than Shem's being first named among Noah's three Sons proves him to have been the first-born IX 18. For there are good Reasons to prove that Abraham was born sixty Years after Haran who was the eldest Son having two Daughters married to his two Brothers Nahor and Abraham Who seems to be the youngest though named first both here and in the next Verse because of his preheminence See Verse 32. Ver. 28. Haran died before his Father c. In his own Country as it here follows out of which he did not go as the rest of this Family did In Vr of the Chaldees That part of Mesopotamia which was next to Assyria is called the Land of the Chaldees For Vr as Abarbinel observes was in Mesopotamia Lying in the way from Tigris to Nisibis And therefore St. Stephen makes Mesopotamia and the Land of the Chaldees the very same Act. VII 2 4. Eupolemus indeed as Bochart notes places this Vr from whence Abraham came Verse 31. in Babylon But Ammianus speaks of an Vr in Mesopotamia situated as before-mentioned which we have reason to think was the place from whence Abraham came because from thence to Canaan the way lay straight through Charran or Haran but it did not do so if he came from Babylon And no good account can be given why he should go about through Mesopotamia and Charran when there was a shorter way through Arabia if he came from Babylon Ver. 29. The Father of Iscah i. e. Of Sarai whom Abraham married she being his eldest Brother's Daughter Sister to Lot For Haran had three Children Lot verse 27 and Milchah whom Nahor married and Sarah whom Abraham married That is Haran dying the two remaining Brethren married his two Daughters For if we should understand any Body else by Iscah but Sarah there is no account whence she descended Which Moses sure would not have omitted because it very much concerned his Nation to know from whom they came both by the Father's and the Mother's side It is no wonder she should have two Names one perhaps before they came out of Chaldaea and another after Ver. 31. Went forth from Vr of the Chaldees See what was said Verse 26. unto which I have nothing to add but this That this Country was so famous for Superstition that the Chaldaeans in Daniel's time were reckoned as a distinct sort of Diviners from Magicians Astrologers and South-sayers or Sorcerers Dan. II. 2 10. IV. 7. V. 11. And it 's likely from some such sort of Men Terah and his Family learnt the worship of Idols Josh XXIV 2. But though he had been an Idolater yet it may be probably concluded from his leaving Vr of the Chaldees with an intention to go to Canaan as it is here said that now he was become a worshipper of the True God For what should move him to it but Obedience to the Divine Direction which Abraham received as we read in the next Chapter to which he would not have agreed if he had not believed in God As Lot it 's plain did whom he took along with him That word is much to be remarked which makes him the principal Agent in their removal Abraham himself being governed by his Motion For Moses says He took Abraham and Lot the Son of Haran c. And though Nahor did not now go along with his Father to Haran being left behind perhaps to look after some concerns yet afterwards he followed him with all his Family As appears from Chapter XXVII 43. and the following Chapter And he also forsook Idolatry for Rebekkah his Grand-Child was married to Isaac and his great Grand-Children Rachel and Leah nay their Father Laban seem to have been worshippers of the True God though with a mixture of some Superstition for he makes mention of Jehovah upon several occasions Gen. XXIV 31 50 51. And they came unto Haran It is possible that Terah going from Vr to Canaan and staying in this place called the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charrae after the Name of his Son Haran or Charan who died a little before verse 28. For both the Greek and Roman Writers call a City famous for the death of Crassus by the Name of Charrae Situate on a River of the same Name It 's likely from Abraham's Brother were derived both the Name of the River and of the City which the Arabians to this day call Charan or Charran And dwelt there It 's plain he intended to go to Canaan and not to settle here But being arrested with the Sickness of which he died could go no further Ver. 32. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five Years Moses doth not summ up the Years of any Man's Life mentioned in this Chapter as he doth in Chapter V. but only of Terah's Which he doth on purpose that we may know when this new Period of time began of Abraham's leaving his own Country and thereby becoming the Father of the Faithful which we are not to count from the time when Terah began to have Children Ver. 26. but from the time of his Death immediately after which Abraham went on towards Canaan See Vsser Chronol C. III. and C. VII From this also we learn when Abraham was born For if seventy five Years which was Abraham's Age when his Father died and he went from Haran XII 4. be subducted from two hundred and five it is manifest that he was born when his Father was an hundred and thirty Years old That is threescore Years after his Brother Haran as I said on Verse 26. CHAP. XII MAny ancient Authors speak of Abraham as Josephus observes and out of him Eusebius Who names others also L. IX Praepar Evang. c. 16 17 c. All that I shall note is That one great Design of Moses being to lead the Jews to understand the Genealogy of this noble Ancestor of theirs he hastens to it Relating other Matters briefly but spending many Pages about him For he comprises for instance the History of the World from the Creation to the Flood containing One thousand six hundred fifty six Years in the compass of six Chapters But bestows on the History of Abraham nineteen Chapters though it contain no longer space of time than an Hundred and seventy five Years Ver. 1. Now the LORD had said unto Abram While he lived in Vr of the Chaldees from whence it is certain he called him while his Father was alive XI 31. We are not told how he spake to him for here is no mention as Maimonides observes P. II. c. 41. of his speaking in a Dream or a Vision or by the Hand of an Angel But only simply and absolutely that the LORD said to him By a Voice when he was awake I suppose from the Schechinah or Divine Glory For St. Stephen saith expresly the God of Glory appeared to him before he dwelt in Charran Acts VII 2. Get thee out of thy own Country c. Which began a good while ago to be
the same Valley For rather than contend he receded from his right in the other Well Ver. 22. He removed from thence To avoid strife he quitted that part of the Country and went to another Where he was not disturbed in his Pasturage For now the LORD hath made room for us He was streightned before for want of sufficient Water for his Flock Which now he enjoyed in abundance And we shall be fruitful in the Land Increase more than formerly Now that they could water their Flocks quietly and plentifully Ver. 23. Went up from thence to Beer-sheba Where he and his Father had anciently lived XXI 33. XXV 11. Ver. 24. And the LORD appeared unto him the same Night As he had done before he came to Gerar verse 2. I am the God of Abraham Who was so kind to him and made a Covenant with him I am with thee My special Providence is over thee as was explained before verse 3. Ver. 25. Built an Altar there To offer Sacrifice unto the LORD Called upon the Name of the LORD As Abraham had done before him in this very place XXI 33. And pitched his Tent there Resolved to settle in this place Ver. 26. Phicol c. The same Name and the same Office that he had who is mentioned XXI 22. but he was not the same Man no more than Abimelech the same King It is probable this was a Name of some Dignity among them like that of Tribunus or Dictator among the Romans Which passed from one to another Ver. 28. We saw certainly the LORD was with thee c. We have observed such a special Providence over thee that we come to establish a perpetual Friendship with thee by a solemn Oath if thou wilt consent to our desire They were afraid it seems lest being disobliged by their sending him out of their Country he should fall upon them one time or other being mightier than they as they acknowledged verse 18. Ver. 29. Have sent thee away in peace They remember him how they dismissed him peaceably and did not go about to seize upon his Estate while he lived among them Which they make an Argument why he should contract a nearer Friendship with such civil People Thou art now the blessed of the LORD This looks like an high Complement or flattering Expression Ver. 30. He made them a Feast c. So Covenants were made by eating and drinking together Ver. 32. Told him concerning the Well they had digged c. They had begun to dig before Abimelech and Phicol came verse 25. and now they came at a Spring of Water Ver. 33. He called it Sheba From the Oath which was lately made between him and Abimelech It had been called so before by Abraham XXI 31. but that Name perhaps was forgotten and so he revived it as he had done others verse 18. Ver. 34. The Daughter of Beeri the Hittite c. Josephus saith these two Men Beeri and Elon whose Daughters Esau married were Dynastae powerful Men among the Hittites Which is not improbable But his Father sure had given the same charge to him that Abraham had done concerning his own Marriage XXIV 3. and then it was a very undutiful nay an impious action to marry with those People who were under the Curse of God The Scripture might well call him prophane Who seems not to have regarded either the Curse or the Blessing of the Almighty Ver. 35. A grief of mind His very marrying with them sorely afflicted his Father and Mother Or as others interpret it their Idolatry and bad Manners extreamly grieved them CHAP. XXVII Ver. 1. VVHen Isaac was old An hundred thirty and seven Years old as many have demonstrated He said unto him My Son c. It appears by this and what follows that though Esau had displeased him by his Marriage yet he retained his natural Affection to him which he had from the beginning Ver. 3. Thy Quiver Some take the Hebrew word to signifie a Sword Which was as necessary for a Huntsman as a Bow and Arrows Ver. 4. Make me savoury Meat c. To raise his feeble Spirits and enable him to deliver his last and solemn Benediction with the more Vigour My Soul may bless thee before I die It seems Isaac did not understand the Divine Oracle XXV 25. as Rebekah did Or she had not acquainted him with it For he intended to bestow upon Esau the promised Land which was that God told Abraham he would bless his Posterity withall For the last Benediction of these great Men was the setling of their Inheritance and making those their Heirs upon whom they bestowed their Blessing Now the Birth-right which Esau had sold Jacob gave him right only to the greatest part of Isaac's Estate But not to the Land of Canaan which was to be disposed of by Isaac according to Divine Direction Ver. 7. And bless thee before the LORD These words show it was not a common Blessing but a solemn Benediction and by Divine Authority or Approbation which Isaac meant to give his Son Esau Ver. 8. Obey my Voice c. Rebekah having just reason to conclude that Esau had forfeited the Blessing which she was desirous to preserve in her Family by marrying with the People of Canaan who were cursed by God thought of this Device to get Jacob preferred before him And indeed it cannot be denied that it was a prophane thing as I noted before to marry with a Daughter of Heth. And he seems afterwards to have had no good Design in marrying with a Daughter of Ishmael XXVIII 9. for it looks as if he went about to set up the Pretensions of that Family against Isaac's Ver. 9. Two good Kids of the Goats Two fat sucking Kids as Aben Ezra expounds this Phrase Kid of the Goats upon Exod. XXIII 19. which in old time were accounted very delicious Meat A Present fit for a King 1 Sam. XVI 20. and which Manoah prepared for the Angel whom he took for a Noble Guest Judg. XIII 15 And which is most proper to be here considered allowed to decayed and weak People as an excellent Nourishment Both these Kids were not prepared for Isaac But she took the most tender and delicate parts of both and dressed them for him And I will make them savoury Meat Dress it so as to please his Palate and not to be distinguished by him from Venison For we know the natural taste of things may be quite altered by various sorts of Seasonings as we call them And ordered in such manner that Bochartus says he knew skilful Huntsmen take a Pasty made of Beef for Venison Ver. 11. An hairy Man In the Hebrew isch Sair a rough Man hairy like a Goat For the same word Sair signifies a Goat Gen. XXXVII 31. Lev. IX 15. and other places Ver. 12. A deceiver One that cheats his Father imposing on his Age and on his Blindness Which he wisely considers would have been an high Provocation if it had been discovered
before verse 25 And so they are immediately in this very Verse Sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites For they were very near Neighbours and joyned together in Trade making now one Caravan with a joynt Stock as this Story intimates Read Judg. VIII 1 3 22 23 24 26. and it will appear the Scripture speaks of them as one and the same People in after-times For twenty pieces of Silver Most understand so many Shekels Which was a very small Price but therefore demanded and no more that the Bargain might be clapt up the sooner Ver. 29. Reuben returned to the pit He pretending some business had withdrawn himself from the Company with an intention when his Brethren were gone from the Pit to come privately and take Joseph out and carry him to his Father Upon that Design he now came thither Rent his Clothes As they used to do when they mourned for the dead Whereby he expressed his real Grief for his Brother Ver. 30. The Child is not He is dead as this Phrase commonly signifies Whither shall I go I know not whither to flee to hide my self from my Father's Anger Who might justly expect the eldest Son should take the greatest Care of him Ver. 31. And they took Joseph's Coat c. His Brethren it seems persuaded Reuben also to joyn with them in concealing the Sale of Joseph and making their old Father believe he was devoured by some wild Beast Ver. 32. They sent the Coat c. They first sent it by a Messenger and immediately followed themselves with the Tale which is here related Ver. 33. An evil Beast Some wild Beast of which there were great store in those Countries such as Lions and Bears for he could not suspect his Brethren would kill him Ver. 34. Rent his Cloathes and put sack-cloth on his loins This was the highest degree of Mourning in those Days We read often of putting on Sack-Cloth in future Ages upon such sad Occasions But this is the first time we meet with it which shows the great Antiquity of such Customs Mourned for his Son many Days Beyond the ordinary time of Mourning Many Years as the word Days sometimes signifies perhaps till he heard he was alive So the following Verse seems to denote that he resolved not to cease Mourning for him as long as he lived Ver. 35. All his Sons and Daughters He had but one Daughter Therefore the meaning is his Sons Wives or their Daughters I will go down into the Grave c. If Scheol here be expounded Grave then the next words must be thus translated mourning for my Son as R. Solomon interprets them For Joseph was not buried in a Grave and therefore he could not think of going down to him thither And thus Christophorus à Castro upon the Second of Baruch acknowledges Scheol signifies in this place and interprets it in this manner Lugere non desinam donec me sepulturae demandetis I will not cease to Mourn till you lay me in my Grave But if we follow our Translation which is most common I will go down to my Son then Scheol must signifie the State or Place of the dead as it often doth And particularly Isaiah XIV where the King of Babylon is expresly denied the honour of a Grave verse 19 20. Scheol is said to be moved for him and to meet him and to stir up the dead for him verse 9. Thus his Father wept for him Continued his Mourning not only by wearing Sack-Cloth but in such passionate Expressions as these Ver. 36. And the Midianites In the Hebrew the word is Medanim a distinct Name from those verse 38. who were a People derived from Medan one of the Sons of Keturah and Brother to Midian XXV 2. They and the Midianites lived near together in Arabia not far from the Ishmaelites Who all joyned together in this Caravan and made one Society of Merchants consisting of Medanites Midianites and Ishmaelites An Officer The Hebrew word Saris oftentimes signifies an Eunuch By whom the Eastern Queens were attended But it likewise signifies all the great Courtiers as the Chaldee here translates it such as the Bed-Chamber-Men the Lord-Chamberlain as we now speak and such like Officers of State And therefore is rightly translated here for Potiphar had a Wife The truth is this was the prime signification of the word Till in after times the depravation of Manners and the jealousie of the Eastern Kings made them set none but Slaves who were castrated to attend their Queens by whom they were preferred to great Offices and so came to enjoy this Name Pharaoh This was a common Name to all the Kings of Egypt See XII 15. Captain of the Guard The LXX translate it Master Cook And so Epiphanius calls his Wife 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haeres XXVI n. 17. Our Margin hath it Chief of the Slaughter-men or Executioners But the word Tabachim may better be translated Soldiers than Butchers or Executioners And here some think may denote him whom we call the Provost-Marshal Others will have it the Master of the Horse But I see no more proper translation than ours Captain of the Guard Or rather Chief Commander of the King's Guard such an one as Nebuzaradan was 2 Kings XXV 20. For Schar is more than one whom we now call a Captain See XL. 3. This Phrase Schar-Hatabachim is explained by Hottinger out of the Ethiopick Tongue See Smegma Orient p. 85. CHAP. XXXVIII Ver. 1. AT that time It is uncertain whether he mean at the time Joseph was sold which is just before mentioned or at the time Jacob returned from Mesopotamia to live in Canaan XXXIII 18. or when he went to settle with his Father at Mamre XXXV 27. But take it any of these ways there was time enough for all the Events following before they went into Egypt supposing Judah's Children to have married very young As may be seen in most Interpreters Judah went down from his Brethren Either upon some business or in some discontent Adullamite A Citizen of Adullam which was a famous Town or City that fell afterwards to the Tribe of Judah Whose King was slain by Joshua XII 19 And where there was a famous Cave in which David hid himself 1 Sam. XXII 1. Ver. 2. Judah saw there So as to fall in Love with her For according to the old Saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Daughter of a certain Canaanite It was not so bad for a Man circumcised to marry the Daughter of one uncircumcised as it was to give their Daughters in Marriage to an uncircumcised Husband XXXIV 14. For an uncircumcised Man was accounted unclean though he had renounced Idolatry But a Woman born of uncircumcised Parents was not so accounted if she embraced the worship of the True God Whence Salmon a great Man in the Tribe of Judah married Rahab who was a Canaanite Such a one we must suppose this Woman whom Judah married to have been or else he had offended his Father as much as
Esau did Isaac by marrying the Daughters of Heth. Whose name was Shuah Her Father's Name was Shuah verse 12. He took her To be his Wife verse 12. Ver. 5. And he was at Chezib when she bare him Some think this Town the same with Achzib belonging to Judah Josh XV. 44. But why Moses mentions his absence when this Child was born and why he sets down the Place where he then was we cannot give an account Though there was no doubt some special Reason for it Perhaps it is to show why she gave the Name to this and to her former Son whereas he himself named the first verse 3. because he was not at home when they were born Ver. 6. Whose name was Tamar She seems also to have been a Woman of Canaan but not an Idolater Ver. 7. Was wicked in the sight of the LORD i. e. Exceeding impious and that notoriously See Gen. X. 9. What particular Sins he was guilty of is but conjectured Some fansie they were of the same nature with his next Brother's See Bonfrere or Menochius out of him And the LORD slew him Cut him off suddenly by some unusual stroke Ver. 8. Go in unto thy Brother's Wife c. This say the Hebrew Doctors was an ancient Custom in force before the Law of Moses Which only enacted what had been formerly practised Maimon P. III. cap. 49. More Nevoch that when a Man died without Issue his next Brother should marry his Wife Deut. XXV 5. Which Custom afterward extended to the next Cousin if no Brother remained And raise up Seed unto thy Brother Preserve thy Brother's Name and Family by begetting a Child which may be accounted his and inherit his Estate For so the Law was that the First-born of such a match was not to be lookt upon as the Child of him that begat him but as his Brother's who was the Mother's first Husband All the following Children were to be his own Ver. 9. Onan knew that the Seed should not be his i. e. The First-born should be reputed his Brother's Child Lest he should give Seed to his Brother Or lest a Child should be born in the name of his Brother as the Vulgar Latin interprets it very exactly according to the Opinion of the Hebrews as Mr. Selden observes L. VII de Jure N. G. cap. 3. Ver. 10. The thing which he did displeased the LORD This made his Sin the more heinous that he acted against the Divine Promise made to Abraham concerning the multiplying of his Seed Especially against the Belief of the Promise of the Messiah that Seed for which all good Men longed Ver. 11. Remain a widow in thy Father's house c. It seems the Contract of Marriage at first was so understood in those Days that if the Husband died without Issue the Woman must marry his next Brother and as long as any of his Brethren remained they were bound to marry his Wife and preserve their Brother's Memory Or else solemnly renounce her to their great infamy and disgrace This was so well known that there is nothing in the Law that enjoyns any new solemn Contract in such a Case Because the first Husband being dead she and the next Brother were Man and Wife without any further Agreement by Virtue of the Original Law Until he renounced her Yet by the Constitutions afterwards made by their Elders it was ordained that he should espouse and endow her solemnly before Witnesses As Mr. Selden shows in his Vxor Hebr. Lib. I. cap. 12. and Lib. II. cap. 2. and 10. But Judah thought Selah was too young to perform this Contract and therefore desired her to stay till he was grown up And to abide in her own Father's House rather than in his that Selah might not think of Marriage too soon For he said Lest peradventure he die also This some make an Argument that he never intended to give her his Son But it is more agreeable to verse 24 and 26. to think that according to the Custom of those Days he could not refuse it And therefore he thought it was their youthful Folly which made his two other Sons perish Which made him resolve to keep this till he had more Discretion and was better instructed in his Duty Or if we imagine their Sin was known to none but Tamar the meaning may be that he thought their marrying too young was the cause of their death And therefore he determined to keep this only remaining Son till he was of a riper Age. Ver. 12. In process of time In the Hebrew the words are The Days were multiplied i. e. after some Years To Timnath A Town not far from Adullam it is probable for it was also within the Lot of the Tribe of Judah Josh XV. 57. He went up to Timnath Some have made a difficulty about this Phrase For Sampson is said to have gone down to Timnath Judg. XIV 5. But they should have considered as Bochart observes P. I. Hierozoic L. III. cap. 4. that these were two different Places one called Timnah the other Timnathah This in the Tribe of Judah the other in the Tribe of Dan. To this they went up because it was in a mountainous Country To the other they went down because it was in a Valley To his Sheep-shearers It was the Custom at such times to make a Feast as we do now and to invite their Kindred and Friends to it as he doth his Friend Hirah which appears sufficiently from the Story of Absalom 2 Sam. XIII 23. For in those Countries where they had vast Flocks Sheep-shearing was a kind of Harvest Which made that time to be observed with such Joy as there used to be in Harvest Whence David's Servants said to Nabal that they were come to him on a good Day for he was shearing Sheep 1 Sam. XXV 8. Accordingly Judah having finished the time of mourning for his Wife went to recreate himself with his Friends at this Festival Season Ver. 14. She put off her Widows Garments In which it seems such Persons continued till they were married to the next Brother But she at this time laid them aside that he might not have the least suspicion she was the Person whom he courted Covered her with a Veil As all Women did in the Eastern Countries when they went abroad And there are Examples of it also in the Western Parts of the World as Mr. Selden at large shows in his Vxor Hebraica L. III. cap. 17. Where he produces several Passages out of the Alcoran requiring this Wrapt her self Muffled her Face with it as we speak that she might not be known And sat in an open place Where two Ways met as the Hebrew words seem to import Unless we take it for a proper Name as it is in the Margin of our Bibles Either way it signifies in a Publick Place where every Body might see her It is commonly noted That there was so much Modesty left in those ancient Days that Harlots both
of his Favours which he frequently bestowed upon the Younger Children As he did upon Jacob and in after-times upon David who was the youngest and meanest of all his Father's Children Even unto him were Children born Perhaps he was the last of his Brethren that married and then Moses shews in the following Verses had Five Sons the Progeny of two of which are mentioned but the rest passed over in silence Ver. 22. Elam Was his First-born from whom came the Elamites mentioned Acts II. 9. Whose Metropolis was the famous City of Elymais They lay between the Medes and Mesopotamians as Bochartus shows L. II. Phaleg c. 2. and were a very Warlike and Fierce People as Isaiah Jeremiah and Ezekiel testifie The Susians were a neighbouring People but different from them And therefore when Daniel says Sushan was in the Province of Elam he takes Elam in a large sence as Pliny and Ptolomy also do who mention Elamites at the mouth of the River Eulaeus Vlai in Daniel which was below Susiana See Salmasius Exerc. in Solin p. 1193 1194. And thus Josephus may be allowed to say the Elamites were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Founders of the Persians who were a distinct People from them Though often comprehended under this Name of Elam Ashur From whom came the People called at first Assyres and afterward Assyrians Which was a Name as large as their Empire comprehending even Syria it self which in several Authors is the same with Assyria But in proper speaking it was only that Country whose head was Niniveh called sometimes Adiabene and Aturia or Assyria Arphaxad Many following Josephus make him the Father of the Chaldees But I find no good reason for it and it seems more probable that the Chaldees in Hebrew Chasdim came from Chesed one of Abraham's Brother's Sons Gen. XXII 22. which St. Hierom positively affirms Therefore it is more reasonable to think Arphaxad gave Name to that Country which Ptolomy calls Arraphachitis Which was a part of Assyria Lud. Seems to have given Name to the Country of Lydia which lay about Maeander and included in it Mysia and Caria which lay on the South side of that River Which having the most Windings and Turnings in it of any River in the World for it returns sometimes towards its Fountain the Phoenicians call this Country and another viz. Aethiopia that lay upon the Nile which next to Maeander is the most crooked of all Rivers by the Name of Lud Which in their Language signified bending or crooked See Bochart L. II. Phaleg c. 12. Aram. From whom sprung the Syrians whose Name anciently was Aramai the Children of Aram. A Name not unknown to the ancient Graecians for Homer mentions the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his second Book of Iliads and so doth Hesiod and Strabo also saith that many understood by the Arimi the Syrians And the Syrians at this day call themselves Aramaeans But Syria being so large a Name that Ancient Authors extend it to all those Countries that lay between Tyre and Babylon we must not take all the People of them to have been the posterity of Aram. For it is evident some of them descended from Canaan others from Ashur others from Arphaxad Therefore those are to be thought to have come from him to whom the Name of Aram is praefixt or subjoined as Aram-Naharajim and Padan-Aram i. e. the Mesopotamians Aram-Soba the People of Palmyra and the Neighbouring Cities Aram-Damasek situated between Libanus and Anti-Libanus whose chief City was Damascus and perhaps Aram-Maacha and Aram-Bethrehob which were places beyond Jordan one of which fell to the share of Manasseh the other of Asser Ver. 23. And the Children of Aram c. The Four Persons that follow in this Verse are called the Sons of Shem 1 Chron. I. 17. Nothing being more ordinary in scripture than to call those the Sons of any Person who were his Grandsons XXIX 5 c. Vz Or Vtz the First-born of Aram is generally said to have been the builder of Damascus The Valley belonging to which is by the Arabians at this day called Gaut and Gauta which differs from Vtz in the Letters but not in the Pronunciation it being common to pronounce the Letter Ajin by our G. as in the Words Gaza and Gomorrha Accordingly the Arabick Paraphrast for Vtz hath here Algauta There were two other Vz's besides this one the Son of Nahor Abraham's Brother Gen. XXII 21. whose Country was Ausitis in Arabia Deserta The other was of the posterity of Edom Gen. XXXVI 28. Hull Or Chul Grotius observes out of Ptolomy that there was a City in Syria called Chollae which he thinks might be founded by this second Son of Aram. But Bochart more probably conjectures that his posterity possessed the Country called Cholobetene which was a part of Armenia For the Armenians and Arabians and Syrians were much alike as Strabo saith in their Shape of Body Speech and manner of Life And there are divers Cities which Ptolomy places in this Country that begin with Hol or Chol as Cholus Choluata Cholana And Cholobetene the Name of the Country which in their Language is Gholbeth signifies as much as the House or Seat of Chol. Gether It is hard to give any account of the Country where his posterity-setled unless they gave the River Getri its Name which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which runs between the Carduchi and the Armenians as Xenophon tells us This is Bochart's Conjecture which is a little nearer than that of Grotius Annot. in L. I. de V. R. C. who explains this by the City Gindarus in Ptolomy and the People called by Pliny Gindareni in Coelo-Syria But after all it may seem as probable that Gadara the chief City of Peraea which Ptolomy places in the Decapolis of Coelo-Syria had its Name and Original from this Gether Mash Who is called Mesech in 1 Chron. I. 17. seated himself as Bochart thinks in Mesopotamia about the Mountain Masius which is Grotius's conjecture also from whence there flowed a River which Xenophon calls Masca The Inhabitants of which Mountain Stephanus calls Masiaeni and perhaps the Moscheni whom Pliny speaks of between Adiabene and Armenia the greater were descended from this Mash or Mesech Ver. 24. And Arphaxad begat Salah Having given an account of the posterity of Shem's youngest Son he now tells us what People descended from his third Son Salah In Hebrew Shelah His Father being born but two Years after the Flood XI 10. seems to have given this Name to his Son to preserve the Memory of that dreadful Punishment That his Posterity might not incur the like by their Sins For Sela signifies the letting forth of Waters Job V. 10. He is thought to have been the Father of the Susiani The chief City of their Country next to Susa being called Sela as we find in Ammian Marcellinus Either because he was the Founder of it or in Memory of him And Salah begat Eber. The Father of those
