Nature which uses to abuse God Almighty's Gifts abandoned themselves to all the degrees of Wickedness as Moses particularly informs us Gen. 18 19. After Men were satiated with good things says Philo in his Book concerning Abraham this Satiety after the manner of the World soon begot Wantonness If we may take Cicero's word for it Men derive their Manners not so much from the Seed of their Parents as from those things which are afforded by the nature of the Soil and our manner of Living The Carthaginians were not born deceitful and Liars but made so by the Nature of the place for by reason of the abundance of their Harbours and their frequent Dealings with Merchants and Strangers the desire of Gain put them upon the Art of tricking and cheating The Genoeses inhabiting a Hilly Country were hard and clownish the very Nature of their Soil taught them this which produces nothing but with much Cultivating and Labour The Campanians were always proud by reason of the great Fertility of their Land the Plenty of Fruits the Wholesomeness and Beauty of their City From this Abundance and Superfluity of every thing arose that Pride which disposed these People to demand of the ancient Romans that one of the Consuls should be chosen out of Capua and afterwards that Luxury which helped to ruine Hannibal whom all the Difficulties and Fatigues of War could not conquer Cicero argues after this rate in his Oration de lege Argrario delivered before the People against Rullus and likewise in another which he spoke in the Senate-house He is utterly against the sending a Colony to that place which by reason of the Fruitfulness of the Soil and the Plenty of all things is said to have begotten Pride and Cruelty All which things exactly proved true in the Inhabitants of the Plain of Jordan whose Soil that we may observe this by the by was not unlike that of the Campanians which to this day abounds in Bitumen and Sulphur Now these People as they were corrupted by Prosperity so it seems Adversity made not the least Impression upon their Minds or reform'd their Manners Although they were conquer'd by the Etymaeans and their Confederates which Afflictions might have awaken'd a less flagitious People to a Sense of their Duty yet it wrought not any good Effects upon these Debauchees who as soon as they were delivered out of Captivity carried their old Customs and Vices home along with them See the 14th Chapter of Genesis Now the Sinfulness of these People did not only consist in this that they were given to Uncleanness and Lasciviousness as appears from Gen. ch 19. but in all manner of Wickedness Certainly the Debauchery of that place could admit of no new Accessions but was already arrived to its heighth where they cou'd think of abusing Strangers after so abominable a manner Therefore Josephus deservedly begins this History with the following words The Sodomites waxing proud for their Riches and Wealth grew contumelious towards Men and impious towards God so that they were wholly unmindful of the Favours they received from him They hated Strangers and burnt in mutual Lust with one another Hence we see that in the Prophets the proverbial Appellation of wicked Men is that of Sodom and Gomorrah Thus Isaiah calls the People of Jerusalem ch 1.10 Hear the Word of the Lord ye Princes of Sodom listen to the Law of your God ye People of Gomorrah See likewise Ezekiel 16.46 Seqq. IV. And therefore the Divine Justice offended at these horrid Enormities resolved utterly to destroy some Cities situated in the farthest part of the Plain of Jordan which Moses relates to have been done in the following manner The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah Brimstone and Fire from the Lord out of Heaven and he overthrew those Cities and all the Plain and all the Inhabitants of the Cities and that which grew upon the ground Gen. 19.24 25. We have already shown that this whole Tract of Land was full of Bitumen which as it will easily take fire was soon kindled by the Lightning and the Flame was not only to be seen upon the Superficies of the Earth which frequently happens in such places without the Destruction of the Inhabitants but so pierced into the Subterranean Veins of Brimstone and Bitumen that that matter being destroyed the whole Earth sunk down and offorded a Receptacle to the Waters flowing thither All which Particulars we will now endeavour to handle more copiously and to illustrate by other Examples First Though Moses only mentions two Cities which God destroy'd by Lightning namely Sodom and Gomorrah yet there were two more destroy'd at the same time Adma and Zeboim which lay near the two above-mentioned Cities as appears from Chapter 14.2 Nay Moses himself affirms as much Deut. 29.23 where taking occasion to describe the Punishments with which God would visit the wicked Israelites he tells them that Strangers as they travelled that way should gaze upon their Lands burnt up with Brimstone and Salt in which there should be no sowing nor should any thing grow nor any Herb appear as in the Destruction of Sodom Gomorrah Adma and Zeboim which the Lord overthrew in his Anger and Wrath. See likewise Hosea 11.8 Now the reason why these two last Cities were omitted seems to be because perhaps the Kings of these places were tributary to those of Sodom and Gomorrah Strabo indeed in his sixteenth Book does not mention that only four Cities were subverted by this Subterranean Fire but thirteen but perhaps he might be deceived in this matter as well as he was in believing that the Lacus Serbonis was the same with the Asphaltites .. Perhaps to nine other smaller Towns which depended upon these four were destroyed at the same time 'T is certain