousand to the sword But those that were left at home desiring upon the report of these things to atchieve some military glory marched to Jamnia whence Gorgias issuing out put them to flight and following the chase as far as the borders of Judea killed about 2000 of them So dangerous a thing is presumption and vain-glory Lysias the Kings Protector and chief Minister was extreamly vexed to hear of Judas's success therefore mustering together near eighty thousand men and all the horse he could make marches into Judea resolving to make Jerusalem an habitation for the Greeks and the Temple Tributary and to set the High Priesthood to sale every year Being entred into Judea he lays siege to Bethsura nigh to Jerusalem But Maccabaeus engaging with him killed 11000 of his foot with 1600 horsemen and forced him with the rest many of them being wounded and disarmed to shift for themselves Lysias considering with himself what loss he had sustained and how God fought for the Jews he sent to them to treat of peace and according to his promise brought the King to yield to such reasonable terms as were demanded by Maccabaeus but this peace was quickly broken by those of the Kings Captains that had the command of the places adjacent who would not suffer the Jews to be quiet And the Citizens of Joppa also having by fair speeches inticed two hundred Jews which dwelt among them into their ships put from shore and threw them all over-board When Judas heard of this piece of villany he came by night to Joppa and fired their Port and Navy And understanding that the inhabitants of Jamnia had some such design against those Jews that lived with them he did the same by night to their Port and Fleet also Judas now marching against Timotheus the Nomades of Arabia set upon him to the number of 5000 Foot and 500 Horse where after an hot dispute the Arabians were worsted but afterwards upon an engagement to supply him with Cattel obtained a peace from him Shortly after this he stormed the City Caspis wherein was such a slaughter made of the inhabitants that a lake thereto adjoyning seemed to be full of blood Removing from thence he came to the Jews called Tobieni inhabiting the land of Tob concerning which mention is made in the Book of Judges Ch. 11. Timotheus was drawn off from that place but had left behind him a very strong Garrison which Dositheus and Sosipater two of Judas's Captains ventured upon and taking it put to the sword about 10000 men Upon this Timotheus levies a new Army consisting of 120000 Foot and 2500 Horse of all Nations round about him and mercenary Arabians sending the women and children into a strong Town called Carnion He incamped against Raphon on the other side the Brook Judas approaching with his forces gave this great Army such a total rout that some fled one way and some another and Judas pursued them with such earnestness that he slew near thirty thousand of them and Timotheus himself falling into the hands of Dositheus and Sosipater obtained his liberty upon promise of setting at liberty such of the Jews as he had in his power Judas then proceeding took Carnion whither many of the enemy had fled he put to the sword 25000 men fired their Temple and demolished their City After this he gathered together all the Jews with their wives and children which were in Galaad to bring them into Judea And being come as far as Ephron which was a great City well fortified through which they were to pass the Citizens denied them passage and shut their gates against them hereupon they assaulted the City and took it after a day and a nights battery and demolished the City to the ground took all the spoil killed all the males near 25000 in number and so marched to Jerusalem to the Feast of Pentecost The Feast being over Judas taking 3000 Foot and 400 Horse along with him went and fought with Gorgias whom Dositheus had once taken but leading him away a Thracian Trooper made up towards him and cut off his shoulder and so rescued Gorgias who made his escape into Marissa After this victory the Jews coming to strip and bury such of their own party as had fallen that day found under their coats certain things dedicated to the Idols of Jamnia which was prohibited them by the Law Deut. 7.25 26. so that it appeared to them that this was the cause of their death they therefore betook themselves by prayer unto God intreating him that this miscarriage might not be charged upon them all After this Judas with his Brethren subdued the Edomites and the Philistines burnt their Idols and overthrew their Altars and then returned into Judea and observing that Antiochus's Souldiers which were Garrison'd in the Tower at Jerusalem did infest the Jews about the Sanctuary he with all the people besieged them close but some of them with certain Jewish fugitives getting out went strait to Antiochus Eupator and perswaded him with expedition to come and give a check to the growing power of the Jews Antiochus gathering together all his friends and Captains and a mighty Army concerning the number of which the two Books of Maccabees differ in a great rage marched thither intending to deal worse with the Jews than his Father had done And with him Menelaus the usurping High Priest joyned hoping thereby to recover the Priesthood Judas hearing of these preparations commanded the people that they should call upon God day and night that he would please to grant them his wonted assistance Antiochus marching into Judea assaults Bethsura or Bethhoron where Judas by night with a choice party fell upon his Camp and piercing as far as his own