the Night not in a Dream and said Jacob Jacob XLVI 2. See More Nevoch P. II. c. 41. God was not a Stranger to other Nations when he was peculiarly kind to Abraham But spake to them in Dreams and sometimes in Visions as appears in Eliphaz and Elihu Job IV. 13. XXXIII 14 15 c. Thou art but a dead Man viz. If thou dost not restore Abraham his Wife verse 7. She is a Man's Wife Or married to a Husband as we translate it in the Margin so compleatly that he hath enjoyed her as his Wife For from this place the Jewish Doctors prove that the Marriage Contract was not perfected in these Days till the Parties had lain together After which if any other Person lay with the Woman he was to be put to death as an Adulterer but not if he lay with her after the Contract before it was consummated by actual Enjoyment See Mr. Selden de Jure N. G. L. V. c. 4. p. 551. Ver. 4. But Abimelech had not come near her To use her as his Wife Wilt thou slay also a righteous Nation He was afraid as became a good Man and a good King lest his People should suffer upon his account who in this Particular had no Guilt upon them Ver. 5. Said he not unto me c. The Fault is in them not in me For I had both their words for it that he was her Brother and he said nothing of her being his Wife In the integrity of my heart Not with any Intention to defile her but to make her my Wife And innocence of my hands I did not take her by Violence from Abraham but he and she consented to it Ver. 6. And God said unto him in a dream The same Expression is still retained which we had verse 3. to show that this was a lower Degree of Divine Manifestation than was in Abraham's Family I know thou didst this in the integrity c. i. e. That thou didst not design any Evil. For I also c. Or rather And I also withheld thee I dealt well with thee because of thy Integrity Some think he was withheld by a Disease in the Secret Parts verse 17. From sinning against me From committing Adultery Ver. 7. He is a Prophet This is the first time we meet with the word Nabi a Prophet And Abraham is the first that is honoured with this Name Which signifies one familiar with God who might come to him to consult him upon all occasions and be authorized to declare God's Mind and Will to others and also prevail with him by his Prayers for a Blessing upon them So it here follows He shall pray for thee Obtain Life and Health to thee The greater any Prophet was the more powerful he was in Prayer As appears by the Stories of Moses Elias and Samuel See Psalm XCIX 6. It appears by this whole History of Abimelech that he was a Man of great Vertue in those Days And not an Idolater but a worshipper of the True God as Melchizedeck the High-Priest of that Country was Yet not so well acquainted with Divine Revelations as Abraham was Ver. 8. Abimelech rose up early in the Morning This is a further Token of his Goodness that he delayed not to obey the Divine Command Called all his Servants His Privy Council as we speak who were all of the same Mind with him That this was a Divine Admonition which it was not safe to disobey From whence we may probably gather his Court was not so corrupted as Abraham suspected Ver. 9. What hast thou done unto us Into what Danger hast thou brought us Thou hast brought on me and my Kingdom a great Sin Run me into the hazard of committing a great Sin or suffering an heavy Punishment for so Sin is sometimes taken in not telling me the Truth Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done This is not fair dealing such as I might have expected from thee Ver. 10. What sawest thou c. What didst thou observe in my Country that made thee think we would meddle with thy Wife What Tokens of Injustice or Impurity didst thou see among us Ver. 11. Because I thought surely c. The word Rak which we translate surely signifies only And may be thus well translated here this only I saw wanting in your Country the fear of God i. e. A Sence of Religion which restrains Men from all manner of Wickedness It seems the People were not so good as their King Ver. 12. And yet indeed she is my Sister Do not condemn me of telling a Lye for she is truly my Sister Such was the Language of those Days to call their Wives Sisters and their Nephews Brothers As he calls Lot XIII 8. who was his Nephew and the Brother of Sarah as was observed upon XI 29. She is the Daughter of my Father i. e. His Father's Grand-Daughter who are frequently in Scripture called the Children of their Grand-Fathers For she was Daughter to Haran elder Brother of Abraham But not the Daughter of my Mother It seems Terah had two Wives by one of which he had Haran the Father of Lot and Sarah and by the other he had Abraham So Sarah was Daughter to one who was his Brother by his Father's side but not by his Mother And with such a Niece they thought it not unlawful then to marry No regard being had to consanguinity if we may believe R. Solomon Jarchi by the Father's side before the Law of Moses but only by the Mother's The more received Opinion indeed of the Hebrew Doctors is as Mr. Selden observes L. V. de Jure N. G. cap. 2. that Sarah was indeed the Daughter of Terah by his second Wife and so Abraham's half Sister And Said Batricides Patriarch of Alexandria above seven hundred Years ago in his Arabick History tells us the Name of Terah's first Wife was Jona and the Name of his second Tevitha by whom he had Sarah But there is no other Authority for this Ver. 13. When God caused me to wander The Hebrew word which we translate wander being in the Plural Number the LXX render the word Elohim God the Angels Who by the Command of God led him from his Father's House through divers Countries But the Chaldee translates it when because of the Idols of Chaldaea I was called away from my own Country c. For so the Gods that is the Idol Gods might be said to cause him to wander Because it was by reason of them that God would not have him stay any longer in his own Country But there is no need of these Devices Nothing being more usual in the Hebrew Language than for the Plural Number to be put instead of the Singular especially when they speak of God as Bochart observes in many places Gen. XXXV 7. Exod. XXXII 4. Psalm CXLIX 2. Eccles XII 1. See Hierozoic P. I. L. II. c. 34. Nay Hackspan hath rightly observed that there are Nouns of the Plural
I will agree to them Ver. 12. Ask me never so much Dowry and Gift This shows more fully That the Custom of those times was as was noted upon XXIX 18. for Men to give Money for their Wives But there was a greater reason for a Dowry now and a large one too that he might make compensation for the wrong he had done For there was a natural Equity in those Laws of Moses Exod. XXII 16. Deut. XXII 28. by which Men were bound to make satisfaction to the Fathers if either by Inticement or Violence they had abused their Daughters Dowry and Gift seem to be distinct things The Dowry being given to the Parents the Gift to the Kindred Ver. 13. The Sons of Jacob answered c. Hence some inferr that by the Custom of those Days the Consent of the Brethren was required rather than of the Parents For the Sons of Jacob here make the Contract as Laban had done with Abraham's Servant XXIV 50. But it is more reasonable to think that Jacob left it to them to consider what was fit to be done in a matter which required great deliberation and then to report their Opinion to him Who had the greatest interest in her and right to dispose of her Ver. 14. We cannot do this thing It is against our Religion Which was partly true for though Jacob himself had married one whose Father was uncircumcised as Isaac had done before him yet by degrees this Opinion prevailed among them till it was established by the Law of Moses For that were a reproach to us They plead Honour as well as Conscience Ver. 15. In this will we consent unto you Upon these Terms we will agree to the Match Ver. 17. We will take our Daughter and be gone By this it appears they treated in their Father's Name as was noted before verse 13. Ver. 18. And their words pleased Hamor c. It may seem strange they should so easily consent to be circumcised till we consider how passionately Shechem loved Dinah and the great Affection Hamor had to Shechem Who was his beloved Son verse 19. Besides this was but a poor Prince and his City little and mean Which he thought to inrich and strengthen by Jacob's Family who were very wealthy being incorporated with them verse 23. Ver. 19. He was more honourable In greater esteem with his Father and all the Family than any other belonging to it Ver. 20. Came unto the Gate of their City Where all Publick Affairs were transacted And communed with the Men of the City Such great Matters could not be concluded without the Publick Consent See XXIII 18. XXIX 22. Ver. 21. These Men are peaceable They use many Arguments to persuade the People to Consent And the first is that the Israelites had hitherto lived inoffensively among them Let them dwell in the Land and trade therein By a Publick Decree or Law For the Land is large enough This is the second Argument there was Land enough in their Country uncultivated which these Men would improve Ver. 23. Shall not their Cattle c. This is the greatest Argument of all taken from the Profit they should have by them the gain of no less than all they had Which is not to be understood as if they intended to over-power them and seize upon all their Stock But that by inter-marriages their Estates would be inherited by them as much as by the Israelites Ver. 24. All that went out of the Gate of his City i. e. All the Citizens XXIII 18. who were met together in the Common-Hall or Place of Publick Assemblies and were soon persuaded to yield to the Reasons which had persuaded their Rulers Ver. 25. On the third Day when they were sore And began to be a little Feverish For the greatest Pain and Anguish the Jews observe was upon the third Day after Circumcision which very much indisposed them See Pirke Elies cap. 29. and Vorstius his Annotations p. 195. And indeed Hippocrates observes the same of all Wounds and Ulcers that they are then most inflamed by a conflux of sharp Humors to them Two of the Sons of Jacob c. With their Servants For they two alone could not destroy a whole City though but small Slew all the Males The Women and Children in those Days were always spared in the most deadly Wars As when the Midianites were killed Numb XXXI 7 9. and the Edomites 1 Kings XI 16. And so Moses commanded they should do even with the Canaanites Deut. XX. 13 4. See Bochart P. I. Hierozoic L. II. cap. 56. Selden de Jure N. G. Lib. VI. cap. 16. p. 745. and de Synedr L. I. p. 81. Ver. 26. Took Dinah out of Shechem's House Where it seems she remained after the Rape he had committed in hope of a Marriage And went out Carried her home Ver. 27. And the Sons of Jacob. The rest of his Sons who were able to bear Arms came after the slaughter and helpt to plunder the City Thus they were all involved in the Guilt which was very great and manifold as Bonfrerius and out of him Menochius have observed Because they had defiled Their Prince had defiled her Whose Fact it seems they did not disapprove And therefore it is imputed to them all as the cause of their slaughter Ver. 28. They took their Sheep c. It is a reasonable Conjecture of Bonfrerius That Jacob caused all these to be restored to the Wives and Children of the slain Whom he set at liberty And spoiled even all that was in the House Of Hamor and Shechem Which perhaps they kept to themselves in compensation of the wrong he had done and none of the Family perhaps surviving to own them Ver. 30. Ye have troubled me Disturbed my Quiet and made it unsafe for me to live in this Country where I hoped to have setled Made me to stink c. Made me odious to all the Country as a Murderer a Robber and a breaker of my Faith Ver. 31. Should he deal with our Sister as with an Harlot As with a common Whore that prostituted her self to his Lust If she had done so there had been no ground for their Quarrel according to the Hebrew Doctors because Shechem had not then offended against the Laws of the Sons of Noah as they speak i. e. The right of Nations Which was not violated by a Man's lying with a single Woman by her free Consent But Dinah being forced and violently ravished as they take the Sence of verse 2. to be they tell their Father they might right themselves by making War upon them For there was no other way to deal with Princes whom they could not implead in any Court and therefore betook themselves to Arms. See Mr Selden L. VII de Jure N G. juxta Hebr. cap. 5. CHAP. XXXV Ver. 1. AND God said unto Jacob. There were several ways as Maimonides observes whereby God communicated himself unto the Prophets Unto whom he is said sometimes to
And then calls him Jacob again in the latter end of it It is in vain to search for a Reason Some of the Jews will have it That he calls him Israel because he bare the death of his beloved Wife with admirable Patience and Submission to God's Will But they cannot give so good a Reason why he immediately alters his Style and calls him Jacob again See Verse 22. Beyond the tower of Edar i. e. The Tower of the Flock as some translate it Who think there was such a Tower near Jerusalem because of those words of Micah IV. 8. O tower of the Flock the strong hold of the Daughter of Zion Which if it be true it doth not prove there was no Tower in Jacob's Days called by that Name But rather that in future Ages this Tower was renewed in the same or a neighbouring Place and called by the ancient Name which it had in the Days of Jacob. Ver. 22. Went and lay with Bilhah his Father's concubine She is called his Wife XXX 4. and according to the Laws of those Times was truly so as I have often observed all those called Concubines were Though not the principal Wives but of a lower Rank See Mr. Selden de Jure N. G. L. V. cap. 7. p. 570 571 c. And Israel heard it And highly resented it as we find XLIX 4. But in this short History Moses passes over Israel's Censure of this Incest till he came to die Which shows sufficiently how he was affected when the Fact was committed Or perhaps these words Israel heard it may signifie That though Reuben thought to have committed this Sin so secretly as to have concealed it from his Father yet he came to the knowledge of it And gave him such private Rebukes as were fitting but proceeded not to Publick Punishment to avoid Scandal Now the Sons of Jacob were twelve Their Number being now compleated by the Birth of Benjamin after whom he had no more Children Moses thought good here to enumerate them And they being all born save Benjamin alone before he had the Name of Israel it may be the reason perhaps why he calls him Jacob. Ver. 26. Which were born to him in Padan-Aram All except Benjamin who as was said just before verse 18. was born in Canaan Ver. 27. Jacob came to Isaac his Father c. To dwell with him and to be the Comfort of his old Age. For it is not to be doubted he had been with him before since he came from Mesopotamia But now came to stay with him till Death parted them Vnto the City of Arba c. Called Kirjath-Arba XXIII 2. from a great Man Josh XIV 15. among the Anakims whose Name was Arba and either was born or dwelt or ruled here It was afterward called Hebron where Abraham dwelt a long time XIII 18. and where he bought a burying-place for his Family XXIII 19. Ver. 28. The days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore Years He lived five Years longer than his Father Abraham XXV 7. Ver. 29. His Sons Esau and Jacob buried As Isaac and Ishmael had done Abraham XXV 9. and no doubt in the same place He sojourning there as was said before as his Father had done before him By this it appears the Friendship between Esau and Jacob continued after the interview they had at Jacob's return into this Country CHAP. XXXVI Ver. 1. THese are the Generations of Esau Which are here set down to show how effectual his Father's Blessing was XXVII 29 And as Maimonides thinks P. III. cap. 50. More Nevoch to prevent the destruction of any of the Family of Esau but only those of Amalek Who descended from the First-born of Esau by a Concubine the Sister of Lotan an Horite one of the ancient Inhabitants of Seir verse 12 22. His Descendants were to be destroyed by an express Precept for a particular Offence Exod. XVII but the Divine Justice took Care of the rest by distinguishing them thus exactly from him That they might not perish under the Name of Amalekites Ver. 2. Esau took his Wives c. The Names of these Wives are not the same with those he is said to have married XXVI 34. Therefore it is probable his former Wives died without Issue And so he took another Daughter of Elon when Judith was dead called Adah And the Daughter of a Man called Anah by whom he had such Children as here follow The Daughter of Zibeon The word Daughter here signifies Neice or she is called Zibeon's Daughter because he bred her As the Children of Michal are mentioned 2 Sam. XXI 8 Though she had none at all but only educated the Children of her Sister As Zibeon perhaps did his Brother Anah's Daughter verse 20. Ver. 3. Bashemath Ishmael's Daughter She is called by another Name XXVIII 9. But it is likely Esau changed her Name from Mahalah which signifies sickly and infirm into this of Bashmath which signifies Aromatick and Fragrant Either because the Name better pleased him or he thought would better please his Father Or she grew more healthy after Marriage or perhaps she had two Names given her at the first Ver. 6. Went into the Country from the face of his Brother Jacob. Into another Country out of the Land of Canaan Into which he lately came to bury his Father as we read in the latter end of the last Chapter Which being done he and Jacob no doubt agreed about the division of Isaac's Estate Out of which a large share came to Esau Who had something also of his own there before all his Sons before-mentioned being born to him in Canaan verse 5. besides what he had in Seir. His Brother Jacob. He knew of no other Name his Brother had that of Israel it 's likely being not yet published and commonly used Ver. 7. For their Riches were more than that they might dwell together There was not room enough in the Land of Canaan where they were but sojourners and could have no more than the present Possessors would let to them for such a vast Stock as they had between them And therefore were constrained to separate as Abraham for the same reason had done from Lot XIII 6 c. And Esau having begun before to settle in Seir did not think fit to bring what he had there hither But carried what his Father left him thither Where he had enlarged his Dominion since Jacob's return to Canaan Ver. 8. Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir. It is a Question how he could be said to have gone to dwell in Seir upon this occasion Seeing we find him there before when Jacob came out of Mesopotamia XXXII 3. But the Answer is easie That then he had only some part of the Country and not the best of it neither And therefore perhaps had some of his Estate still in Canaan while the rest of it was in Seir. And it seems remarkable to me that he is not said till now to dwell in Mount Seir but
and Animals The former of which spring out of the Earth indeed but continue fix'd in it and perish if they be separated from it Whereas Animals though made out of the Earth and living upon it have a separate existence and do not still adhere to it After his kind Three sorts of living Creatures are immediately mentioned which were formed out of such Matter as the Earth afforded not simple Earth we must understand no more than before simple Water for it was impregnated with many other Principles the first of which Behemah which we translate Cattle always signifies the Flocks and Herds of tame Beasts when it is distinguished from Chaja which we translate in the end of the Verse Beasts of the Earth that is wild Beasts Between which two he mentions a third kind of living Creatures on the Earth which he calls Remesh creeping things because whatever Feet they have they are so short and small that they seem to the naked Eye to have none at all but to crawl on their Bellies upon the Ground Of all these three kinds there are various sorts wherewith God hath replenished the Earth And of every kind some vastly great and others very little as Abarbinel notes even among Reptiles there being Serpents of a prodigious length and other creeping things far smaller than Ants. Ver. 25. And God made c. The Earth did not bring them forth by Virtue of the Influence of Heaven upon prepared Matter But God framed them out of the Matter so prepared and produced them in their full perfection after their several kinds And God saw it was good Was pleased with the great variety of these Creatures and their compleat Structure fitting them for their several uses Ver. 26. Let us make Man God not only reserved Man for the last of his Works but doth as it were advise and consult about his Production Not to signifie any Deliberation within himself or any Difficulty in the Work but to represent to us the Dignity of Man and that he was made as Abarbinel glosses with admirable Wisdom and great Prudence To the same purpose S. Chrysostom here speaks And see Greg. Nyssen de Opificio Hominis cap. 3. and Orat. I. on these words With Greg. Nazianzen Orat. XLIII p. 699. who observes that God brought him into this World as into a noble Palace ready furnished with all manner of things Which is the Notion also of Methodius See Epiphanius Haeres LXIV n. 18. It is to be observed also That God doth not say Let the Earth bring forth Man as he said before verse 24. of other Animals for the same reason To represent Man as a far more noble Work than any other upon Earth For though he was made as we read in the next Chapter of the dust of the ground yet a greater Power and Skill was imployed in producing a Creature of such Beauty and Majesty Let us The ancient Christians look'd upon this as a plain intimation of a Plurality of Persons in the Godhead Insomuch that Epiphanius says This is the Language of God to his WORD and only Begotten as all the faithful believe Haeres XXIII n. 2. and see Haeres XLIV n. 4. and Haeres XLVI n. 3. where he says Adam was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 formed by the Hand of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost To which one cannot but incline who considers how poorly the Jews expound this place Who fansie a kind of Senate or Council of Angels without whom God doth nothing which they ground upon Dan. IV. 14. whereas there is not the least signification as yet of any such Beings much less that they had any hand in the making Man who was not made in their Image but in the Image of God Yet thus Saturnilus foolishly expounded these words as Epiphanius informs us in the fore-named Haeres p. 62. Edit Paris And Moses Gerundensis still more foolishly imagines God spake to the Earth that it should bring forth Man as it had done other Creatures But Maimonides who magnifies that Saying of their Masters That God doth nothing without his Council is forced to acknowledge More Nevoch P. II. cap. 6. That it is not to be understood as if he askt their Advice or was assisted by their Judgment but only that he used them as Instruments in the producing of every thing Which is directly contrary to the very words which are not in the form of a Command but of a Consultation before Execution Others therefore think God speaks after the manner of Kings who advise with their Council but do things themselves And are wont to speak in the Plural Number when they declare their Pleasure But I take this to be a Custom much later than the Days of Moses when they spake as the King of Egypt doth to Joseph Gen. XLI 41 44. I am Pharaoh and see I have set thee not we have set thee over the land of Egypt In which Stile the King of Persia writes long after this Ezra VI. 8. I Darius make a decree All these poor shifts are a plain confession that they found it very hard as the Socinians do at this day to give any account of this way of speaking without granting a Plurality of Persons in the Godhead And therefore Menasseh Ben Israel in his Conciliator mentions one of their Doctors who in Bereschith Rabba says That when Moses by God's Direction was about to write these words Let us make Man he cryed out O Lord of the World why wilt thou give Men occasion to err about thy most simple Vnity To which he received this answer Write as I bid thee and if any Man love to err let him err The same Story is told by Joseph Albo. Which shows that their Doctors have been long puzzled with this manner of Speech which unavoidably suggested to their Thoughts more than One Person in the Deity Which till they believe they are at a loss what to say about it In our Image after our likeness Two words some think to express the same thing With this difference only as Abarbinel explains it That the last words after our likeness give us to understand that Man was not created properly and perfectly in the Image of God but in a resemblance of him For he doth not say in our likeness says that Author as he had said in our Image but after our likeness where the Caph of similitude as they call it abates something of the Sence of what follows and makes it signifie only an approach to the Divine Likeness in Vnderstanding freedom of Choice Spirituality Immortality c. Thus Tertullian explains it Habens illas ubique lineas Dei quà immortalis anima quà libera sui arbitrii quà praescia plerumque quà rationalis capax intellectus scientiae L. II. contra Marcion cap. 9. And so Gregor Nyssen cap. 16. De Opific Hom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All have a Power of Considering and Designing of Consulting