that Ezekiel does not only make mention of Sodom but its Daughters Chap. 16. that is the Cities that were situate in the same Province As I live saith the Lord God to Jerusalem thy Sister Sodom and the Daughters thereof that is to say the Cities which it had built around it or else sent Colonies into have not done as thou and thy Daughters have done It may not improbably be supposed that Strabo a Man of great Diligence and infinite Reading might have an account of the number of these Cities from some Writer of the Phoenician History Secondly God is said to have rained down Fire and Brimstone from the Lord which is a Periphrasis for Lightning as in Psalm 9. ver 6. He will rain Whirlwinds upon the Wicked Fire and Brimstone and Ezekiel 38.22 I will punish him with Pestilence and Blood a mighty Shower Stones of Hail FIRE and BRIMSTONE will I rain down upon him Now Thunder is therefore called Fire and Brimstone which is as much as to say Brimstone set on fire and lighted So in the third of Genesis v. 16. we find Pain and Conception that is Pain which follows Conception He that is desirous to see more Examples
were communicated to him by God nor though such a thing is possible yet since Moses is silent in the matter dares any one pretend to affirm it as an undoubted Truth but only the Rabbins who were never asham'd of Lying and whose Assertions consequently are not much to be regarded Now it scarce seems probable that so many Names and the Particulars of so many Years could be handed down by Tradition 'T is much more probable that the ancient Patriarchs left them in Writing and so transmitted them to their Posterity which Monuments coming into the hands of Moses he diligently copied and connected them with the History of his own Age for what Design and Purpose we shall afterwards enquire Now what sort of Writings they were and how numerous only those Persons can inform us who lived in those Times if they were restor'd to Life again We conjecture that some of them were written carminibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Verses of the same Termination wherein we shall at some better convenience shew the Poetry of the Hebrews to consist (a) Lamech's Speech Gen. 4.23 M. le Clerk has observ'd to consist of words of the same Termination in the Hebrew and 't is his Opinion that Moses borrow'd abundance of Passages from ancient Verses in which Antiquity used to preserve the Memory of all remarkable Transactions before the discovery of Letters The same remark he makes upon Chap. 7.11 adding That there is something of a Poetical Spirit in the latter But I look upon this Criticism to be ill grounded for why might not such a Passage fall from Moses unawares as well as this Hexameter Verse from Tully in one of his Orations In quâ me non inficior mediocriter esse Besides who would conclude that Tacitus compil'd his History out of Poetical Monuments because he begins with Vrbem Roman à principio Reges habuere See our Notes upon Chap. 4.23 24. and Chap. 7.11 'T is certain that almost all Nations in the World preserved the Fragments of their ancientest Histories in Verse as several Learned Men have proved And it appears that even among the Hebrews in Moses's time the Memory of great Actions was celebrated in Verse which the People learn'd by Heart as the Songs of Moses himself that are extant both in Exodus 15. and Deuteronomy 32. demonstrate Nay God himself commanded the latter to be learn'd by the Children of Israel as we find in Deut. 31.29 Nor ought any one to wonder that we carry the beginnings of Poetry so high since Musick by the Invention of some Instruments flourish'd even before the Deluge as Moses expresly tells us Gen. 4.21 Nay 't is probable that Men employ'd themselves in Vocal Musick before they thought of the Instrumental But though some few memorable Transactions might be preserv'd in Verse which the long-liv'd Patriarchs perhaps might have by heart yet a Chronology including the Calculation of so many years seems too unruly an Argument to have been included in them And Moses makes mention of the Book of the Battels of the Lord of which we shall treat when we come to Numbers 21.14 The second sort of things which we read in the Pentateuch 't is evident were written by Moses himself First God commanded him to write the Law and Moses is accordingly said to have written it In Exodus 34.27 God after he had repeated the chief Precepts of the Law thus speaks to Moses Write thou these words for after the Tenour of these words I have made a Covenant with thee and with Israel But in Exodus 24.4 after several Laws were made Moses is said to have written all the Words of the Lord and frequent mention is made of the Book of the Covenant or Law as in the seventh Verse of the same Chapter In Deuteronomy 28.58 If thou wilt not observe says Moses to do all the words of this Law that are written in this Book which perhaps he then held in his hands see likewise v. 61. and Chap. 29.20 27. where the Curses are said to be writ in it This does Moses deliver to the Levites Chap. 31.9 and commands it v. 26. to be put in the side of the Ark that it may be a Witness against Israel Mention is made of the same Book as if it comprehended all the Divine Laws after the Death of Moses Joshua 1.8 where Joshua is commanded by God not to suffer that Book to depart out of his Mouth that is perpetually to read it and administer Justice to the People out of the Laws deliver'd in it See likewise Chap. 8.31 'T is true indeed that the Jews by the word Thorah Law are used to understand the whole Pentateuch nevertheless 't is certain that it is of a doubtful Signification and may signifie more or fewer Laws So Joshua 8.32 it is said