Kings of Pentapolis to wit Sodom Gomorrah Admah Seboim and Bela or Zoar all which served him twelve years Gen. 14. from 1. to 5. SECT IX TErah with Nahor and Abram his two Sons now living at Vr of the Caldees and there according to the custom of that place being Idolaters and serving other Gods Joshuah 24.2 God was pleased of his free Grace and mercy to chuse Abram to be the Father of his peculiar people when there was nothing in him to move the Lord to shew him such special favour And accordingly God was pleased to call * As he raised this righteous man from the East so he called him to his foot to follow him and his direction Esay 41.2 Gen. 15.7 Neh. 9.7 Acts 7.2 3 4. him about the 70th year of his age to leave that Idolatrous place and to go into a Land which he should shew him promising to make of him a great Nation and to bless him and in him (k) That is in his Seed Christ Gen. 18.18 Acts 3.25 26. Gal. 3.18 14. Thus the Gospel was preached to Abram all the Families of the Earth Abram obeying (l) He went out by faith not knowing whither he went Heb. 11.8 this Call perswaded his Father Terah to go along with him and also his Brother Nahor and so with Lot his Nephew the Son of Haran and Sarai his Wife they came from Vr (m) This Ur which they left was the habitation of the Priests and Mathematicians who from their Art were stiled by the name of Chaldâ—ans By which name even in Chaldaea it self those Genetbliaci or Casters of Nativities were distinguished and known from the rest of the Magi or wise men of that Country Dan. 2. v. 2 10. Ch. 4.7 Ch. 5.11 And from these Terah and his Sons seem to have learned their Idolatry Joshua 24.2 to Charran a City in Mesopotamia (n) Mesopotamia is not to be taken only for that Region which lies between Euphrates and Tygris but in a large sense as comprehending Chaldaea under it Acts 7.2 3 4. and there made their abode by reason of the great infirmity and sickliness of Terah who about five years after when he had fulfilled 205 years there died Gen. 11.31 32. Gen. 12. from 1. to 5. CHAP. III. The third Age of the World from the Promise made to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees unto the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt containing a space of four hundred and thirty years and ending in the 2508th year of the World SECT I. THe Lord having called Abram as we shewed in the foregoing Chapter when he lived at Vr of the Chaldees to leave that Countrey and to go to a place that he should shew him promising to bless him and that in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed Abram readily obeyed this Call and accordingly removed from thence and went to Charran From which Promise and Abrams departure which immediately followed are to be deduced the 430 years which Abram and his Posterity were to spend in foreign Lands See Exod. 12.40 41. And from this Promise and Covenant to the giving of the Law which was three months after the Israelites departure out of Egypt and which could not disannul this Covenant as the Apostle speaks Gal. 3.17 18 were 430 years At Charran Abram stayed about five years till his Father died and then following the Call of God being 75 years of age he took Sarai his Wife and Lot his Nephew with all the substance they had gotten and the Men-servants and Maid-servants they had acquired (o) Animas quas sibi comparaverant vel Emerant quas de idololatria converterant Tenent Hebraei Abram viros Saram mulleres in Dei cultu instituisse atque ita eos Deo procreasse Non enim alios servos habere voluerunt praeter cultores Dei. Hic primum fit servitutis mentio Vatablus in Charran and journied on till at last they came into the Land of Canaan the Canaanites a cursed Idolatrous people being now the Inhabitants thereof thorow which they passed till they came to a place called Sichem and the plain of Moreh where God appearing to Abram promised him that to his Seed he would give that Land (p) Hence called the Land of Promise Heb. 11.9 The Lords Land Hos 9.3 The holy Land Zach. 2.12 The Land of Emmanuel Isa 8.8 And this was a Type of Heaven which Abram looked for Heb. 11.9 10. Whereupon in that place he built an Altar * See Gen. 8.20 to the Lord that He might offer up his Sacrifices Prayers and Thanksgivings and perform the outward Worship God requir'd of Him among his own Company in opposition to the Idolatry of the Canaanites From thence he removed into the Hill-Countrey calld Luz and in after-times known by the name of Bethel Gen. 28.19 where again he built an Altar and called upon the Name of the Lord. And from thence holding on his Journey he came at last into the South part of the Countrey which looks towards Egypt Gen. 12. from 4. to 10. SECT II. IT pleased the Lord now to put Abrams Faith upon a new Trial. For not long after this God visited this Land of Canaan which of it self was very fruitful with a sore Famine being provoked thereunto by the Iniquity of the Inhabitants thereof See Psal 107. v. 33 34. Hereupon to avoid this Calamity Abram was forc'd to go down from thence into Egypt where as Josephus tells us he taught the Egyptians Astrology and Arimethick which before they were ignorant of When he came near unto Egypt he began to be in great apprehensions of the danger his life was in by reason of Sarai if the Egyptians should take her to be his Wife For though she was at this time 65 years old yet she was very fair and beautiful in her self and much more if compared with the swarthy Complexions of the Egyptian-Women Hereupon to prevent danger to himself he desired her to say if she were ask'd That she was his Sister (q) Nepotes Neptesque ab Hebraeis fratres sorores vocantur Gen. 13.8 14.14.16 Now though this was in a sense true as Abraham afterwards told Abimelech upon another occasion Gen. 20.12 because she was his Brothers Daughter and such in those days were usually called Brothers and Sisters yet by her saying She was his Sister Abram intended the Egyptians should understand that she was not his wife but free to be married to another And so thorow his over great fear and sollicitude for himself and too much distrusting Gods Providence and Care over him He exposed her to great and evident danger For Pharaoh King of Egypt being informed of her by his Courtiers He sent for Her to his house (r) In Domum non ad stuprum sed ut esset uxor saltem secundaria Ad se Reges non statim admittebant nisi prius purgatas praeparatas ut patet ex lib.
vers 11 12. 15ly He forbids all fraud in buying and selling and commands that they should not have divers Weights and Measures to wit great ones to buy with and small ones to sell with or great ones to shew to the Officers when they come to view and try their Weights and Measures and less to sell their Wares by They are commanded to do just things that so their days may be lengthened in the Land which the Lord giveth them For all that do such things and deal unrighteously are an abomination to the Lord from vers 13. to 17. 16ly He puts them in mind of executing what God had declared against Amalek who smote the hindmost and feeblest of them when they came out of Egypt see Sect. 11. of Ch. 4. which was a great act of inhumanity and cruelty to seek to hurt them that had been lately so horribly oppressed in Egypt and it was a sign the Amalekites feared not God who had so visibly owned that people and so in fighting against the Israelites they fought against God Himself Therefore when they were peaceably setled in the Land which God intended to give them they should blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven This Judgment God appointed Saul to execute 1 Sam. 15.2 3. but he failed in the performance of it as we may see vers 9. Afterwards God stirred up the Simeonites in Hezekiah's days to do it who smote the rest of the Amalekites 1 Chron. 4.42 43. And what befel Haman and his Sons is largely related in the third Chapter of the Book of Esther from vers 17. to the end Chap. XXVI 17ly He gives directions that when they were come into the Land of Canaan every man should every year bring a Basket of his first-fruits at the Feast of Tabernacles Exod. 23.16 to the Priest to be by Him presented to the Lord as an acknowledgment that the Lord had freely given them this Land as He had promised to their Fathers and that of Him they still held it and therefore to Him as Lord in Chief by way of Tribute they brought these first-fruits testifying also thereby that to him they owed the yearly fruitfulness of their Land And when the Priest hath set down the Basket before the Altar the Offerer shall make this solemn Profession Our Ancestor Jacob was forced to fly into Syria and in respect of his long abode and continuance there with his Uncle Laban he may well be call'd a Syrian though born in the Land of Canaan There he was near lost and ready to perish by reason of the wrongs he received from his hard Father-in-law When he returned thence into the Land of Canaan after a few years by extremity of Famine he was constrain'd to remove into Egypt and there sojourned with a few who afterwards became a great mighty and populous Nation Then the Egyptians evil intreated us and laid upon us hard Bondage but when we cried unto the Lord He looked down with pity upon our Affliction and Labour and Oppression And brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty Hand and an out-stretched Arm and with great terribleness and with Signs and Wonders and hath brought us into this good Land flowing with Milk and Honey And behold I have brought to thee the first-fruits of the Land which thou O Lord hast given me Then leaving his Basket before the Altar for the use of the Priest who with the rest of his Brethren was afterwards to eat of them all first-fruits by Gods appointment appertaining to them Deut. 18.4 and humbly worshipping the Lord He shall depart and after he hath thus testified his thankfulness and done this Service he shall go and feast with the Levites and Strangers upon the Peace-Offerings He had brought thither even as they used to do at all other Feasts rejoycing in every good thing which the Lord hath given them see Deut. 16.11 15. from vers 1. to 12. 18ly He comes now to shew what profession and prayer that man was to make that paid his third years Tythes In the two first years after the Sabbatical year there were only two Tythes to be separated from their Estates The first for the Levites the second to be spent in their Journeys to Jerusalem and in holy feasting there before the Lord. But in the third year they were to separate a third Tythe which was for the Poor in the places where they dwelt The first of these Tythes was wholly the Levites * Out of this the Levitâ—s paid a tenth part again to the Priests Numb 18.24 to 29. Neh. 10.37 38. portion and therefore often called the Lords Inheritance the second or the price of it was to be carried up by the Owners to the Lords dwelling-place and there spent in holy feasting before the Lord but this third Tythe †Therefore this third year was peculiarly call'd the year of Tything because this year they separated three Tythes from their Increase one more than in other years The first was the Levites yearly livelihood the second was to be expended in their Journey to Jerusalem and feasting before the Lord there The third was to be laid up for the Poor see Deut. 14.28 was to be laid up in some publick place in the Towns and Cities where they dwelt and was not only for the use of the Levites but also of the Stranger Fatherless and Widdow as is said vers 12. that they might eat also within their Gates and be filled He that paid this third years Tythe was to make such a profession as this O Lord I have brought away the hallowed things out of my house and have given them to the Levites the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow according to thy Commandments I have not transgressed thy Commandments nor forgotten them I have not eaten thereof in my mourning that is in my greatest wants and necessities and when I was in the greatest straits I have not ventured to supply my self from them Neither has it caused any mourning * Scil. pressus dolorâ— luctu quod tantum deberem auferre bonis meis aliis elargiri Jansen or repining in me that I was bound to part with so much of my Increase to the Poor Neither have I taken ought thereof for any unclean use that is for any use besides that for which they were appointed nor given ought thereof for the dead that is for the burying of the dead or to be provisions for a Funeral Feast †Non expendi in rem Funebrem Pompum vel Convivium de quo Jer. 16.7 Ezek. 24.17 Hos 9.4 Having made this solemn Protestation that He had not failed in paying his Tythes exactly according to the Law He was then to add this Prayer Lord look down from thy holy Habitation from Heaven and bless thy people Israel and this Land which thou hast given us as thou swearest to our Fathers from vers 12. to 18. 19ly He exhorts them to observe all
two Cities of this Name One fell to the lot of the Ephraimities and the other to the Benjamites So that it seems there were an upper and nether Beth-horon which were afterwards rebuilt beautified and fortified by Sherah a famous woman of the stock of Ephraim 1 Chron. 7.24 and smote them unto Azehah and Makkedah And as they fled some towards the upper and some towards the nether Beth-horon the Lord cast down great and prodigious Hail-stones upon them which destroyed more of them than the Israelites had killed with the Sword This storm of Hail was miraculous not only in regard of the exceeding greatness of the stones but in that they fell only on the Canaanites and not on the Israelites who pursued after them Joshua being now with his Army in the heat of pursuit and execution of their Enemies and fearing he should want day-light to finish his Work His spirit was excited humbly to beg of God that the Sun and Moon might stand still in the Heavens and give them light till they had done their work The Lord was pleased by some special instinct of his Spirit to assure him that his Request was granted whereupon in the presence of his Souldiers and for their future Encouragement looking up to Heaven He said Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon in the Valley of Ajalon †This was a Plain into which men descended from Beth-horon v. 11. and in respect of the small distance between it and Gibeon it is by the Prophet who alludeth to this story call'd the Valley of Gibeon Isa 28.21 And accordingly the Sun and Moon stood still and the whole frame of the Heavens by the space of almost an whole day till they had avenged themselves on their Enemies So that both these great Lights beginning and ending their standing still together the Astronomical Account was no way confounded by this stay even as in Musick the Harmony is not in any sort broken if all the Voices rest at the same time and then begin again every man in his own part going on until the end of the Lesson as Laurentius Codomannus observes This is written in the Book of Jasher * Fuit hic liber quasi Sanctorum Catalogus de Heroum Sanctorum gestis-scriptâ—s metrico versu Bonfrerius which seems to be some continued Chronicle of the memorable Acts of Gods Worthies in those times which Book is since lost though 't is mentioned again 2 Sam. 1.18 see also Numb 21.14 And there was no day like this either before it or after it wherein God at the prayer of a man made the Sun and Moon to stand still and made the day twice as long as it should have been Indeed in Hezekiah's time the day was miraculously lengthened by the Suns going backward 2 Kings 20.11 and Isaiah the Prophet cried unto the Lord and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward by which it had gone down in the Dial of Ahaz and yet it was not lengthened so much by far then as it was now to wit not above two hours and an half Neither was that done in such a manner as this was viz. upon Joshua's prayer to God first desiring it and then commanding in his Name that it should be done see Hab. 3.11 Joshua having the day thus miraculously lengthened out for him and following the Chase those five Kings fled to a Cave in the Country belonging to Makkedah and there hid themselves Joshua being informed thereof commanded that the entrance into the Cave should be rammed up with great stones and a Guard set upon it but that the rest of the Army should pursue after their Enemies and smite the hindmost of them and not suffer them to get into their fenced Cities lest they should put them to a new trouble For says he God fights for us and hath delivered these our Enemies into our hands therefore let us not by sloth and negligence lose this opportunity of destroying them which he now affordeth us Accordingly Joshua and his Souldiers made that day a great Slaughter of their Enemies so that only a few of them escaped which got into their fenced Cities For though he at present destroyed the Enemy in the Field yet it seems he did not take their fenced Cities till some time after though they are related in this Chapter as taken presently because the Writer of this Book did resolve to give as it were one short Draught of the War Now those whom Joshua had sent forth to pursue the Enemy returned to him in peace that is sound and safe to Makkedah where his Camp was at present And now the Canaanites were very quiet and durst not offer the Israelites the least Disturbance no not so much as a Dog barked against them to allude to that proverbial Speech Exod. 11.7 Then Joshua caused the five Kings to be brought out of the Cave to him and He called for his Captains and chief Commanders and bad them put their feet upon their Necks not in a proud insulting manner but to teach them that they were to shew no mercy to this people and to intimate to them that thus they should tread all their Enemies under their feet Then Joshua commanded that these five Kings should be slain and hanged * Quia Regum stagitia plurimis exemplo nocent ideo acerbiore supplicio merito debebant Expiari Masius on five Trees where they hung till evening and then they took them down and cast them into the Cave where they had been hid and laid great stones in the Caves mouth which remained when this History was written See Josh 8.29 and Psal 91.13 and Psal 149.8 110.1 Joshua 10. from 1. to 27. SECT CIV JOshua like a prudent General pursueth his Victory while the Canaanites were under so great a terrour and consternation upon the defeat of the five Kings and their Armies And therefore now He resolves to set upon their Cities And first He took Makkedah (c) A City in the uttermost Confines of the Tribe of Judah towards the West see Ch. 15.41 and destroyed all the people therein Men Women and Children reserving the Cattel to themselves for a Prey see Ch. 11.14 And he did unto the King thereof as he had done unto the King of Jericho that is He hanged †Hoc non indicat Scriptura ex caeterorum tamen Regum exemplo colligunt eum suspensum fuisse Bonfrerius him From Makkedah he marched the whole Army that was with him to Libnah (d) A City situate in the Tribe of Judah Ch. 15.42 and given to the Priests Ch. 21.13 and the Lord delivered that City also into his hands and he put all to the Sword he found therein and did unto their King as he did unto the King of Makkedah From Libnah he marched to Lachish (e) A strong City in the Confines of Judah restor'd Ch. 15.39 whose King was one of those that made War against Gibeon and besieged it