word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that which the Hebrews properly use in Divorces And therefore denotes they think that the Lord put him away from his Presence as a Man did his Wife to whom he gave a Bill of Divorce Or as a Prince banishes a Subject that hath rebelled against him whom he sends into Exile out of his own Country And he placed at the East of the Garden This shows the Entrance into Paradise was from the East At which Entrance Adam being cast out it is likely he afterward inhabited some of the Eastern Countries Eutychius Patriarch of Alexandria saith a Mountain in India which the Mahometans commonly call Sarandib as Mr. Selden observes L. I. De Synedr Cap. II. p. 452 c. But Aben Ezra's Conjecture seems more reasonable That he dwelt in some Country not far from Paradise Cherubims Some of the heavenly Ministers that waited upon the Divine Majesty Who were called by this Name in Moses his time when he wrote this History in the Wilderness after the giving of the Law For the Glory of the LORD I take it here appeared at the expulsion of Adam and Eve in a most dreadful manner to deterr them from attempting to come near this Place again for fear of being consumed And a flaming Sword Or flame of a Sword Concerning which Maimonides thus discourses P. I. More Nevoch cap. 4. Our wise Men understand by lahat flame an Angel According to that of the Psalmist He maketh his Angels Spirits His Ministers lohet a flaming Fire Psalm CIV 4. That is one of the Seraphims or a flaming Angel in the form of a flying fiery Saraph or Serpent whose Body moving in the Air resembled the vibrations of a Sword was appointed with the Cherubims to guard the Entrance of the Garden For the Cherubims and Seraphims are frequently mentioned in Scripture as Attendants upon the SCHECHINAH or Divine Majesty Which appeared here in great Glory at the Passage into the Garden of Eden as it did in after-times at the Door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation of Israel to their great astonishment Which turned every way Angels says Maimonides in the fore-named place can turn themselves into all forms and Shapes Some of which strike greater Terror into those that behold them than others do But I take this expression not to signifie mutation of Shapes but the motion of the Angel Which was so very swift and glittering that devouring Flames seemed to come streaming out on every side To keep the way of the Tree of Life To secure the Passage into the Garden of Eden where this Tree was that none should dare to attempt a re-entrance But Adam was so far from thinking of this that if the Eastern Traditions were to be credited I should add He plunged himself into the deepest Sorrow for a long time bewailing his Sin begging Pardon c. till God dispatcht an Angel to Comfort him and further assure him of his Favour Which being but probable Conjectures I say no more of such Matters Nor can I assert with any degree of Confidence what our great Primate of Ireland says in his Annals That it seems to have been the tenth Day of the World's Age when Adam was cast out of Paradise In Memory of which Calamity the Solemn Day of Expiation and the great Fast was instituted in after-times wherein all were to afflict their Souls Lev. XVI 29. This indeed is the Doctrine of the Jews who say The great Day of Expiation which was on the tenth of September was appointed and sanctified from the Creation of the World But there is no other Authority for it It will be more useful I think to observe what Footsteps there are of these things remaining in the Gentile World I will mention but two One of which is noted by Eusebius who shows L. XII Praepar Evang. cap. 11. that Plato in his Symposium hath preserved the Memory of Paradise His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Garden of Jupiter being the same with this Garden of God in which Man was at first placed The other by St. Austin who says Therecydes the Scholar of Pythagoras called the Beginner of Evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is a Daemon in the shape of a Serpent So Heideggerus observes out of him Exercit. IV. De Adamo Eva n. 82. CHAP. IV. Ver. 1. AND Adam knew Eve his Wife c. After they were thrown out of Paradise not before whatsoever some of the Jewish Doctors fansie to the contrary nay as some will have it after they had spent some time in Acts of Repentance which is not an improbable Opinion I have gotten a Man from the LORD i. e. The promised Messiah which she imagined would have been her first-born For the words of the Promise III. 15. might as well be expounded of the first Seed the Woman had as of any of his Posterity Ver. 2. She bare his Brother Abel But gives no reason of his Name which signifies Vanity as she did of Cain's which signifies Acquisition or Possession Nor is it said who gave this Second Son the Name of Abel But it seems they made no account of him in comparison with the First-born Quod non posuerunt in eo spem factae promissionis de Semine ut in Kain as Joh. Forsterus judiciously speaks in his Lexicon on the word Hevel because they did not place in him their hope of the promised Seed as they did in Cain And Abel was a keeper of Sheep c. The younger Son was a Shepherd and the elder an Husbandman and Planter For this last seems to have been Adam's chief Imployment both before and after his Fall Gen. II. 15. III. 23. and therefore either chosen by Cain in imitation of his Father or put upon him by his direction as the more noble of the two Whence the Eastern People gave him the Name of Abdalcariths which some mistook for another Son of Adam But in truth was another Name of Cain signifying a tiller of the Field as Mr. Selden shows L. V. De Jure N. G. cap. 8. The Patriarchs indeed after the Flood at least in Abraham's Family chose to feed Cattle But that was because it was less Laborious and more suitable to that unsetled Condition wherein they lived for many Years removing like the ancient Nomades from one Country to another Ver. 3. In process of time In the Hebrew the words are in the end of Days That is in the conclusion of the Year or after Harvest So Days signifie in many other places particularly Judg. XI 4. where after Days is after a Year This was a very seasonable time to make their grateful acknowledgments to God who had given them a fruitful Year and blessed them with increase Accordingly God ordained in future times that the Israelites should keep a solemn Feast in the Year's end to thank him for the ingathering of their Fruits Exod. XXIII 16. XXXIV 22. But in what Year of the World it was that
any Body himself and therefore might reasonably hope no Body would hurt him And then the meaning of the next Verse is easie Ver. 24. If Cain shall be avenged seven fold truly Lamech seventy and seven fold If God hath guarded Cain so strongly who was a Murderer as to threaten great and long Punishments to those that slay him he will punish them far more and pursue them with a longer Vengeance who shall slay me being a guiltless Person There are divers other Interpretations which I shall not mention because this is most pertinent to the preceding discourse Ver. 25. Bare a Son The Jews think he was born a Year after Abel was killed And called his Name Seth. Mothers anciently gave Names to their Children as well as the Fathers And Eve gave this Son the Name of Seth because she look'd upon him as appointed so the word signifies by God to be what Cain she thought should have been till God rejected his Sacrifice and he slew Abel In whose room she believed God had substituted this Son to be the Seed from whom the Redeemer of the World should come The Arabians say particularly Elmacinus p. 7. That Seth was the Inventer of Letters and Writing as Jubal was of Musick and Tubal-Cain of Arms which so much surpassed all other Inventions that some as Cedrenus tells us called him a God i. e. the highest Benefactor to Mankind Which if it were true we might think that thence his Children were called the Sons of God VI. 1. But it is most likely this mistake arose from Symmachus his Translation of the last Words of the next Verse which if we may believe Suidas was thus Then began Seth to be called by the Name of God For which there is no Foundation either there or any where else in Scripture For though it be said that Moses was made a God to Pharaoh yet he is never simply called a God as Jacobus Capellus well observes Nor is any King or Prince called by that Name particularly in Scripture though in general it says of them all That they are Gods Ver. 26. To him also was born a Son When he was an Hundred and five Years old as we read V. 6. And he called his Name Enos Signifying the weak and miserable Condition of Mankind which he seemed by giving him this Name to deplore Then began Men to call upon the Name of the LORD This doth not import that Men did not call upon the LORD which includes all his Worship and Service before this time But that now as Jac. Capellus conceives they were awakned by the Consideration of their Infirmity before-mentioned to be more serious and frequent in Religious Offices Or rather as others understand it they began to hold more Publick Assemblies For Families being now multiplied to which Religion was before confined they joyned together and met in larger Societies and Communion for the solemn Worship of God by Sacrifices and other Religious Services For to call upon God comprehends as I said all Religion Which consists in acknowledging him to be the LORD of all in lauding all his Glorious Perfections giving him Thanks for his Benefits and beseeching the Continuance of them But it being scarce credible that Publick Assemblies were not held long before this it being probable that even when Cain and Abel sacrificed their Families joyned together to worship God it hath moved some Men of note such as Bertram and Hackspan to follow our Marginal Translation then began Men i. e. the Children of Seth to call themselves by the Name of the LORD That is the Servants or Worshippers of the Lord in distinction from the Cainites and such prophane Persons as had forsaken him And indeed a great Number of the Jewish Writers with whom Mr. Selden joyns in his De Diis Syris Prolegom 3. would have the Words expounded thus to signifie that Apostasie then was there prophanation by invoking the Name of the LORD For the word hochal which we here translate began signifying prophaned in Lev. XIX 12. Thou shalt not prophane the Name of the LORD thy God they take Moses his meaning to be That the most Holy Name which belongs to the Creator and Possessor of Heaven and Earth alone was now impiously given unto Creatures Particularly to the Sun And thus the Arabick interpreter in Expenius his Edition Then began Men to apostatize from the worship of God But a great Number of very learned Men have opposed themselves to this Interpretation and with much Judgment Moses being here speaking of the Pious Family of Seth and not of Impious Cain's And the word hochal as Hackspan observes with the Preposition le following in the next word being constantly used in the Sence of beginnings not of prophanation And therefore they content themselves with our Marginal Translation Or else think that God was now first called upon by the Name of Jehovah Or that Liturgies as we call them or Publick Forms of Worship were now appointed at set Hours Or some other considerable Improvements made in Religious Offices For the Arabian Christians represent this Enos as an excellent Governor Who while he lived preserved his Family in good order and when he died called them all together and gave them a Charge to keep God's Commandments and not to associate themselves with the Children of Cain So Elmacinus CHAP. V. Ver. 1. THis is the Book of the Generations of Adam i. e. Here follows a Catalogue of the Posterity of Adam So the word Book signifies Matth. I. 1. An Account of those from whom Christ the Second Adam came as here an Account of those who came from the First Adam Yet not of all but of the principal Persons by whom in a Right Line the Succession was continued down to Noah c. As for the Collateral Lines which no doubt were very many by the other Sons and Daughters which the Persons here mentioned begot they are omitted Because no more than I have said was pertinent to Moses his purpose In the Day that God created Man This is repeated again only to imprint on their Minds that Adam was not produced like other Men by Generation but by Creation In the likeness of God created he him This also is again mentioned to remember Men how highly God had honoured them and how shamefully they had requited him Ver. 2. Male and Female created he them c. Of different Sexes to be joyned together in Holy Marriage As Moses had shown Chap. II. 22 23 c. Called their Name Adam The common Name to both Sexes like Homo in Latin c. Ver. 3. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty Years This doth not assure us he had no Children but Cain and Abel till now But only acquaints us with his Age when Seth was born And begat a Son in his own likeness after his image Not so Perfect as himself when he was created but with those Imperfections which impaired him after he had eaten the forbidden Fruit
That is inclined to Sin and subject to Death For his own Likeness and Image wherein this Son was begotten seems to be opposed to the Likeness and Image of God wherein Adam was made I. 26. which though not quite lost was lamentably defaced Maimonides will have this to referr to Seth's Wisdom and Goodness he proving truly a Man like to his Father Adam Whereas the rest before him proved rather Beasts More Nevochim Par. I. c. 7. Called his Name Seth. He intends to give here an Account of those descended from Seth alone not of his Posterity by Cain who are only briefly mentioned in the foregoing Chapter verses 17 18. because in Seth the Posterity of Adam were preserved when all the Children of Cain perished in the Deluge Ver. 4. And he begat Sons and Daughters After the Birth of Seth he begot more Children as he had done it 's probable many before whose Names are not here recorded Because Moses sets down only that Race of Men from whom Noah and Abraham the Father of the Faithful and the Messiah were derived Ver. 5. Lived nine hundred and fifty Years It is not reasonable to take a measure of the length of the Lives of the Patriarchs by the shortness of ours For as Josephus well observes L. I. Antiq. cap. 4. and out of him Eusebius L. IX Praepar Evang. cap. 13. they being Men much beloved of God and newly made by him with a strong Constitution and excellent Temper of Body and using better Diet the Vigor of the Earth serving at the first for the Production of better Fruits All these things joyned with their Temperance constant Exercise and Labour a sweet Temper of Air their Knowledge in the Nature of Herbs and Plants c. might well contribute very much to as long a Life as is here mentioned Which was but necessary also and therefore God's Providence took special Care of them that the World might be the sooner peopled Knowledge and Religion more certainly propagated by the Authority of living Teachers Arts and Sciences brought to a great Perfection which could not have been effected in a short Life like ours And therefore Josephus shows that herein Moses hath the Testimony of all the Greeks and Barbarians also Who have wrote about ancient Affairs Of Manethus for instance who wrote the Egyptian History Berosus who wrote the Chaldaean Mochus Hestiaeus c. who wrote the Phoenician with a great Number of Greek Writers whom he mentions Who all say Men lived anciently a thousand Years None indeed came up to that full Summ but some so near it that they who were not exactly acquainted with the Sacred Story might well speak in that manner And this ought not to seem incredible to us in these Days when we consider how long several have lived in the later Ages of the World as Pliny reports in his Natural History L. VII cap. 48. Nay in Times nearer to us there are Instances of this kind as the Lord Bacon observes in his Hist Vitae mortis and Bartholin in his Histor Anatom Rariorum Cent. V. Hist 28. But nothing is more remarkable than that which Gaffendus reports in the Life of Nicol. Peirskius L. V. That he received a Letter from Aleppo no longer ago than the Year 1636 of a Man then in Persia known to several Persons worthy to be believed who was Four hundred Years old Idque ipsis omnino esse exploratum atque indubium And the Persons that wrote this were fully assured of the undoubted Truth of it Such Instances indeed are rare and there is one that thinks Men did not generally live to such a great Age in the old World For Maimonides is of Opinion That none attained to so many Years as are here mentioned but only the particular Persons expresly named by Moses All the rest of Mankind in those Days living only the ordinary term which Man did in after-times Or in other words this extraordinary length of Days was the Privilege only of these singular Individuals either from their accurate way of Living and Diet or God's special Favour in Reward of their eminent Vertue and Piety More Nevoch Par. II. cap. 47. But Nachmanides another great Jewish Doctor opposes this with much Reason For that their eminent Vertue was not the cause they alone had this Privilege appears by Enoch the most holy Man of them all who did not live to the Age of Four hundred Years And as there is no ground to believe these were the only Persons who lived exactly Temperate in all things So it is manifest Moses doth not design to give us an Account of those that lived longest but of those from whom Noah descended and it is incredible that they alone should be very long lived and no Body else though descended from the same Parents Ver. 6. And Seth lived an hundred and five Years and begat Enos We must not think he lived so long before he begat any Children No more than that Adam had none till he was an Hundred and thirty Years old when he begat Seth verse 3. for we know he had Cain and Abel and in all likelihood many others before Therefore to explain this and other things that follow verse 18. and 28. which seem more strange for Jared is said to have lived an Hundred sixty two Years before he begat Enoch and Lamech an Hundred eighty two Years before he begat Noah we must consider as was noted verse 4. that Moses sets down only those Persons by whom the Line of Noah was drawn from Seth and Abraham's Line from Noah by their true Ancestors whether they were the Eldest of the Family or no. Seth it 's likely had many other Children before Enos was born as Noah we may be confident had before he begat Sem Ham and Japhet Which was not till he was Five hundred Years old verse 32. As Lamech also had several before Noah was born Though Moses doth not mention them because he was here concerned only to inform us who was the Father of Noah Begat Enos The Arabian Christians as I observed before IV. 26. make him to have been a man of singular Goodness Ver. 9. Begat Cainan The same Writers represent him to have been like to his Father and say he gave his Children a charge not to mingle with the Seed of Cain So Elmacinus Yet there is but little difference between his Name and that of Cain's no more than between Irad and Jared and some other of Sem's Posterity and Cain's Which may teach us says Jac. Capellus in his Histor Sacra Exotica Ne fatale nescio quod omen nominibus propriis effingamus that we should not fansie there is we do not know what fatal Omen in Proper Names The Wickedness of Judas Iscariot did not make the other Judas called by that Name to think the worse of it And therefore Jared feared not to call his Son Enoch by the very Name of Cain's eldest Son IV. 17. And Methuselah also gave
to have the benefit of it Ver. 10. From all that go out of the Ark to every Beast of the Earth That is it shall extend not only to those which now go out of the Ark but to all their breed in future Ages Ver. 11. And I will establish my Covenant with you c. Doubt not of it for I tell you again I I will faithfully keep this solemn promise Any more be a Flood to destroy the Earth That is the whole Earth for particular Inundations there have been often Ver 12. And the LORD said This is the Token of the Covenant c. I do not only give you my Word but a Token or Sign that I will keep it Ver. 13. I do set my Bow in the Clouds c. Most think this doth not signifie there never had been a Rain-bow before the Flood for since there was both Sun and Clouds it is likely say they there was a Rain-bow also Only now it was appointed for a Sign which it was not before But as this Opinion hath nothing in Scripture to enforce it so grounds in Nature there are none to warrant it unless we will assert this manifest untruth That every disposition of the Air or every Cloud is fitly disposed to produce a Rain-bow They are the words of that great Divine Dr. Jackson Book I. upon the Creed c. 16. who adds that if other Natural Causes with their motions and dispositions depend upon the final as Scripture Philosophy teaches us they who acknowledge the Scripture have no reason to think that either the Clouds or the Air had that peculiar disposition before the Flood which is required to the production of the Rain-bow When this wonderful effect had no such use or end as it hath had ever since For it was appointed by God to be a witness of his Covenant with the new World a Messenger to secure Mankind from destruction by Deluges Now if it had appeared before the Flood the sight of it after the Flood would have been but a poor comfort to Noah and his timorous Posterity Whose fear least the like Inundation might happen again was greater than could be taken away by a common or usual Sign The ancient Poets had a better Philosophy though they knew not the original of it when they feigned Iris to be the Daughter or as we would now speak the Mother of wonderment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Messenger of the great God Jupiter and his Goddess Juno Whom Homer as he observes represents as sent with a peremptory command to Neptune not to aid the Graecians by the swelling we may suppose of Waters which much annoyed the Trojans My Bow It is called His not only because he is the Author of all things which have natural causes as there are of this But because He appointed it to a special end as a signification and assurance of his Mercy to Mankind Ver. 14. When I bring a Cloud over the Earth i. e. When there are great signs of Rain which come out of the Clouds That the Bow shall be seen in the Cloud Not alway but at certain times often enough to put Men in mind of this promise and stir up their belief of it For it doth as it were say I will not drown the Earth again though the Clouds have thickned as if they threatned it Common Philosophy teaches us that the Rain-bow is a natural sign there will not be much Rain after it appears but that the Clouds begin to disperse For it is never made in a thick Cloud but in a thin So that if it appear after Showers which come from thick Clouds it is a token that now they grow thin But the God of Nature chose this to be a sign that he would never thicken again to such a degree to bring a Deluge upon the Earth And indeed the admirable Form or Composition of this glorious Circle as the Son of Sirach calls it Ecclus. XLIII 12. bent by the Hands of the most High doth naturally excite one to look beyond the material and efficient cause of it unto the final as the fore-named Author speaks And now that we have Moses his Commentary upon it we may see in the mixt Colours of the Rain-bow these two things the destruction of the old World by Water and the future consumption of the present World by Fire whose flaming brightness is predominant in the waterish Humour Ver. 15. And I will remember my Covenant c. Look upon it as a Token of my faithfulness to my Word Ver. 16. I will look upon it that I may remember c. This is spoken after the manner of Men the more to confirm their belief that God would not go back with his Word Ver 17. And God said This is the token c. As the Promise is repeated twice to express its certainty verse 9.11 So is the Token of it as oft repeated for the same reason verse 12. and here verse 17. Ver 18. And the Sons of Noah c. They are here again named with respect to what follows But not in their order as shall be proved in its proper place X. 21. for Japhet was the Eldest And Ham is the Father of Canaan This Son of Ham is here alone mentioned because he was concerned in the following wicked Fact of his Father And his Posterity were those wicked People whose Country God gave to the Israelites Ver. 19. And of them was the whole Earth overspread By this it appears that though Noah lived above Three hundred years after he came out of the Ark yet begat no more Children or if he did none of them lived to have any posterity Ver. 20. Began to be an Husband-man To improve the Art of Husbandry which was understood before but he much advanced it There being nothing in old time which the greatest Men thought more worthy their study as we see by the Romans themselves 'till they were corrupted by the Luxury which their Conquests brought in among them And he planted a Vineyard There were Vines here and there before the Flood but Noah seems to have been the first that made a Vineyard and put them in order And the first perhaps that invented Wine-Presses to press out the Juice of the Grapes and make Wine If he was not the inventer of these two planting of Vineyards and making Wine yet we may well allow him to be the improver of them as he was of Husbandry Ver. 21. And he drank of the Wine and was drunken Being unacquainted with the strength of the Liquor as several of the Fathers as well as of the Jewish Doctors think or else being old and unable to bear its strength As Epiphanius understands it See Haeres LXIII n. 3. For it is manifest from what follows that this hapned a great while after the Flood Ham having a Son nay more than one for Canaan was not his first-born And he was uncovered in his Tent. The heat of the Weather or of the
Wine perhaps made him throw off the Clothes Or he was negligent being not himself Ver. 22. And Ham the Father of Canaan c. There are some circumstances which follow that make the Opinion of the Hebrew Doctors not improbable that Canaan first saw Noah in this indecent posture and made sport with it to his Father Who was so far from reproving him as he ought to have done that he also did the same And told his two Brethren without In the Street publickly before the People he proclaimed his Father's shame and mock'd at it For it is hard to think that God cursed him meerly for his irreverence but there was something of derision joyned with it and perhaps of prophaneness and irreligion in laughing we may conceive at the promise of the Messiah which it is likely he heard his Father often speak of but now thought him incapable to beget For Ham is generally thought to have been an impious Man and some take him to have been the first inventor of Idols after the Flood nay of Magick which he learnt of the wicked Cainites before the Flood Thus Gaspar Schottus L. I. de Magia cap. 3. prolegom Where he endeavours to show he was the same with him whom the Persians call Zoroaster Ver. 23. And Shem and Japhet took a Garment c. A great argument of their Piety and dutiful affection to their Father which God therefore greatly rewarded Ver. 24. And knew what his younger Son had done Finding himself covered with Clothes that were not his own he enquired it is likely how it came about And was informed how he had been abused by one of his Sons and honoured by the other His younger Son Some make this an Argument that Canaan was the first made himself merry with his Grandfather And is here called his younger or little Son nothing being more common than to call those the Sons of another who were his Grand-Children as Cousin-Germans are called Brothers for Ham was neither little nor his younger Son but the middlemost as he is always placed Nor doth it seem at all pertinent to the matter to mention the Order of his birth but very fit if he spake of his Grandson to distinguish him from the rest And what follows is a farther proof of it Ver. 25. Cursed be Canaan c. If what I said before verse 22 24 be allowed it makes it easie to give an account why Canaan is cursed rather than Ham because he was first guilty Ham indeed was punished in him But he had other Sons on whom the punishment did not fall but only on this For which I can find no reason so probable as that before named Which if it be not allowed we must have recourse to an harsh interpretation and by Canaan understand Canaan's Father as some do A Servant of Servants That is the basest and vilest of Servants See the next Verse Ver. 26. Blessed be the LORD God of Shem. The LORD was the God of Shem after a peculiar manner just as he was the God of Abraham because of the gracious Covenant made with him For God setled his Church in the Family of Shem and Christ was born of his posterity and he himself in all likelyhood kept up the Worship of the true God and opposed Idolatry In short to be the God of Shem was to bestow all manner of blessings upon him which Noah here prophesies to him by blessing the LORD for them Whom he acknowledges to be the Author of them out of his special grace and favour towards him For he was the younger Brother of Japhet as I shall shew X. 21. Thus Jacob interprets this Phrase XXIX 19 20. And Canaan shall be his servant This was fulfilled eight hundred Years after when the Israelites who were descended from Shem took possession of the Land of Canaan subduing thirty of their Kings killing most of the Inhabitants laying heavy Tributes upon the Remainder and using the Gibeonites who saved themselves by a wile though not as Servants to them yet as mere Drudges for the service of the Tabernacle Whose Name David is thought to have changed into Nethanim Ezra VIII 20. People who had voluntarily surrendred themselves as they did to Joshua when he had discovered their Fraud to do what he would with them Solomon also made all the remainders of the People of Canaan subject to servile Labours when all the Israelites were free as is plainly signified 2 Chron. VIII 7 8 9. And see Joseph Antiq. L. VIII c. 2. Thus as the Blessing promised to Abraham was not fulfilled in his own Person but in his Posterity many Generations after his death so this Curse upon Cham did not take place till the same time The execution of God's Curse upon the one being his conferring of a Blessing upon the other Ver. 27. God shall inlarge Japhet i. e. His Habitation for God gave him for his Possession all the Isles of the Sea Westward and those Countries near to them as Spain Italy Greece Asia the less c. as Bochart hath observed in his Phaleg L. I. c. 1. Who further notes That in the Hebrew word for inlarge there is a plain allusion to Japhet's Name as there is to many others in Scripture Noah verse 29. Judah Dan Gad c. XLIX 8 16 19. They that translate this word persuade as it is in the Margin did not consider that it is commonly taken in a bad Sence when it is so used for deceiving and seducing And that it governs as Grammarians speak an Accusative Case and not a Dative as it doth here when it signifies to allure or persuade In short this is a Promise of a very large Portion to Japhet's Posterity in the Division of the Earth Which was but necessary for that part of the World which bends to the North being assigned to him vast Regions were requisite for such a numerous Offspring as were likely to come from him The fruitfulness of People being wonderfully great in cold Climates And accordingly besides all Europe and the lesser Asia there fell to the share of his Posterity Media part of Armenia Iberia Albania and the vast Regions towards the North which anciently the Scythians now the Tartars inhabited From whom the People of the New World as we call it seem to be derived the Scythians going thither by the Streights of Anian Of which more upon X. 32. Moses hath not told us what were the Names of any of their Wives but the Greeks have given to Japetus his Wife the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Hesiod calls her because she was the Mother of so many famous Nations So Vossius L. I. De Orig. Idolol c. 18. And Campanella's Observation in this Verse is That all Empires descended from the Sons of Japhet L. De Monarchia Hispan c. 4. Which may be true of the great Empires but the Egyptians seem to have been the first considerable Princes and Nimrod was of the Race of Ham. And he shall