that Joshua wrote a Copy of the Law of Moses upon twelve Stones of an Altar as he was commanded by the Book of the Law See Deut. 27.2 3. in all which places Thorah signifies only a small part of the Law as Learned Men have observed because it was not possible for the whole five Books of Moses to be writ upon twelve Stones joyn'd together to make a four-square Altar But 't is evident from the places above-mentioned that at least all the Precepts of the Law were written by Moses and indeed so many troublesom Laws could not be remembred unless their Memories were refresh'd by a written Book especially when they began to be observed Some Persons are of Opinion that only the Book of Deuteronomy is to be understood in Joshua and the above-cited places of Deuteronomy and that afterwards that Book alone was found in the time of Josiah King of Judah But although Deuteronomy is the Repetition of the Law yet many things are there briefly handled neither are they so clearly described that the Israelites who were none of the acutest People in the World and always inclin'd to Idolatry could have an accurate Knowledge of the whole Law only out of that Book and therefore if Moses design'd to have it all observ'd as no body questions but he did he ought to have given the Israelites a larger Exposition of it and this he actually perform'd for we have shown from two places of Exodus that the Laws which we see there were written by him and not Deuteronomy alone The Book in which he writ them is called The Book of the Covenant Exod. 24.7 which after he had solemnly read before the People without question he did not throw it away since it was as it were a publick Instrument wherein were preserved the Laws of the Covenant made with God Besides Moses writ some other Treatises not extant in Deuteronomy of which we shall discourse hereafter and which without doubt he bequeath'd to Posterity since they have arrived safe to our hands Therefore the above-mentioned Conjecture that only Deuteronomy was left us by Moses is altogether groundless and contrary to the Sacred
any farther I am to inform the Reader that it is consider'd by us not such as perhaps it was in its flourishing Condition but as we find it in the Holy Writings I freely acknowledge that there were much more words and a greater Variety of Phrases used than we find in this small Volume but as far as we can judge of it by its remainders we have just reason to believe it to be a barren ambiguous unrefined Language which now we shall endeavour to prove The Excellency of every Language consists principally in three things viz. Plenty of Words and Phrases Perspicuity of Speech and Purity the Rules for which are copiously laid down by those that have treated of Rhetorick Now 't is certain that several Languages but especially the Greek are much superior to Hebrew in all these Considerations and 't is a plain Case that Hebrew can with no Pretence be said to be the finest Language in the World In the first place Those that attentively read over the Holy Writings or consult the Hebrew Lexicons will be soon convinced that it has but very few Words and very few Phrases There are not only the same words but what argues a miserable Poverty we meet with the very same Expressions every where but especially in the Historical Books The same Thread of Narration the same Particularities of Style and Expression are visible all along Nor is this only observable of the Writers of one Age for all the Historians of all Times and Ages have writ exactly after the same manner I would demonstrate this Assertion more at large were not most Men convinced of the Evidence and Truth of it Therefore I will dwell no longer upon so plain a Chapter I will only add That the very Rabbins who generally omitting the true Praises of their Country still affect to Honour it with their Romances and Legends are uncontrolable Witnesses of the Poverty of their own Language since for the Interpretation of the Law they are obliged to coin innumerable Words for the present Occasion or else to setch them out of the Syro-Chaldaick and other Languages And in these the Talmudical Books abound and without them they could never be able to deliver or express their own meaning Every one knows that there are at least ten times more words in Buxtorf's Rabbinital Thesaurus than in his Bible-Lexicon Nevertheless with all their Foreign Assistance this Copia Rabbinica falls infinitely short of the Graecian and Latin Treasures If we enquire into the Cause of the great Sterility of the Hebrew Language we shall find it to be the same as has been observed of other Languages Where Arts and Sciences lie under Contempt and sew Treatises are written there must of necessity be a great want of words to express several things for Men never impose Names on things or the Notions of the Mind of which they never think dispute or write For example Before the Greeks diligently cultivated Philosophy there were a thousand things of which Men never thought and for expressing of which they had wanted fit words if they had not coin'd new ones The same thing befel the Romans when they first began to treat of Philosophical Subjects in Latin I call those things Qualities says Cicero l. 1. c. 7. Acad. quaest which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which very Term among the Greeks is not used by the Vulgar but only by Philosophers and several Instances there are of the like nature The Logicians too have their particular by-words which the People do not understand and this Method is common to all Arts For either new words are to be coin'd or else they are to be borrow'd from elsewhere and if the Greeks follow this Conduct who have for