a great Marriage and bring the Bride from Medaba with great Pomp being the Daughter of one of their Noblest Princes they went and hiding themselves under the Covert of the Mountain when the Bridegroom and his Friends came forth with Timbrels and Instruments of Musick rose up out of the Ambush slew 400 of them and took the Spoil So having revenged the death of their Brother they returned again into the Marshes of Judea 1 Mac. 9. When Bacchides heard this he marched down and came thither with a great Army upon the Sabbath-day and Jonathan being beset behind and before by the enemy and on each side with the River and Marshes yet encouraged his men to fight and after having slain about a 1000 of them seeing himself too weak for the enemy He and his men leaped into Jordan and got over to the other side neither did the enemy attempt to follow him As for Bacchides he returned to Jerusalem and built fenced Cities in Judea and a Fort in Jericho and other places and garrison'd them all that by their Sallies and Incursions they might annoy the Israelites He fortifyed also the Cities of Bethsura and Gazara with the Castle at Jerusalem where he placed Soldiers and Provisions and taking the Sons of the chief of the Country for Hostages he put them in ward in the Tower of Jerusalem 1 Mac. 9. The Ambassadors sent from Judas Maccabaeus to Rome were kindly received and concluded a League of Association with the Romans the Tenor of which was That they should mutually assist and succour each other against the common Enemy And the Articles were written in Tables of Brass The Senate also wrote Letters to Demetrius That he should forbear to oppress the Jews any further being their Confederates otherwise they vvould vvage War upon him both by Land and Sea And this vvas the first League that vvas ever knovvn to be betvven the Romans and the Jews About this time as it should seem Alcimus commanded the wall in the Temple which severed the Court of the People from that of the Gentiles to be pulled down which had been built by Zerubbabel and the Prophets whose Monuments he began also to pull down and destroy But at the same time he was so smitten that he could not open his own mouth nor so much as give orders concerning his own House but died in great Torment the third year after he had usurped the High-Priesthood After his death Jerusalem was seven years without any High-Priest at all But then Jonathan put on the High-Priests Robes After Alcimus's death Bacchides returned to Demetrius For two years the land of Judea continued quiet but at the end thereof certain wicked Jews sent for Bacchides again acquainting him that he might easily apprehend Jonathan and his Company in one night Whereupon Bacchides made towards them with a great force and sent privily Letters to his Friends in Judea to assist him in this Enterprize But their Plot was discovered to Jonathan and his Company and he taking 50 of the Contrivers of that Villany put them all to death Then Jonathan and Simon and those that were with him removed to Bethbasin in the Wilderness and repaired the walls thereof and fortified it which Bacchides having notice of went down thither and besieged it But such was his Entertainment from the besieged who sallying out burnt his Engines and killed many of his men that having lain before the place a long time to no purpose and being thus disappointed in his hopes he turn'd his anger against those that had procur'd him to make this Expedition in so much that he slew many of them and purposed to return into his own Land Jonathan having notice thereof sent to him to treat of peace and to exchange Prisoners which he gladly accepted of protesting he would not any more disturb Jonathan all the days of his life So he returned home into his own land and never after entred into Judea with an Army The Wars thus composed in Judea Jonathan dwelt at Michmash in the Tribe of Benjamin and began to judge the people and to take away the Wicked out of Israel About this time Alexander Bala crying himself up for the Son of Antiochus Epiphanes seized upon Ptolemais a City in Phaenicia Demetrius hearing of this began to prepare to fight with him and sent Letters also to Jonathan whereby he renewed peace with him and gave him Authority to levy forces and provide Arms that he might assist him in his War against Alexander He commanded also that the Hostages which were kept in the Fort should be released which was accordingly done and he delivered them to their Parents Jonathan improving this opportunity began to re-edifie and repair Jerusalem and to build up the Walls And the Aliens that were in the Forts which Bacchides built quitted them and hasted away to their own land Alexander having notice of Demetrius's Message to Jonathan he courts him