Iberi because they were thought to possess the utmost Ends of the Earth Westward However we may well think Tarshish to be Spain or that part of it which was most frequented by the Phoenicians viz. About Gades and Tartessus As Bochartus I think hath proved by evident Arguments fetched chiefly from what Ezekiel says of Tarsis XXVII 12. and comparing it with this Country L. III. Phaleg c. 7. Kittim The same Author hath proved by solid Arguments and by good Authority that from him came the People who inhabited Italy In which there were anciently many footsteps of this Name For there was in Latium it self a City called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Halycarnassaeus tells us Which was one of those seven great and populous Cities taken by Coriolanus as Plutarch in his Life tells us There was a River called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about Cumae mentioned by Aristotle as turning Plants into Stones And the very Name of Latines answers to Chittim For most say it comes à latendo being formed to express this ancient Scripture Name For Chetema in Arabick which is a branch of the Hebrew Tongue is to hide And Chetim is hidden and latent And so no doubt it was anciently used in Hebrew For what better sence can we make of those words of Jeremy II. 22. thy inquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is hidden or laid up with me According to an usual expression in Scripture Deut. XXXII 34. Job XXI 9. Hos XIII 12. where there are words of the like import with this That famous Man Bochart saith a great deal more to assert this L. III. c. 5. Dodanim He is called Rhodanim in 1 Chron. I. 7. By whom the Greek Interpreters understand the People of Rhodes and so do several of the Ancients but the Name of that Island is much later than Moses his time And therefore it is better to understand hereby that Country now called France Which was peopled by the Posterity of this Son of Javan Who when they came to this Coast gave Name as Bochart conjectures to the great River Rhodanus Where it is likely they first seated themselves and called the adjacent Coast Rhodanusia Which had anciently in it a City of the same Name mentioned by Stephanus and said to be seated in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in tractu Massiliensi where now stands Marseilles See Bochart L. III. c. 6. These Dodanites are never mentioned in any other places of Scripture which makes it the more difficult where to find them But this Account seems more probable than that of our learned Mede who places them in Epirus where there was a City called Dodona and part of Peloponnesus All which and several Countries thereabout seem to be comprehended under the Name of Javan Ver. 5. By these were the Isles of the Gentiles divided By the word Isles we commonly understand Countries compassed round about by the Sea But there were not such Islands enough to contain the Sons of Japhet though these were part of their Portion and therefore we must seek for another sence of this word Which the Hebrews use as Mr. Mede hath observed to signifie all those Countries divided from them by the Sea or such as they used not to go to but by Sea See Book I. Disc 47. Many places testifie this Isai XI 10 11. XL. 15. Jer. II. 10 c. Now if Moses wrote this Book in Egypt as he thinks it probable they commonly went from thence to Phrygia Cappadocia Paphlagonia by Sea as well as to Greece Italy c. To Media indeed he thinks they did not use to go by Sea and therefore makes this an Objection against Madai being the Father of the Medes For their Country cannot be called an Isle But the far greater part of the Regions peopled by the Sons of Japhet being such as he confesses the Hebrews call Isles Moses might well say the Isles of the Gentiles were parted among them though Media be comprehended which was not such an Isle But there is no need of all this if we take the word we translate Isle for a Region Country or Province And so it plainly signifies Job XXII 30. Isai XX. 6. where in the Margin we translate it Country And then the word Goim which we render Gentiles signifies a multitude of People as it doth often in Scripture Particularly Gen. XVII 4 16. And so we translate it Nations in the last word of this Verse and in the last Clause of this Chapter by these were the Goim Nations divided in the Earth Which may serve to explain this Phrase here which we may thus interpret by these or among these were divided the Regions of the People or Nations descended from Japhet in their Lands in the several Countries which they possessed Divided It appears by the following words according to his Language Family and Nation this great Division of the Earth was made orderly and not by a confused irregular Dispersion wherein every one went whither he listed and seated himself where he thought good This Mr. Mede thinks is also suggested in the very word we translate divided Which signifies not a scattered but a distinct Partition Every one after his Tongue or Language The same is said ver 20. and ver 31. of the Posterity of Cham and Shem. Which signifies they did not all speak the same Language but doth not prove that every one of the fore-mentioned People had a Language peculiar to themselves distinct from the rest and not understood by them As when Ahasuerus is said to have caused Letters to be written to an hundred twenty seven Provinces according to their Language and their Writing Esth XIII 9. it doth not prove there were so many several sorts of Writing and so many several Languages in his Empire But only that to each of them was directed a Letter in that Language which they spake After their Families in their Nations The Particle in denotes as Mr. Mede observes Families to be subordinate to Nations as parts to a whole Families are parts of a Nation and a Nation is an Off-spring containing many Families So here was a two-fold order in this Division First They were ranged according to their Nations and then every Nation was ranked by his Families So that every Nation had his Lot by himself and in every Nation the Families belonging to it had their Portion by themselves The number of Nations descended from Japhet were seven according to the number of his Sons who were all Founders of several Nations But the number of Families is not here intirely set down For Moses names only the Families of Gomer and Javan Whose Children perhaps are rather to be lookt upon as Founders of Nations and therefore mentioned by Moses when the Posterity of the rest are omitted Ver. 6. And the Sons of Ham. Having given an Account of the Sons and Grand-Sons of Japhet the eldest Son of Noah he next proceeds to the Sons of Ham the second Son of Noah which were Four
Continent of America was found full of such Beasts when the Spaniards first came thither yet none of the Islands though very large which lay remote from the Land had any Lions Tygers or such-like Creatures in them Which is a demonstration that these Creatures were not originally from that part of the Earth for then the Islands would have been furnished with them as well as the Continent just as they are with all sorts of Vegetables And consequently the Continent it self was stored with these Creatures from some other part of the Earth Which might be done by some Neck of Land not yet discovered which joyns some part of Europe or Asia to the Continent of America Or if there be no such Neck of Land now extant yet there may have been such a Bridge as we may call it between the Northern parts of Asia or Europe and some Northern part of America or between the South-East part of China or the Philippine Islands and the Southern Continent of that other part of this World Though now broken of as many suppose England to have been from France by the violence of the Sea or by Earthquakes which have made great alterations in the Earth And truly he that observes as that great Man the Lord Chief Justice Hales speaks in his Book of the Origin of Mankind § II. c. 7. the infinite number of Islands lying between the Continent of China and Nova Guinea the most contiguous to each other hath probable reasons to believe that these were all formerly one Continent joyning China and Nova Guinea together Though now by the irruption of the Sea crumbled into many small Islands CHAP. XI Ver. 1. AND all the Earth i. e. The Inhabitants of the Earth as 1 Kings X. 24. all the Earth is explained 2 Chron. IX 23. all the Kings of the Earth Were of one Language In the Hebrew of one Lip which is one Instrument of Speech comprehending the rest Their Mouth found the same words So it follows And of one Speech Or Word as the Hebrew hath it Some distinguish these two so subtilly as to say they had not only the same Language but the same manner of pronunciation which is often very different in the same Language The Heathens themselves acknowledge there was but one Language anciently see Josephus and out of him Eusebius L. IX Praep. Evang. c. 14 15. which in all likelihood was the same that had been from the Beginning which Adam himself spake For Methuselah the Grand-Father of Noah lived some time with him and spake we may well suppose the same Language that he did And we cannot but think the same of Noah Who propagated it among his Posterity till this time But whether this was the Hebrew or no we cannot be certain The Chaldee Paraphrasts and the Hebrew Writers generally say it was and most Christian Writers have been of their Opinion In so much that R. Gedalian upon these words saith The wise Men among the Christians have searched what was the first Tongue and all the World confesses that from Adam to the Flood they spake the Holy Language Which it is not to be thought we have now intire and pure but that a considerable part of it still remains in the Bible As may be proved by no contemptible Arguments particularly this that Shem the Son of Noah was for some time contemporary with Abraham who descended from him and in whose Family continued the same Language which they both spake unto Moses his days They that have fansied there were more Languages than one at this time grounded their mistake upon those words Gen. X. 5 20 31. where the Sons of Noah are said to have had the Earth divided among them according to their Tongues Not considering that he speaks of this very Division of which he is going to give an account and briefly mentioned there verse 25. For the thirteen Sons of Joktan immediately after mentioned who had their share in the division were not in being when their Uncle Peleg was born as the most learned Primate Vsher hath demonstrated in his Annals A. M. 1757. Ver. 2. As they journeyed from the East He doth not speak of all the Posterity of Noah who after the Flood planted in the East much less Noah himself But of a great Colony of them who when the East was much peopled chose to go Westward By the East most understand Armenia where they suppose the Ark rested and Noah with his Sons planted But this hath great difficulty in it for the Mountains of Armenia lay North of Shinar or Assyria and not East Which Bochart solves in this manner Assyria being divided into two parts one on this side the other on the further side of Tigris they called all that part beyond Tigris the East Country though a great part of it towards Armenia was really Northward and that part on this side they called West though some of it lay to the South L. I. Phaleg c. 7. But there is no need of the help of this solution the Mountains of Ararat running a long way Eastward From which when Noah and his Sons descended they setled it's likely in Countries which were very much Eastward of Assyria They found a plain They continued to dwell in the Mountainous Countries of the East where the Ark rested till they grew very numerous and wanted room and then descended into the Plain and some of them went Westwardly into the Land of Shinar that pleasant Plain as Mr. Mede fansies where God at the Beginning had placed the first Father of Mankind Adam Shinar By this Name we are to understand not only that part of Assyria where Babylon stood but all that Country which bordered upon Tigris unto the Mountains of Armenia from whence Noah and his Sons are supposed to have descended when the Earth was dry and not to have gone far from thence at first till they were multiplied and then some of them came into this Country which Noah had inhabited before the Flood Thus Bochart in the place before-named But there is no certainty the Ark rested in Armenia it might be further Eastward upon some other part of that long Ridge of Mountains called Ararat From whence they descended when the Earth was dry and dwelt in the lower Grounds which were warmer and more fruitful than the Mountains But that from the East Mankind were propagated is apparent from the increase of Arts and Sciences which as Dr. Jackson observes Book I. c. 16. were in some measure perfected there in Times as ancient as any prophane History can point us unto and thence derived as from a Center to more remote parts of the World the ripeness of Literature civil Discipline and Arts among the Eastern People before they did so much as bud forth in Greece or Italy I may add Egypt either is a demonstration that these were the Stock and the other but Slips or Branches transplanted from thence Nay the State and Grandure of those Eastern Countries
a division of the Earth among his Posterity for it was a deliberate business as I noted upon X. 5. these People had no mind to submit unto it and therefore built this Fortress to defend themselves in their Resolution of not yielding to his design Thus the most learned Vsher ad A. M. 1757. But what they dreaded they brought upon themselves by their own vain attempt to avoid it And now there is no memory preserved of the Names of those that conspired in this attempt Thus what Solomon saith was long before verified Prov. X. 24. The fear of the Wicked shall come upon him But this evil by God's providence was attended with a great Good For by this dispersion the whole Earth was peopled and the foundation laid of several great Nations and Kingdoms Ver. 5. And the LORD came down to see c. This is an accommodation to our conceptions and means no more but that by the Effects he made it appear that he observed their Motions and knew their Intentions Which the Children of Men builded It is generally agreed that Children of Men in Scripture is opposed to Children of God As bad Men and Infidels are to the good and the Faithful Which gives us to understand that neither Noah nor Shem nor Arphaxad Salah or Heber were engaged in this Work But some of the worser sort of People who degenerated from the Piety of their Ancestors It is probable some of the Race of Ham who it's likely carried much of the Spirit of Cain with him into the Ark Otherwise he could not have behaved himself so vilely towards his Father after they came out of it For that terrible Judgment it seems had not reformed him and then it is no wonder if he grew more wicked after it was over Josephus and others take Nimrod his Grandchild to have been the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his Word is Ring-leader of this Crew who combined in this design But I take it to be more probable that he came and setled here after the Dispersion For there being not much above an Hundred Years between the Flood and this time it is not likely such a great Kingdom could be erected in that space as we read of Gen. X. 10. And therefore he grew so great after this Dispersion when he came out of Arabia or some neighbouring Country and setled here in Babel Which was called by this Name upon occasion of the Confusion of Languages and had it not before Which is an Argument that what we read X. 10 11. must be understood to have hapned after this time But if all this be true that some of Cham's Race began this design which other bad People were too much disposed to follow and that they who retained the true Religion from whom Abraham descended were not of the number it is credible that they escaped the punishment here mentioned in the next Verses retaining still their ancient Seat and the ancient Language also which continued in the Family of Heber and was called Hebrew Ver. 6. And the LORD said c. This Verse only expresses a Resolution to spoil their Project and the necessity of so doing Ver. 7. Let us The Rabbins fansie this is spoken to the Angels But it is beyond the Angelical Power to alter Mens Minds so in a moment that they shall not be able to understand what they did before Therefore God spake to himself And this Phrase suggests to us more Persons than One in the Godhead In short none but He who taught Men at first to speak could in an Instant make that variety of Speech which is described in the next Words Novatianus therefore anciently took it that this was spoken by God to his Son Confound their Language The Word Confound is to be mark'd For God did not make every one speak a new different Language but they had such a confused remembrance of the Original Language which they spake before as made them speak it very differently So that by the various Inflections and Terminations and Pronunciations of divers Dialects they could no more understand one another than they who understand Latin can understand those who speak French Italian or Spanish though these Languages arise out of it And yet it is not to be thought there were as many several Dialects as there were Men so that none of them understood another For this would not meerly have dispersed Mankind but destroyed them It being impossible to live without Society or to have Society without understanding one another For if the Father could not have understood the Son nor the Husband his Wife there could have been no comfort in living together Therefore it is likely that every Family had its peculiar Dialect or rather the same common Dialect or way of speaking was given to those Families whom God would have to make one Colony in the following Dispersion Unto which Dispersion they were constrained by their not being able to have such familiarity as they had before with every body but only with those who understood their particular Speech Into how many Languages they were divided none can determine The Hebrews fansie into LXX which Opinion hath much prevailed Being grounded upon the foregoing Chapter where the Descendants from the Sons of Noah are just so many The Greek Fathers make them LXXII because the Greek Version adds two more Elisa among the Sons of Japhet and Cainan among the Sons of Shem and the Latin Fathers follow them But this is a very weak Foundation it being apparent that many of the Sons of Canaan used the very same Language in their Country and so did Javan and Elishah in Greece And in other places so many concurred in the Use of the same Speech that scarce Thirty remains of the Seventy to be distinct as Bochart hath observed See Selden L. II. de Synedr cap. 9. Sect. III. Ver. 8. So the LORD scattered them Broke their combination by making them speak several Languages which cut off the common bond of one Society For as the Vnity of one common Language to use the Words of Mr. Mede p. 362. had knit all Mankind into one community So God in his Wisdom saw that plurality of Languages was the best means to force them into a plurality of Societies Abroad from thence Into all the Regions of the North South and West The East being inhabited before by Noah and such of his Offspring as abode with him Which is not to be understood as if they were immediately scattered into the remotest places from Babel But first into the neighbouring Countries and by degrees into those which were further off according as their Families increased How long this Dispersion hapned after the Flood cannot be certainly determined But we can demonstrate it was not much above 100 Years For Peleg in whose days this came to pass X. 25. was born but an Hundred and one Years after As was observed before upon that place Now some think this division was made
perhaps the Jews gathered he was a Man of Authority among them Ver. 7. Do not so wickedly As to break the Rights of Hospitality and violate the Laws of Nature Ver. 8. Behold now I have two Daughters c. This must be understood to have been spoken in a great perturbation and perplexity of Mind and out of a vehement Desire to preserve the Men whom he had entertained Which made him say he had rather they should abuse his own Daughters than those Strangers For therefore came they under the shadow of my roof He pleads the Laws of Hospitality which obliged him to protect them though he himself suffered by it Ver. 9. And they said Stand back Give way to us This one fellow c. Here is one and he but a Sojourner who takes upon him to be a Censor Morum and controll the whole City This shows he was no Judge Now will we deal worse with thee c. Abuse thee more than them For it is the same word with verse 7. doing wickedly Ver. 11. Smote the Men with blindness Not with a total Blindness for then they would not have sought for the Door of Lot's House but rather have groped for the way home but such a Dimness that they could not see any thing distinctly or in its right place But there seemed to be a Door suppose where there was none Or there was such a Confusion in their Brain that all things were turned topsie turvy as we speak in their imagination and appeared quite otherwise than they were Ver. 12. Son-in-law and thy Sons and thy Daughters Here the Copulative and must be expounded or As it is used in many places XIII 8. Let there be no strife between me and thee or between my herds-men and thine And so we translate it Exod. XII 5. Thou shalt take it out of the Sheep or out of the Goats And Exod. XXI 15. He that smiteth his Father or his Mother shall be put to death And so it should be translated here Hast thou any here besides Son-in-law or thy Sons or thy Daughters As much as to say we are desirous to save all that are nearly related to thee for thy sake Ver. 14. Which married his Daughters Had espoused them for their Wives but had not yet consummated the Marriage as some understand it Others will have it that besides those two Virgin Daughters at home with him he had other Daughters who were actually married in the City Which they gather from the next Verse take thy Wife and two Daughters which are here As if he had more Daughters elsewhere And R. Jehuda in Pirke Elieser c. 25. names one of them married to one of the great Men of Sodom and calls her Pelothit But this seems rather to have been the Name of one of them who were saved by the Angels and thence so called For it signifies delivered or snatch'd from destruction He seemed as one that mocked Who was not in earnest but only made sport with them and spake in jest For it is the same word from whence Isaac is derived which signifies Laughter Ver. 15. And when the morning arose At break of Day For the Sun did not rise till Lot was got into Zoar verse 23. Take thy Wife and thy two Daughters which are here These last words which are here are not without Emphasis And are paraphrased thus by the Chaldee Interpreter which are found faithful with thee Are not corrupted by the common Wickedness of this place or that believe what we threaten Ver. 16. While he lingred Being loth to leave his Goods or his Sons-in-law and Children Or as some think praying God to spare the City The Men laid hold upon his hand c. One of the Angels laid hold upon him and his Wife and the other upon his two Daughters Whom they pulled out of the House with some kind of constraint and led them out of the City Ver. 17. He said That Angel who had a peculiar Charge of preserving Lot and his Family See XVIII 2. Escape for thy life Make haste if thou lovest thy Life Look not behind thee To see what becomes of thy Goods or as if thou wast loth to leave Sodom Make no delay no not so much as to turn about and look back Neither stay thou in the Plain Do not rest till thou hast got out of the Plain For every Place in it is to be destroyed Ver. 18. And he said unto them c. Both the Angels were still with him But he seems particularly to speak to him that led him and his Wife out of Sodom who had spoken before to him and bid him make haste verse 17. But there are those Franzius for instance who would have the word Adonai translated not my Lord but my Lords as if he spake to both Ver. 19. I cannot escape to the Mountain c. He that lingered before verse 16. now thought he could not make haste enough Either being crazy or tired with sitting up all Night or fearing the destruction would overtake him before he could reach the Mountain and desiring perhaps to have a better dwelling than that Ver. 20. My Soul shall live Rejoyce and be exceeding thankful Ver. 21. See I have accepted thee Granted thy Request I will not overthrow c. A wonderful instance of the Divine Clemency Which in the midst of Wrath remembred Mercy Ver. 22. Haste thee Make no more delaies No not to make any further Petitions I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither Having made thee this Promise I must deferr the Vengeance till thou art safe there Called Zoar. In after-times it had this Name from the smalness of it which he twice mentions verse 20. Ver. 24. The LORD rained from the LORD It cannot be denied that here is an intimation of a Plurality of Persons in the Deity Yet there are many both ancient and modern Interpreters who think the meaning is no more than the LORD sent this Rain from himself it being the manner of the Scripture Phrase to repeat the Noun instead of the Pronoun as Grammarians speak of which Cocceius upon the Gemara of the Sanhedrim C. IV. gives these Instances Gen. II. 20. 1 Sam. XII 11. Zech. I. 16. And there are others which come nearer to these words Exod. XXIV and he i. e. the LORD verse 3. said unto Moses Come up unto the LORD Hos I. 7. I will save them by the LORD their God Zech. X. 12. I will strenghen them in the LORD c. The Council of Sirmium indeed anathematizes those who thus interpret these words and do not say the Son rained from the Father Socrat. L. II. c. 30. Yet St. Chrysostom did not fear to say this is an Idiom of the Scripture-Language which intended only to show 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the LORD brought this Punishment upon them Others also have observed that the Scripture-Phrase being very concise by the LORD in the beginning of the Verse may be meant the Angel