mean condition yet when he hath finished the work of mans Redemption he shall then be exalted above all Principalities and Powers and shall sit down at the right hand of his Father all power being given unto him both in heaven and earth he shall gather his people from all Nations and govern them by his Word and Spirit and destroy his and their enemies Hannah having ended her Song Elkanah and she departed to their house at Ramah and left their young Son Samuel to minister unto the Lord before Eli the Priest to wit in such services of the Tabernacle as by degrees he grew able to perform The Levites indeed did not enter on that service till they were twenty-five years old as we shewed before but Samuels case was extraordinary because by the special vow of a Nazarite he was even from his tender years consecrated to the service of the Lord. And though by the Law there were no linnen Ephods appointed for the Levites but for the inferior Priests only Exod. 39.27 either therefore afterwards when the Tabernacle came to be setled in the land of Canaan it was so ordered by the Lord that the Levites should also wear such linnen Ephods when they attended upon the service of the Tabernacle or else Samuel was by special dispensation because of the Nazarites vow or some other reason appointed to wear this holy vestment which yet seems not very probable because the linnen Ephod was so commonly worn by all that were employed in holy services that even David when he danced before the Ark 2 Sam. 6.14 was girded with a linnen Ephod But however it was 't is plain that Samuel in his younger years did attend upon the service of the Tabernacle viz. in such services as he could then perform and that before Eli the Priest that is as he was ordered and directed by him who undertook it training of him up and upon whom he chiefly attended in the service he performed And his mother when she came to Shiloh with her husband to offer the yearly Sacrifice used to bring him a new coat as a pledg of her motherly love to him and there Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife and said unto him The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the Son thou hast lent to the Lord. And the Lord visited * Visitare hic sumitur in bonam partem Hannah in mercy and according to Eli's blessing made her fruitful so that for that one Son she had given to the Lord he gave her three Sons and two Daughters more so powerful are the prayers of such good men as Eli was And the child Samuel as he grew in years so he grew in grace and godliness whereby he became acceptable both to God and man see Luk. 2.52 1 Sam. Ch. 2. from v. 1. to 12. and v. 18 19 20 21. SECT CLIII ELI was at this time as we have shewed Judg of Israel and he was High-Priest also but how he came to be so (a) Quomodo ab Aarone oriundus sit Eli nondum liquet ut ejus ex industria videatur obliterata genealogia Tantilla est solius loci non doctrinae morumque successio Anonym in loc we cannot give any certain account the Scripture being therein silent He had two Sons Hophni and Phineas who as Secondary Priests did the service of the Sanctuary under their Father but these were very wicked men Sons of Belial that had no lively knowledg nor apprehension of God nor did fear and honour him as God For though they did profess to worship God yet in their works they denied him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate The sins and provocations of these Sons of Eli are set forth in several particulars they were not content with the breast and shoulder and the checks * See Deut. 18.3 with the tongue which only were the Priests portion of the Peace-offerings Levit. 7.31 32 c. but they used to challenge of that which was seething for the Sacrifices as their just fees all that their flesh-hook could take out having no Law of God for it and this they did not only now and then but constantly practised it unto all the Israelites that came to Shiloh to worship v. 14. And sometimes they would have this their overplus-portion before the flesh was put into the pot or kettle that they might roast it yea before the fat was taken off and burnt and so before the Lord had his due directly against the Law Levit. 7.31 which may be the reason why v. 29. they are said to have made themselves fat with the chiefest of the offerings and if any denied to give them what they required they threatned to take it by force and violence God was very angry at these miscarriages of these young men whereby they caused the people to neglect the Worship and service of God and even to abhor his Sacrifices when they saw them profaned by such abominable courses Eli was very old and heard of these great miscarriages of his Sons and of some other abominations that they were guilty of viz. that they lay with the women that came to the door of the Tabernacle to offer Sacrifices and to perform other duties of worship and service unto God which wickedness was the more abominable because they had wives of their own as we may see Ch. 4.19 Old Eli did indeed reprove his Sons for these their scandalous miscarriages but he did it too mildly and gently saying to them Nay my Sons it is no good report I hear of you ye make the Lords people to transgress by your wicked example and to forbear bringing their Sacrifices to the Lord being so highly scandalized at your ill managing of sacred things But Eli being not only a Father but also a chief Magistrate and Judg should not only have reproved them sharply but should have punished them severely by casting them out of the Priests Office which they had so shamefully profaned yea should have put them to death for their adultery according to the Law Levit. 20.10 but he only mildly reproved them for such great enormities He told them that if one man sin against another the Judg shall judg him that is an umpire may come and take up the controversie and the offending party may be adjudged to make satisfaction and so there will be an end of that quarrel but if a man sin against the Lord who shall entreat for him that is no mediation or satisfaction of man can here make his peace with God no reconciliation can here be hoped for but upon his repentance and turning to God and resting on the alsufficient merits and intercession of the Messias But let Eli say what he would they hearkened not to the voice of their father which plainly shewed that the Lord determined to destroy them for being grievously provoked by their sins he resolved as a righteous Judg to leave them to themselves and to the wickedness of
will readily assist thee about things of Gold Silver Brass Wood or any other materials And I doubt not but the Princes and all the people will be wholly at thy command Then David turned his speech again to the whole Assembly and said to them Solomon my Son whom God alone hath chosen to succeed me is yet young and tender the work that he is to do is great For this Palace or Royal Temple that he is to build is not to be built for man but for the Lord God and therefore must be most magnificent As for my self I have provided with all my might and to the uttermost of my power for the building of it and the finishing of all things appertaining to it And I declare before you all not out of pride or ostentation but to stir you up to follow my example that I have provided gold and silver and brass and iron and timber and marble stones in abundance for this great work yea I have provided all manner of precious stones as Onix-stones and glittering stones of divers colours Yea I have so set my heart on the building of this house for God that I have of my own proper goods which I had gathered for my self * David got very rich spoils in the many wars he was engaged in and the wealthy enemies he conquered after I had consecrated to God his part which was the greatest given three thousand talents of Gold viz. of the Gold of Ophir seven thousand talents of refined silver The gold is for to overlay in thin plates the walls of the Temple and the silver to overlay the walls of some particular rooms in the houses and buildings adjoining And now let me exhort you all to follow my example and to assist my Son with heart and hand with your counsel and with your purses in this great work And truly you have great reason to do it Is not the Lord your God among you to bless you Hath he not given you rest on every side Hath he not given the people the inhabitants of the land into my hand so that they peaceably submit to my government Is not the land subdued before the Lord and before his people so that being freed from their enemies they may quietly enjoy their possessions Therefore set your hearts to seek the Lord your God and faithfully to serve him Arise and build the Sanctuary of the Lord your God and bring the Ark and the holy vessels of God into it And now let me see who among you is willing to fill his hand with gifts this day and freely to offer them to the Lord for the building of this house Upon this motion of the Kings the Princes Rulers and Captains and all sorts offered very willingly and liberally for the service of the house and 't is like subscribed what they intended to give and that which they gave amounted to five thousand talents of Gold and ten thousand drams and ten thousand talents of silver and eighteen thousand talents of brass and one hundred thousand talents of iron And they that had precious stones gave them to the Treasure of the house of the Lord for this sacred use And there was great joy among all the people because of the great willingness and forwardness that was in all sorts to contribut to this work And David also rejoiced exceedingly at it and was much pleased with their large free and willing contribution Whereupon he brake out into an holy and zealous praising of the Lord for it and said Blessed be thou Lord God of Israel our Father for ever and ever To thee O Lord belongs greatness power glory majesty and victory For all that is in heaven or in the earth is thine Thine is the Kingdom O Lord and we do willingly exalt thee and acknowledg thee to be head above all and higher than all Both riches and honour come from thee and thou reignest over all and in thine hand is power and might In thine hand it is to make great and to give strength to all to whom thou pleasest Now therefore O Lord we exalt and praise thy name for thy glorious excellencies and thy benefits conferred on us But who am I and what is my people that we should have hearts and abilities to offer so freely and so largely as we have done And yet we have no manner of cause to boast or glory For all things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee We do acknowledg that we are not proprietors of the goods that we possess but only thy stewards The land we dwell in is thine we are but strangers before thee and sojourners as all our fathers were And our days on the earth are as a shadow and there is no abiding for us here and therefore seeing we are to continue but a short time in this life and have but a short enjoyment of the things of this world how can we better dispose of them than for thy service who art able to give us in exchange for them an eternal inheritance in thy Kingdom O Lord we do willingly acknowledg that all this great store we have provided for the building of an house for thy holy name was given us by thy free bounty and is all thine own and therefore we present unto thee only what thou thy self didst first give us I know O Lord thou triest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness As for my self in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things and now to my great joy and comfort I have also seen this people here present to offer willingly unto thee O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob our Fathers I pray thee keep and preserve this holy zeal in the minds and hearts of this people and establish their hearts and make them ever firm to thy self And give unto Solomon my Son an upright heart to keep thy commandments testimonies and statutes and to do all things required of him and enable him to build and finish this stately Palace for thy name for which I have made so great provision David having ended his prayer he call'd to the whole Congregation to bless the Lord which accordingly they did with loud acclamations and bowed down their heads and worshipped the Lord with divine honour and adoration which being done they bowed themselves to the King and paid him civil honour and respect and so departed The next day they sacrificed Sacrifices and offered Burnt-offerings unto the Lord namely a thousand bullocks a thousand rams and a thousand lambs with the drink-offerings appertaining to them which they offered in the name of all the people and in such abundance that all the Israelites there present might eat of the Peace-offerings that were then offered And they did eat and drink before the Lord that day with great gladness of heart and anointed Solomon a second time King his first anointing having been done on the sudden and almost in a tumultuary