likewise and desires his Friendship and Association And among many other Priviledges and Immunities which he granted to that Nation he appointed him to be the High-Priest sending him Purple and a Crown of Gold and honoured him with the Title of being called the Kings Friend So in the seventh month of the 160th year of the Seleucides Jonathan put on the holy Robe in the nineth year after the death of his brother Judas the Priesthood having been vacant seven years from the death of Alcimus being the first of the Hasmoneans that arrived at this dignity as being descended from Jehojarib of the Priests family indeed but not from Jaddus the High-Priest whose Heir Onias now lived in Egypt with Ptol. Philometor The Jews now disclaiming Demetrius of whose hatred to them they had had sufficient experience stick close to Alexander and from that time forward continued his Confederates in the War Alexander Bala having gotten an Army together made up partly of the Soldiers that revolted to him from Demetrius and partly of the Auxiliaries of Attalus King of Pergamus Ariarathes King of Cappadocia and Jonathan and especially Ptol. Philometor encountred Demetrius and conquering his Army killed him in the Fight after he had reigned in Syria twelve years And so Alexander obtained the Kingdom Alexander shortly after remembring how much he was engaged to Ptol. Philometor for his assistance sent to him to desire his Daughter to make him a Wife which he willingly assented to and brought her to Ptolemais in Phoenicia and there married her to him with Royal and magnificent Solemnity Jonathan being by Alexander invited to this Wedding he brought with him great Presents of Gold and Silver and several other things which he presented to both the Kings and their Friends so that thereby he much wrought himself into their favour At the same time several vile male-contents came out of Judea to accuse Jonathan but Alexander was so far from listning to any Tales against him that he caused him to be clothed with Purple and to set next to
Cleopatra his Brothers wife all the Armies of the Syrians except a few revolted to him so that Tryphon seeing himself thus forsaken fled to Dora a Maritime City of Phoenicia whither he was straight pursued and blocked up both by sea and land Simon sent 2000 choice men to Sidetes at the siege of Dora but he to Simons great astonishment refused them all and brake whatever Covenants he had made with him And further sent Athenobius to him complaining of his holding Joppa Gazara and the Castle at Jerusalem and destroying the borders and holding the Government of divers places of his Kingdom requiring of him the tributes of those places beyond the bounds of Judea which were possessed by him or else in lieu thereof to pay 500 Talents and for the tribute of the other places held by him 500 Talents more menacing war against him except all things were performed that he demanded To these things Simon answered that he held no Towns belonging to any other Prince but had recovered by his sword some Towns of his own held back from him by his enemies as for Joppa and Gazara though they had done much harm to his people yet he was willing to pay an hundred Talents At this answer Sidetes was exceedingly enraged In the mean while Tryphon escaped away from Dora to Orthosias another Maritime City of Phoenicia Antiochus himself pursuing Tryphon left Cendebaeus to take care of the Sea-coasts and to build up Cedron and to deal with the Jews He being come as far as Jamnia began to make inroads into Judea and to take the people prisoners and to kill and slay such as he pleased John the Son of Simon then lying at Gazara and understanding how things went gave notice thereof to his Father who being now decrepid committed the managing of the war to him and his Brother Judas John therefore with 20000 Foot and some Horse marched against Cendebaeus who met them with a powerful Army and marshalling his body in such wife that the Horse and Foot might mutually protect each other and then sounding with their holy Trumpets they engaged the enemy and overthrew him and put his whole Army to the rout some betook themselves to the Fort newly built and others flying away he pursued as far as the Towers of Azotus and having slain about 2000 men in the pursuit he burnt those Towers and returned safe into Judea Tryphon at last fled to his own Country-men at Apamea and in the way as he went he scattered money on purpose to retard Antiochus's Souldiers in the pursuit of him and so escaped out of their hands but at last he was taken by Antiochus and put to death Simon traversing the Cities of Judea and providing for their orderly government came down with his Sons Mattathias and Judas to Jericho there Ptolemy the Son of Abubus his Son-in-law who was by him set over the Province of Jericho entertained them in Doc-castle which he had fortified but designing to get the Government of the Country to himself whilst he was treating them at a Banquet most treacherously and barbarously slew Simon with his two Sons and some of his servants after he had discharged the office of High Priest for the space of eight years and three months Ptolemy immediately