Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A56630
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A commentary upon the first book of Moses, called Genesis by the Right Reverend Father in God, Symon, Lord Bishop of Ely.
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Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing P772; ESTC R1251
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382,073
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668
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Hebrew Nation That he who gave them the Law contained in these Books was the King and Law-giver of the whole World Which was like a great City governed by him Whom therefore he would have them look upon not only as the Enacter of their Laws but of those also which all Nature obeys See L. VII De Praepar Evang. c. 9 10. L. XII c. 16. The Heaven and the Earth The Hebrew Particle Eth put before both Heaven and Earth signifies as much as with if Maimonides understood it aright and makes the Sence to be this He created the Heavens with all things in the Heavens and the Earth with all things in the Earth as his Words are in More Nevochim P. II. cap. 30. Certain it is these two words Heaven and Earth comprehend the whole visible World Some would have the Angels comprehended in the word Heaven particularly Epiphanius Haeres LXV n. 45. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But others of the Fathers are of a different Opinion as Petavius there observes It is a pretty Conceit of Theophilus Antiochenus L. 2. ad Autolycum That the Heavens are mentioned before the Earth to show that God's Works are not like ours For he begins at the top we at the bottom That is he first made the fixed Stars and all beyond them fo I take the word Heaven here to signifie for they had a beginning as well as this lower World though they do not seem to be comprehended in the six days Work which relates only to this Planetary World as I may call it which hath the Sun for its Center And thus Philo understood the first word Bereschith in the beginning to respect the order wherein things were created God began his Creation with the Heaven as the most noble Body and then proceeded to the Earth an account of which follows Ver. 2. And the Earth was without form c. Some connect this Verse with the foregoing by translating the first Verse in this manner When God first created or began to create the Heaven and the Earth the Earth was without form c. That is at first he only created a rude Matter of those things which afterwards were fashioned as we now see them Without form A confused indigested heap without any order or shape And void Having no Beasts nor Trees nor Herbs nor any thing else wherewith we now behold it adorned So these two words Tohu Vabohu are used in Scripture where we meet with them which is not often for confusion and emptiness XXXIV Isaiah 11. IV Jer. 23. Being a description of that which the Ancients called the CHAOS of which the Barbarians had a Notion no less than the Greeks wherein the Seeds and Principles of all things were blended together This is called in the Pagan Language by Epicharmus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first of the Gods Because all things sprang out of this which was indeed the first of the Works of God who as Moses shows in the sequel produced this beautiful World out of this CHAOS And darkness was upon the face of the deep Nothing was to be seen for want of Light Which lay buried as all things else did in that great Abyss or vast confused heap of Matter before-mentioned So the Hebrew word Tehom signifies which we translate deep tumult and turbid confusion The first Matter being very heterogeneous as they speak i. e. of various sorts and kinds hudled together without distinction And the Spirit of God moved Men have been extreamly fansiful in the exposition of these plain Words Some understanding by the Spirit of God the Sun which gives Spirit and Life to all things upon Earth others the Air or the Wind When as yet there was no Sun in the Firmament nor any Wind that could stir without the Power of the Almighty to excite it This therefore we are to understand to be here meant The Infinite Wisdom and Power of God which made a vehement Commotion and mighty Fermentation by raising perhaps a great Wind upon the face of the Waters That is on that fluid Matter before-mentioned to separate the parts of it one from the other Waters That which Moses before called the Deep he now calls the Waters Which plainly shows that some Parts of the confused Mass were fluid and light as other Parts were solid and heavy The heavy naturally sunk which he calls the Earth and the lighter Parts got above them which he calls the Waters For it is clearly intimated the Waters were uppermost The Word we here translate moved signifies literally brooded upon the Waters as an Hen doth upon her Eggs. So the ancient and modern Interpreters have observed And Morinus who opposes it hath said nothing to make us doubt of this Sence of the Phrase From whence some have not unhappily conjectured the Ancients took their Notion of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a first laid Egg out of which all things were formed That is the CHAOS out of which all the old Philosophers before Aristotle thought the World was produced consisting of Earth and Water of thicker and thinner Parts as an Egg doth of Yolk and White Now the Spirit of God thus moved upon the Waters that by its incubation as we may call it it might not only separate as I said those Parts which were jumbled together but give a vivifick Virtue to them to produce what was contained in them The Souls and Spirits that is of all living Creatures were produced by the Spirit of God as Porphyry saith Numenius understood it For his Opinion he tells us was That all things came out of the Water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being Divinely inspired For which he quoted these Words of the Prophet as he called Moses See Porphyry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on those words of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which gives us to understand that the Spirits of all living Creatures which we call their active Forms did not arise out of Matter for that is stupid but proceeded from this other Principle the Powerful Spirit of God which moved upon the Face of the Waters by a vital Energy as St. Chrysostom speaks so that they were no longer standing Waters but moving having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain living Power in them From whence we may also gather that the Spirits of living Creatures are distinct things from Matter which of it self cannot move at all and much less produce a Principle of Motion And thus indeed all the Ancient Philosophers apprehended this Matter And some of them have most lively expressed it For Laertius in the Life of Anaxagoras tells us that he taught among other things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things were hudled together And then the Mind came and set them in order And Thales before him as Tully informs us L. 1. de Nat. Deor. Aquam dixit esse initium rerum Deum autem eam mentem quae ex aqua cuncta fingeret said Water was the beginning of things And God that Mind who