is like they had brought the Tabernacle with all the things appertaining to it from Gibeon The Priests * 2 Chron. 5.4 'T is said the Levites took up the Ark because the Priests were also Levites that is of the Tribe of Levi. took up the Ark on their shoulders the Levites according to their several appointed ranks carried the Tabernacle with the boards and curtains and the holy vessels belonging thereunto The King and the Elders walked after in a solemn procession to Mount Moriah (a) The Temple to speak properly was not built on Mount Sion but on Mount Moriah but because the whole City of Jerusalem is usually called Sion and Mount Sion from that Mount that was a chief part of it thence it is that the Temple Gods dwelling place is usually said to have been in Sion where the Temple was built whither being come the Priests carried the Ark into the Oracle or most holy place and set it under the wings of the Golden Cherubims But they drew out the staves of the Ark something from under the wings of the Cherubims that they might be seen in the holy place which was before the Oracle but they were not seen as taken out of the Ark 2 Chron. 5.9 And possibly these staves were the rather thus disposed to remember the people that if they brake Gods Covenant the staves yet remained within the rings of the Ark ready to bear away the Symbol of Gods gracious presence from them The Levites also disposed those things which they carried belonging to the (b) The Tabernacle was carried about in the Wilderness forty years it remained in Gilgal about fourteen years it remain'd in Shiloh till Samuels time 1 Sam. 4.4 it then remain'd in Nob till Saul destroyed that place 1 Sam. 22.19 it was in Gibeon all Davids time from thence it was brought into Zion and from thence into the Treasuries of the Temple Tabernacle into the Treasuries of the Temple there to remain as Sacred things not again to be removed When the Priests had set the Ark in its place and were come out immediately an hundred and twenty of them with silver Trumpers and the Levite-singers viz. Asaph Heman and Jeduthun with their Sons and Brethren being arrayed in white linnen and having Cymbals Psalteries and Harps in their hands stood at the East-end of the Altar and the Trumpets sounding and they playing on their Instruments and lifting up their voices with one consent and making one melodious harmony sang as it seems the 136 Psalm the burden of which is For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Whilst they were thus employed suddenly the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud which was an extraordinary manifestation of the presence of God 2 Chron. 5.14 't is said the glory of God filled the house which intimated that the brightness of his glory was such that if it were not clouded over no mortal eyes could behold it It seems the cloud was such and so amazing that the Priests could not continue to minister in the Sanctuary where the cloud was and by this visible sign of his presence the Lord did sanctifie to himself this place see Exod. 40.34 and shewed his approbation of all that was done Solomon standing upon a Brazen Scaffold made for him in the outward Court right before the door of the Priests Court through which he might look and apprehending this cloud to be a manifestation of Gods gracious presence and acceptance of the house he had built for his service in a rapture of joy he brake out into these words The Lord said he is pleased to dwell in thick darkness Levit. 16.2 and by a cloud he hath usually testified his presence among his people as when he led the Israelites by a cloud Exod. 13.21 In a cloud he appeared at the giving of the Law Exod. 19.16 In a cloud he appeared that covered and filled the Tabernacle as soon as it was reared up by Moses Exod. 40.34 and therefore doubtless in this cloud the Lord doth now appear unto us and testifies his favourable acceptance of our service in building this house for his name Then directing his speech to God he said O Lord I have built a Temple for thee to manifest thy gracious presence in an house not to be removed as the Tabernacle was but a setled place for thee to abide in (c) Officium Templi non est prastare Deo habitationem sed hominibus directionem ad soliâ—m divinum sempiteruâ—â— quod in câ—lo est Cajet to be there ready on all occasions to resolve us in such cases as we shall humbly propound unto thee and to hear such prayers as we shall make unto thee and to grant such blessings as we shall humbly crave of thee and to accept such sacrifices and services as we shall there offer up and present unto thee And O Lord I pray thee accept this house for thine and ever manifest thy gracious presence therein as long as this dispensation we are now under shall last and till the truth of this type shall be exhibited Then the King turned his face to the people standing about him and blessed them and said Blessed and praised be the Lord God of Israel who spake to David my Father that I should build a Temple for his great name and hath by his good hand upon me enabled me to do it The Lord also said since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt I chose no City out of all their Tribes in which I appointed an house to be built that my name might be there in a peculiar manner worshipped But having chosen David to be King over my people it was in his heart to build an house for my name And thereupon I said to him whereas it was in thine heart to build an house to my name I like it well that it was in thine heart to do it Nevertheless thou shalt not build this house for me but thy Son that shall come out of thy loins he shall build it And the Lord hath now graciously performed the word that he spake and I am risen up in my fathers room to sit on the Throne of Israel and have built an house for the Lord as he promised I should do and an abiding place for the Ark wherein are the two Tables of the Law which the Lord gave as a Covenant to his people requiring obedience on their part and promising many blessings on his part to the obedient Then Solomon turned his face towards the Altar of Burnt-offering and towards the most holy place and having stood a while he then kneeled down and spreading forth his hands towards heaven poured forth this Divine Prayer saying O Lord God of Israel there is no God like thee in heaven above or in earth beneath who keepest Covenant and shewest mercy to thy servants that walk before thee in the integrity of their hearts Thou hast kept thy
us by Benhadad had he perform'd his Covenant made with us but he perfidiously keeps it from us and we are still and quiet Then addressing himself to Jehoshaphat he asks him if he would please to join with him to recover it and would go in person with him to besiege it Jehoshaphat replied I am as thou art my people as thy people my horses as thy horses As if he should have said I my self my people and my horses are all at thy service and ready to go and do as thou shalt order even as if they were thine own But he desired before they engaged in this enterprize that he would presently send to some holy Prophet and enquire by him after the mind of the Lord whether it were his will they should undertake this war and whether he would prosper them in it Ahab thereupon gathers together his 400 Baalitish Prophets viz. those of the Groves which were reserv'd from appearing to Elijah's Challenge Ch. 18.19 20. thinking possibly that Jehoshaphat by such a multitude would be the better perswaded of the truth of what they said and spake unto them after this manner What say ye shall we go against Ramoth-Gilead to battel or shall we forbear They presently said Go up for the Lord will deliver it into thy hand But though they made use of the name of the Lord yet they received not this answer from him but spake as they thought was most agreeable to Ahab's humour Jehoshaphat was not satisfied with what they said but suspecting their word was not from the Lord he askt if there were not besides these a Prophet of the Lords in the land that they might enquire of Ahab told him there was indeed one in Samaria Michaiah * Some think this Michaiah was the Prophet that denounced the judgment against Ahab Ch. 20.42 and that thereupon he had put him in prison in Samaria till now by name but says he I hate him for he doth not use to prophesie good concerning me but evil Jehoshaphat replied Let not the King say so we ought not to hate the Prophets of the Lord because they speak sometimes things that do not please us If they be the faithful servants of the Lord they must speak the truth whatever it be God forbid therefore the King should hate them for that Ahab hearing him say so commanded an Officer to fetch Michaiah to him Then both the Kings sitting on Chairs of State clad in their Royal Robes in a void place at the entrance of the Gate of Samaria all the 400 Prophets of Baal before mentioned came and Prophesied before them that is by strange affected passionate gestures made shew of Prophetical raptures And Zedekiah the chief of them made him horns * Solebant Prophetae verbis signis eventus praedicere of iron thereby to signifie the power of these two Kings and said to Ahab Thus saith the Lord with these shalt thou push the Syrians until thou hast destroyed them And all the rest of those Prophets prophesied accordingly saying Go up to Ramoth-Gilead and prosper for the Lord shall deliver it into the Kings hands The messenger that went for Micaiah as he was bringing him to the King said to him Behold the rest of the Prophets have spoken good things to the King and that with one consent let thy word therefore I pray thee be like theirs and speak things pleasing to him and to the people Micaiah replied As the Lord liveth what the Lord saith unto me that will I speak So Micaiah came to the King who spake to him after this manner Come Micaiah what saist thou to our design shall we go against Ramoth-Gilead or shall we forbear He answered Go and prosper the Lord will deliver it into thy hands if that which thy Prophets have told thee be true The King said unto him How oft shall I adjure thee that thou deal really with me and tell me nothing but that which is true and which thou hast received from the Lord. Micaiah then said to him I saw in a vision all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have no shepherd implying that the King who was as the shepherd of the people should be slain and thereupon the people should fly and be scattered When I saw this says he the Lord said to me These have no Master that is their King is slain let them return every man to his own house in safety and escape with their lives See v. 36. Ahab turning to Jehoshaphat said Did not I tell thee that he would prophesie no good to me but only evil Micaiah upon this said seeing thou hast adjured me to tell thee the truth in the name of the Lord I now will do it fully and plainly I saw in a vision the Lord sitting on his Throne †Visio parabolica ut Job 1.6 dicuntur hac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad indicandum varios providentiae divinae modos quibus decreta sua ad exitum perducit and all the host of heaven viz. the good Angels and Saints attending him on his right hand and on his left and some evil spirits were mixed among them And the Lord said who will perswade Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead and some of them spake on this manner and others on that At length there came an evil spirit and stood before the Lord and said I will perswade him The Lord askt him How he would do it He answer'd I will go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets that is I will urge them and put them on to lye to him and deceive him For false Prophets are instructed and moved by evil spirits as true Prophets are by the Spirit of God The Lord answers I permit thee to go and to delude Ahabs Prophets with lyes and by them to delude Ahab himself and thou shalt not miss but shalt effectually perswade and prevail Go forth therefore and do as thou intendest for it is an act of justice seeing Ahab hated my Prophets and would not believe them that therefore he should be given up to believe lyes According to this vision O King the Lord hath permitted a lying spirit to enter into all these thy Prophets who hath possest their hearts and tongues and they speak meer lyes unto thee when they tell thee that thou shalt prosper in this expedition For assure thy self the Lord hath determined evil against thee Zedekiah hearing this stept to him and smote him on the cheek and said to him which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak to thee Micaiah returneth not blow for blow but tells him thou shalt find to thy cost that I have the Spirit of God and do declare the truth of God when thou shalt see my Prophesie exactly fulfilled and when Ahab shall be slain and his army worsted on that day thou shalt hide thy self in an inner Chamber from Ahabs children and friends
acception for those Countries that lay beyond Jordan but Westward something Southward and that some of them were already come to Engedi a City on the West-side of that Sea Jehoshaphat was hereat much startled and being greatly afraid he set himself to seek help from the Lord and proclaimed a †See Judg. 20.26 1 Sam. 7.6 Ezra 8.21 23. Neh. 1.4.9.11 Esth 4.9 Fast throughout all Judah that they might all joyn in humbling thomselves before the Lord and earnest supplication to him for mercy and so their prayers might be the more prevalent and effectual And Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the Cities and Towns that belong'd to Jehoshaphat's jurisdiction and came to Jerusalem to the Temple to seek the Lord and to beg help of him And Jehoshaphat stood before this great Assembly probably upon the Brazen Scaffold in the great Court (a) We read Chap. 15.8 that Asa renewed the Altar of the Lord which stood in this Court He might also repair the whole Court Or perhaps Jehoshaphat himself had done it Others understand it of the Court of the people which had been lately repaired and perhaps divided into two Courts the one being appointed for the men and the other for the women For though when Solomon built it it was but one Court yet afterwards they say it was divided into two where the people used to meet which was before the Priests Court newly repaired and beautified and prayed unto the Lord saying O Lord God of our Fathers art not thou God in heaven and rulest thou not over all the Kingdoms of the heathen and in thy hand is there not power and might so that none is able to withstand thee Art not thou our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend * This Title is three times given to Abraham here and Isa 41.8 and Jam. 2.3 Thus our Saviour stiled Lazarus Friends Joh. 11.11 and his Disciples Friends Joh. 15.15 for ever †That is to the coming of the Messiah And they dwell therein and have built a Temple therein for the honour of thy name and they humbly desired of thee when they consecrated it 1 King 8.30 that if any evil came upon them at any time as the sword pestilence or famine or any other dreadful judgment and they stood before this house in which thy name is call'd upon and cried unto thee in their affliction that then thou wouldst please to hear and help them And now behold O Lord the children of Moab and Ammon and Mount Seir whom thou wouldst not permit Israel to invade when they came out of the land of Egypt but didst command them to turn from them and not to destroy them behold how they now reward us who are coming in this hostile manner to cast us out of the possession which thou hast given us O our God wilt not thou judge them and punish them for this As for our selves we must needs acknowledg that we have no might or power comparatively to resist this vast body of people that cometh against us we know not what to do but our eyes are upon thee on thee only we rest and depend and from thee alone we humbly expect help Thus all Judah for some from every place were there present stood before the Lord with their wives and little ones For in times of publick humiliations they us'd to bring their little ones to the publick assemblies see Joel 2.16 that their own bowels might be the more moved at the sight of their children now in danger to be cruelly butchered by the enemy and so their hearts might be stirred up to be more serious and earnest in their supplications to God for help Immediately the spirit of Prophesie fell upon Jehaziel a Levite of the Sons of Asaph as he stood in midst of the Congregation and he spake to the King and all the Congregation Thus saith the Lord Be not afraid nor dismaid by reason of this great multitude for the battel is not yours but Gods God himself will fight for you he will not so much as use you for instruments to vanquish this great host To morrow go ye down against them behold they come by the cliff of Ziz and ye shall find them at the end of the valley before the wilderness of Israel Ye shall not need to fight in this battel Compose your selves quietly to expect the deliverance that God will give you Stand ye still fly upon your enemies you shall see the salvation of the Lord will be with you and he will deliver you therefore fear not nor be dismaid Jehoshaphat hearing this joyful news bowed his head with his face to the ground and all the people also fell down before the Lord and worshipped him and the Levite-singers stood up to praise the Lord with an high and loud voice accounting the victory already gotten because promised by one of the Lords Prophets And so they departed with great comfort for that time The next morning they rose very early and marched forth into the Wilderness of Tekoa betwixt which and Israel was the Cliff of Ziz and as they marched forth Jehoshaphat said to them Believe and trust in the Lord your God so shall ye be established and your minds setled believe his Prophets particularly what Jahaziel yesterday prophesied unto you and so shall ye prosper And when he had consulted with the Commanders of the Army what was fit for them to do he as being by faith assured of the victory appointed some of the Levite-singers to go before the Army and to sing the high praises of God and to praise the Lord in whom is the beauty and perfection of holiness * V. 21. Some by the beauty of holiness understand Gods most holy Majesty who dwelleth in Heaven where is the beauty of Holiness and to do it according to that beautiful and holy order that was prescribed in the Temple and especially to sing praise ye the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever which was the foot of several Psalmes of Thanksgiving composed by David and particularly of the 136 Psalm It might seem a strange thing for an Army to march against a potent enemy in such a manner as this but Jehoshaphat firmly relying on what God had promised he found the success answering his faith for when the Levites began to sing praises unto the Lord and as it were to triumph before hand for the victory promised the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon Moab and Mount Seir that is sent a spirit of discord and dissention among them so that the Ammonites and Moabites suspecting those of Mount Seir * The Edomites that join'd now with the Moabites and Ammonites against Jehoshaphat might be only some voluntarie mercenaries not sent out by the State of Edom that was in subjection to the Kingdom of Judah and it seems they