acquaints Antiochus Sidetes with this villany desiring him to speed an Army for his assistance promising to deliver the Cities and Country of Judea into his hands So that it seems more than probable that this villany was not transacted without the privity of Sidetes and that the honour and reward which the Traytor so much aspired unto was before promised him by the King upon his performance of it This perfidious Ptolemy also sent other cut-throats to murder John Simon 's other Son but he escap'd them He dealt also with the Colonels of the Jewish Militia to draw them over to himself promising them great rewards And moreover sent some to seize upon Jerusalem and the mountain of the Temple John having received information of the murder of his Father and Brethren and that some were sent to do as much for him prevented his enemies by falling upon them first and so was made High Priest in the room of his Father 1 Mac. 16. And here the Author of the first Book of Maccabees concludes his work having therein delivered the History of forty years which Josephus continues on Antiochus Sidetes taking the opportunity of Simon 's death entred Judea with an Army and having wasted the Country forced John Sirnamed afterwards Hircanus to retire into the City of Jerusalem and then laid a close siege to it the siege was prolonged through the strength of the walls and valour of the defendants Antiochus built many turrets about it out of which he attempted the walls and begirt it so straightly with a double Trench that there was no getting out for the besieged any way Hircanus seeing a great and useless multitude in the City which consumed the victuals put out the more infirm out of the walls but Antiochus would not suffer them to pass so that they wandered about the walls almost famished till at last out of pity they were taken in again At this Feast Hircanus sent out to Antiochus to desire a truce for seven days for their Feasts sake which Antiochus not only granted but also brought in great pomp to the very gates of the City bulls with guilded horns and gold and silver cups filled with all manner of spices to be offered to the God of Israel and delivered sacrifices to the Priests of the Jews so easily can God change the hearts of Princes Hircanus was so taken with this great act of piety in Antiochus that from thence forward he gave him the title of Pius and sent to him to request terms of peace of him and that he would give them leave to live according to the Laws of their forefathers Many of those that were about the King pressed him not to make any peace with them but to demolish their City and destroy the whole Nation of the Jews as being a people severed from all other Nations by their peculiar laws and customs or if he would not do so at least to abrogate their Laws and force them to change their manner of living But God so over-ruled the Kings heart that he utterly rejected this counsel and approving the piety of the Jews offered them peace upon condition that they should pay him tribute for Joppa and other Towns without Judea and receive a Garrison They yielded to the former but not to the last in regard they would avoid all commerce with strangers in lieu of that they chose rather to give hostages for their fidelity amongst whom Hircanus's own Brother was one and to pay 500 Talents whereof 300 at present These terms being agreed unto by Antiochus the siege was immediately removed Hircanus opening the Sepulcher of David found there 3000 Talents wherewith he not only paid Antiochus his 300 but feasted him and his
familiarity with the Greeks succeded him He changed his Principality into a Kingdom setting a Diadem upon his head and was the first that did so after the return from the Captivity in Babylon His second Brother Antigonus he loved exceedingly in so much that he made him his Partner in the Kingdom but shut up the other three in Prison and with them his Mother who contended with him for the Principality and he proceeded to that height of Cruelty that he famished her to death in Prison Aristobulus now marched with his Army into Itrurea and layed a great part of it to Judea forcing the Inhabitants under penalty of Banishment to admit of Circumcision and other Jewish Ceremonies Not long after he caused his beloved Brother to be made away though against his will For Antigonus returning from the Wars in Triumph at the Feast of Tabernacles it so happened that Aristobulus was then sick and kept his Bed in the Tower that was afterwards called Antony's Tower Antigonus marched up with his Soldiers to the Temple intending to offer sacrifice for his sick Brother This was presently interpreted to Aristobulus as the effect of a bad intention toward him and a sufficient sign of his affecting the Kingdom and it was represented as if Antigonus would presently come down and kill him Aristobulus to provide for his own security and yet to shun suspicion commanded some of his Guard to stand in an obscure place where his Brother was to come and if he came armed then to kill him but if unarmed then not to meddle with him and that he might do so he sent one under hand to him to desire him not to come with his