change only of a Letter who they imagined declared the Mind of God by them For in those Countries where the SCHECHINAH or Presence of the Divine Majesty did not appear as it did in Abraham's Family they had at least some Tradition of it and of the Angels that were its Attendants The resemblance of which they made in hope they might by that means have a Communication with them and gain Intelligence from Heaven Of which evil Spirits made their Advantage and abused Mankind by the lying Answers they gave to their Enquiries For there is no reason to think that God allowed much less appointed the making of these Teraphim Which Gaffarel adventures to say were Piously used before the Law of Moses and God manifested his Mind and Will by them This had been to lead Men into Idolatry by Image-worship Unto which they were too prone of themselves Expositors differ very much about Rachel's Intention in stealing them Some fansie she still retained a tang of Superstition But I take it to be more likely that Jacob who loved her extreamly and was no less beloved by her had brought her off from the false Notions and bad Customs of her Country And then she did not carry them away for fear Laban should enquire by them which way they were gone for she knew they were but vain Idols which could give no Direction But rather designed to convince her Father of his Superstition by letting him see that his Gods as he called them could not preserve themselves much less do any service to him Or perhaps she intended to give her self some Portion of his Goods which she thought justly belonged to her And so took these Teraphim which were of some value though small Images because they are generally supposed to have been made of Silver Ver. 20. Jacob stole away unawares Without the knowledge of Laban For the word Heart as it is in the Hebrew is here put for the Vnderstanding and Will Laban the Syrian There being no necessity of mentioning his Country which was well known from the preceeding Story some think he is here called the Syrian to denote that as cunning as he was Jacob was too hard for him For the Syrians in ancient Authors are observed to have been a very crafty subtil People But there is no certainty of this there being a frequent redundance very obvious in this Language See verse 25. Ver. 21. So he fled c. Pack'd up his Baggage as we now speak and made all ready for a speedy flight And as it follows rose up and made all the haste he could to get over the River And passed over the River i. e. Euphrates frequently called in Scripture the River in regard of its eminence Mount Gilead So called afterward from what Jacob and Laban did there verse 48. It joyned to Mount Libanus Ver. 22. On the third day There was such a distance between Jacob's Flock and his XXXII 36. that he could not hear sooner Especially when he was taken up with other business verse 19. and did not make enquiry Ver. 23. Took his Brethren Some of his near Kindred They overtook him The Hebrew word imports They came close up to him Ver. 24. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a Dream c. See concerning this Expression XX. 3. Speak not to Jacob either good or bad About his return to thee Unto which God charges him he should neither allure him by Promises nor affright him by Threats Ver. 25. Then Laban overtook Jacob. This is a different word from that in verse 23. signifying he came near or approached just to him So that they might conferr one with another Now Jacob had pitched his Tent c. For Jacob and Laban had both pitched their Tents in the same Mount not far from one another This Josephus thinks they had done in the Evening when Laban came up so close to him that if the Night had not parted them they might then have discoursed together Which they did next Morning when they came nearer one to another after God had warned Laban not to stop his Journey Here Gilead is redundant as the word Syrian was before in verse 20 24. Ver. 26. As Captives taken with the Sword As Prizes in War which are wont to be carried off with force and violence Ver. 28. Thou hast now done foolishly in so doing He seems to pretend that he would have been very kind to him if they had parted with mutual Consent And would have him think he had lost by stealing away not only the Musick and Merriment before-mentioned verse 27. but such Gifts as he would have bestowed upon him Ver. 29. The God of your Father spake unto me c. There is no ground to think that the SCHECHINAH or Divine Majesty appeared to him for we do not read either here or verse 24. of his seeing any thing but hearing one speak to him and that in a Dream Who told him I suppose that he was the God of Isaac and of Abraham Or if he saw a glorious Appearance it was in his sleep only not when he was awake Ver. 30. Stolen my Gods See verse 19. Ver. 31. Because I was afraid This is an Answer to the first part of Laban's Expostulation verse 26 27 c. Ver. 32. With whomsoever thou findest c. This is an Answer to the last part of it From which some gather that Theft was punished with death in those days Sacrilege perhaps was Ver. 33. Laban went into Jacob's Tent c. This shows that Men and Women had every one of them their distinct Tents apart by themselves as was noted before XXIV ult Ver. 34. Camels furniture The Saddle upon which they rode or laid their Carriage Searched all the Tent. Except that place where she sat Ver. 35. Let it not displease c. She begs his Pardon that she did not stand up to do him Reverence as became a Child to her Father And excuses it by an Infirmity which was upon her And he searched He looked all about the place where she sat Ver. 36. Jacob answered and said c. He proceeded farther in his Answer and expostulates with Laban as he had done with him Setting forth the causlessness of his Pursuit the injustice of charging him with Theft and all his unkind usage of him from the time he came to him till his departure notwithstanding his faithful Services which he represents most admirably Ver. 38. Thy Ews and She-Goats have not cast their young I lookt so carefully after them and such was the Blessing of God upon my Care none of them miscarried A most high Commendation of his Service Who would not have valued such a Servant for whose sake God bestowed such an unwonted Fecundity upon Laban's Flock The Rams of thy Flock have I not eaten Under Rams are comprehended the Lambs also For if he had eaten any of them it had been no great Commendation to abstain from the Rams But he contented himself with