set a mark upon him possibly some strange trembling of his head or some frightful ghasty look which would make him a horrible Spectacle of Divine Vengeance to terrifie others from so detestable a Crime And whosoever should slay him thus marked and do unto him as he had done to his Brother more then a single Vengeance should be taken of him Gen. 4.15 (q) Seven-fold that is manifold according to the usual expression of the Scripture See Psal 12.6 79.12 Job 5.19 Prov. 26.25 The Lord having and probably in a visible Apparition thus sentenced Cain as soon as he was got out of the place where God manifested his presence He fled as a banished man from his Native Soil and the Land where his Father dwelt to a Land East of Eden which afterwards from his wandring there was call'd the Land of Nod. Sometime after his Wife bare him a Son whom he named Enoch and in process of time He and his Posterity (r) If Abraham's Posterity in less then 400 years amounted to six hundred thousand persons how many might Cain's Posterity be ere he built this City beginning to build a City in that Country He called it by his Sons Name Unto this Enoch was born Irad unto Irad Mehujael unto Mehujael Methusael and unto Mâ—thusael Lamech This Lamech being a Branch of that wicked root of Cain bringeth into the World the Abomination of Polygamy or having more Wives at once than one For He took to himself Ada and Zillah By the former he had Jabal who first invented at least among Cain's Posterity the use of Tents and taught the right ordering of the Flock and Jubal who invented Musical Instruments such as the Harp and Organ By the latter viz. Zillah He had Tubal-Cain (s) Ex quo Gentibus Dei Vulcani nomen who wrought in Brass and Iron and Naamah who they say (t) Hartman found out the way of ordering Wooll and of Carding and Weaving This Lamech presuming possibly upon the strength of his Family and priding himself in the Arts invented by his Sons especially by Tubal-Cain who was an Artificer in Brass and Iron and possibly made Swords and such Instruments of War He thought himself able to resist and oppose any that should offend Him Therefore in a boasting vanting fashion he speaks thus to his wives who seemed afraid of him lest his fierce and boisterous humour should expose him to danger Fear ye not my Wives concerning me For if any man should attempt to set upon me I would slay that man by my wounding him and though a young man I would dispatch him by my hurting him * Vide Frid. in loc pag. 36. And if Cain a Fratricid shall be avenged seven-fold surely Lamech that kills a man in his own defence shall be avenged seventy times seven-fold Gen. 4. from 1. to 25. SECT V. AFter the death of Abel Adam begat Seth in his own likeness and after his own Image (u) Yet God was still the Father and Creator of the Spirits of all Flesh Heb. 12.9 Numb 16.22 that is such as he himself now was namely sinful and not such as he was created Seth was born in the 130th Year of Adam In the Race of Seth the account of Years is carried on from the Creation to the Flood And among these as it seems principally the true worship of God was maintained which by the Race of Cain was very miserably corrupted To Seth at the age of an 105 Years a Son was born whom he called Enoch that is sorrowful intimating thereby the woful and lamentable condition the World was in at that time by reason of the corruption and wickedness that was found in the Progeny of Cain However Seth and his Off-spring did then more openly and solemnly set up and establish the Worship of God than formerly it had been Whence it came to pass that they that persisted in that way of Worship were known by the Name of the Children of God * Deut. 14.1 and they who forsook God and his sincere Worship were called the Children of Men Gen. 6.2 Gen. 4.25 26. SECT VI. ENoch being ninty years old begat Cainan Cainan when he was 70 begat Mahalaleel Mahalaleel at 65 years old had Jared born to Him Jared at 162 years old had Enoch born to him Enoch at 65 years old had Methusalah born to him Methusalah at 187 had Lamech born to him Now Adam the Father of Mankind died when he had lived nine hundred and thirty years Seth the Son of Adam died when he had lived 912 years Noah the tenth from Adam was born when his Father Lamech had lived 182. And his Father prophesied of him that he would be a man of eminent Piety and such a Son as would much comfort his Parents notwithstanding all the miseries labours troubles and sorrows which Sin had brought upon Mankind and notwithstanding the many Evils they met with in that wicked and uncomfortable time Enos the third from Adam died when he had lived 905 years Mahalaleel the fifth from Adam died when he had lived 895 years Jared the sixth from Adam died when he had lived 962 years As for Enoch the seventh from Adam He was a very holy person one that walked with God and followed not the wickedness of that Age but with great courage set himself against it and being a Prophet as we read Jude v. 14 15. He plainly told them of and set before them the day of Judgment Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him I say this holy Person God was pleased to translate immediately into Heaven (x) Per Enochi migrationem beatam patet nimium eos falli qui in hujus mundi caeno spem universam defigunt ut aeternitatis cognitione ex animis omnino deleta And besides this instance before the Law we have a like example of the translation of Elias after the giving of the Law c. 2 Kings 2.11 not suffering him to die as other men ordinarily do when he had lived as many years as there are days in our Year viz. 365. Thus it pleased God to shew to that Age that there was a future Coelestial State of Bliss and Happiness that good men both in Soul and Body shall enjoy hereafter Gen. 5. whole Chapter SECT VII IN the 480th Year of the life of Noah the Lord seeing that the generality of the World had corrupted their ways and that the Professors of his true Worship namely the Posterity of Seth without any regard to their Profession had scandalously and promiscuously (y) Gods Law afterwards forbad such Marriages with such as were out of the Church Deut. 7.3 4. Exod. 34.16 2 Cor. 6.14 married with the Daughters of the profane Race of Cain who
and Wine have I plentifully furnished him that he shall have enough And now the chief and principal blessing viz. the Divine Covenant and the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan being setled on thy Brother Jacob what shall I do for thee my Son Alas all other blessings are comparatively nothing to this Esau answered What my Father hast thou but one blessing to bestow Then weeping bitterly he cried out O I beseech thee bless me even me also But all his crying and weeping could not move Isaac to repent of what he had done or to recall the blessing which unwittingly he had conferred on Jacob see Heb. 12.17 However Isaac tells Esau that plenty of earthly blessings should be his portion Canaan also was a Type of the heavenly Canaan Thy dwelling says he shall be the fatness of the Earth Mount Seir was such a place though much inferior to Canaan and thou shalt be blessed with the dew of Heaven from above and by thy Sword shalt thou live that is by thy valour shalt defend thy Estate and Country and shalt serve thy Brother viz. in thy Posterity For when the Children of Jacob shall inherit the Land of Canaan they shall make the Edomites Tributaries to them see 2 Sam. 8.14 and Obad. v. 18 19. but it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the Dominion thou shalt break his Yoke from off thy Neck that is after the Edomites thy Posterity shall have been a long time in subjection to the Israelites they shall at length become more mighty than they had been and shall then Cast off the Yoke of the Israelites which was accomplish'd in the days of Jehoram King of Judah 2 Kings 8.20 In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah See 2 Chron. 21.8 Things thus happening between these two Brothers Esau hereupon hated Jacob (c) This hatred continued in his Posterity See Obad. v. 10.11 12 c. Herod was an Idumaean and exercised his Tyranny in Judaea for 38 years because of the blessing wherewith his Father had blessed him And at first he secretly determined in his own mind but afterwards not being able to contain himself he uttered it in so many words that the days of mourning for his Father were at hand that is his Father could not in likelihood live much longer and as soon as he was dead he was resolved to kill (d) See how wicked men do harden themselves against the known will of God as we see an instance in Saul 1 Sam. 18.28 29. Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and yet he became Davids enemy continually his Brother Jacob. These threatning words coming to Rebeccas ears she immediately sent for her Son Jacob and told him what Esau intended against him and how he comforted himself with the thoughts of killing him not only because revenge yea the very purpose of it is sweet to inraged wicked men but because he flattered himself with hopes by this means to recover his Birth-right again Therefore she advises him to flee presently to her Brother Laban who dwelt at Haran in Mesopotamia and to tarry there a few days (e) But it proved to be above 20 years as we see Ch. 31.38 till the wrath and fury of his Brother was appeased and then she would send and fetch him home again And she further intimates to Him that she plainly foresaw that if they continued together they would in all likelihood quarrel and fight and possibly one of them might kill the other And if Esau killed him they could then account no better of Esau then as of a dead man seeing Divine Vengeance in all probability would follow him because of that Fact or the Sword of Justice would cut him off or he would withdraw himself from her presence as not daring to look her any more in the face and so she should be deprived of them both in one day And Rebecca that she might dispose Isaac to be willing that Jacob might go to Padan-Aram tells him not of what she heard of Esau's bloody intention to kill his Brother lest she should grieve him thereby in his old Age or inrage him against Esau but she tells him that she was weary of her life by reason of Esau's Wives and therefore lest Jacob should marry among the Canaanites as Esau had done to their continual grief and vexation she desires that Jacob might go and seek a Wife among her Kindred at Haran Isaac hereupon calls Jacob to him and charging him to go to Mesopotamia and to take a Wife of the Daughters of Laban he now wittingly and willingly confirms the blessing which he had before given him unknowingly He desires the Lord to bless him to make him fruitful and to multiply him see Ch. 35.11 12. Ch. 48.4 and to confer on him all those blessings both Spiritual and Temporal which were promised to Abraham and his Seed and especially the blessing of the promised Messias And that he might inherit the Land given to Abraham by promise For though he Himself should be only as a Stranger in this Land wandring here and there yet to him it should be given and to his Seed after him Jacob having thus received his Fathers blessing stole away privately lest Esau should lie in wait for him by the way and began his Journey from Beersheba towards his Uncle Laban with his Staff in his hand (f) Vacuus dimissus est ut tutius latitaret emineret divina benedictio Ch. 32.10 As he travelled on he came to a Place near Luz about 50 miles from Beersheba and about eight miles North of Jerusalem but being overtaken with the night He was fain to lie all night in the Field and he took one of the stones of the place and put it for his pillow and so lay down to sleep And he dreamed and had a vision of a Ladder the foot of which stood upon the Earth and the top of it reached to Heaven and the Angels of God ascended and descended on it By which Vision probably was represented to Him how the Providence of God reached from Heaven to Earth and governed the World by the Ministry of the holy Angels and particularly Gods provident Care over Him and that thorow the mediation of the promised Seed Christ hereby typified (g) The top of the Ladder reaching to Heaven represented Christs Deity the foot of it touching the Earth his Humanity Joh. 1.51 Christ reaches to Heaven in his Divine Naturâ— and to Earth in his humane In his two Natures personally united Heaven and Earth are as it were joyned together By him alone God is reconcil d to Man To him the Angels minister By his Merits and Intercession the Saints obtain the Gifts of the Holy Ghost the Guardianship of the holy Angels and all spiritual blessings Psal 91.11 12. Heb. 1.13 14. he should injoy the Guardianship of the holy Angels and be by them defended both in his going out
atonement was appointed for them Lev. 5.2 But those that hate to be reformed God will not reckon them among his people In like manner those that partake of the Signs and Seals of Grace unworthily eat and drink judgment to themselves 1 Cor. 11.27 28 29. and presumptuously eat of the Peace-Offerings such persons shall be Excommunicated and cut off from the Communion of Gods people or as some understand it by Divine Vengeance Further God Commands Moses to charge them to forbear eating the fat of any of those Cattel that were appointed for Sacrifice but the fat of such Beasts if they died of themselves or were torn in pieces might be employed to any other use but that kind of fat which we call Suet they might not eat though other fat that was mix'd with the flesh they might eat of And as they were to forbear eating fat so also blood for the Reasons mentioned before Ch. 3. vers 17. see also Gen. 9.4 and Levit. 17.14 Lastly Moses from the Lord gives them this Command that whosoever offered a Peace-Offering should bring it himself in his own person and not another for him and He shall himself with his own hand present that part which is to be an Oblation to the Lord viz. the fat with the Breast and right Shoulder then the Priest shall burn the fat upon the Altar but the Breast being waved before the Lord and the Shoulder elevated or lifted up shall be his Portion See Exod. 29.22 For this He tells them is the portion and reward appointed by God to Aaron and his Sons by virtue of their Vnction to the Priestly-Office and to be paid them by the Children of Israel from the day of their anointing Levit. Ch. 7. whole Chapter SECT XXX MOses now by direction from God gathering the Children of Israel together spends seven days in consecrating Aaron and his four Sons observing the manner and Ceremonies prescribed for their Consecration Exod. Ch. 28. 29. * See Sect. 21. partic 12. viz. 1. He washes them with water 2ly He puts the High Priests Vestments and rich attire upon Aaron 3ly Anointeth the Tabernacle with the Altar and Laver and sprinkles the Altar seven times with the Oil of Consecration because it was consecrated to a more special use than other parts of the Tabernacle 4ly He anointeth Aaron 5ly He puts the holy Garments upon his Sons 6ly He offers for them all a Bullock for a Sin-Offering one Ram for a Burnt-Offering and another Ram for a Sacrifice of Consecration 7ly With the blood of the Ram He sprinkled certain parts of their bodies and their Garments as was prescribed Exod. 29. 8ly He offered a Meat-Offering for them as a Thanksgiving to God for that great favour vouchsafed to them in setting them apart to this holy Function 9ly He charges them to boil and eat their portion of the Sacrifice at the door of the Tabernacle and to continue there seven days and nights to consummate the time of their Consecration All which they perform'd accordingly Levit. Ch. 8. whole Chapter SECT XXXI ON the very next day after the seven days of the Priests Consecration were ended Aaron and his Sons entred upon the Execution of their Office And Aaron first offered for himself a young Calf for a Sin-Offering and a Ram for a Burnt-Offering which intimated that the High Priest was Himself a Sinner and not fit to stand as a Mediator between God and the people 2ly He offered for the people a Kid of the Goats for a Sin-Offering and a Calf and a Lamb for a Burnt-Offering to which was added the Meat-Offering and a Bullock and a Ram for a Peace-Offering Then Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people and blessed them see Numb 6.23 Moses now goes with Aaron into the Tabernacle that He might instruct him concerning the Service he was there to perform viz. about the Lights the Table of Shew-Bread and the Altar of Incense c. And Moses and Aaron when they came out blessed the people again The Glory of the Lord now appeared to all the people and ratified the Priests Consecration and entrance into their holy Function by sending Fire (m) Moses at the Consecration of Aaron and his Sons sacrific'd with common fire as appears Ch. 8.20 21. But upon Aarons first sacrificing Ch. 9.24 Fire came out from the Sanctuary or from Heaven which was not to be suffered afterwards to go out according to Gods appointment Ch 6.13 And therefore as some conceive this Fire was charily carried in some Vessel for the purpose when they journied in the Wilderness and so it continued until the Temple of Solomon was built and then Fire came down again from Heaven 2 Chron. 