the more reasonable because he might think though God had spared them for the present yet they taking no warning by the Calamity of their Country would shortly perish as the rest had done And so Theodoret and others think this City was afterwards destroyed Of which there is no certain Record and if the Tradition be true it was not speedily swallowed up as they report but retained for some time the Name of Zoar being before called Bela XIV 2. Dwelt in the Mountain It is not said what Mountain but it is probable one of the Mountains in the Country afterward called Moab from one of his Children which he here begat For Epiphanius Haeres LIII describes the Country of Moab as lying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. beyond the Salt or Dead Sea See Salmas Exerc. Plin. p. 615. Ver. 31. There is not a Man in all the Earth Not one remaining of their Kindred that they knew For they were not much acquainted we may suppose beyond that Country which was destroyed and those of Zoar were so wicked that they look'd upon them as Beasts rather than Men. Ver. 32. Let us make him drink Wine Which they brought with them out of Sodom to support their Spirits in their flight or else got at Zoar Of which they invited their Father to drink liberally and chear himself under his extream great Sorrow That we may preserve Seed of our Father This Fact of theirs being objected by Celsus against our Religion Origen gives this account of it Lib. IV. contra Cels That these two Maids having learnt something of the Conflagration of the World and seeing their own City and Country destroyed by Fire imagined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Seminary of Mankind remained only in their Father and them And if what they did was upon this supposition That there was no other way to restore the World they did no worse than the Stoicks thought their wise Man might do if the Race of Mankind were extinct so that none but he and his Daughter were left alive Irenaeus makes the same Excuse for them and says they did this innocently and in their simplicity believing all Mankind were destroyed L. IV. cap. 51. But I take their Conjecture to be highly probable who conceive that the eager Desire which then possessed the Hearts of Good People to fulfill the Promise of the Messiah was that which put them upon this otherwise monstrous Crime For which there are these Reasons First That they had lived so chastly in the midst of the Impurities of Sodom that one cannot think a Spirit of Uncleanness now entred into them and carried them to this Action And indeed Secondly Their joyning together in this Contrivance whereas Matters of this Nature use to be carefully concealed from the nearest Friends or make them fall out if they find themselves ingaged in the same Intrigue shows that they were acted by Counsel and Design and not by brutish Lust And Thirdly Their perpetuating the Memory of this Fact in the Names of their Children is a demonstration there was something extraordinary in it and that they were not ashamed of it but rather gloried in it desiring it might be remembred that these Children were descended from Lot Who they thought perhaps might pretend to fulfil the Promise as well as Abraham Being the Son of Abraham's elder Brother and called out of Sodom by the Ministry of Angels as Abraham was called out of Chaldaea Ver. 23. He perceived not when she lay down c. This seems hard to be understood But it must be noted That Moses only says he did not perceive when she came to bed to him and when she got up again not that he did not perceive when he lay with her of which he could not but have some perception Though M. Montaigne in his Essays relates a Story of a Widow who being drunk was abused by a Hind in her House and afterward finding her self with Child could not remember how it came to pass But the Fellow at last confessed his Fact Of which whatsoever Sense she had then she had perfectly forgot it when she awaked Ver. 34. Go thou in c. If he had retained any remembrance of what he had done the Night before one cannot think he would have faln into the same Snare so soon again For which reason it is probable he did not think he had been intoxicated but only drank so freely as to make him sleep soundly and forget his Sorrow Ver. 37. Moab Most will have this word to signifie from my Father But Drusius in Deut. II. 8. takes the import of it to be Aqua Patris Ver. 38. Ben-ammi This signifies as much as the Son of my People Which doth not acknowledge so plainly as the other That this Son was begotten by her Father But only that he was the Son of one of her own Nation or Kindred not by a Stranger CHAP. XX. Ver. 1. JOurneyed from thence i. e. From Mamre where he had dwelt a great while and where many remarkable Passages had hapned XIII 18. XVIII 1. Toward the South Country Toward Egypt For some fansie the very Stench of the Lake of Sodom was offensive to him in Mamre Sojourned in Gerar. The Metropolis of Palestine and as some compute it not much above six Mile from Mamre Ver. 2. Abraham said of Sarah c. Just as he had done in Egypt XII 13. when there was greater reason for it she being then thirty Years younger than now when she was no less than ninety Years old But it seems her Beauty remained at this Age being healthful and having born and suckled no Children And Women in those days living so long that they were as fresh at ninety as they are now at forty or fifty When many that are of excellent Constitutions and naturally handsom continue very lovely Abimelech The Name of all the Kings of Palestine as Pharaoh was of the Kings of Egypt It is not improbable as the Author of Tzemath David conjectures that the succeeding Kings took the Name of him who was the first King of the Country Ad A. M. 2600. Sent and took Sarah By Violence some think but I see no ground for it He desired to have her and might think Abraham would look upon it as a great Honour to have his Sister become Wife to a King And Abraham it is likely showed no unwillingness not being in a Condition to deny him Ver. 3. And God came to Abimelech in a dream by night Two differences are observed by Maimonides between this manifestation which God made of his Mind to Abimelech and that which he made to the Prophets For it is only said here God came to Abimelech and that he came in a dream by night The very same is said of Laban the Syrian who doth not seem to have been so good a Man as Abimelech XXXI 24. But of Jacob it is said God spake unto Israel and he spake to him in the Visions of
Number in their termination which in signification are singular with which it is usual to joyn a Verb of the Plural Number because of the Plural termination of the Noun A plain Example of which we have Gen. IV. 6. Why is thy Countenance in the Hebrew Faces faln The like he observes in the Syriack Language John I. 4. The life in the Syriack lifes was the light of Men. Ver. 16. I have given thy Brother a thousand pieces of Silver The word pieces is not in the Hebrew But by Ceseph Silver all in a manner understand Shekels For anciently there were no Shekels of Gold or Brass but only of Silver Yet there are those who think he did not give him thus much in Money but in the Goods before-mentioned verse 14. which were worth a thousand Shekels See XXIII 16. He is unto thee a covering of the Eyes c. These words are very variously expounded according as the first word hu is interpreted Which may relate either to the Gift before-mentioned and be translated this or to Abraham and be translated he as it is by us If they referr to the former then the Sence is I have given him that summ of money to buy thee a veil that all who converse with thee here or in any other Country where thou shalt come may know thee to be a married Woman For a Veil was worn in Token of subjection to the Power of the Husband and that thereby their Chastity might be preserved safe from the Snares of others As G. Vorstius observes upon Pirke Elieser cap. XXXII Or as others interpret it This money will be a covering to thine Eyes that is a defence to thy Modesty it being a testimony that Abimelech paid dear for taking thee into his house If they referr to Abraham then the meaning is Thou needest no other defence of thy Modesty and Chastity than he nor hast any reason to say hereafter he is thy Brother for he is so dear to God that God will defend him and he will defend thee without such shifts as this thou hast used Nay not only thee but all that are with thee and that even against strangers I omit other interpretations And referr the Reader to L. de Dieu Thus she was reproved Or instructed as some translate it not to dissemble her Condition Or this was the Reprehension he gave her for saying Abraham was her Brother Ver. 17. So Abraham prayed unto God c. Beseeched God to restore them all to their Health now that his Wife was restored to him verse 14. Ver. 18. For the LORD had fast closed up c. By such swellings some understand it in the Secret Parts that the Men could neither enjoy their Wives nor the Women who were with Child be delivered CHAP. XXI Ver. 1. AND the LORD visited Sarah c. Bestowed upon her the Blessing he had promised her i. e. made her conceive For so the word visit signifies either in a bad Sence to inflict Punishment Exod. XX. 5. or in a good Sence to conferr Blessings as here and Exod. III. 16. and many other places And he did unto her as he had spoken Performed his Promise by making her bring forth a Child For so it is explained in the next Verse Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a Son Ver. 2. Sarah conceived c. God not only made her Womb fruitful but brought the Fruit of it to perfection and then brought it into the World At the set time of which God had spoken to him XVIII 14. It is not said where Isaac was born For we are not told here whether Abraham departed from Gerar into any other part of this Country as Abimelech kindly offered and gave him liberty to do XX. 15. But it appearing by the latter end of this Chapter that he continued a long time in Abimelech's Country though not at Gerar it is probable Isaac was born at Beersheba verse 31. Ver. 6. God hath made me to laugh i. e. To rejoyce exceedingly So that all that hear will laugh with me All my Friends and Neighbours will congratulate my Happiness and rejoyce with me Ver. 7. Give Children suck It is usual to put the Plural Number for the Singular as was observed before XIX 29. Or she hoped perhaps to have more Children after this And her giving him suck was a certain proof that she had brought him forth of her own Womb and that he was not a supposititious Child as Menochius well observes Others note That the greatest Persons in those ancient Days suckled their own Children Which Favorinus a Greek Philosopher pressed as a Duty upon a Noble Woman by many strong Arguments Which are recorded by A. Gellius who was present at his discourse L. XII Noct. Attic. cap. 1. Ver. 8. The Child grew and was weaned At the Age of five Years old as St. Hierom reports the Opinion of some of the Hebrews Made a great Feast the same Day Rather now than at his Nativity because there was greater hope of life when he was grown so strong as to be taken from his Mother's Breast Ver. 9. Sarah saw the Son of Hagar c. mocking He laugh'd and jeared perhaps at the great bustle which was made at Isaac's weaning Looking upon himself as the First-born and by the right of that to have the privilege of fulfilling the Promise of the Messiah This gives a good account of Sarah's earnestness for the expulsion not only of him but of his Mother also who it 's likely flattered and bare him up in those Pretensions Many think he did more than mock him because St. Paul calls it persecution Gal. IV. 29. which St. Hierom takes for beating Isaac Who perhaps resenting his Flouts might say something that provoked Ishmael to strike him And it is very probable his Mother incouraged him to this or maintained him in his Insolence Which was the reason Sarah pressed to have them both turned out of doors Some think he jested upon his Name and made it a matter of Merriment For so the word is used XIX 14. Ver. 10. Cast out c. Let them not dwell here any longer nor continue a part of thy Family Shall not be Heir c. She judged by what she had seen of his fierce and violent Spirit that it would not be safe for her Son to let Ishmael have any share in his Father's Inheritance For she was afraid he would make himself Master of all Ver. 11. Grievous because of his Son His Wife is not here mentioned because his principal Concern was for his Son But it appears by the next Verse he had some Consideration of her also Ver. 12. God said unto Abraham c. By this he was satisfied that Sarah's Motion proceeded not merely from her Anger but from a Divine Incitation For in Isaac shall thy Seed be called Here the Blessing promised to Abraham's Seed XVII 7 8. is limited to the Posterity of Isaac And the meaning of the Phrase is they that
contra Cels It is well known also that these Mountains were well shaded with Trees so that commonly Groves and Mountains are mention'd together as Places for Religious Worship Ver. 3. And Abraham rose up early in the Morning c. Some here take notice of the readiness of his Obedience in several Instances First That he rose up early Secondly Sadled his Ass himself though the Phrase doth not certainly import so much Thirdly Carried Wood ready cleft along with him for the Offering lest he should find none there And Isaac his Son It is an Enquiry among the Jews how old Isaac was at this time Some of them say seven and thirty whom the Arabick Christian Writers follow Patricides and Elmacinus Aben Ezra more probably saith he was thirty But there is no certainty of such things For I find in the Gemara Sanhedrim Cap. X. n. 4. it is said this fell out a little after he was weaned See verse 9. And went unto the place That is toward the Place Which he did not see till the third Day after he set out Ver. 4. On the third Day It was not much above one Day 's journey from Beersheba to Moriah But an Ass goes slowly especially being loaded as this was with a burden of Wood and with Provisions we must suppose for their Journey And Abraham and his Son and Servants went on foot and could not travel far on a Day Isaac being but young for it doth not appear they had more than one single Ass verse 5. And saw the place afar off It is most reasonable to suppose that God had given him some Token or Sign whereby he should know it And I cannot but think it highly probable that the Divine Glory appeared in the place where he was to make the Oblation Which Conjecture I find confirmed by R. Elieser among other of the Jews who says That when God bad him go to the place he would tell him of verse 2. and there offer his Son he askt how he should know it And the Answer was Wheresoever thou seest my Glory there I will stay and wait for thee c. And accordingly now he beheld a Pillar of Fire reaching from Heaven to the Earth and thereby knew this was the Place See Pirke Elieser c. 31. Ver. 5. Go yonder and worship This confirms the fore-mentioned Conjecture That the Divine Glory appearing upon the Mountain he went thither to worship God And come again to you He either speaks of himself alone or believed God would restore Isaac to Life though he did slay him Ver. 6. And laid it upon Isaac his Son A Figure of Christ who carried his own Cross John XIX 17. according to the Roman Custom Philo's Reflection upon Isaac's carrying the Wood for his own Sacrifice is That nothing is more laborious than Piety Ver. 7. Behold the Fire and the Wood c. It appears by this that he had not hitherto acquainted Isaac with his Intention Ver. 8. So they went both of them together It seems they staid a while as they were going together verse 6. till Isaac had finished this Discourse with his Father and then they proceeded Ver. 9. Built an Altar there Of Turf some think or of such Stone as he could gather there And bound Isaac his Son Both his Hands and his Feet as it is explained in Pirke Elieser Cap. XXXI When the Gentiles offered humane Sacrifices they tied both their Hands behind their Backs as appears from Ovid L. III. de Pont. Eleg. 2. and other Authors Whether Isaac was thus bound it matters not but we cannot doubt that Abraham had now acquainted him with the Will of God and persuaded him willingly to comply and submit unto it Wherein he pre-figured Christ the more exactly who laid down his Life of himself and no Man without his Consent could take it from him as he speaks John X. 17 18. We have reason to believe this of Isaac because he being younger and stronger could have made resistance had he been so minded Josephus says he was twenty five Years old L. I. Antiq. 14. And Bochartus makes him twenty eight the word Naar which we translate Lad being used for one of that Age nay Joseph is called so when he was thirty Years old Hierozoic P. I. L. III. c. 9. This is certain That he was old enough to carry such a load of Wood Verse 6. as was sufficient to make a fire to offer up a Burnt-Offering There are those also who think Isaac was laid upon the Altar to be offered in that very Place where Christ was crucified And thus much is true That though Mount Calvary was without Jerusalem and therefore different from Mount Moriah on which the Temple stood Yet they were so near and it 's likely only Parts of one and the same Mountain that they were anciently both comprehended under the Name of Moriah Ver. 10. Abraham stretched forth his Hand c. His Obedience proceeded so far that it evidently appeared he was fully resolved to do as he was bidden For the Knife was just at Isaac's Throat ready to do the execution Insomuch that God made account of it as if it had been actually done and accepted his Obedience as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as intirely perfect and absolutely compleated as Philo speaks And yet there have been those who disparage this Obedience by endeavouring to make the World believe that the Sacrificing of Children was in use before Abraham's time And the very first thing that hath been alledged as a proof of it is the very Objection in Philo made by cavilling Calumniators as he calls them who said Why should such Praise be bestowed on Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had attempted a thing altogether new which private Men and Kings and whole Nations do upon occasion The learned Reader cannot but know that one of our own Countrymen Sir J. Marsham in Canon Chronic. § V. hath set this in the front of all his Arguments to prove that Abraham was not the first who sacrificed his Son Without acquainting the Reader with Philo's Answer to this which quite overthrows all his Pretensions For he says Lib. de Abrahamo p. 375 376. Edit Paris That some Barbarians have done this following the Custom of their Country or being in great distress c. But nothing of this Nature could move Abraham to it for the Custom of Sacrificing Children was neither in Babylon nor Mesopotamia nor Chaldaea where he had lived a long time No nor as it follows a little after in that Country where he then lived But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was to be the Beginner of a perfectly new and unusual Example What plainer Confutation can there be of what the fore-named Author pretends than this Which he most disingenuously concealed Nor is there more strength in what follows in him out of Sanchuniathon who says that Saturn offered his only Son For by Saturn it is evident he meant Abraham as appears by the
yet he saw them degenerating apace into all manner of Wickedness especially into Idolatry Which would bring them he knew to utter Desolation when they had filled up the measure of their Iniquity XV. 16. Ver. 4. But go into my Country i. e. Into Mesopotamia where he lived for some time in Haran after he came from Vr Which was also in that Country as I observed upon XI 31. It seems also his Brother had removed hither Following his Father Terah's and Abraham's Example See XI 31. And my kindred The Family of his Brother Nahor which he heard lately was increased XXII 20. who though they had some Superstition among them retained the worship of the True God as appears from this very Chapter verse 31 50. And take a Wife unto my Son Isaac Which no doubt was by Isaac's Consent as well as his Father's Command Ver. 5. Must I needs bring thy Son again into the Land from whence thou camest He desires like a conscientious Man to understand the full Obligation of his Oath before he took it And his doubt was whether if a Woman would not come with him into Canaan he should be bound to go again a second time and carry Isaac to her Ver. 6. Beware that thou bring not my Son thither again He would by no means his Son should go to that Country which God commanded him to forsake That Command obliging not only himself but his Posterity See Verse 8. Ver. 7. The LORD God of Heaven c. He who Rules all things above as well as below who brought me from my own into this Country and hath promised and confirmed that Promise with an Oath that my Posterity shall inherit it will prosper thy Journey and dispose some of my Kindred to come hither and be married to my Son Send his Angel before thee Good Men were ever very sensible of God's Providence governing all things and prospering their proceedings by the Ministry of Angels Which Abraham's Servant takes particular notice of verse 40. Ver. 8. And if the Woman will not be willing to follow thee c. If it fall out otherways than I hope thou hast done thy Duty If thou bring not my Son into that Country again He speaks both here and verse 6. as if Isaac had once been there Because Abraham himself came from thence and this Servant also and a great many of his Family XII 5. who if Isaac went to settle there must have gone with him as part of his Substance Ver. 10. And the Servant took ten Camels c. Camels were of great use in those Countries as they are at this day Some of them being made for carriage of Burdens and others for swift travelling which latter sort were called by a peculiar Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dromedaries as Salmasius observes in his Plinian Exercit p. 987. These perhaps were of that kind for the greater expedition Like those we read of 1 Sam. XXX 17. For all the Goods of his Master were in his Hands He might chuse what Accommodations he pleased for his Journey having every thing belonging to his Master at his command Who being a great Person it was fit his principal Servant should be well attended as it appears he was verse 32. especially when he went upon such an â—…rand as to court a Wife for his Master's Son Most referr this to the Presents he carried along with him And R. Solomon will have it that he carried a Writing with him under his Master's Hand an Inventory we call it specifying all his Goods and Riches that they might know what a great Match his Son was City of Nahor Which was Haran from whence Abraham came XI 31. and to which Jacob went to find his Kindred XXVIII 10. How far it was thither we are not told nor how long they were going to it And Moses omits also whatsoever passed in the way as not pertinent to his Story Ver. 11. Camels kneel down The Posture wherein they rest themselves Ver. 12. O LORD God of my Master Abraham c. He had observed the Kindness of God to have been so great to Abraham and Abraham to have such a peculiar Interest in his Favour that in confidence he would make good Abraham's words verse 7. 40. he not only begs he might have good success in his Journey but desires a sign of it to confirm his Faith and such a sign as was most apposite to denote the Person that would make a good Wife by her Courtesie Humility Condescention Hospitality prompt and laborious Charity All which are included in what he desires and she did Ver. 14. Thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness to my Master He had no Confidence that God would do any thing for his own sake but for his Master 's whom God had most wonderfully blessed Ver. 15. And it came to pass before he had done speaking c. This shows it was by a Divine Suggestion that he made this Prayer which was answered immediately Such is the Divine Goodness or rather to use the words of Sam. Bochartus upon occasion of many such Instances Sic enim parata obvia esse solent Dei beneficia ita ut preces nostras non tam sequantur quam occupent alque antecedant P. I. Hierozoic L. 2. cap. 49. So forward is God to bestow his Benefits upon us that they do not so much follow our Prayers as prevent and go before them See Verse 45. With her Pitcher upon her Shoulder Behold the Simplicity Frugality and Industry of that Age. Ver. 20. Drew for all his Camels There were ten of them verse 10. and they are a very thirsty sort of Creatures And therefore she took a great deal of Pains to serve him who was but a stranger in this manner Which showed extraordinary Goodness and a most obliging Disposition at which he might well be amazed as it follows in the next Verse Ver. 21. Wondring at her held his peace c. He was so astonish'd at her Kindness readiness to do Good and laborious Diligence c. and also at the Providence of God in making things fall out so pat to his Desires that for the present he could not speak Having his Mind imploy'd in marking and observing every Passage whereby he might judge how to conclude whether this was the Woman or no whom God designed for his Master's Son Ver. 22. The Man took Gave her as the Phrase is often used But he first asked her whose Daughter she was as appears from verse 47. A golden Ear-ring Or rather as the Margin hath it a Jewel for the Forehead And so we translate the Hebrew word Ezek. XVI 12. and this Person himself expounds it verse 47. I put the Ear-ring or Jewel upon her Face i. e. her Forehead For such Ornaments were used in those Times and Countries hanging down between the Eye-brows over the Nose Two Bracelets for her Hands i. e. Wrests Ver. 26. Bowed his Head and worshipped the LORD
Years to make up the Sence Which some think rather to be this That he was satisfied and had enough of this World desiring to live no longer Like that Expression in Seneca Epist LXI Vixi Lucili charissime quantum satis est mortem plenus expecto Gathered to his People It doth not relate to his Body which was not buried with them and therefore must relate to his Soul which is supposed by this still to live in that place where his pious Fore-fathers were gone Or else it is an Hebrew Idiotism signifying no more but that he left this World as all his Fathers had done before him Ver. 9. His Sons Isaac and Ishmael c. By this it appears that Isaac and Ishmael were not strangers one to another Nay some of the Orientals tell us that Abraham went to see Ishmael at his House and that Ishmael came to see him after he was sent away Which is not at all improbable For no doubt Abraham provided for him suitable to the Condition of his Birth And Ishmael could not but be convinced that the Inheritance of his Father belonged of right to Isaac who was the Son of a Free-Woman and he only of a Bond-Woman Nor could he well be ignorant that Isaac was to be Heir of Abraham's Estate by God's Designation In the Field of Ephron c. See XXIII 17. Ver. 11. Isaac dwelt by the Well Lahai-roi He continued after Abraham's death his former Habitation which he had when he married XXIV 62. Ver. 12. Now these are the Generations of Ishmael c. Having mentioned the Blessing of God which went along with Isaac after his Father's death in the foregoing Verse he takes this occasion to show that God was not unmindful of his Promise made to Abraham concerning Ishmael also XVII 20. Ver. 13. Nebaioth As he was the first-born of Ishmael so his Posterity gave the denomination to the whole Country of Arabia Petraea in the best part of which see verse 3. they inhabited which Pliny Strabo and Ptolomy call Nabataea and sometimes other Authors call Nabathis As the Inhabitants were called Nabataei who are mentioned also by Dionysius Periegetes in his Description of the World and by Plutarch in the Life of Demetrius who he saith was sent to subdue the Arabs called Nabataei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he was in great danger to perish by falling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into places where there was no Water These are commonly called in Scripture Ishmaelites as if they had been the sole Heirs of their Progenitor And they dwelt near to the Midianites their half Brethren for in the Story of Joseph he is said in one place to be sold unto the Ishmaelites in another to the Midianites Gen. XXXVII 27 28 36. they being Neighbours and Co-partners in Traffick The Country of Moab also was near to these Nabataei as appears from Epiphanius Haeres LIII where speaking of the Countries that lay beyond the Dead-Sea he mentions this which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Region of Nebaioth Ituraea and Moabitis See Salmasius Plin. Exercit. p. 615. Kedar His Posterity called Kedareni were also seated in Arabia Petraea together with their elder Brother And their Name also was so famous that some Authors call the whole Country Kedar For the Language of Kedar is the Arabian Language And when David complains that he had dwelt long in the Tents of Kedar the Chaldee expounds it in the dwelling of the Arabians But those Arabians called Scenitae were properly the People of Kedar And yet not all the Scenitae i. e. all the Arabs who dwelt in Tents but those only who dwelt in Arabia Petraea For there were divers kinds of them all called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some near Euphrates others in Arabia Foelix c. as Salmasius shows in his Plin. Exercit. p. 484. Some take them to be the same with those whom Ptolomy calls Pharanitae For what the Psalmist calls dwelling among the Tents of Kedar is called 1 Sam. XXVI 1. dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran Pliny only says Pharanitis bordered upon the Arabs in or a contermina gentis Arabiae and so later Writers make Pharan and Arabia Petraea to be near Neighbours as the same Salmasius shows p. 485. Ver. 14. Dumah He seems by Isaiah XXI 11. to have been seated near Idumaea Ver. 15. Hadar Some think the Athritae in Arabia Foelix came from him In which likewise there was a City called Tema from the next Son of Ishmael And Jetur the next Son to him may well be thought to have been the Father of the Ituraei in Coelo-Syria And Kedemah the last of his Sons to have dwelt near his Brother Kedar For so Jacobus Capellus expounds those words Jer. XLIX 28. Go up to Kedar and spoil the Men of Kedem which we translate the Men of the East And there are some other People in those Countries whose Names sound something like the rest of the Sons of Ishmael but not so like as these I have mentioned Which makes me omit all further search after them enough having been said to show the truth of this Account which Moses gives us of Ishmael's Posterity Ver. 16. These are their Names by their Towns Though some of them dwelt in Tents and thence were called Scenitae Arabes yet they did not live so scatteringly but pitched them together and made a Town And their Castles They had even then Places of Defence Which may make it probable that they had also walled Towns to which they resorted from their Tents in the Fields when they were in any danger Isai XLII 11. For it must be here noted That as there were divers People of this Name of Scenitae Arabes so there was this difference among them as Salmasius observes in the fore-named place that some of them were Nomades who wandred from place to place others of them were not Particularly the Sabaean Scenitae and most of the rest dwelt in Tents but were fixed in their Habitations and did not remove from one place to another As those that dwelt in Mesopotamia did who were both Scenitae and also Nomades They therefore who were setled in Tents as the Sons of Ishmael were had reason to build Fortresses for the security of their slender Habitations Twelve Princes according to their Nations Or rather as Dr. Jackson well glosses Book I. on the Creed c. 25. twelve Heads of so many several Houses Tribes or Clans Which kind of Government they continued till four hundred Years after Christ and is better expressed by Heathen Writers than by many Christian Interpreters when they call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers of their Tribes as Strabo speaks L. XVI in his Description of Syria And so the later Writers speak of the Saracens who were the same People formerly called Scenitae Arabes whose Governors they called Phylarchi Saracenorum as may be seen in Sextus Rufus and Jornandes See Salmas as before p. 484 485. Ver. 17. Gathered unto his People The same