arms But Solome the Queen and the rest of Antigonus's back friends perswaded the Messenger to tell him that the King had a mind to see him as he then was in his Warriors habit So Antigonus thinking nothing but coming armed to see his Brother was there immediately slain upon the place After it was done Aristobulus was smitten with a great remorse for it tho' he knew nothing of the altering the purport of his Message and his distemper increasing at last he vomited blood which being carried out by one of his Attendants he chanced to spill some of it in that very place where Antigonus was slain Aristobulus having notice given him of this accident acknowledged the just Judgment of God therein and immediately gave up the Ghost in extream anguish both of body and mind having reigned only one year After his decease his Wife Solome whom the Grecians call Alexandria released his Brothers whom he had kept Prisoners a long time and made Alexander Jannaeus the eldest of them King in his room He as soon as he was possessed of the Kingdom put one of his Brothers to death upon the discovery of some treasonable design against him But he loved the other exceedingly who affected to live a retired life He was called Absolon and was taken Prisoner at Jerusalem by Pompey many years after Alexander Jannaeus having setled his affairs at home went and besieged Ptolemais which with Gaza only of the Sea-Towns remained unconquered besides the Tower of Straton since called Caesarea and Dora which Zoilus the Tyrant had got into his hands At this time the two Brothers Antiochus Gryphus and Cizicenus were eagerly destroying one another in Syria so that the Ptolemaians had little hope of Relief from them only Zoilus who gaped after the City himself gave them a little Relief There being no hope of any Relief but from Cyprus whither Ptol. Lathurus had been driven by his Mother Cleopatra they sent to him desiring his aid against Alexander giving him hopes that he should not only save them but with them the Inhabitants of Gaza on his side and that Zoilus the Sidonians and others would assist him also He being puft up with these Promises made what haste he could to their assistance and Zoilus and the Gazaeans joyning with him the Siege was raised before Ptolemais and Alexander departed home attempting afterwards by Policy to overturn the design of Ptolemy For openly professing himself his Friend and Ally he promised him 300 Talents to take off Zoilus the Tyrant and so lay his Territories to his own Dominions which Lathurus consented to do but then he privily sent to Cleopatra his Mother exciting her against him which Lathurus understanding tho' before he embraced his friendship yet now he utterly renounced the League he had made with him And laying a Siege with part of his Army against Ptolemais which City it seems had shut their Gates against him he march'd away himself with the residue of his forces against Judea Alexander Jannaeus marches out to meet him with fifty thousand men Ptolemais coming unawares on the Sabbath-day on Asychis a City in Galilee storm'd it and took it and carried away with him about 10000 Prisoners Next he fell upon Zephoris not far distant from thence but having lost many men before it he drew off to encounter Alexander They engage near Jordan and Ptolemy's Soldiers rout the Jews and in the pursuit slay many thousands of them Josephus says 30000. Ptolemy ranging up and down the Country fell at last into some Villages which being full of Women and Children he commanded his Soldiers to kill them promiscuously and cutting off their Limbs to cast them into Caldrons that so a report might be spread abroad that his army eat mans flesh which would strike Terror and Discouragement into their Enemies Cleopatra hearing how her Sons power increased held it small Policy to let him go on as he did therefore she came against him with Forces both by Land and by Sea over which she placed as chief Commanders under her self Chelcias and Ananias both Jews and Sons of that Onias who built the Temple in the Seigniory of Alexandria Her Son Lathurus imagining she had drained the Garrisons of Egypt to make up this great army hasted thither hoping to have surpriz'd that Kingdom in her absence but she left it so well provided that his attempts proved ineffectual Cleopatra with her Army now lays siege to Ptolemais and takes it Thither comes to her Alexander Jannaeus with Presents in his hands where he was received as a person distressed by her adversary and one only who had no other Refuge but her self to betake himself unto Some that were about her advised her to seize his Country immediately into her own hands and not to suffer so many good Jews to be at the pleasure and command of one man But Ananias advised the contrary accounting it a great wickedness to dispossess a man received into Friendship of his Estate And if the Queen should do so she would by offering injury to Alexander in a short time lose the affections of the whole Nation of the Jews The Queen being perswaded by Ananias entred into a League with Alexander at Scythopolis a City in Coelosyria Alexander being now freed from fear both of Mother and Son Ptolemy