7.1 which continued unto the Captivity of Babylon and is said to be miraculously renewed 2 Maccab. 1.18 but whither it was or no is uncertain from his glorious Presence that is either from Heaven 2 Chron. 7.1 or out of the Tabernacle which consumed the Burnt-Offering and the fat on the Altar which the people seeing shouted for joy and fell on their Faces giving thanks to the Lord for this great Sign of his favour and acceptance of their Sacrifices Levit. Ch. 9. whole Chapter SECT XXXII THe day following Nadab and Abihu the two eldest Sons of Aaron who went up with their Father to the Mount and had there seen the Glory of God Exod. 24.1 9 10. having undoubtedly been instructed by Moses that when they went to burn Incense in the Tabernacle they should make use only of fire taken from the Altar of Burnt-Offering which had been kindled by Fire from Heaven (n) The Devil is Gods Ape and accordingly He imitated God in his Prescriptions concerning the continual burning of the Fire upon the Altar and that in divers places among the Heathens as among the Persians who made a God of it and among the Grecians who at Delphi worshipped it in the Temple of Apollo and among the Romans who worshipped it under the Name of Vesta committing the Charge of it to the Vestal Virgins where if it went out it was held fatal to their City Rhodig Antiq. c. 14. they it seems rashly and inconsiderately forgetting or neglecting their duty in this particular took some other fire in their Censers that perhaps with which they dress'd the Flesh of their Sacrifices and putting Incense thereon set it upon the Altar of Incense and so offered strange Fire before the Lord that is Fire which he commanded them not For this their great Transression they were immediately struck dead * Tantae vindictae severitate nova disciplina merito sanciri potuit in exemplum aliorum Sanctificatus autem est Dâ—us hac poena quia tali exemplo commendatus est timor ejus inquit Augustinus Rigor hic sub initia necessarius in terrorem posteris tum carnis Laetitia turgeret Aaron Anonym in loc in the place by Fire from the Lord possibly with Lightning yet so as neither
hitherto and so highly advanced me And yet as if this were but a small thing in thy sight thou hast promised to continue thy favour not only to me but to my posterity after me for many generations And is this the manner of men O Lord God to deal so bountifully with them that have no way deserved of them surely such love as this is not to be found among mortals but is only peculiar to thy self who art God omnipotent And what can I speak more to thee or ask more of thee for my honour or benefit than thou of thy free grace and mercy hast already promised me and art ready to confer upon me see 1 Chron. 17.18 For thou knowest thy servant and what is good for me better than I my self And thou knowest the desire of my heart is to praise thy name though with my tongue I am not able sufficiently to do it Thou hast conferred all these benefits on me not for any desert in me but of thy meer grace and love and for thy truth and promise sake that thy servant might know what thou meanest to do for him and his in time to come Thou art the great and only true God there is none like thee nor besides thee according to all that we ever heard or understood And what one Nation is there in all the earth like unto thy people so advanced in high and holy priviledges V. 23. To do for you great things here is an Apostrophy to the people In the next words his speech is directed to God again for thy land before thy people whom God came as it were down from heaven to redeem and separate for a people to himself for the glory of his great name and hath done such great and terrible things for them openly in their sight whereby he hath delivered them out of Egypt and subdued their enemies in the land of Canaan and rescued them from all Nations that sought their ruin and from their false gods on whom they foolishly relyed for help And thou hast confirmed and established the people of Israel for a people to thy self for ever that is the natural Israel for a very long time viz. to the coming of the Messiah and the spiritual Israel consisting of true converts both among Jews and Gentiles for ever And now O Lord let the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever and do as thou hast said and let thy name be magnified for ever that it may be said the Lord of hosts is God over Israel Yea let the house of thy servant be established before thee for thou Lord hast made known to me what was formerly hidden from me saying to me I will build thine house and continue the Kingdom to thee and thy posterity after thee therefore thy servant hath found his heart moved to make this prayer unto thee that it may be so having thy promise as a sure ground of his faith and confidence and cannot doubt of obtaining his request for thy words are true and sure to be performed and thou hast faithfully promised this goodness unto thy servant Let it therefore please thee so to bless the house of thy servant that it may continue before thee for ever Thou hast O Lord spoken it and I firmly rest on thy promise for the performance of it Thou hast promised to bless my house and I firmly believe it shall be blessed 2 Sam. Ch. 7. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 17. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 22. v. 8 9 10. 2 Chron. Ch. 6. v. 8 9. 1 King Ch. 8. v. 18 19. SECT CLXXXIX WE shewed in the former Section that one reason among others why the Lord would not permit David to build him an house was because he would not have leisure to do it by reason of the many wars he was to be engaged in Indeed from this time to the birth of Solomon most part of his time as we shall see afterwards was spent in wars wherein he was very victorious and successful and therein God made good to him the promise concerning the prosperity and flourishing estate of his Kingdom and the enlarging of his Dominion which by these conquests stretched not only from Shicor a river in Egypt in the South to * A City in Syria which is thought to be Antioch Hamath in the North see 1 Chron. 13.5 but from thence to the river Euphrates which was the utmost bound of all that land which had been formerly promised to the seed of Abraham Gen. 15.18 compared with Deut. 11.24 and Josh 3.4 and was never possessed by any of them save only by David and Solomon see 1 King 4.21 24. There are in this Chapter five wars mentioned that he was engaged in The first (a) This was indeed his 3d Engagement with the Philistines after he was anointed King over all Israel was against the Philistines descended from the Egyptians whose Progenitor was Mizraim the second Son of cursed Cham they were Heathens and commonly bitter enemies to the Israelites these therefore David now set upon and subdued and took their strong City Gath (b) It was afterwards called Dio-Caesarea it stood in the frontiers of Palestine at the entrance into Judea and Ephraim and the mountainous tract of ground whereon it was built it seems was called Ammah Per hanc urbem Philistaei olim fraenabant Judaeam nunc David fraenat Philistaeos imponens illi militare praesidium with all the Towns under its jurisdiction see 1 Chron. 18.1 called Metheg-Ammah or the Bridle of Ammah because it bridled and kept in awe all the Country round about it His second war was with the Moabites descended of Lot's Incest with his daughter Gen. 19.37 At the coming of the Israelites out of the Wilderness they were forbidden by God to invade the Moabites land or do them any hurt because he had given it to the children of lot for a possession Deut. 2.9 and God restrained them from distressing them because they had not then done them any wrong but afterwards they proved malicious enemies and thereupon were interdicted from entring into the Congregation unto the tenth generation Deut. 23.3 They shewed their ill will to them in not relieving them with bread in their necessity and afterwards they hired Balaam to curse them and when that would not do they followed his cursed counsel in tempting them by their women to commit fornication and to joyn with them in their Idolatrous feasts Numb 25. whereby a great plague was brought upon them They oppressed them also by Eglon their King in the time of the Judges 'T is true the King of Moab gave entertainment to David's Father and Mother 1 Sam. 22.3 3. looking upon him at that time as an enemy to Saul and his people but when David was once established King over all Israel it seems the Moabites expressed the same hostile mind against him which they had formerly against Saul But what
word and performed thy promise to thy servant David in raising me his Son up to build a Temple for thee perform also I pray thee unto my father what thou didst further promise him * 2 Sam. 7.13 to wit that there shall not fail a man lineally descended from him to sit upon the Throne of Israel and to reign in thy sight provided his children take heed to their way to walk before thee with that integrity that he did Now let thy word I pray thee be verified and fulfilled which thou spakest to my father concerning this matter But why do I speak of my building an house for thee Will God indeed dwell on earth Behold thou art an infinite and immense being Thou canst not be contained within any compass or space The Heaven and Heaven of Heavens cannot contain thee much less this house that I have builded But though thou canst not be contained within this house yet I pray thee have regard to the prayer and humble supplication of me thy poor servant which I make to thee in behalf of this house namely that the eyes of thy favour and providence may be open towards it day and night seeing thou hast said of it that thy name †Deut. 12.11 shall be there call'd upon and worshipped I humbly beseech thee therefore when ever either my self or any of thy people shall pray unto thee in this place or towards it (a) V. 30. Versus hunc locum quasi respiciens ad promissionem praesentiae tuae in hoc loco exemplum in Daniele cap. 6. v. 10. that then thou wouldst please to hear in Heaven thy dwelling place where thy glory is most eminently manifested and when thou hearest be pleased to forgive and pardon our transgressions against thee For there is no comfort in obtaining any other mercy if our sins be not forgiven Particularly I humbly request of thee that if any man be charged that he hath trespassed against his neighbour and he be brought before thine Altar (b) Tacto Altare jurare mos omnium prope Gentium Intrepidi quicunque altaria tangunt Juv. in the Court of this house to clear himself by Oath sufficient proof by witnesses being wanting that thou wouldst please to deal with him according to innocence or guiltiness punishing him if he be faulty and bringing his wicked way upon his own head but justifying and acquitting him if he be innocent Or if thy people be smitten before their enemies in the field because they have sinned against thee and shall turn again to thee and confess thy name to wit thy justice in suffering their enemies to prevail against them and shall acknowledg thy mercy and power and so seek to thee for pardon and help and shall make supplication to thee turning their faces towards this house then hear thou in heaven and forgive their sin and bring them again into the land which thou gavest to their fathers Or when the heaven is shut up and there is no rain because thy people have sinned against thee if they shall pray towards this place and confess thy justice in punishing of them and turn from their sin then hear thou in heaven and forgive their sin and teach them the good way (c) V. 36. Et ostende eis viam bonam wherein they should walk and then give rain upon the land which thou hast given thy people for an inheritance Or if any of these great judgments fall upon the land to wit famine pestilence and blasting or if there be any plague or sickness upon thy people what prayer and supplication shall be made by any man singly or by all thy people jointly who shall know every man the plague (d) 2 Chron. 6.29 When every one shall know his own sore and his own grief Grief is put for that which should cause grief viz. Sin of his own heart to wit the sins for which he is punished and shall spread forth his hands towards this house then hear thou in heaven and forgive and do what in thy infinite wisdom seemeth good and give to every man according to his ways not his former sins but his present repentance whose heart thou seest to be sincere and upright For thou and thou only O Lord knowest the hearts of all the children of men And I humbly beseech thee to deal thus mercifully with thy people that they may fear thee and walk in thy ways all the days of their lives Moreover if a stranger that is not of thy people Israel who hears of thy wondrous works and righteous Laws and this holy house shall come from his own Countrey to testifie his high esteem of thy great name and to worship and praise thee and shall pray towards this house (a) Or in this house viz. in the Court of the Gentiles then hear thou in heaven and grant all that he shall pray unto thee for which is agreeable to thy holy will that all the people of the earth may know thy name and learn to fear thee as do thy people Israel and that they may know that thy name is called upon in this house that I have built to wit that it is call'd the Temple of the Lord and the house of God and is so in reality by thy hearing the prayers that are here made unto thee Furthermore if thy people shall go out to battel against their enemies and shall pray unto thee and seek thy favour and help in that enterprize looking towards this City and this house which I have built for thy great name then hear thou in heaven their prayer and supplication and maintain their just and righteous cause by giving them good success But if they by their sins provoke thee for there is no man that sinneth not so that thou givest them up into the hands of their enemies and they carry them away captive either further off or nearer hand however if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive and shall repent and make supplication to thee saying we have sinned and done perversly we have committed wickedness and so shall return unto thee with all their heart and all their soul and shall pray unto thee looking towards this land this City and this house then hear thou in heaven their prayer and supplication and maintain their cause taking part with thy people that repent and pray unto thee against the unjust oppression of their enemies and then turn thou O Lord the hearts of their enemies towards them that they may have pity and compassion on them For remember O Lord they are thy people and thine inheritance (b) This people were to God as a mans inheritance is to him which he hath bought and made his own for ever See Dâ—ut 32.9 which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt even out of an iron furnace (c) Deut. 4.20 And furthermore let the eyes (d) 2 Chron. 6.40 of thy favour be upon me thy poor servant