Head but all over his Body Like an hairy Garment As rough as Hair-Cloth Just as the Poets describe Satyrs He was hirsutus not only hairy all over but those Hairs as stiff as Bristles arguing great strength of Body And a rough fierce Temper They called his Name Esau Which signifying made in Hebrew this is commonly taken for the reason of his Name that he was as full of Hairs when he was born as others are at Man's estate But I think it may as well denote his active Genius which they thought this presaged Ver. 26. Jacob. He certainly had his Name from his taking his Brother by the Heel at his birth As if he would supplant him as he afterwards did Was threescore Years old God exercised Isaac's Faith and Patience just as he had done Abraham's for the space of twenty Years before he gave him a Child For he was forty Years old when he married verse 20. and now sixty Ver. 27. A cunning Hunter Had great skill in Hunting in which his active genius delighted A Man of the Field That took pleasure to be abroad pursuing wild Beasts in Woods and Mountains Where afterwards he had his habitation A plain Man dwelling in Tents He loved not violent Exercise but kept at home or lookt after the Flocks of Sheep and the breed of Cattle Ver. 28. And Isaac loved Esau c. Not only because he was his First-born and because his love of Hunting argued him to be a Man of great Activity and Valour who was likely to prove a great Person But because he also took care frequently to entertain his Father with Venison which was of divers sorts and afforded him such variety at his Table as gave his Father frequent occasion to commend him But Rebekah loved Jacob. Being a Man of a more meek and quiet Temper suitable to her own Disposition and more at home also with her than Esau was and designed by God to inherit the Promise verse 23. It is likely Esau made great court as we speak to his Father and Jacob to his Mother Whereby they won their Affection Ver. 29. He was faint With too violent and long pursuit of his Sports Ver. 30 Feed me I pray thee with that same red c. It was made of Lentiles as we learn from the last Verse of this Chapter And St. Austin upon Psalm XLVI saith they were Egyptian Lentiles which were in great esteem and much commended by Athenaeus and A. Gellius And gave the Pottage it is probable a red tincture Some think Esau did not know what it was and therefore calls it only by its colour asking for that red that same red as it is in the Hebrew Therefore was his Name called Edom. This repeated eager desire of he knew not what for which he sold his Birth-right gave him the Name of Edom Which signifies red Whence the City which he built and the whole Country his Posterity inhabited was called by the same Name and by the Greeks Idumaea bordering toward the South upon Judaea Arabia and Egypt Ver. 31. Sell me this day thy Birth-right The eldest Son had several Privileges belonging to him above the rest The chief of which was to have a double Portion of his Father's Estate As for the right of Priesthood there are many reasons to prove it did not belong thereunto But whatsoever they were Jacob cunningly made an Advantage of Esau's Necessity to purchase them all for a small matter In which some think he did not amiss About which I shall not dispute Ver. 32. What profit shall this Birth-right do to me He speaks very slightly if not contemptuously of it Preferring the present satisfaction of his Appetite before his future Dignity and Greatness For some are of Opinion he pretended to be fainter than really he was out of a vehement longing for the Pottage which perhaps was a rarety Ver. 33. Swear to me this day That I shall peaceably enjoy the Prerogative of the Birth-right Esau seems to have been very violent in all things and to have pursued this as eagerly as he did his Sports Jacob on the contrary very sedate and crafty to make the best use of the Opportunities he met with to promote his Ends. Ver. 34. Rose up and went his way Well satisfied and without any trouble for what he had done Which the Apostle censures as a piece of Prophaneness Parents being wont to give a special Blessing to their First-born Despised his Birth-right He thought perhaps he could recover that by Force which he had lost by his Brother's Craft CHAP. XXVI Ver. 1. AND there was a famine in the Land c. Such a scarcity of Provisions as were in Abraham's days XII 10. when he was newly come into Canaan hapned again in the days of Isaac And Isaac went It is not said from whence he went But it is probable after the death of Abraham he went and dwelt where his Father had often done at Mamre near Hebron For he was not now at Beersheba or the Well Lahai-roi which was the last place of his habitation that we read of XXV 11. for that was in this very Country of Gerar to which he now went Vnto Abimelech The Son it is most likely of him to whom Abraham went For he is not to be thought the same it being an hundred Years since that time And all the Kings of that Country were for many Ages called by the Name of Abimelech as appears from the Story of David Who fled to one of that Name called Achish in 1 Sam. XXI 10. but Abimelech in the Title of the XXXIV Psalm See Gen. XX. 2. Ver. 2. And or for the LORD appeared to him He intended to have gone into Egypt as Abraham his Father had done in the like Case XII 10. But God forbad him appearing to him either in a Vision or a Dream or as the Glory of the LORD appeared afterward to Moses and the Congregation of Israel upon several occasions and directed him to stay in this Country which was in the way to Egypt Where he promises to provide for him Though Egypt was a most plentiful Country yet the King of it at this time was not so good a Man perhaps as him that reigned in the Days of Abraham Ver. 3. Sojourn in this Land c. He not only promises to take care of him at present during the Famine But renews the Promises made to Abraham his Father at sundry times and in divers places XII 3. XV. 5. XVII 2 8. and at last confirmed by an Oath XXII 16 17. I will be with thee and bless thee These and such like words Maimonides shows express a special Providence over those to whom they are spoken and over all belonging to them More Nevoch Par. III. cap. 18. Vnto thy Seed will I give all these Countries Which he repeats again in the next Verse having mentioned the vast multiplication of his Seed Ver. 4. In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be
was a noble Employment in those Days to keep Sheep Whence God himself hath the Name of the Shepherd of Israel She had those under her we are to suppose who took the greatest Pains about them but she was the Chief Shepherdess who inspected them all Ver. 10. Went near and rolled the Stone He was stronger or more dextrous at such things than any Body there Or the meaning is he assisted in this Work and perhaps was the first that set to his Hand about Ver. 11. Jacob kissed Rachel Having told her who he was and satisfied her of the Truth of it then after the Custom used among near Relations at their first meeting he saluted her And that with more than ordinary Affection for he wept for Joy to see her Laban in like manner kissed him Ver. 12. Her Father's Brother So all near Relations are called verse 15. Ver. 13. He told Laban all these things Which are mentioned in the fore-going and this Chapter The reason of his coming from home God's Providence over him in his Journey and his happy meeting with Rachel Ver. 14. Surely thou art my Bone and my Flesh So very near of Kin to me that I can deny thee nothing Ver. 15. Because thou art Or as de Dieu translates the word Haci and gives many Instances of it Art thou not my Brother Is it fit then that thou shouldst serve me for nothing Ver. 17. Leah was tender-eyed Some translate it had delicate Eyes So the Chaldee And then the meaning is All her Beauty lay in her Eyes Beautiful and well-favoured Was every way amiable Being well shaped having good Features and a fine Complexion Ver. 18. I will serve thee seven Years for Rachel c. He had not brought Money enough with him to purchase a Wife as the manner was in those Days and therefore offers his Service for seven Years instead of it Ver. 19. It is better that I give her thee c. He seems to answer cunningly And yet one cannot but take it for a Contract as it appears to have been by verse 21. Ver. 20. They seemed unto him but a few Days He valued Rachel so much that the Price at which he purchased her seemed inconsiderable Ver. 21. Give me my Wife So she had been by Contract ever since it was made verse 19. and he doth not now demand that he might have her to Wife but that he might enjoy her Being already his Wife by that solemn Agreement made seven Years ago Ver. 22. Laban gathered together the Men of the place All such private Contracts were compleated by the Elders or Governors of the Place in the presence of all the People We had an Instance of this before in Abraham's purchase of a Sepulchre for his Family XXIII 11 18. Which was a Sacred and Religious thing as well as the Rites of Marriage and therefore both of them Publici Juris as Cornel. Bertram speaks part of the Publick Care Ver. 23. In the Evening At Bed-time Brought her to him The Modesty of those Times made them bring the Bride to her Husband's Bed veiled and without lights So that it was the easier for Laban to deceive Jacob by bringing Leah to him Whom he could not hope so readily to dispose in Marriage as Rachel because she was homely Ver. 24. Gave unto his Daughter Zilpah his Maid c. A very poor Portion Yet all that he gave to Rachel afterward verse 29. which made them say That he used them as Strangers not as his Children putting them off without any Portion XXXI 14 15. Ver. 26. It must not be so done in our Country c. We do not read of any such ancient Custom And therefore this seems a mere shift or a jest Or if it had been true he should have told it Jacob before-hand Ver. 27. Fulfil her week c. Perfect this Marriage with Leah by keeping a seven Days Feast as the Custom was and then thou shalt have Rachel also For he doth not speak of a Week of Years but of Days as Mr. Selden shows out of many Authors L. V. de Jure N. G. cap. 5. where he hath this plain Commentary upon these words Marriages are to be celebrated according to Custom by a seven Day 's Feast Compleat this Marriage thou hast begun with Leah and then upon Condition of another seven Years Service thou shalt marry Rachel also and keep her Wedding-Feast seven Days Ver. 30. And served with him yet other seven Years After he had solemnly married Rachel and bedded her as we speak for that he did seven Days after his Marriage with Leah was accomplished So this Verse begins And he went in also unto Rachel and then began his other seven Years Service There was no positive Law as yet against such Marriages as this with two Sisters which were afterwards expresly condemned But at present indulged as the Marriage of a Man 's own Sister was in the beginning of the World Whence that saying of the Jews in the Gemara Hierosol upon the Title Sanhedrim The World was built by Indulgence And Jacob it is very likely thought there was an unavoidable necessity for his marrying these two Sisters For Rachel was his true Wife Leah being imposed upon him by a Cheat. But having known her he concluded he could not honestly leave her no more than he could Rachel to whom he was first contracted Ver. 31. Leah was hated Comparatively not absolutely For Leah having joyned with her Father to deceive him he could not love her so well as Rachel to whom he had engaged his first Affection Ver. 32. Reuben The Name of this Son and of all the rest that follow are derived from the Hebrew Tongue Which shows that Laban's Family spake the same Language with Abraham's with some little variation as appears afterward XXXI 47. CHAP. XXX Ver. 1. ENvied her Sister Was so grieved that it made her fret into Impatience and Rage For it is a frantick Speech which follows Give me Children or I die I shall make my self away as we now speak or die with Grief See here the great danger of two eager and impatient Desires The fulfilling of which was her death indeed Ver. 2. Jacob's Anger was kindled He conceived a just Indignation against her Impatience which he expresses with some heat Am I in God's stead c. Is it in my Power to give what God thinks fit to deny Thus he puts her in mind of what the Psalmist said afterward Children are a gift that cometh of the LORD as the old Translation hath it CXXVII 3. Ver. 3. Behold my Maid Bilhah go in unto her She followed the steps of Sarah Jacob's Grand-Mother XVI 1. in adopting the Son of her Maid-Servant Whom she gave to Jacob out of the same Principle that Sarah gave Hagar to be Abraham's Wife a vehement Desire to fulfill the Promise that their Seed should be as the Stars of Heaven and especially the Promise of the Messiah which made them
respect to the Cattle and Children More Nevoch P. I. cap. 28. Or because of the Cattle c. that they may not be over-driven Vntil I come to my Lord unto Seir. Moses omits this Journey to Seir as he doth his Visit to his Father Which one cannot think he deferred for so many Years as were between his return to Canaan and the mention of his coming to Mamre XXXV 27. Or Jacob was hindred perhaps by something which he could not foresee from performing this Promise to his Brother Of which no doubt he gave him an account that he might not be thought to break his word Ver. 15. Let me now leave with thee c. He would have left some of his Followers with Jacob to show him the way and to be a Guard to him or honourably attend him Let me find grace in the sight of my Lord. In this also be so kind as to gratifie my desire XXXIV 11. Ver. 16. Esau returned that day The same Day they met together because he would not be a burden to Jacob. Ver. 17. Journeyed to Succoth After he had been with his Brother in Seir if he did follow him thither as it is likely he did though not here mentioned No more than the Entertainment he gave him and such like things which one cannot think were wanting at this meeting Built him an House Intending to make some stay in this place Ver. 18. And Jacob came to Shalem a City of Schechem Or he came safe and sound so the Hebrews generally understand the word Shalem to that City called Schechem And it may referr either to the soundness of his Leg which was perfectly well so that he halted no longer Or to the safety of his Person in that he was not at all hurt by Esau Or rather to the safety of every thing he had no evil accident having befallen him of any sort since he left Laban Which is the rather now mentioned because in the next Chapter Moses gives a relation of a very sad misfortune which befel his Family When he came from Padan-Aram Some think this needed not to have been added Whereas it expresses more fully what was said before that he came safe all the way from thence hither And pitched his Tent before the City Because it was the Sabbath-Day saith Menasseh ben Israel out of the Hebrew Doctors Probl. VIII de Creatione which made him stop and rest here and not enter the City till it was ended But this is a mere fancy for the Rest from all Labours on this Day was not commanded to be observed till they came out of Egypt And the true reason of pitching his Tent here was for the convenience of Pasturage Ver. 19. And he bought a parcel of a Field He made a small Purchace that he might be the less imposed upon by the Inhabitants of that Country Who had disturbed Abraham and Isaac about the Wells they digged in the Ground they hired of them For an hundred pieces of Money The Margin hath an hundred Lambs But this is the right Translation it appears from Act. VII 16. And Bochart hath taken a great deal of Pains to show that Resita doth not signifie a Lamb but some sort of Money Though of what value is uncertain P. I. Hierozoic Lib. I. cap. 2. and Lib. II. cap. 43. For a great while before this time money was in use with which they trafficked and not by exchanging one Commodity for another See XXIII 16. Ver. 20. Called it El-Elohe-Israel This Altar is dedicated to God the God of Israel who had delivered him from Laban and Esau and lately honoured him with a new Name importing his great Power with him CHAP. XXXIV Ver. 1. WEnt out From her Mother's Tent which was without the City XXXIII 18. To see the Daughters of the Land Into the City of Shechem to look about her with the young Women as the Hebrew word imports who as Josephus relates celebrated a Festival at this time where some fine Spectacles were presented Ver. 2. And when Shechem From whom the City perhaps had its Name Prince of the Country Or one of the Prime Nobility of the Country verse 19. Took her c. By force as both the Targum's and many others understand it and ravished her From whence we learn that this was done some Years after Jacob's return into Canaan For then Dinah was not much older than Joseph and now we must suppose her at least fifteen And indeed the bloody Fact of her Brethren shows as much who must be grown up to be Men Which they were not when Jacob returned to Canaan the eldest of them being then scarce a stripling of fourteen Years old Ver. 3. His Soul clave unto Dinah He could think of nothing else but her For he loved her extreamly as it follows in the next words Spake kindly to the Damsel Courted her to marry him with such professions of sincere Affection as might gain her Heart notwithstanding the Injury he had done her Ver. 4. Get me this Damsel to Wife Treat with her Father about our Marriage Ver. 5. And Jacob heard c. By some of Dinah's Servants or Companions for it is not to be thought that she went out alone Now his Sons were with the Cattle in the Field Which he had lately purchased XXXIII 19. or in some hired Ground remote from the City Held his peace c. Took no notice of what he heard till he could have their Advice and Assistance Ver. 6. And Hamor went out Of the City to treat with Jacob in his Tent XXXIII 18. Ver. 7. And the Sons of Jacob c. As they were treating in came Jacob's Sons Who hearing how their Sister had been abused were very much afflicted and no less angry Wrought folly in Israel Or against Israel Committed a Wickedness highly to the disgrace and injury of Israel's Family Which thing ought not to be done Contrary to the Law of Nations That a Virgin should be violated without Punishment So Rasi Ver. 8. Hamor communed with them With the whole Family Jacob Leah and Dinah's Brethren Longeth Is extreamly in Love For your Daughter The Daughter of Jacob and Leah unto whom he speaks in the presence of her Brethren Ver. 9. And make ye marriages with us c. Become one People with us verse 16. Ver. 10. And ye shall dwell with us Settle your selves among us And the Land shall be before you In any part of our Country Dwell ye He repeats it again to beget in them a confidence of a Settlement among them in the injoyment of all their Rights and Privileges as much as if they had been Natives And trade ye Exercise what Traffick you please up and down the Country without any lett or impediment And get you possessions therein Purchace Land Ver. 11. Let me find grace in your Eyes Grant this Petition which my Father makes in my behalf XXXIII 15. And what ye shall say unto me c. Make your own Terms
was desirous to live with his Wives who were her Country-Women And that her death is here mentioned though we read nothing of Rebekah's to give an account how this Oak came by the Name of Allon-Bacuth in after-times Vnder an Oak There were many about Bethel Near to which there was a Wood or Forest out of which the Bears came who devoured the Children that cursed Elisha 2 Kings II. 23. And under an Oak also the old Prophet Found the Man of God sitting as he went from Bethel 1 Kings XIII 14. Ver. 9. And God appeared unto Jacob again c. The SCHECHINAH or Divine Majesty who bad him go to Bethel verse 1. appeared to him when he came there in a most glorious manner As he had done when he lodged there in his Journey to Padan-Aram XXVIII 13. Ver. 10. Israel shall be thy Name This is a far more honourable Name than that of Jacob And therefore by it thou shalt be commonly called For the Name of Jacob was given him from the supplanting of his Brother and getting the advantage of him But this of Israel from his prevalence over the Angel of God And he called his Name Israel He solemnly confirmed that Name which was given him before by his Angel XXXII 28. This seems to me to prove That it was no more than an Angel who wrestled with Jacob and told him his Name should be changed For if it had been God himself Jacob was as much satisfied then as he could be now that Israel should be his Name But I take it God reserved the declaration of it from his own Mouth till this time When he ratified what he had before spoken by his Angel And thus I find since I noted this St. Hierom understood this Passage Whose words are these Dudum nequaquam ei nomen ab Angelo imponitur c. This Name was not heretofore imposed on him by the Angel who only foretold that God would impose it on him That therefore which was there promised should be we are here taught was fulfilled Ver. 11. I am God Almighty c. Here God renews his Promise to him as he had often done to Abraham He had first blessed him by Isaac XXVIII 3. when he sent him from home Then he himself blessed him when he appeared to him the first Night of his Journey verse 13. of that Chapter And now again when he was come back to the very same place where he blessed him before And he speaks to him by the Name of El-Shaddai i. e. God All-sufficient The very same whereby his Father had blessed him XXVIII 3. and whereby God blessed Abraham XVII 1. Ver. 13. And God went up from him It is evident by this that a visible Majesty or Glory appeared to him at this time From whence the foregoing words were spoken to him Which being done it went up towards Heaven In the Hebrew the words are went up from upon him or over him and the very same is said of Abraham XVII 22. as if the SCHECHINAH appeared over his Head in great Lustre whilst he perhaps lay prostrate upon the Ground Ver. 14. Set up a Pillar in that place To be a Monument of the Divine Goodness Who there appeared to him and made him such gracious Promises as those before-mentioned verse 11 12. And to serve for an Altar whereon to offer Sacrifice For so the word Matzebah signifies Hosea III. 4. And therefore Isaiah seems to make an Altar and a Pillar the same thing XIX 19. Poured a drink-offering thereon To consecrate it unto the Solemn Service of God For which end he poured Oil upon it as he had done upon the Stone XXVIII 18. which in all likelihood was a principal part of this Pillar And having done all this we are to suppose he not only offered Sacrifice but paid the Tenth of all that God had given him according to his Vow XXVIII ult Ver. 15. Called the Name of the place Or rather of that place that famous Place which God had made so remarkable by his Goodness to him For the Hebrews not without Reason make the He before Makom to add an Emphasis to that word Bethel i. e. The House of God So he said he would make this Place XXVIII 22. and now he is as good as his Word by renewing the Name he had given it thirty Years before when he first went into Mesopotamia Ver. 16. And there was but a little way to come to Ephrath When they were come within a little of Ephrath The Hebrew word for a little is Chibrath Whose precise signification is uncertain Benjamin Tudelensis saith this Place was within half a Mile and a little more of Ephrath See his Itinerar p. 47. and Const L' Empereur on the Place p. 176. Ver. 17. Fear not Thou shalt have this Son also The Midwife seems to comfort Rachel with her own Prediction XXX 24. Ver. 18. She called his Name Ben-oni Rachel seems to give her former Hopes of a second Son for lost at least she expected no Comfort from him Being ready to expire And therefore she called him a Son of Sorrow His birth being her death But his Father called him Benjamin To comfort Rachel in her Sorrow and to avert the sinister Omen Jacob immediately changed his Name into Benjamin signifying The Son of his Right-hand or of his Strength as it is commonly interpreted Though others will have it The Son of Years i. e. of his old Age or putting both together the support and stay of his old Age. Names are oft-times strangely adapted to things and the Presages of Parents have anciently been observed to be fulfilled Heu nunquam vana parentum Auguria Which is in no Instance more verified than in this Child of Jacob's Who did not bear either of these Names for nought There being two very different Fates of his Posterity as Dr. Jackson observes in a Discourse of his upon St. Matth. II. 17 18. answerable to the contrary importance of the Names given him by his Father and his Mother No Tribe in Israel more Valorous yet none so subject to sorrowful Disasters as this Tribe of Benjamin It was almost extirpated in the time of the Judges XX. 35 c. and yet before the conclusion of that Age Benjamin became the Head of his Brethren The first King of Israel being chosen out of that late desolate Tribe And though that King proved at last but a Ben-oni yet this Tribe stuck close to Judah when all the rest revolted to his Brother Joseph Ver. 20. Jacob set a Pillar upon her Grave After that Law was made Deut. XVI 22. against erecting Pillars the Jews did not think all Pillars unlawful but only those for Superstitious uses Not those which were in Memory of some thing as Maimonides his words are L. de Idolol cap. 6. Ver. 21. And Israel journeyed This is the first time that Moses calls him Israel after this Name was given him by God Which he repeats twice in the next Verse
only in the Land of Seir or barely in Seir to which he invited Jacob at his return XXXII 3. XXXIII 14 16. This Mountainous Country which was richer than the other he got into his possession after that time Esau is Edom. The Father of the Edomites as it follows verse 9. Ver. 12. She bare to Eliphaz Amalek This was necessary to be set down as I observed on verse 1. that there might be a distinction between the Amalekites who were to be destroyed and the rest of the Posterity of Esau Concerning whom it is said Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite because he is thy Brother Deut. XXIII 7. Thus Joseph Albo. For though they made a distinct People from the Edomites and lived in a neighbouring Country yet they possessed that part of Mount Seir which was near Kadesh Barnea as may be gathered from Numb XIII 29. and XIV 43. Ver. 15. These were Dukes The word Allouphe if we may believe R. Solomon Jarchi signifies Heads Chiefs or Rulers of Families Who may be called Princes though their Government was not yet Regal but a kind of Aristocracy in the beginning Ver. 16. Duke Korah He is not reckon'd among the Sons of Eliphaz verse 11. but called the Son of Aholibamah verse 14. and accordingly said to Rule over a Family descended from hers verse 18. We must suppose therefore there were two Korah's one the Son of Aholibamah the other a Nephew of Eliphaz by some of his Sons or Grand-Sons Who came to be a great Ruler and to get the Government of some of these Families And according to the Style of Scripture is reckoned for Eliphaz his Son Ver. 20. These are the Sons of Seir the Horite From this Seir the Country had its Name But from whom he descended is not recorded Who inhabited the Land Who were the ancient Inhabitants of this Country before Esau conquered it And perhaps were the first that possessed it after the Flood Whose Genealogy I suppose is here mentioned because Esau's Posterity married with some of them Particularly his eldest Son Eliphaz took Timna Sister of Lotan one of Seir's Sons for his Concubine verse 22. Yea Esau himself seems to have married one of this Family viz. Aholibamah Whose Father and Uncle are said to be Hivites verse 2. but here plainly called Horites Being descended from Seir the Horite though dwelling then among the Hivites Ver. 21. These are the Dukes of the Horites The Heads of their Families who governed the Country before Esau and his Posterity dispossessed them And setled themselves in the same form of Government which they found among these Horites In the Land of Edom. So it was called in the days of Moses Ver. 24. This is that Anah who found the Mules in the wilderness Not by Accident but by his Art and Industry he invented as we speak this mixture and produced this new kind of Creature So it is commonly interpreted But the word found though used four hundred times in Scripture never signifies as Bochart hath observed P. I. Hierozoic Lib. II. cap. 21. the Invention of that which was not before but the finding that which already is in being Nor doth Jemim signifie Asses in Scripture And therefore others have read the Hebrew word as if it had been written Jamim as St. Hierom observes imagining that as Anah fed his Father's Asses he found a great collection of Waters See Vossius L. III. de Idolol cap. 75. which some fansie to have been hot Waters or Baths as the Vulgar Latin interprets it But then we must read the Hebrew quite otherwise than we do now And Bochart gives other Reasons against this Interpretation and endeavours to establish another Opinion That by Jemim we are to understand Emim a Gigantick sort of People mentioned in Scripture and next Neighbours to the Horites These Anah is said to find i. e. to meet withall and incounter or rather to have fall'n upon on a sudden and unexpectedly as this Phrase he shows signifies in Scripture This Opinion he hath confirmed with a great many Reasons to which another late learned Writer Wagenseil thinks an Answer may be given Though he inclines to it if one thing were not in the way which makes him think here is rather meant some Herb or Plant called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word the LXX retains not knowing how to translate it And thus Aben-Ezra affirms many Interpreters of the Scripture have understood it Which seems to be the most probable Conjecture of all others See Wagenseil in his Annot. upon that Title of the Talmud called Sota p. 217 218 c. As he fed the Asses of Zibeon his Father The Sons of Princes were wont to follow this Imployment in ancient Times as Bochart shows out of many Authors Particularly the Scholiast upon Homer's Odysses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierozoic P. I. L. II. cap. 44. Ver. 28. The Children of Dishan are these Vz c. From this Man the whole Country or a great part of it is called by the Name of Vz Lament IV. 21. which was in Arabia Petraea in the Borders of the Land of Canaan Ver. 30. These are the Dukes that came of Hori This Hori was the Ancestor of Seir by whom this Country was first planted Among their Dukes Or according to their Families or Principalities Ver. 31. And these are the Kings that reigned in the Land of Edom. It appears by this that after several Dukes as we translate it had ruled the Country the Edomites changed their Government into a Monarchy And here follows a Catalogue of their Kings For I can find no ground for the Opinion of the Hebrew Doctors that Alluph a Duke differed in nothing from Melech a King but that the latter was crowned the former not crowned Before there reigned any King over the Children of Israel Moses having a little before this XXXV 11. mentioned the Promise of God to Jacob That Kings should come out of his Loins observes it as a thing remarkable being a great exercise of their Faith that Esau's Posterity should have so many Kings And there was as yet no King in Israel when he wrote this Book nor as it is commonly interpreted a long time after This Moses might well write without a Spirit of Prophecy nor is there any reason to say this Passage was inserted by some Body else after the death of Moses We might rather affirm if it were needful that Moses his meaning is All these were Kings in Edom before his own time Who was the first King in Israel Deut. XXXIII 5. For he truly exercised Royal Authority over them as Mr. Selden observes L. II. de Synedr cap. 1 2. Ver. 32. The name of his City was Dinhabah Of which he was Governor perhaps before he was made King and wherein he reigned Ver. 33. Of Bozrah Which was afterward the principal City of the whole Country as we read in the Prophet Isaiah XXXIV 6. and Jeremiah XLIX 3. and Amos I. 12. It seems by