marrying a wife from thence did soon set up his wifes Idolatry in the land and the worship of the true God was in a manner neglected and disregarded and the Prophets and servants of God that would not bow to Baal were persecuted see Ch. 19.10 yet there were never more Prophets sent to them than at this time we see Ch. 18.13 that Obadiah had hid an hundred of them in caves nor never more eminent ones than now And of all the Prophets that God raised up in the Kingdom of Israel we find not any of whom so strange things are recorded both for courage and miracles as there are of Elijah And therefore at the Transfiguration of Christ Mat. 17. Elijah as chief of the Prophets appeared together with Moses talking with Christ to signifie that both Moses and the Prophets had in their several seasons given testimony of him This Prophet Elijah was at this time sent to the Israelites a man of transcendent courage and zeal as being fitted for those corrupt times whence 't is said of the Baptist who in his Ministry was very zealous and fervent Luk. 1.17 that he should go before our Saviour in the spirit and power of Elias Ahab and Jezebel were very zealous to promote Idolatry and now God raises up a Prophet as zealous to oppose it and to defend Gods own worship Elijah seeing how things went in the Kingdom of Israel and being exceedingly moved with the horrible wickedness of Ahab and Jezabel and particularly perhaps with the contempt and scorn they cast upon Gods Prophets did it seems by the instinct of Gods Spirit pray that the Lord would shut up the heavens for some years and not suffer it to rain till he sought unto him for it that so the wrath of God against the iniquity of that time might be discovered and the precious account he makes of his Prophets might be manifested And being by the same Spirit of God assured that his prayer was heard he came to Ahab and threatned him beforehand that he might see it was of God with an approaching drought for three years and an half and a great famine that should ensue thereupon As the Lord God of Israel liveth saith he whom I continually serve and in whose presence I now stand and who is a witness of the truth of what I say there shall not be dew or rain these ensuing years but according to my words and as I have declared to thee from God And according as he threatned so it came to pass For during the space of three years and six months it rained not See Jam. 5.17 * See Luk. 4.25 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months The drought now beginning and Ahab seeing there was no rain for some time together as Elijah had threatned he was greatly enraged against him and being also stirred up as 't is probable by Jezabel his wife he sent presently out to take him that he might be revenged on him See Ch. 18.10 but the Lord foreseeing what would happen gave his Prophet warning of it and appointed him to withdraw and hide himself by the brook Cherith in Manasseh beyond Jordan that is in some solitary place or cave near the brook where he should be fed by Ravens with bread and flesh morning and evening and should drink of the brook Elijah did as the Lord commanded him and was accordingly fed by Ravens who being a very greedy and ravenous kind of bird so that they often neglect the feeding of their young ones to feed themselves it was the more miraculous that God should make them Caterers for Elijah and in such an orderly manner to bring him his provision morning and evening he directing them where they should have it possibly out of some rich mans pantry or storehouse Thus we see by what unlikely means God can provide for his servants when they are in their straits After some time possibly about six Months the brook quite dried up thus the Lord was pleased again to try the faith of his servant Elijah Then the Lord commands him to go to a widow of Sarepta in the Country of Sidon telling him that he would command her that is dispose her heart to entertain him Accordingly he went thither and when he came to the Gate of the City he found a widow-woman gathering sticks he desired her to fetch him a little water She going for it he desired her to bring him also a morsel of bread She knowing him by his habit to be a Prophet of the Lord she said to him As the Lord thy God liveth I have not a cake to give thee I have but an handful of meal in a barrel and a little oyl in a cruse and behold I am gathering two or three sticks that I may go and dress it for my self and my son that we may eat it and so die Hereby its manifest that the drought * There is not the least intimation of any want of rain that was in the land of Judah at this time and yet Elijah is sent to a stranger rather than to the widows of Israel or Judah such an one being very unlikely to relieve him especially the famine being there as well as in Israel but herein was shaddowed forth Gods further mercy intended to the Gentiles when the Jews should be rejected whence that of our Saviour Luk. 4.25 26. and famine was in the Country of Tyre and Sidon as well as among the Israelites and indeed it being sent among the Israelites for the Idolatry of Baal which Jezabel the daughter of the King of the Sidonians had brought in among them no marvel if the Sidonians were involv'd in the same judgment Elijah bids the woman not to fear but to do as she intended but only to make for him a little cake first for saith he thus saith the Lord God of Israel The barrel of meal which thou hast shall not wast nor the cruse of oyl fail until the day that the Lord sendeth rain on the earth The woman did as Elijah enjoined her and she and her house did eat thereof many days viz. for about three years neither the meal nor oyl failing but being miraculously supplied and renewed This recompence had this poor widow for entertaining the Lords Prophet she for giving unto him one meal hath many meals from him and by his procurement But great blessings are oftentimes mixed with some imbittering afflictions For some time after the Prophet had been with her the womans Son fell sick and died Upon this she comes to the Prophet and crys out What have I done to thee thou man of God wherein have I offended thee art thou come to bring my sins to remembrance †When God punisheth any for their sins whom for a while he did forbear he is said in the Scripture to remember
that 20 in all with Athaliah reigned in Judah and 19 in Israel 2 year Jehoram or Joram 12. Jehu 28. Jehoahaz 17. Joash 16. Jeroboam 41. Zachariah 6 Month. Shallum 1 Month. Menahem 10. Pekahiah 2. Pekah 20. Hoshea 9. AHAZIAH began to reign over Israel in the 17th year of Jehoshaphat King of Judah The 8th King that reigned in Israel was AHAZIAH and reigned two years He did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his Father and of his Mother and in the way of Jeroboam who made Israel to sin and he served Baal and worshipped him and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger according to all that his Father had done 1 King 22. from 51 to the end As he was walking in his Palace at Samaria some grate in the floor of the Chamber where he was whereby perhaps light was conveyed to the lower room did suddenly break and so he fell through and was dangerously bruised with the fall In this extremity he sends messengers to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whither he should recover or no This Idol was so famous that the Jews used to call the Prince of Devils Baalzebub Mat. 12.24 An Angel of the Lord sends Elijah to meet these Messengers and to say unto them Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that you go to inquire of Baalzebub the God of Ekron Therefore go back again to the King that sent you and tell him what I say unto you and further acquaint him that he shall not come down from that bed on which he is gone up to lye but shall surely die The Messengers perceiving Elijah to understand the secret message they were sent about and hearing him also so peremptorily to foretell the Kings death they knew he must be some Prophet though it seems they knew not his person And accordingly they went back to the King and told him faithfully what he had said The King askt them what manner of man he was they told him an hairy man and girt with a leathern girdle * John Baptist was thus attired to shew that he was that other Elijah that was to come compare Mat. 3.4 with Mal. 4.5 about his loins Then the King knew it was Elijah the Tishbite and being enraged at this hard message he resolved to have the life of him that sent it and possibly he was something also excited thereunto by his mother Jezebel who was as much incensed against Elijah as Herodias was against John Baptist Mat. 14.8 Whereupon he sent a Captain of fifty with his fifty men to apprehend him who he understood as it seems was at Mount Carmel The Captain coming to the place where he was call'd to him and as 't is like in a scornful deriding manner said Thou that art esteem'd a man of God and takest liberty to send what bold messages thou pleasest to the King know thou that by me the King commands thee to come down and to render thy self to me If thou wilt not I have here those with me that will fetch thee down with a vengeance Elijah answered If I be indeed a man of God as thou scornfully calledst me let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty And immediately fire came from heaven and consumed them This judgment Elijah denounced out of an extraordinary zeal for the glory of God and by a special instinct of his Spirit And therefore when the Disciples of Christ out of a carnal desire of revenge would have imitated this act of Elijah they were reproved by our Saviour for it who told them they knew not what manner of spirit they were of that is they did not well consider from what frame of spirit that uncharitable motion came For those who are called to preach the Gospel are to shew all meekness and gentleness to men and to desire and endeavour to save them and not to destroy them Luk. 9.54 55. Ahaziah was nothing moved with this dreadful judgment that had befallen his Captain and his men but like a man that neither feared God nor regarded the lives of his subjects he sends another Captain of fifty and his men to take the Prophet This second Captain shews himself as impudent as the former and coming to Elijah said to him O man of God thus saith the King Come down quickly He not only commands him to come down but to do it speedily implying that he would not be delayed but would drag him down by force if he would not yield instantly Elijah gave him the same answer he had done the former Captain saying to him If I be a man of God let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty which was done immediately And thus we see that like sins usually pull down like judgments One would have thought that Ahaziah should have been greatly terrified with two such dreadful judgments as these were but increase of judgments increases some mens hardness and obdurateness Therefore like a desperate man and as it were in defyance of God himself he sends a third Captain with his men to take Elijah but he being sensible of his extream danger and terrified with what had befallen the two Captains and their men that went before him He when he came to Elijah in a most humble posture fell on his knees before him and besought him saying O man of God I pray thee let my life and the lives of these fifty thy servants be precious in thy sight and do not suffer them as vile things to be cast away nor deal with us as thou didst with the former Captains and their men but be intreated to go along with us to the King An Angel from the Lord immediately spake to Elijah to go along with him and bids him not be afraid but to tell the King expresly what the Lord had said Elijah being assured of Gods protection readily goes and tells the King plainly from the Lord that he should die of that sickness It may seem strange that the King who was so enraged against the Prophet before that he sent no less than three Captains of fifty one after another to take him intending no doubt to kill him for delivering so sad a message to his servants concerning his death yet now when he has the Prophet in his hands and hears him utter the same terrible things against him to his face he should neither speak not do any thing against him So true is that of Solomon that the hearts of Kings are in the hands of God Prov. 16.1 And as Elijah prophesied so it came to pass for Ahaziah soon after died having reigned two years and Jehoram his Brother reigned in his stead 2 King 1. from v. 2. to the end JEHORAM or Joram 2 King The 9th King of Israel JEHORAM 8.16 second Son of Ahab succeeded his Brother Ahaziah in the latter end of the 18th year of Jehoshaphat and reigned twelve years He
did evil in the sight of the Lord but not like his Father or his Mother He put away the Image of Baal which his Father had made but cleaved to the sins of Jeroboam and upheld still the Idolatry of the Golden Calves 2 King 3. from 1. to 4. God now revealed to Elijah that he should shortly be taken up to heaven as appears Ch. 2.9 but first he commanded him to visit the Schools of the Prophets which were at Bethel and Jericho that he might both by his counsel and prayers leave a blessing among them and perhaps that he might put into their hands the Prophesie against Jehoram Son of Jehoshaphat King of Judah which some time after was to be delivered unto him whereof mention is made 2 Chron. 21.12 Elijah therefore addressing himself to this journey immediately after which he knew he was to be taken up into heaven and not knowing as it seems whither the Lord would allow any witnesses to be present to see his Ascension or desiring to be alone that he might the better prepare himself for this his strange passage to the other world or desiring to try the constancy of Elisha's love to him and to discover whither God had revealed any thing to him concerning this his assumption or whatever else the reason was when he was going from Gilgal he advised Elisha to stay there But Elisha told him As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not leave thee shewing therein his grateful faithfulness to his Master So they came down together to Bethel * In his locis erant Prophetarum conventus quos Reges Israel quamvis Idololatrae passi sunt Quod singulari Dei Providantia factum est ne populus ipsius praesidio verbi sui penitus denudaretur P. Martyr which City was indeed since the division of the Kingdom won by Abijam 2 Chron. 13.19 but it seems it was afterwards recovered and was at this present in the hands of the Kings of Israel The Sons of the Prophets that dwelt there came to Elisha Elijah probably not being by and said to him knowest thou not that the Lord will take thy Master from thy head this day †Id est brevi non enim uno die consecerunt hoc iter A capite tuo a praesentia tua vel a capite tuo i. e. sursum rapitur nempe in caelum Some think here is an allusion to the Elder Prophets sitting in high places in their Schools above the heads of the younger and the younger sitting in lower places as it were at their feet Act. 22.3 that is take him up and carry him over thy head to heaven It seems the Lord had revealed Elijah's assumption unto some of them (c) Deus eos qui cum Prophetis vivebant paulatim assuefaciebat Prophetiae nunc hoc nunc illud de consiliis suis ipsis aperiens Grot. thereby inuring them by degrees to receive Prophetical revelations They therefore ask Elisha whither he were not acquainted that Elijah should be taken up from him into heaven very shortly He tells them He knew it very well they needed not enter into any discourse with him about it Elijah would have had Elisha stay here telling him that he himself must go up to Jericho where was another School of the Prophets which he also must visit Elisha answers him as he did before viz. that he would not leave him So they came together to Jericho The Sons of the Prophets there also having Elijah's assumption revealed to them they askt Elisha the same question that those of Bethel had done and he gave them the same short answer Elijah would have had Elisha to have stayed here telling him that as for himself the Lord had ordered him to go to Jordan And hereby he tried his constancy and faithfulness to him a third time as our Saviour tried Peter's love Joh. 21.15 16 17. Elisha tells him again as he did before He would not leave him So they two went on Fifty Sons of the Prophets of Jericho knowing what was to be done went and stood though at some distance in the sight of the place where Elijah was to be taken up to heaven This was so ordered by Divine Providence that there might be many witnesses of Elijah's assumption * Thus was our Saviour taken up while many beheld it Act. 1.9 Elijah and Elisha coming to the River Jordan Elijah took his mantle and wraping it together he smote the waters and they were divided hither and thither and so they two went over on dry ground See Josh 3.17 When they were come to the other side of Jordan Elijah said to Elisha Ask what I shall do for thee as Gods instrument or what I shall crave of God for thee Elisha said I pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be conferred upon me that is a great and eminent measure of the gifts of the Spirit wherewith thou art endued even double to what other Prophets usually receive seeing I am to succeed in thy room 1 King 19.16 and to be a Father to the Schools of the Prophets and to be chiefly imployed in opposing the daring corruptions of the times Elijah said to him Thou hast asked an hard thing that is a thing not easie to be obtained and which God doth rarely bestow on his servants the Prophets nevertheless if thou see me when I am taken from thee it shall be done And this condition possibly was added to make Elisha the more heedful in observing the manner of Elijah's departure that he might be an eye witness thereof as the men of Galilee were of our Saviours Ascension Act. 1.10 11. As these two great Prophets were talking together Elijah having informed Elisha as 't is probable of such matters as should fall out in Israel after his departure behold there appeared a fiery splendid apparition not in a terrifying but in a glorious manner of a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire The holy Angels appearing in this form and shape to conveigh Elijah to heaven See Psal 104.4 And hereby the Lord did highly honour his faithful servant Elijah whose soul was inflam'd with such an heroick and servent zeal for the glory of his Creator This fiery apparition coming between these two Prophets and parting them asunder as the nearest and dearest friends must at last part Elijah went up into this glorious chariot and a whirlwind carried it up to heaven to which glorious place he was carried up in soul and body like Enoch so that he died not but was changed in a moment his corruptible body putting on incorruption and his mortal body immortality And thus he was a type of Christs Ascension and hereby God was pleased to give a clear and evident proof that he had prepared the Heaven of Heavens for the perpetual abode of his Saints and that though our bodies be laid for a while in the grave yet they shall at last be taken up into Heaven being
first fitted for that glorious state and there shall live with God in everlasting bliss and glory Elisha seeing his Master thus ascend to heaven he cried out My father my father the Chariot of Israel and the Horsemen thereof so he stiles him in allusion to the present manner of his triumphant ascending in a fiery chariot into heaven as also in allusion to his former course of life who by his prayers and other good endeavours to bring men unto God had been a better defence to Israel than visible Chariots and Horsemen could possibly be Elijah thus vanishing out of his sight Elisha took hold of his own clothes and rent them in testimony of his great grief for the loss of his Master Elijah's mantle as he went up to heaven fell from him which Elisha readily took up and as 't is probable afterwards wore it as a token that God had design'd him to succeed in his place * Elisha began to be a famous Prophet in the second year of Jehoram and continued so about sixty years and died in the days of Joash Grandson of Jehu Elisha having now seen this glorious translation of Elijah he returned to Jordan and with Elijah's mantle in his hand standing on the bank of the river he said Where is the Spirit of the Lord God of Elijah O that the Lord would now please to work by me as he did by him So that his words are not to be lookt upon as words of distrust but as words of invocation As if he should have said O Lord who by thy servant Elijah didst divide these waters make it now manifest by inabling me to work the same miracle that thou hast given me the spirit of Elijah my Master Then smiting the waters with Elijah's mantle the waters immediately parted asunder and so he went over and this was the first miracle that he wrought When the fifty Prophets before mentioned who were come come out to see Elijah's assumption and dwelt at Jericho saw him come through Jordan they said the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha that is such gifts of the Spirit as were bestowed on Elijah are now conferred on Elisha for like miracles argue a like spirit Then they went to meet him and bowing themselves to the ground before him congratulated the gift the Lord had bestowed on him It had been revealed to them as we shewed before that Elijah should be carried up to Heaven but whither he should be so taken up as there to remain for ever or only for a certain time that it seems they knew not wherefore they had a mind to go and see whither they could not find him set down some where or other on the earth again accordingly they said to Elisha Behold there are with us thy servants no less than fifty strong men fit to undertake a journey let us go we pray thee and seek thy Master for possibly he is not taken away from thee for ever but for a certain time only possibly the Spirit * What was done by the supernatural power and working of God they us'd to say was done by the Spirit of God of God hath carried him to some remote place as he used sometimes to be carried see 1 King 18.12 †The like we read concerning Philip when he had baptiz'd the Ethiopian Eunuch Act. 8.39 and hath set him down upon some mountain or some valley and there we may find him He tells them that he knew that Elijah was carried up both in soul and body to heaven and was there to remain for ever and it would be in vain to seek him on the earth any more But they urged him still to let them go insomuch that he was ashamed they should be so importunate without any reason however seeing they were so bent upon it he let them go that they might by their own experience see their error and folly and might be the more fully assured of Elijah's ascent into heaven ever after They accordingly went out and sought Elijah very diligently three days Elisha tarrying at Jericho till their return but they found him not and so through their error and mistake the ascension of Elijah to heaven was the more confirmed as was our Saviours Resurrection by Thomas's doubting The men of Jericho now possibly to try whither Elisha had indeed the Spirit of Elijah told him the situation of their City was pleasant as he knew very well but the water was naught and the ground about it barren The sins of the inhabitants and perhaps the presumptuous reedifying of Jericho by Hiel the Bethelite in the days of Ahab 1 King 26.34 had brought this curse upon the place Elisha being willing to exercise the power of that Spirit the Lord had given him bad them bring him a new cruse and putting salt therein he went to the spring-head and cast salt thereinto being directed by God to use that means and he said thus saith the Lord I have healed these waters there shall not be henceforth any deadly or poysonous quality in them neither shall the land here about be barren Accordingly the waters were healed and made good and so continued even to the time that this History was written And this was Elisha's second miracle Then from Jericho he went to Bethel to visit the Colledg of the Prophets there and to confirm them in the truth by his counsel and exhortations As he was going up to the City some young children that were as 't is like the children of Idolaters or other wicked men that lived there who it seems had by their example taught their children to scoff at the Lords Prophets and to laugh at the report spread abroad of Elijah's being carried up to Heaven cried after Elisha and said Go up thou bald-head Go up thou bald-head as if they should have said You that report your Master is gone up to heaven why do not you follow him and go up after him Elisha turn'd and lookt upon them and by a special instinct and commission from God He cursed them in the name of the Lord who now intended to punish the wickedness of the Parents in the death of their ill nurtured children and to shew how severely he would revenge the reproaching of his servants the Prophets and immediately there came forth two she-bears out of the wood that was hard by and tore two and forty of them to pieces And this was Elisha's third miracle Then he went into the City 'T is strange he durst go into Bethel after he had brought such a death upon so many of their children But he went under Gods protection who he knew was able to defend him as he had done his Master against the fury of Ahaziah And accordingly neither the Parents of these children thus destroyed nor any other Idolatrous persons in that City durst set upon him God so over-awed their spirits From Bethel he went to mount Carmel whither Elijah often resorted having as 't is probable an
them that led them away and God will move their hearts to let them return and come again into their own land For the Lord our God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you turn unto him by true repentance So the Posts passed from City to City through the Country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun but most of them it seems laughed them to scorn and mocked at them for this their message However divers of Asher Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves under the hand of God for their former sins and came to Jerusalem But in Judah the hand and power of God eminently appeared in making them unanimous and giving them as it were one heart and one mind to do the commandment of the King and of his Princes which was guided by and grounded on the word of the Lord. And there assembled at Jerusalem very many people to keep the Feast of the Passover in the second month and being there met they arose and took away the Altars that were in Jerusalem viz. those that Ahaz had made both the Altars of burnt-offerings and the Altars of incense and cast them into the brook Kidron Then they killed the Passover on the 14th day of the second month and the Priests and the Levites that had been before backward were now asham'd of their backwardness seeing the forwardness of other Levites and of the people themselves and they sanctified themselves and brought in the burnt-offerings into the house of the Lord and did what belonged to their office And they stood and officiated in their proper places wherein each order was appointed to stand as they were accustom'd to do before Ahaz's time who put them all out of order The Porters stood in their places the Singers in theirs and the Levites that assisted the Priests in theirs according to the ordinances delivered by Moses The Priests also sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice upon the Altar having received it from the hands of the Levites And then there being many of the Priests that were not sanctified the Levites that were sanctified had the charge of killing the Paschal lambs and other sacrifices that were to be offered And this was done to keep the sacrifices from being polluted as they would have been if unsanctified persons had offered them And many of the people that were of the Tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh Issachar and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves according to those rites that were enjoined to such as were to eat of the Passover and yet through ignorance did adventure to eat of the Passover whereupon God gave some visible evidence of his displeasure against them which Hezekiah observing prayed to the Lord for them saying Good Lord pardon every one that setteth his heart in truth and sincerity to seek the Lord God of his Fathers though he hath failed through ignorance in the use of those external rites of cleansing required of him and is not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary nor hath used such means of purifying himself as are prescrib'd to such as come to Gods holy place And the Lord heard the prayer of Hezekiah and remov'd the judgment he had inflicted on them So they kept the Feast of the Passover seven days with great gladness and the Priests and the Levites praised the Lord day by day singing and praising the Lord on loud instruments of musick And Hezekiah encouraged and spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledg of the Lord and the people did eat joyfully every day of the Feast and offered peace-offerings and made confession of their sins to the Lord. And the King Princes and Priests and all the chief of the assembly advising together resolved to keep other seven days to the Lord which though it was besides the Law yet the case being extraordinary God accepted their holy zeal and they did accordingly keep them with great gladness And the King gave to that great assembly and congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep and the Princes gave them a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep that they might offer part to the Lord and eat the remainder themselves in those days of Feasting and that those of the Ten Tribes that were there present might be the better entertained And a great number of Priests though they were backward before yet now seeing the great need of their pains and beholding the zeal of others they sanctified themselves and put themselves on to forward the service of the Lord. And that vast congregation of all sorts there met together greatly rejoiced and there was such joy in Jerusalum at this time as since the days of Solomon and the division of the Kingdoms there had not been the like And the Priests that descended from Levi blessed the people according to Numb 6.23 c. and their voice was heard and their prayer came up to Gods holy dwelling place even to Heaven and the blessing which the Priests pronounced God was pleased to ratifie 2 Chron. 30. wh Ch. When these things were finished all the Israelites which were there present about the end of the 2d said month being incouraged by the King went forth through all the other Cities of Judah and brake down the Images and cut down the Groves and destroyed the high places and Altars throughout the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and even throughout all the Cities of Ephraim and Manasseh that were under the dominion of the King of Judah until they had finished the work they went about which being done they returned every one to his own home in their several Countries 2 Chron. 31.1 Hezekiah went yet further and brake in pieces the brazen Serpent which Moses had set up Numb 21.9 to cure such as were stung with fiery Serpents which being kepâ— as a monument of Gods grace goodnâ—ss and mercy to them many of the people were so superstitious as to yield to it Divine honour this good King therefore brake it in pieces that God might be no longer dishonoured by it For when things lawful and useful are perverted to Idolatry they may lawfully be destroyed And Hezekiah called it Nehustan that is a little piece of brass intimating to them there was no deity in it and therefore no worship to be done unto it 2 King 18.4 Then King Hezekiah took order that the Priests and Levites should serve every one of them in his office and course and should minister and do the service belonging to their places and praise the Lord in the gates of the tents of the Lord that is within the gates of the Temple which by reason of the several Courts and buildings and Chambers belonging to it were as Tents in a Camp for the several orders of Ministers that belonged to it to lodg in And whereas the morning and evening-sacrifice and the sacri ices appointed for the Sabbaths and New-Mâ—ons and other set and solemn Festivals were ordinarily to
this place For I know the thoughts that I think towards you thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end Then shall ye call upon me and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you And ye shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart and I will be found of you and I will turn your captivity and I will gather you from all the Nations and from all the places whither I have driven you saith the Lord and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive Upon consideration of which time now so near approaching Daniel with fasting sackcloth and ashes poured out a most fervent prayer to the Lord for the remission of his own sins and the sins of the people and for the promised deliverance out of their captivity Whereupon the Angel Gabriel brought him an answer not only concerning this but also concerning the spiritual deliverance of the Church to be wrought at last by the death of the Messias uttering that most famous and memorable Prophesie of the seventy weeks recorded Ch. 9. v. 24 Daniels Seventy weeks 25 26 27. which are generally understood not of weeks of days but of years each day being put for a year and seventy being multiplied by seven every week consisting of seven days do make 490 that is 490 years And 't is usual in Scripture to signifie years by days as may appear from Numb 14.34 and Ezek. 4.5 6. Now for the finding out the meaning of these words we shall enquire 1. When those seventy weeks did begin 2. When they did end 3. What is the meaning of that section or division of the seventy weeks into seven weeks sixty two weeks and one week First the seventy weeks did begin when the Commandment went forth to restore and build Jerusalem vers 25. which was at the end of the seventy years captivity and in the first year of the Monarchy of Cyrus Ezra 1.1 where although express mention was not made for the building of Jerusalem but of the Temple yet it was implied because they had liberty to build themselves houses in Jerusalem and accordingly they did upon that grant go about the building of the City as well as of the Temple Ezra 4.1 12. Neither were they charged by their malicious adversaries for going beyond their commission in building the City more than in building the Temple And 2ly it was prophesied and foretold long before of Cyrus that he should build not the Temple only but the City also Isai 44.28 Chap. 45.13 So much for the beginning of these weeks 2ly The seventy weeks did end at the death and passion of Christ which I shall labour to prove by these reasons 1. Because the things the Angel mentions v. 24. are properly the