this List of their Kings that the Kingdom at this time was Elective for the Father did not succeed the Son Which may have been the reason perhaps why it lasted but a while before their Government was altered again verse 40. Maimonides hath an Opinion different from all others that none of these Kings were of the Race of Esau but strangers who oppressed the Edomites And are here set down by Moses to admonish the Israelites to observe that Precept Deut. XVII 15. Not to set a stranger to be King over them who is not their Brother i. e. One of their own Nation Ver. 35. Who smote Midian in the Field of Moab The Midianites perhaps came to invade them and Hadad march'd out and met them in the Frontiers of their Country which joyned to that of Moab Where he got a great Victory over them Ver. 37. And Saul of Rehoboth by the River reigned c. If by the River we should understand Euphrates as it usually signifies near to which stood the City of Rehoboth Gen. X. 11. it may seem strange that one should be chosen from so remote a Country to be King of Edom Unless we suppose him to have been born there but to have lived in Edom And by his great Atchievements to have got into the Throne Otherwise we must take this for some other City which stood by the most known River of this Country Ver. 38. Baal-hanan This Name is the reverse as I may call it of Hani-ball Ver. 39. His Wife's name was Mehetabel c. None of their Wives much less their Pedigree are named besides this alone Which shows she was an eminent Woman in those Times and that Country either for Wisdom or Parentage or Estate or some other Excellence Ver. 40. And these are the names of the Dukes that came of Esau They seem now to have returned to their first Constitution and Kings were laid aside for some time But in future Ages we find they changed again and then Kings reigned successively the Son after the Father as they did in Israel Some think these were the great Men who ruled in Edom in Moses his time According to their Families c. They were the Heads of different Families and lived in different Places and perhaps reigned at the same time in several Parts of the Country So the words seem to import Ver. 43. In the Land of their possession In their own Country whilst the Seed of Jacob sojourned in a strange Country and possessed no Land of their own He is Esau c. He ends as he began This is the Account of Esau the Father of the People who are now called Edomites CHAP. XXXVII Ver. 1. AND Jacob dwelt in the Land c. Having given us an Account of Esau's removal to Seir XXXVI 6 7. and of the Prosperity of his Family there He now goes on to tell us that Jacob still continued in the Country where his Father had sojourned in the Land of Canaan Ver. 2. These are the Generations of Jacob. These words are to be connected with the latter end of XXXV 23 24 c. where he relates how many Sons Jacob had and then gives an account of the Family of Esau in the XXXVI Chapter which being ended he returns to finish the History of Jacob. And the Lad was with the Sons of Bilhah c. These words vehu naar signifie he was very young in the simplicity of his Childish Years and come in by way of a Parenthesis in this manner Joseph being seventeen Years old was feeding the Flock with his Brethren and he was but a Youth unexperienced and therefore called a Child verse 30. with the Sons of Bilhah c. Which last words are an explication of the former showing with which of his Brethren he was Not with the Sons of Leah but with the Sons of his Hand-Maids Particularly with Bilhah's whom we may look upon as a Mother to him now Rachel was dead having waited upon her And Zilpah's Sons are also mentioned in the second place as those it is likely who were thought to have less emulation to him than the Sons of Leah But we see by this how much our greatest Prudence often fails For Reuben and Judah the Children of Leah had more Kindness for Joseph than any of the rest Their evil report What evil Lives they led Ver. 3. Because he was the Son of his old age Benjamin was more so than he and the rest were born not many Years before him But he is so called because he had been married a good while to Rachel before he had him And he was the greatest Comfort of his old Age Benjamin not being yet grown up to give any proof of his future worth He made him a Coat of many colours It is commonly thought to signifie a Garment wrought with Threds of divers Colours or made up of pieces of Silk or Stuff which had much variety in them or wrought as some think with Figures of Fruit or other things See Salmasius upon Flav. Vopiscus p. 396. But Braunius de Vestib Sacerd. Hebr. L. I. cap. 17. hath proved I think that the Hebrew word Passim here signifies a long Garment down to the Heels or Ankles and with long Sleeves down to the Wrests Which had a Border at the bottom and a Facing as we speak at the Hands of another Colour different from the Garment See verse 23. Ver. 4. Could not speak peaceably to him In a kind and friendly manner But churlishly and with evident signs of hatred Aben-Ezra fansies they would not so much as salute him or wish him peace as the Phrase then was peace be to thee or ask him how he did as our Custom is Ver. 5. Joseph dreamed a Dream This was usual among the ancient Patriarchs and others also as appears by Elihu Who shows that all Dreams were not Illusions of evil Spirits Job XXXIII 14 15 c. And long before his time Abimelech was warned by God in a Dream Chapter XX. of this Book verse 3 6 7. Upon which Consideration as Dr. Jackson well observes we should not mistrust the Reports of several ancient Historians who tell us how Princes and Fathers of Families have had Fore-warnings of future Events Either concerning themselves their Kingdoms or Posterity Book I. upon the Creed chap. 9. He told his Brethren This argues his great Innocence and Simplicity that he had not yet Understanding enough to consider how ill this Dream might be expounded or not Prudence enough to conceal what might be ill interpreted by them They hated him yet more The first ground of their Hatred was their Father 's great Love to him and then his informing their Father of their bad Behaviour Which was still increased by the fine Clothes his Father bestowed on him and now most of all by this Dream which they interpreted to signifie his Superiority over them Ver. 7. Your Sheaves stood round about and made obeysance c. Or gathered round about mine
And very apt to move Compassion God hath found out the iniquity of thy Servants c. Having made some pause after those words How shall we clear our selves he proceeds to an ingenuous acknowledgment that he and his Brethren had been guilty of many Sins for which God had now brought them hither to suffer the Punishment of them Yet he neither confesses this particular Guilt nor denies it nor excuses it But acknowledging God's Justice casts himself and his Brethren upon Joseph's Mercy Ver. 18. Then Judah came near to him The Equity which appeared in Joseph expressed in the words foregoing emboldned Judah to approach nearer to him For he seems to have spoken the former words as soon as he entred the Room When he and his Brethren cast themselves down on the Ground verse 14. Speak a word in my Lord's Ears Have a favourable Audience for a few words more For he doth not mean to speak to him privately And by a Word he means all the following Speech which he makes as short as it was possible And let not thy Anger burn against thy Servant And be pleased to hear me out with Patience For thou art even as Pharaoh I know before whom I speak And therefore will not impertinently â—…ouble thee But barely lay the state of our Case before thee Ver. 20. A little one So Benjamin was in comparison with themselves He alone is left of his Mother c. We do not read that they had said this to Joseph before but only that the youngest was with their Father XLII 13 32. But no doubt Judah remembers him now of nothing but what had been then delivered but related more briefly than it is here Ver. 27. My Wife bare me two Sons He called Rachel his Wife as if he had no other Because she was the only Person he designed to marry and was by consequence his principal Wife Ver. 30. His life is bound up in the Lad's life It so depends upon the Life of this Son that if he think he be dead he will die with Grief also Ver. 33. Let thy Servant abide instead of the Lad c. It will be the same to thee nay I may be able to do thee more Service and the greatest act of Pity to our aged Father Ver. 34. For how shall I go up to my Father c. I must abide here too if thou wilt not dismiss him For I am not able to see my Father die There is nothing could be said more moving than what is delivered in this Speech of Judah which flowed any one may see from such Natural Passions as no Art can imitate Which makes me wish that they who think these Historical Books of Scripture were written with no other Spirit but that with which honest Men now write the History of their Country or the Lives of any famous Persons would seriously read and consider this Speech of Judah's to Joseph together with the foregoing Dialogue between Jacob and his Sons from the 29th Verse of the XLII Chapter to the 15th of the XLIII and I hope it may make them change their Opinion And be of the Mind of Dr. Jackson B. I. on the Creed cap. 4. That seeing such Passages are related by Men who affect no Art and who lived long after the Parties that first uttered them we cannot conceive how all Particulars could be so naturally and fully recorded unless they had been suggested by his Spirit who gives Mouth and Speech to Men. Who being alike present to all Successions is able to communicate the secret Thoughts of Fore-fathers to their Children and put the very Words of the deceased never registred before into the Mouths or Pens of their Successors for many Generations after And that as exactly and distinctly as if they had been caught in Characters of Steel or Brass as they issued out of their Mouth For it is plain every Circumstance is here related with such natural Specifications as he speaks as if Moses had heard them talk and therefore could not have been thus represented to us unless they had been written by his Direction who knows all things as well forepast as present or to come Philo justly admired this Speech which he hath expressed in an Eloquent Paraphrase And Josephus hath endeavoured to out-do him CHAP. XLV Ver. 1. COuld not refrain himself Tears began to run down his Cheeks or were ready to burst out with such Violence that he could not hinder them Cause every Man to go out from me He would not have the Egyptians to be Witnesses of his Brethrens Guilt nor did it become his Dignity to be seen by them in such a Passion And therefore he commanded those that attended him to leave him alone with his Brethren Ver. 2. He wept aloud Which we express very properly in our Language he cried For Tears having been long suppressed are wont when they break out to be accompanied with some Noise And the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard They whom he sent forth being in the next Room heard him cry And reported what a Passion he was in to the whole Court Ver. 3. I am Joseph This word made them start as appears by the next Verse Doth my Father yet live May I believe what you have told me XLIII 28. He saith not this because he doubted of it But to express his Joy at that good News And they could not answer him Being astonish'd as it follows at his Presence For they could not but reflect upon their cruel usage of him and now saw him in full Power to punish them Ver. 4. Come near to me I pray you This I think signifies that they had started back as Men affrighted And therefore he invites them kindly to approach him I am Joseph your Brother This word Brother added to what he said before verse 3. was a Comfort to them For it showed that his Greatness did not make him forget his Relation Whom you sold into Egypt Nor their Unkindness alienated his Affection from them Ver. 5. Now therefore be not grieved c. Do not afflict your selves too much for your Sin Because God hath turned it into Good God sent me before you c. When you thought only to be rid of me God intended another thing Which is now come to pass For he hath made me an Instrument of preserving all your Lives A most happy Event of a most wicked Deed. Ver. 6. Neither earing nor harvest Or no Ploughing Sowing or Harvest For to what purpose should they sow when they knew if they believed Joseph that nothing would come of it Ver. 7. And God sent me before you c. He repeats what he had said verse 5. concerning the Hand of God in this business That by fixing their Thoughts upon his Providence they might be the less oppressed with the weight of their own Guilt To save your lives by a great deliverance In a wonderful manner Ver. 8. It was not you but God c. He mentions
him here XXI 33. XXVI 23. Vnto the God of his Father Isaac Who was his immediate Ancestor and had conferred the Blessing of Abraham upon him And therefore he mentions him rather than Abraham Ver. 2. In the Visions of the Night See upon XX. 3. Jacob Jacob. He redoubles his Name to awaken his Attention and he calls him Jacob rather than Israel as he is called in the beginning of the Verse to remember him what he was Originally and that by his Favour he was made Israel Ver. 3. Fear not to go down into Egypt He was afraid perhaps that if Joseph should die his Family might be made Slaves For which he had some reason from what was said to Abraham in a like Vision XV. 13. I will make of thee a great Nation He renews the Promise which at the same time was made to Abraham That his Seed should be as numerous as the Stars of Heaven XV. 5. Ver. 4. I will go down with thee c. Take care of thee in thy Journey that no Evil shall befal thee and preserve thee and thy Family there And bring thee up again i. e. His Posterity who should multiply there For the Scripture speaks of Parents and Children as one Person Put his Hands upon thine Eyes Be with thee when thou leavest this World and take care of thy Funeral when thou art dead For this was the first thing that was done when one expired to close his Eyes Which was performed both among Greeks and Romans as many Authors inform us by the nearest Relations or dearest Friends See Mr. Selden L. II. de Synedr cap. 7. n. 12. and Menochius de Repub. Hebr. L. VIII cap. 4. Qu. XI In short by these words God assures him that Joseph should not die while he lived as Mr. Selden observes out of Baal-haturim in his Additions to the fore-named Chapter p. 737. and that he should die in Peace having his Children about him Ver. 7. His Daughters He had but one Daughter and therefore the Plural Number is used for the Singular as verse 23. Sons is put for Son or else he includes his Grand-Daughter who in Scripture-Language is called the Daughter of her Grand-Father But the first seems the truest Account if what is said verse 15. be considered Where the whole Number of his Descendants from Leah being summed up Dinah under the Name of Daughters must be taken in to make up three and thirty reckoning Jacob himself also for one of them Ver. 9. Hanoch From whom came the Family of the Hanochites as we read Numb XXVI 5. Phallu From whom in like manner sprung the Family of the Phalluites as Moses there notes And says the same of the rest of Reuben's Sons that they were the Fathers of Families when they came into Egypt Ver. 10. Jemuel This Son of Simeon is called Nemuel in Numb XXVI 12. and 1 Chron. IV. 24. Ohad He is named among the Sons of Simeon when Moses was sent to bring them out of Egypt Exod. VI. 15. But either he had no Posterity or they were extinct For shortly after there is no mention of him in Numb XXVI 12. Nor is he to be found among his Sons in 1 Chron. IV. 24. Jachin Is called Jarib in 1 Chron. IV. 24. and is thought by some to have been the Grand-Father of Zimri whom Phineas slew in his Fornication with the Midianitish Woman Ver. 12. Er and Onan died in the Land of Canaan And therefore are not to be numbred among them that went down into Egypt But in stead of them the two Sons of Pharez are set down though perhaps not now born to supply the place of Er and Onan The Sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul When Jacob went down into Egypt Pharez was so young that one can scarce think he had two Sons at that time But they were born soon after before Jacob died And St. Austin seems to have truly judged that Jacob's descent into Egypt comprehends all the seventeen Years which he lived after it Or we may conceive it possible that their Mother was with Child of them when Jacob went down into Egypt For then Pharez is thought to have been fourteen Years old at which Age it is so far from being incredible that he might have two Sons that in these latter Ages some have begotten a Child when they were younger Jul. Scaliger a Man of unquestionable Credit assures us that in his memory there was a Boy not quite twelve Years old who had a Daughter by a Cousin of his who was not quite ten Rem notam narro cujus memoria adhuc recens est in Aquitania This was a known thing the memory of which was then fresh in Aquitain Ver. 13. And the Sons of Issachar Tola Some have wondred that he should give his eldest Son a Name that signifies a Worm Perhaps it was as Bochart conjectures because he was a poor shriveled Child when he was born not likely to live And yet it pleased God that he became a great Man from whom sprang a numerous Off-spring Numb XXVI 23. and so fruitful that in the Days of David there were numbred above two and twenty thousand of them 1 Chron. VII 2. who were Men of Might and Valour Ver. 15. Which she bare unto Jacob in Padan-Aram She bare the Fathers of them there But the Children were born in Canaan All the Souls of his Sons and Daughters c. See verse 7. Ver. 19. Rachel Jacob's Wife She was his only choice as was noted before on XLIV 27. Ver. 21. The Sons of Benjamin c. He being now but about twenty four Years old we cannot well think he had all these Sons when he went down into Egypt But some of them were born afterward before Jacob died as was said before verse 12. Yet they are all here mention'd because they were most of them now born and all became the Heads of Families in their Tribe It is possible he might begin so early to beget Children as to have all these before they went into Egypt See Verse 12. Ver. 26. Came out of his Loins In the Hebrew out of his Thigh A modest Expression The Parts serving for the Propagation of Mankind being placed between the Thighs All the Souls were threescore and six i. e. Leaving out Joseph and his two Sons who did not come with Jacob into Egypt but were there already and Jacob himself who could not be said to come out of his own Loins they made just this Number Ver. 27. All the Souls which came into Egypt were threescore and ten There is a remarkable difference between this Verse and the foregoing There verse 26. they only are numbred who came with Jacob into Egypt Which were no more than threescore and six But here are numbred all that came into Egypt viz. first and last which plainly comprehend Jacob Joseph and his two Sons And make up threescore and ten Ver. 28. And he sent Judah before him Who seems by the whole Story
sent from his Father's House to acquaint Joseph with his weak Condition So the next Verse teaches us to understand it He took with him c. Immediately he went to receive his Blessing and took with him his two Sons that he might bless them also Ver. 2. One told Jacob c. Joseph sent a Messenger before him to let his Father know he was coming to visit him Israel strengthned himself This Message revived him and made him stir up all his Spirits to receive him chearfully And sat upon his bed Leaning it 's likely upon his Staff for the support of his feeble Body See XLVII ult Ver. 3. Appeared to me at Luz He appeared twice to him in this place First when he went to Padan-Aram XXVIII 13. upon which he gave this Place the Name of Bethel verse 19. and when he returned from thence XXXV 6 9 c. and both times made him the Promise which here follows and therefore it is likely he hath respect to both And blessed me Promised to me the Blessing which follows Ver. 4. For an everlasting possession We do not read this in either of the Appearances in so many words But he said it in effect when he told him in the last Appearance there XXXV 12. The Land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac to thee will I give it c. Now he gave it to Abraham and his Seed for ever XIII 15. Ver. 5. And now thy two Sons c. Having assured him God would be as good as his Word in giving the Land of Canaan to his Posterity he tells him what share his Children should have in it Are mine Thy two Sons shall be reckoned as if I had begotten them And accordingly have each of them an Inheritance equal with the rest of my Sons and be distinct Tribes As Reuben and Simeon shall they be mine He instances in them because they were his eldest Sons Who he says should have no more than Ephraim and Manasseh And perhaps the meaning may be these two shall be accounted as the First-born of my Family For he gives Joseph the Primogeniture who was indeed the First-born of his first intended Wife and bestows a double Portion upon him by making his two Sons equal to the rest of his Children Ver. 6. And thy issue which thou begettest after them shall be thine I will make no distinct Provision for them as I have done for these two But they shall be called after the Name of their Brethren in their Inheritance i. e. be reckoned among these two Ephraim and Manasseh and not make distinct Tribes as they shall but be comprehended in them Ver. 7. And as for me when I came from Padan-Aram Rachel died by me c. He mentions her death which doth not seem to belong to the foregoing discourse because it hapned presently after that last Promise in Bethel XXXV 18. and he thought it would be grateful to his Son to hear him remember his dear Mother For it is as if he had said And now my Son this puts me in mind of thy Mother who died immediately after that Promise of multiplying my Seed And yet I see it fulfilled in those Children which God hath given thee Or we may look upon these words as giving the reason why he took Ephraim and Manasseh to be his own Children and the Sence to be as if he had said Thy Mother indeed and my beloved Wife died soon after she began to bear Children when she might have brought me many more And therefore I adopt these her Grand-Children and look upon them as if they had been born of Rachel And I do it in Memory and Honour of her supplying by adoption what was wanting in Generation And I buried her there He could not carry her to the Cave of Machpelah where he desired to be laid himself because she died in Child-bed Which constrain'd him to bury her sooner than otherwise he might have done And it is to be supposed he had not in his Travels all things necessary to preserve her Body long by embalming her as Joseph did him Ver. 8. And Israel beheld Joseph's Sons c. He saw two others stand by Joseph but could not discern distincly who they were by reason of the dimness of his Sight verse 10. Ver. 9. And I will bless them As he had just before promised verse 5. Ver. 10. And he brought them near unto him And made them kneel down before him as the twelfth Verse seems to intimate And he kissed them c. Expressed the greatest Affection to them Ver. 12. Brought them out from between his Knees It appears by Verse 2. that Jacob sat upon his Bed and his Legs hanging down they kneeled between his Knees From whence Joseph took them And then seems to have placed himself in the same posture bowing himself with his Face to the Earth as the following words tell us to give his Father Thanks for his Kindness to his Children Or rather we may conceive that while Jacob embraced them in his Arms and kissed them with more than ordinary Affection Joseph was afraid that they might lie too long or press too hard upon his Father's Breast and create some trouble to a feeble old Man And therefore he withdrew them from thence and disposed them to receive his Blessing Ver. 13. And Joseph took them both c. Made them kneel down by himself before Jacob Placing Ephraim towards Jacob's Left Hand c. Ver. 14. Stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim's head Laying Hands on the Head of any Person was always used in this Nation in giving Blessings and designing Men to any Office and in the Consecration of Publick and Solemn Sacrifices This is the first time we meet with the mention of it but in after-times we often read of it particularly when Moses constituted Joshua to be his Successor God orders him to do it by laying his Hands on him Numb XXVII 18 23. Deut. XXXIV 9. Thus Children were brought to our blessed Saviour that he might lay his Hands on them and bless them and so he did Matth. XIX 13 15. And the Right Hand being the stronger and that wherewith we commonly perform every thing the laying that on Ephraim's Head was giving him the preheminence Who was the younger It is observed by Theodoret upon 1 Sam. XVI that God was wont from the beginning to preferr the younger before the elder As Abel before Cain Sem before Japhet Isaac before Ishmael Jacob before Esau Judah and Joseph before Reuben and here Ephraim before Manasseh as afterwards Moses before Aaron and David the youngest of all before his elder Brethren Which was to show that the Divine Benefits were not tied to the Order of Nature but dispensed freely according to God's most wise Goodness Guiding his Hands wittingly He did not mistake by reason of his blindness but foreseeing by the Spirit of Prophecy how much Ephraim would excel the other he designedly and on purpose thus