effects of Christs death Particularly 1 the Text says seventy weeks are determined to finish transgression and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity All which expressions seem to hold out one and the same thing For our Saviour by his death made satisfaction and wrought redemption for his people as may appear from these places Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 20 21 22. Heb. 9.26 1 Joh. 1.7 Rev. 1.5 2 To bring in everlasting righteousness now Christs satisfaction is the ground of our being righteous or justified before God Rom. 3.25 Phil. 3.9 2 Cor. 5.21 2 Pet. 1.1 3 To seal * Ut obsignet visionem i. e. ut reipsa praestet Prophetias de perpessionibus Gloria Messiae 1 Pet. 1.11 Vatab. the vision and prophesie that is thereby all the visions and prophesies concerning the Messias were sealed confirmed and accomplished 4 To anoint †Ut ungat sanctum i. e. ut per ascensionem suam in coelum consecret illud ad cultum Dei illic ab electis in illud assumptis peragendum Sicut Moses olim unxit sacratissimam Tabernaculi partem ad cultum Ceremonialem c. Pisc the most holy Our Saviour by his blood may truly be said to have anointed the most holy that is Heaven as the High Priest being a type of him did anoint the most holy place in the Sanctuary by presenting and sprinkling of blood as the Apostle Heb. 9. from 1 to 13. doth make the parallel between them The reason of the Angels mentioning the destruction of the City and Sanctuary ver 26. is conceived by divers learned men to be chiefly to set out the dreadful vengeanc of God that should fall on the Jews for putting the Messiah to death and therefore 't is not necessary that the destruction of the City and Sanctuary should come within the compass of the seventy weeks but did follow after as the fruit of their cruelty towards him Lastly 't is said v. 27. that in the last week the Messiah should confirm the Covenant and cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease Now when was the Covenant confirmed but at and by the death of Christ as the Apostle speaks expresly Heb. 9.16 17. And when were the Sacrifices or Oblations made to cease but when Christ did offer up himself a sacrifice to God upon the Cross Heb. 10.5 10. For the body or truth being come the shadows and types were to be abolished Col. 2.17 But if the seventy weeks did not end before the destruction of the City then the confirmation of the Covenant and the causing of the Sacrifices and Oblations to cease which we say was done by the death of Christ could not be in the last week as the Angel said for the destruction of Jerusalem was not as is generally acknowledged till about forty years after the death of Christ For the meaning of that section and division of the seventy weeks into 7 62 and 1 for so the Angel doth parcel and divide them we must know that the first section being seven weeks which make 49 years may possibly signifie the time from the return out of Babylon when liberty was granted to the Jews for the building of the Temple unto the finishing of it in the sixth year of Darius see Ezra 6.15 For after they had begun the work there in a short time they were forced to give it over through the complaint and opposition of their adversaries until the second year of Darius which might be about 46 years from the first year of Cyrus and then Darius making a new decree for the furtherance of the building it was set upon afresh and finished in the space of three years or little more viz. in the sixth year of Darius So that in all from the first year of Cyrus wherein they might begin the work unto the sixth year of Darius wherein it was finished there might be 49 years or seven weeks The second Section is of 62 weeks after the former seven viz. from the sixth year of Darius when the Temple was finished to the week wherein the Messias was to be cut off The
down over the face of the whole earth and returning answer to the Angel that sat upon the red horse to wit the Son of God appearing in humane shape that all other Nations and people about Judea were at rest and ease in peace and prosperity only Gods own people the Jews could not recover themselves from their late calamities but were still under great molestations Christ upon this intercedes for the Church whereupon in the hearing of the Prophet God the Father gave a gracious answer speaking many comfortable words to the Angel who intreated him to cease his anger and fury which had been so hot against the Jews and Jerusalem and the Cities of Judah now these seventy years Ch. 1. from v. 7 to 18. 2ly He had a vision of the four Horns and four Carpenters signifying how God would break the power of his Churches enemies Ch. 1. from v. 18 to the end 3ly The vision of the man with the measuring line in his hand to measure Jerusalem intimating the reedifying the City and Temple and safety of both and that God would be their protection and a wall of fire about them and their glory To which is annexed an exhortation to the Jews yet remaining in Babylon to repair to Jerusalem Ho he come forth and flee from the land of the North saith the Lord c. Ch. 2. 4ly A vision of the continuance of the Priesthood among them in which he sees Joshua resisted by Satan whom the Lord rebukes and honours Joshua by taking away his filthy garments and setting a fair miter on his head and establishing him in the Priesthood The thing typified hereby was the Eternal Priesthood of Christ who is described by his names viz. The branch rising out of the stock of David and the stone full of eyes that is of wisdom and providential care for his Church and graven that is beautified with the Graces of the Spirit who giveth remission of sin and peace of Conscience Ch. 3. 5ly The vision of a Golden candlestick and two Olive-trees intimating that as the Candlestick was supplied with oyl naturally dropping from the two Olive-trees standing by it so God without the help of man nay notwithstanding mans opposition would raise and maintain both his material Temple and his Church Chap. 4. Zach. Ch. 1. Ch. 2. Ch. 3 Ch. 4. The Prophet hath now a sixth and seventh vision viz. that of the large flying Roll and that of the Ephab intimating that sin continued in would first bring on private calamities and having filled up its measure would also draw down publick judgments upon the whole Nation By the first vision viz. that of a large flying Roll was typified Gods judgment swiftly coming and ready to be executed upon such as were guilty of theft or perjury and that it should consume their houses and families In the second vision under the type of an Ephah or measure A Talent weighed 3000 Shekels Exod. 38.25 26. or an 125 pound and of a woman sitting in the midst of it and a talent of lead laid upon her to press her down is represented the sinful Nation of the Jews whose wickedness grew to a full measure for which Gods heavy judgments were ready to fall upon them and by the two women carrying away the Ephah with the woman in it into the land of Shinar was signified the Jews dispersion into the Eastern parts of the world viz. into Chaldea Babylon and Mesopotamia where chiefly they reside at this day though generally dispersed all over the world Zach. 5. whole Chapter Zachary hath now an eighth vision of four Chariots coming out from betweeen two mountains of brass drawn by four sorts of horses intimating Gods provident decrees and counsels immoveable as mountains of brass and his directing the Angels of Heaven those ministring spirits in the executing his will upon the enemies of his Church and so as may tend to his Church's good The Prophet is shewn also the effect of their imployment viz. the quieting of Gods Spirit in the North Country that is by their executing his wrath upon them they pacified his anger Ch. 6. from v. 1 to 8. 2ly Vnder the type of two Crowns made of silver and gold offered by strangers and set upon the head of Joshua is typified that the office of King and Priest should be united and continued in Christ who is described first by his name importing his humane nature viz. the Branch 2ly By his works building the Temple of the Lord raising the glory of the Kingly and Priestly office which till his time should be but mean uniting the Kingly and Priestly office in himself and uniting the Gentiles to the Church from v. 8 to 15. In the close of the Chapter the Prophet tells them that they should know by experience that the Lord had sent him unto them and that obedience was the only way wherein they might expect the comfortable fruits of these promises v. 15. Zach. 6. whole Chapter But to return to our History the means that the Adversaries of the Jews used for the hindring the building of the Temple proved effectual through the gracious providence of God for the finishing thereof for search being made for Cyrus's decree it was found at Acmetha in the Province of the Medes which decree was to this purpose that Cyrus in the first year of his reign had decreed that the house of God should be built at Jerusalem in the same place where the former Temple had stood and the foundations thereof strongly laid The Cubits here meant 't is like were the common cubits whereas in the 1 King 6.2 2 Chron. 3.4 the Sacred or Geometrical cubits were meant that the height thereof should be sixty cubits and the breadth sixty cubits with three rows of great stones and a row of new timber which seems to be meant of the buildings about the Priests Court and that they should be made as formerly with three galleries of stonâ— and one of timber and that the expences thereof should be allowed out of the treasure which appertained to the King in those parts And that the Golden and silver vessels of the Temple which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away should be restored This was the decree of Cyrus Darius understanding this gave command to Tatnai and Shetharboznai that they should no way hinder the building of the Temple And further the King not only ratified Cyrus's decree but made a new decree of his own whereby he enlargeth that of Cyrus with more grants and priviledges and chargâ—d Tatnai and his Companions that they should furnish the Jews with moneys out of his tribute to carry on the work as also to buy bullocks rams and lambs for burnt-offerings to be offered to the God of heaven and to buy wheat salt wine and oyl for the sacrifices that they might offer sacrifices of a sweet savour unto the Lord of heaven and earth and pray for the life of the King and of his Sons Also
excellent prayer are these six things to be observed 1. A description of God v. 6. 2. An enumeration of his mercies from v. 7 to 16. 3ly A confession of sins from 16 to 27. 4ly A declaration of Gods just judgments for them from v. 27 to 32. 5ly A supplication for mercy from 32 to 38. 6ly A solemn binding themselves to God by Covenant that they would carefully observe all his commandments v. 38. He begins his prayer thus Thou even thou art Lord alone thou hast made heaven the heaven of heavens with all their host the earth and all things that are therein the sea and all that is therein and thou preservest them all and the host of heaven worshippeth thee Thou art the Lord God who didst choose Abraham and broughtest him forth out of Vr of the Chaldees and gavest him the name of Abraham And foundest his heart faithful before thee and madest a Covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites to his seed and hast performed thy words for thou art righteous And didst see the affliction of our Fathers in Egypt and heardst their cry by the Red-sea and shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharoah and on all his servants and on all the people of his land For thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them so didst thou get thee a great name and glory which we celebrate to this day And thou didst divide the sea before them so that they went through the midst thereof on the dry land and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps as a stone into the mighty waters Moreover thou leadest them in the day by a cloudy pillar and in the night by a pillar of fire to give them light in the way wherein they should go Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai and spakest with them from heaven and gavest them right judgments and true laws good statutes and commandments And madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath (a) The Sabbath was instituted at the beginning of the world but being much neglected God renewed the command for the observance of it and commandest them excellent precepts statutes and laws by the hand of Moses thy servant And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them But they (b) That is the Israelites that came out of Egypt and our Ancestors since and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their necks and hearkened not to thy commandments and refused to obey neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them but hardened their necks and in their rebellion appointed a Captain to return to their bondage but thou art a God ready to pardon gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and forsookest them not Yea when they had made them a molten calf and said This is thy god that brought thee up out of Egypt and had wrought great provocations yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookst them not in the wilderness the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way neither the pillar of fire by night to shew them light and the way wherein they should go Thou gavest also thy good Spirit (c) viz. To their Governours to Moses and the 70 Elders Numb 11.17 by whom they were accordingly instructed and directed in the right way to instruct them and with-heldest not thy manna from their mouth and gavest them water for their thirst Yea forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness so that they lacked nothing their clothes waxed not old and their feet swelled not Moreover thou gavest them Kingdoms and Nations and didst divide them into corners (d) That is didst plant them in the several parts and corners of the land of Canaan some within Iordan and some without so they possessed the land of Sihon and the land of the King of Heshbon (e) Which was then in the possesssion of Sihon who had formerly taken it from the Moabites Numb 21.26 and the land of Og King of Bashan Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven and broughtest them into the land concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers that they should go in to possess it So their children wene in and possessed it and thou subduest before them the inhabitants of the land viz. the Canaanites and gavest them into their hands with their Kings and the people of the land that they might do with them as they would And they took strong Cities and a fat land and possessed houses full of all goods wells digged vineyards and oliveyards and fruit trees in abundance so they did eat and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in thy great goodness and the plenty thou hadst given them Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against thee and cast thy law behind their backs and slew thy Prophets see 1 King 49.10 which testified (f) And protested that God would not suffer their sins to go unpunished against them to turn them to thee and they wrought great provocations therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies who vexed them and in the time of their trouble when they cried unto thee thou heardest them from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them Saviours (g) Temporal deliverers such as the Judges were Judg. 3.9 2 King 13.5 who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries But after they had rest they did evil again before thee therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies so that they had the dominion over them yet when they returned and cried unto thee thou heardest them from heaven and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies And thou testifiedst against them by thy Prophets that thou mightest bring them again unto thy Law yet they dealt proudly and hearkened not unto thy commandments but sinned against thy judgments (h) That is thy righteous ordinances and commandments which if a man do he shall live in them (i) See pag. 158. on Levit. 18.5 and withdrew the shoulder (k) That is were stubborn and refused to submit to Gods Government a Metaphor taken from Cattel that struggle and will not take the yoke upon them See Zach. 7.11 and hardened their neck and would not hear Yet many years didst thou forbear them and testifiedst against them by thy Spirit in thy Prophets yet would they not give ear therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands where the Heathen reigned Nevertheless for thy great mercies sake thou didst not utterly consume them nor forsake them for thou art a gracious and merciful God Now therâ—fore O our God the great the mighty and the terrible God who keepest covenant and mercy let not all the trouble seem little before