laid his Hands across So that the Right Hand lay upon the Head of Ephraim who was next to his Left c. Ver. 15. He blessed Joseph In the Blessing he bestowed on his Children All my life long The Hebrew word Mehodi signifies à die quo ego sum as Bochart interprets it Hierozoic P. I. Lib. II. c. 14. ever since I had a being Ver. 16. The Angel which redeemed me Who by God's Order and as his Minister preserved me in all the Dangers wherein I have been Many of the ancient Fathers as Athanasius L. IV. contra Arianos Cyril upon this place Procopius Gazaeus c. understand hereby an increated Angel viz. The Second Person of the blessed Trinity But the Discourse is not concerning the sending of the Son of God in our Flesh to redeem Mankind but only concerning the Preservation and Prosperity of one Man and therefore I do not know whether it be safe to call him an Angel i. e. a Minister or Messenger lest we detract from his Divinity For in conferring Blessings he is not a Messenger or Minister but a principal Cause together with the Father They are the words of that famous Divine Georg. Calixtus who follows St. Chrysostom who takes this Angel to be one properly so called And thence proves the heavenly Ministers take care of Pious People And so doth St. Basil in no less than three places of his Works Which show it was his setled Opinion But it did not enter into their Thoughts that Jacob here pray'd to an Angel but only wisht these Children might have the Angelical Protection by the special Favour of God to them For it is just such an Expression as that of David to a contrary purpose Psalm XXXV 6. Let the Angel of the Lord persecute them Where no Body will say he prays to an Angel though his words are exactly like these of Jacob. And let my Name be named on them Here he plainly adopts them to be his Children as he said before he would verse 5. For to be called by one's Name which is the same with having his Name named on them is as much as to be one's Children For thus they that are said to be called by God's Name became his peculiar People Therefore Tostatus well interprets it Sint duo Capita tribuum inter Filios Jacob Let them be the Heads of two Tribes among the Sons of Jacob. But none so plainly as David Chytraeus whose words are these Vera simplicissima sententia haec est Isti pueri à me adoptati c. The true and most simple Sence is These Youths Manasseh and Ephraim who are adopted by me shall not hereafter be called the Sons of Joseph but my Sons And be Heirs and in the division of the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan receive an equal Portion with my Sons Grow into a multitude The Hebrew word as Onkelos interprets it signifies increase like Fishes as we also in the Margin translate it which are the most fruitful of all Creatures as Authors commonly observe See Bochart P. I. Lib. I. cap. 6. Hierozoic Ver. 19. His younger Brother shall be greater than he His Family multiplied faster according to the signification of his Name As appears from Numb I. 33 35. And the Kingdom was afterward established in him and all the ten Tribes called by the Name of Ephraim Shall become a multitude of Nations In the Hebrew the words are fulness of Nations i. e. of Families As much as to say his Seed shall replenish the Country with numerous Families For that which replenishes the Earth is called the fulness of the Earth Psalm XXIV 1. and that which replenishes the Sea the fulness of the Sea Psalm XCVI 11. Isai XLII 10. See L. de Dieu Ver. 20. And he blessed them that day He concluded with a solemn Benediction upon them both And when he pronounced it worshipped God as the Apostle tells us Hebr. XI 21. leaning upon the top of his Staff Whereby he was supported from falling of which he would have been in danger when he bowed if he had not leaned on it In thee shall Israel bless When my Posterity would wish all Happiness to others they shall use this form of Speech God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh Which continues they say among the Jews to this Day Ver. 21. Bring you again into the Land of your Fathers Where your Fathers sojourned and which God bestowed upon them in reversion Ver. 22. Which I took out of the Hand of the Amorite c. He doth not mean the City of Shechem which his Sons took unjustly and cruelly and not from the Amorites but the Hivites without his knowledge and contrary to his will But that piece of Land which he bought of Hamor the Father of Shechem Gen. XXXIII 19. compared with St. John IV. 5. Which seems to be the reason why Joseph was himself here buried in his own Ground given him by his Father Josh XXIV 32. and not in the Cave of Machpelah The only difficulty is how he could say that he took this Land from the Amorite by his Sword and by his Bow which comprehend all warlike Instruments when he bought it for an hundred Pieces of Silver of Hamor the Hivite It is to be supposed therefore that he took it i. e. recovered it from the Amorites who had seized on it after his removal to another part of Canaan and would not restore it but constrain'd him to drive them out by force We read nothing indeed in the foregoing History either of their invading his Possession or his expelling them thence But the Scripture relates many things to have been done without mentioning the circumstances of Time and Place as Bochartus observes And among other Instances gives that in XXXVI 24. where Ana is said to have met with the Emims so he understands it in the Wilderness Of which encounter we find no mention in any other place See his Hierozoic P. II. L. IV. cap. 13. And as I take it we have a plainer Instance in the place a little before mentioned Hebr. XI 21. where the Apostle says Jacob when he was a dying blessed both the Sons of Joseph and worshipped leaning upon the top of his Staff Of which there is not a word in this History but only of his Blessing them verse 20. There are those who with St. Hierom understand by Sword and Bow his Money Which he calls by those warlike Names to signifie this was the only Instrument he used to acquire any thing Just as the Romans when they would signifie they had got any thing without any other help but their own Industry alone say they obtained it Proprio Marte using a similitude from Military Expences and Labours If this do not seem harsh it is not hard to give an account why he calls those Amorites who before were called Hivites For Amorites seems to have been the general Name of all the seven Nations of Canaan they being the Chief
Tongue and in an ill Sence Conspirations Machinations or mischievous Devices This Job Ludolphus approves of and translates this Sentence after this manner Consilia eorum nihil sunt nisi vis arma Their Counsels are nothing but Force and Arms. Vid. Comment in Histor Aethiop Lib. I. cap. 15. n. 106. Aben Ezra is not much different who translates it their Compacts As G. Vorstius notes upon Pirke Elieser cap. 38. where there are other various Interpretations With which I shall not trouble the Reader because I have given that which I think most natural Ver. 6. O my Soul come not thou c. He utterly disclaims all knowledge of their wicked Fact before-hand or approbation of it afterward For by Soul is meant himself and so the word Honour or Glory seems to mean in the following words which are but a repetition of this Or else it signifies the Tongue as in many places of Scripture particularly Psalm XXX 12. and the meaning is He never in Thought much less in Word assented to what they did They gloried in the slaughter they made but God forbid that I should so much as approve it Secret signifying the same with Assembly is in reason to be interpreted a secret place or Closet where Cabals as we now speak are wont to be held Slew a Man i. e. Shechem a great Man Or the Singular Number is put for the Plural In their self-will The Hebrew word Ratson may well be translated Humour When they were in a fit of Rage They digged down a Wall Broke into Hamor's House where Shechem was In the Margin we translate it houghed Oxen And indeed the Hebrew word Schor signifies an Ox not a Wall which they call Shur Yet the Vulgar the Syriack Arabick Chaldee and a great Number of the Hebrew Authors interpret it a Wall And though the LXX translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they ham-string'd an Ox yet the Author of the Greek Scholion as Bochart acknowledges translates it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they undermin'd a Wall The truth is we read of neither in the Story but only of their taking their Sheep and their Oxen XXXIV 28. which signifies not their houghing them but their driving them away Perhaps they both broke down a Wall to come at their Flocks and also houghed those which they were afraid would otherwise have escaped their Hands and got away Ver. 7. Cursed be their Anger Their Fury was most execrable and detestable And brought a Curse upon them For it was fierce Outragious or as the Vulgar translates it pertinacious Not a sudden impetuous Passion that was soon over But a setled inflexible Rage So he condemns them upon a double account First that they had such an implacable desire of Revenge and then that their Revenge was too cruel I will divide them in Jacob c. This is the Punishment which by a Prophetick Spirit he foretells God would inflict upon them That they who were associated in Wickedness should be disjoyned one from another when his Children came to inherit the Land of Canaan And so it fell out for Simeon's Posterity had not a separate Inheritance by themselves but only a Portion in the midst of the Tribe of Judah as we read Josh XIX 1 9. and accordingly we find them assisting one another to enlarge their Border Judg. I. 3 17. and their Portion being too strict for them we read how in after-times they acquired Possessions where they could far from the rest of their Brethren Five hundred of this Tribe under several Captains going to Mount Seir and there setling themselves 1 Chron. IV. 39 42. It is a constant Tradition also among the Hebrews as P. Fagius observes that a great many of this Tribe wanting a livelihood applied themselves to the teaching of Children and were employed as School-Masters in all the other Tribes of Israel Where few followed this Employment but Simeonites If this be true it is a further Proof of their scattered Condition As for the Tribe of Levi it is manifest they had no Inheritance alotted to them among their Brethren but were dispersed among all the Tribes Having certain Cities assigned to them with a little Land about them This indeed did not prove a Curse to them they having the Tenth of all the increase of the Land throughout the whole Country For this Curse seems to have been taken off upon that eminent Service they did in falling upon the worshippers of the Golden Calf and thereby consecrating themselves unto the LORD Exod. XXXII 26 29. Upon which account Moses blesses this Tribe a little before he died Deut. XXXIII 9. whereas he gives no Blessing at all to the Tribe of Simeon but leaves them under this Curse A great Ring-leader of the Idolatry with Baal-Peor being a Prince of this Tribe whom Phineas of the Tribe of Levi slew in his Zeal for the Lord Numb XXV 11 14. Ver. 8. Judah thou art he whom thy Brethren shall praise Or thou art Judah and well maist thou be so called for thy Brethren shall praise thee The Name of Judah signifies Praise unto which his Father alludes It was given him by his Mother in thankfulness to God for him XXIX 35. and now his Father gives another reason of his Name because all his Brethren should applaud his worthy Acts and praise God for them Which is not spoken of Judah's Person but of his Family or Tribe Who in future times were very famous Thy Hand shall be in the Neck of thy Enemies To overthrow them and bring them under Which was eminently fulfilled in David as he himself acknowledges Psalm XVIII 40. And so were the foregoing words when all the Daughters of Israel came forth of their Cities singing his Praises in such an high strain as offended Saul 1 Sam. XVIII 6 7. Thy Father's Children shall bow down to thee Acknowledge thee their Superior Ver. 9. Judah is a Lions whelp c. He sets forth in this Verse the Warlike Temper of this Tribe and their undaunted Courage and Terribleness to their Enemies And he seems to express the beginning increase and full growth of their Power by a young Lion a Lion and a Lioness which is the fiercest of all other A Lion's whelp This Tribe gave early proof of their Valour being the first that went to fight against the Canaanites after the death of Joshua Judg. I. 1 2. And David who was of this Tribe when he was but a Youth killed a Lion and a bear and the great Giant Goliah From the prey my Son thou art gone up He speaks as if he saw them returning in Triumph with the Spoils of their Enemies Alluding unto Lions who having gotten their prey in the Plain return satiated to the Mountains As Bochartus observes P. I. L. III. cap. 2. Hierozoic He stoopeth down he coucheth as a Lion The Hebrew word Ari signifies a grown Lion come to his full strength By whose stooping down bending his Knees the Hebrew word signifies and
and kept them from being ruin'd Or Shepherd may signifie his being made Governor of all the Land of Egypt and the Stone of Israel the support of his Family For Shepherd is a Name of Dignity and Authority And Stone signifies the Foundation as Abarbinel here expounds it upon which the whole Building relies As Jacob and all his Children did upon Joseph for their sustenance Some I find particularly D. Chytraeus referr the words from thence unto Joseph And then by the Shepherd and Stone of Israel understand those excellent Men who by their Wisdom and Valour supported the Commonwealth of Israel Such as Joshua the Captain of the Lord's Host and Abdon one of the Judges who were of the Tribe of Ephraim And Gideon Jair and Jephthah who were of the Tribe of Manasseh But the following words incline rather to the former Sence Ver. 25. Even by the God of thy Father Or from him that blessed me and advanced thee to be the Support of my Family For it referrs to all that went before Who shall help thee Having said what God had already done for him he now foretells what he would do hereafter Which relates to all his Posterity whom God would Protect and Defend And by the Almighty Or from him who is all-sufficient by which Name he revealed himself unto Abraham when he entred into Covenant with him and with his Seed XVII 1. And bless thee with the blessings of heaven above blessings of the deep that lieth under The meaning seems to be that his Posterity should be planted in a very fertile Soil Watred from above with the Dew of Heaven and with Showers of Rain and watred beneath with Springs and Rivers As G. Vossius well interprets it Lib. I. de Idolol cap. 77. Blessings of the Breasts and of the Womb. A promise of a numerous and thriving Progeny Or of a vast increase of Cattle so well fed that they should bring up their Young prosperously as well as bring them forth abundantly Ver. 26. The blessings of thy Father Either the Blessings bestowed by God upon Jacob or the Blessings Jacob conferred on his Son Joseph Have prevailed Are greater Above the blessings of my progenitors Than the Blessings God bestowed upon Abraham and Isaac Who had not so many Sons as God had blessed him withal Upon every one of whom also he conferred a share in the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan whereas Ishmael was excluded by Abraham and Esau by Isaac Or the meaning may be I have done more for thee than they for me i. e. thou shalt be happier than I. For Jacob led an unsetled life but Joseph flourished in great Splendor in Egypt to the end of his days Vnto the utmost bounds of the everlasting Hills As long as the World shall last For perpetuity is expressed in Scripture by the durableness of Mountains Isai LIV. 10. And here he seems to allude to the noble Mountains which fell to be the Portion of Joseph's Children viz. Bashan and Mount Ephraim But there are those who think he hath not respect to the durableness of these Mountains but to their fruitfulness translating the Hebrew word Tavath not Bounds but Desires as the Vulgar Latin doth And then the Sence is Vnto all that is most desirable in those ancient Hills Which abounded with the most excellent Fruit. And this Translation is grounded on Moses his Blessing which seems to be an Interpretation of Jacob's Deut. XXXIII 15. where he blesses him for the chief things of the ancient Mountains and for the precious things of the lasting Hills Of him that was separate from his Brethren The word Nazir which we translate separate signifies one that is separated from others vel Voto vel Dignitate as Bochart observes P. II. Hierozoic L. V. cap. 6. either by a Vow or by his Dignity And in the latter Sence Joseph is called Nazir because of his eminent Dignity whereby he was advanced above all his Brethren Being the Vice-Roy of Egypt Ver. 27. Benjamin shall raven as a Wolf This sets forth the warlike Temper of this Tribe A Wolf being both a strong and undaunted and also a very rapacious Creature And thence in after-times dedicated to Mars From whence Wolves are called Martii and Martiales in Virgil and in Horace And warlike Men are called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a Wolf-like Temper And the History justifies this Character The Tribe of Benjamin alone maintaining a War with all the other Tribes in which they overcame them in two Battles though they had sixteen to one against them And they killed then more Men of Israel than they had in their whole Army See Bochart P. I. Hierozoic L. III. cap. 10. In the morning he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the Spoil This doth not signifie as the fore-named Author observes in the same place the whole Day but the whole Night One part of which is the Evening and the other the Morning And therefore the Particle and signifies here as much as after And this is the Sence The Tribe Benjamin shall be like a ravening Wolf Who shall have his Prey to eat till Morning-light after he hath divided it in the Evening For the division of the Prey goes before the eating of it This Passage is like that Josh VII 25. They burnt them with Fire and stoned them with Stones i. e. burnt them after they had stoned them as we there rightly translate it And this applied to Benjamin signifies such success in their Wars that they should come home loaded with the Spoils of their Enemies I omit the fancy of the Talmudists who imagine Benjamin is compared to a Wolf because the Altar of Burnt-Offering where the Morning and Evening-Sacrifices were daily consumed stood in this Tribe They that would know what they say of this may look into Codex Middoth cap. 3. § 1. And L' Empereur's Annotations there Ver. 28. All these are the twelve Tribes of Israel From these sprang the Twelve Tribes of Israel Or these are the Blessings of the Twelve Tribes For these words plainly show that what he had said was not to be fulfilled in their Persons but in their Posterity And blessed them every one according to his blessing c. He did not give them a new Blessing after all this But the meaning is he blessed them in the manner foregoing every one according to the Blessing designed by God for them There seems indeed to be no Benediction bestowed on the three first Tribes but that is to be understood only comparatively For he provided for them all a Portion in the Land of Canaan Ver. 29. I am to be gathered to my People Must die shortly Bury me with my Fathers c. The reason of this Injunction is well explained by Mercer To whom I referr the Reader Ver. 30. In the Cave that is c. He describes the place so particularly in this and the two next Verses because he would
Hebrews look upon this as Mr. Selden observes in the place before-named on verse 55. as an Example of the solemn Benediction which was wont to be given even before the Law of Moses when the Spouse was carried to her Husband Thou art our Sister Near Cousin or Kinswoman For all that were near of Kin called one another Brothers and Sisters Ver. 61. Her Damsels Who waited upon her and were given as part of her Portion Ver. 62. Well of Lahai-roi Mentioned XVI 14. By which it appears that Abraham after the death of Sarah returned to live at Beer-sheba or thereabouts for that was nigh this Well And it is probable Abraham and Isaac were not parted Ver. 63. To meditate c. The cool of the Evening and Solitude are great Friends to Meditation Ver. 64. She lighted off the Camel As they always did who met any Person whom they honoured Ver. 65. Took a Veil Not only out of Modesty but in Token of her Subjection to him Many will have this to have been a peculiar Ornament belonging to a Bride called by the Romans Flameum by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Mr. Selden observes L. V. de Jure N. G. cap. 5. Whence those words of Tertullian de Veland Virgin c. II. Etiam apud Ethnicos velatae i. e. sponsae ad virum ducuntur Even among Heathens Brides are brought to their Husbands with a Veil over their Faces Ver. 66. And the Servant told Isaac all things that he had done How she had consented to be his Wife Ver. 67. Brought her into his Mother Sarah's Tent. That Apartment wherein his Mother dwelt Which was distinct from that of the Husband 's And Isaac was comforted after the death of his Mother The Love he had to his Wife helpt to alleviate the Sorrow he had conceived at his Mother's death Which was so great that now it had continued three Years Such was the pious Affection Children had for their Parents in ancient Days Isaac was forty Years old when he married Rebekah XXV 20. and if we can believe the Jews in Seder Olam she was but fourteen CHAP. XXV Ver. 1. THEN again Abraham took a Wife Sarah being dead and Agar long ago sent away and his Son Isaac lately married he wanted a Companion in his old Age. For having given up Sarah's Tent unto Rebekah XXIV ult it is probable he gave up his own to Isaac and so dwelt in a Tent by himself where he found it necessary to have a Wife to look after his Family And her Name was Keturah We are not told what Family she was of But it is not unlikely she had been born and bred in his own House as Elieser his Steward was and perhaps was Chief among the Women as he among the Men-Servants Many of the Jews will have her to be Hagar whom Sarah who was the cause of her expulsion being dead he now received again So the Hierusalem Paraphrase and Jonathan also But Aben Ezra confutes this Opinion with good reason for no account can be given of Abraham's having more Concubines than one verse 6. unless we make Keturah distinct from Hagar Nor can any Body tell why he should call Hagar by the Name of Keturah here when he calls her by her own Name verse 12. Ver. 2. And she bare him He was now an hundred and forty Years old But so vigorous as to beget many Children Which need not seem strange considering the Age to which they then lived for he lived thirty and five Years after this Marriage verse 7. and that now in our time Men have had Children after they have been seventy nay eighty Years of Age. To the Truth also of this History we have the Testimony of Pagan Writers For Alexander Polyhistor mentioned by Josephus and by Eusebius L. IX Praepar Evang. cap. 20. tells us that Cleodemus called by some Malchas writing the History of the Jews reports just as Moses doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Abraham had a good many Children by Keturah Three of which he mentions by Name Zimran This Son of his with all the rest of his Brethren were sent by Abraham into the East Country as we read verse 6. and therefore we must seek for them in those Parts viz. in Arabia and the Countries thereabout where some footsteps of them have remained for many Ages particularly of Zimran from whom we may well think the Zamareni were descended a People mentioned by Pliny with their Towns in Arabia Foelix L. VI. cap. 28. And Jokshan Concerning whom I can find nothing but only this That Theophanes a Chronographer in the beginning of the IX Century after he hath treated of the Ishmaelites and Madianites the latter of which came from one of Keturah's Children and the Parts of Arabia where Mahomet was born immediately adds that there were other People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more in the Bowels of Arabia descended from Jectan called Amanitae that is Homeritae Perhaps it should be written Jokshan not Jectan For Philostorgius expresly says of the Homerites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That they are one of the Nations descended from Keturah and Abraham L. III. Hist Eccles § 4. where he relates a famous Embassie which Constantius sent to them to win them to Christianity and the good success of it And there is this strong proof of their descent from some of Abraham's Family that they retained the Rite of Circumcision even when they were Idolaters For he says expresly That it was a circumcised Nation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and circumcised also on the eighth Day Which was not the Custom of all the Arabians if we may believe Josephus L. I. Antiq. c. 23. and Eustathius in Hexaemeron c. who say the Arabians staid till they were thirteen Years old before they were circumcised Medan From whom the Country called Madiania in the Southern part of Arabia Foelix it 's likely had its Name Midian From whom Midianitis in Arabia Petraea had its Denomination And Ishbak I can find no footsteps of his Posterity unless it be in Bacascami which Pliny says was one of the Towns of the Zamareni who descended from his eldest Brother Zimran There were a People also hard by called Bachilitae as he tells us L. VI. Nat. Hist cap. 28. And Shuah Perhaps he had no Children or so few that they were mixt with some of their other Brethren and left no Name behind them Yet Pliny in the next Chapter mentions a Town called Suasa in that part of Arabia which is next to Egypt L. VI. cap. 29. Ver. 3. And Jokshan begat Sheba I observed before upon X. 7. that there are four of this Name or near it all comprehended by the Greek and Roman Writers under the Name of Sabaeans One of them the Son of Raamah had a Brother called Dedan as this Sheba here hath But they were the Fathers of a distinct People as is evident from the Scripture-Story and from other Authors For besides the
Sabaei in the furthermost parts of Arabia near the Persian and the Red-Sea there were also a People of that Name descended it is very probable from this Son of Jokshan in the very Entrance of Arabia Foelix as Strabo tells us Who says that they and the Nabataei were the very next People to Syria And were wont to make Excursions upon their Neighbours By which we may understand which otherwise could not be made out how the Sabaeans broke into Job's Country and carried away his Cattle For it is not credible they could come so far as from the Persian or Arabian Sea But from this Country there was an easie Passage through the Desarts of Arabia into the Land of Vz or Ausitis which lay upon the Borders of Euphrates See Bochart in his Phaleg L. IV. cap. 9. And Dedan There was one of this Name as I said before the Son of Rhegma Gen. X. 7. who gave Name to a City upon the Persian Sea now called Dadan But besides that there was an Inland City called Dedan in the Country of Idumaea mentioned by Jeremiah XXV 23. XLIX 8. whose Inhabitants are called Dedanim Isai XXI 13. And this Dedan here mentioned may well be thought to be the Founder of it as the same Bochart observes L. IV. cap. 6. And the Sons of Dedan were Ashurim and Letushim and Leummim If these were Heads of Nations or Families the memory of them is lost For it is a mistake of Cleodemus who mentions the first of these in Euseb Praepar Evang. L. IX c. 20. to derive the Assyrians from this Ashurim They having their Original from Ashur one of the Sons of Shem X. 22. Ver. 4. And the Sons of Midian Ephah The Name of Ephah the eldest Son of Midian continued a long time for these two are mentioned by Isaiah as near Neighbours LX. 6. And not only Josephus Eusebius and St. Hierom but the Nubiensian Geographer also tells us of a City called Madian in the Shoar of the Red-Sea Near to which was Ephah in the Province of Madian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epha or Hipha is the same with that Place the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Ptolomy mentions both a Mountain and a Village of this Name on the same Shoar a little below Madiane which is the Madian here mentioned as Bochart observes in his Hierozoic P. I. L. 2. cap. 3. And Epher I can find no remainders of his Family unless it be among the Homeritae before-mentioned whose Metropolis was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In which Theophilus sent by Constantius to convert that Country built a Church as Philostorgius relates L. III. Hist Eccles § 4. Which City is mentioned by many other Authors as Jacobus Gotofredus observes in his Dissertations upon Philostorgius Particularly by Arrianus in his Periplus of the Red-Sea where he calls the Metropolis of the Homeritae expresly by the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which one cannot well doubt came from this Epher And Hanoch In that part of Arabia Foelix where the Adranitae were seated there was a great trading Town called Cane as Ptolomy tells us and shows its distance from Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. VIII Pliny also mentions a Country in Arabia which he calls Regio Canauna which may be thought to have taken its Name from this Person and his Posterity And Abidah The Relicks of this Name remain if the two last Syllables as is usual be inverted in the People called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who lived in an Island called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which lay between Arabia and India and is by Authors said to belong sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other Philostorgius saith only they bear the Name of Indians in the place before-named where he saith Theophilus who was sent to convert the Homerites was born here But Pliny reckoning up the Tracts of Arabia places the Isle called Devadae which I take to be this over against the fore-named Region called Canauna L. VI. cap. 28. And Strabo as Gothofred observes Agatharcides and others call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Eldaah I know not where to find any Remains of this Name unless it be in the City Elana which might easily be formed from Eldaah by leaving out the Daleth and turning the Ain into Nun than which nothing more common which was seated in the Sinus Arabicus toward the East called by others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aelana from whence the Sinus it self was called Elanites and the People that lived in it Elanitae as Salmasius shows out of many Authors Exercit. in Solinum p. 482. Ver. 5. Gave all he had to Isaac As he designed long before XXIV 36. Ver. 6. Sons of his Concubines Which were Hagar and Keturah Who were Wives but of an inferior sort according to the manner of those Times and Countries Keturah is expresly called his Concubine 1 Chron. I. 32. as she is above verse 1. of this Chapter called his Wife Which R. Bechai in Mr. Selden cap. 3 de Successionibus thus explains She was his Concubine because of a servile Condition but his Wife because married with Covenants to provide for her and her Children though they were not to heir his Estate The Talmudists indeed do not perfectly agree in this matter For though they all agree and prove it evidently that they were real Wives yet some say they were made so only by Solemn Espousals without any Marriage Settlement in Writing as the principal Wives had Others think they had a Writing also but not with such Conditions as the principal Wives enjoyed Abarbinel hath an accurate Discourse about this which Buxtorf hath translated into his Book de Sponsalibus n. 17. And see also Mr. Selden L. V. de Jure N. G. cap. 7. p. 570 c. and G. Sckickard de Jure Regio cap. 3. p. 70. Gave gifts Some Portion of his Money or moveable Goods Or perhaps of both Which in all probability he gave to Ishmael as well as to these Sons though it be not mentioned Gen. XXI 14. because Moses here saith he gave Gifts to the Sons of his Concubines of which Hagar was one Into the East Country Into Arabia and the adjacent Countries as was said before For the Midianites are called the Children of the East in Judg. VI. 3 33. VII 12. VIII 10. Ver. 7. These are the Days of the Years of Abraham c. This is spoken by anticipation to finish the Story of Abraham for Esau and Jacob were born before he died And were now fifteen Years old For Isaac was but sixty Years old when they were born verse 26. and seventy five when Abraham died Who was an hundred Years old at Isaac's birth and lived to the Age of one hundred seventy and five Ver. 8. Abraham gave up the ghost Died of no Disease but old Age. In a good old Age. Without Pain or Sickness Full of Years The Hebrew hath only the word full We add