so many Ages exercised themselves in these Affairs How much more Lawful is it for us to do it who but now begin to treat of them By this Instance which may be back'd with several Arts unknown to the Hebrews 't is easie to perceive how great a Penury of words they must unavoidably labour under As they were in a particular manner ignorant in Grammar Rhetorick and the whole Circle of Philosophy as appears by their Writings they must consequently be destitute of all those great Assistances that those Arts use to furnish Poetry indeed as far as the Genius of their Language would permit was cultivated somewhat better by them several things are majestically and beautifully said in their Songs but yet so as to convince every impartial Reader rather what they might have done if they had used the same Application with other Nations than what Perfection of Eloquence they had already acquired Secondly Want of words begot Ambiguity for when we are destitute of proper Terms to explain our meanings by we must wrest them into another Sence or else express particular things in words common to several more For Metaphors as Cicero well observes l. 3. de Orat. c. 38. are like borrowing where what a Man has not of his own he supplies himself with elsewhere Now if one and the same word signifies several â—hings one in its proper Acceptation the rest 〈◊〉 a borrow'd or tralatitious Sence 't is no easie â—atter to distinguish its several Significations â—nd when Particulars are called by common Names it often happens that we do not clearly â—nderstand in what respect they differ from â—ther things of the same Genus For instance Erets signifies among the Hebrews Clay that Vessels are made of a Tract of Ground either â—ore or less suitable to the present Occasion â—he whole Globe of the Earth and the Men that â—nhabit it so that 't is hard to say which is its proper Signification and which Figurative When an universal Designation is fixed upon this word which is express'd by chol All 't is doubted whether the whole Kingdom or a less compass of Ground or the Globe of the Earth or whether all Men or only some are to be understood by it so that nothing but the Context or the Nature of the thing in debate can assist our Conjectures When figurative Words and Phrases cannot be so urged as fully to express the things they describe how far they may be urged without an Error is often doubtful Now if we consider the various Significations of the indeclinable Particles and how almost all the Tenses are confounded in the Verbs and add to this their everlasting change of the Gender Number and Person of which subject abundance of Learned Men have written carefully we shall have no great reason to boast of the Perspicuity of the Hebrew Tongue Read but over Chr. Noldius's Concordance of the Particles and Glasstus's Grammatica Sacra two well approved and excellent Treatises and when that is done I believe the most obstinate Man will be convinced that perhaps no Language in the World is fuller of Ambiguity and Obscurity than the Hebrew But yet I would not be so understood as if a General Scheme of the Jewish Religion and
translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall observe thy head E. Castell remarks That this Root in the Arabick signifies observare spectare To which the LXX might have an Eye explained several obscure words out of Chaldee or Arabick rather than the Hebrew Books where sometimes they are extant but once or are read in a different Sence But now if we consider the lamentable Condition of the Jewish Republick on every side oppress'd and over-run by the Kings of Syria and Egypt for many years we shall find they had no opportunity to apply themselves to the Study of Grammar And indeed some Learned Men after a careful Examination of the Septuagint Version which was publish'd in those times have long ago concluded that they neither had any certain fixt Grammar or Glossary or Lexicon of the Hebrew Tongue For they frequently violate all the Laws of Grammar and in the translating of unusual words the meaning of which is not to be gather'd from the Context they are so strangely put to it that it plainly appears they were not led by Grammar Rules had no certain Knowledge of the true Signification of words but guess'd and conjectur'd as well as they could and so blunder'd right or wrong through all the difficult places I am not ignorant that Isaac Vossius and some other Persons who never gave themselves the trouble I suppose to compare it with the Hebrew Original endeavour to defend this Translation and say 't is in many places corrupted by the Negligence or Boldness of the Transcribers where there 's an evident Mistake in the Translating a Hebrew Word But those that examine this Version diligently will soon perceive the contrary nor indeed is it credible that it was every where almost corrupted in the obscure places to omit a hundred other things that may be said against so precarious an Hypothesis In those and the following Ages down to the time of the * A. D 494. Masorites though Jews seem wholly to have employed themselves in the Study of Allegories and Rites but not of Philological Learning which was the reason that they look'd upon this Translation which is far from being perfect not only as the most exact thing of that nature in the whole World but as Divinely Inspir'd See the History of Aristeus Philo in his Book de Vitâ Mosis and Josephus Jud. Ant. l. 12. c. 2. No surer an Argument can be given how far the old Hebrew was neglected in those times than their blind Admiration of these Interpreters who to speak impartially are rather to be pardon'd than commended for their Performance In the mean time we do not say this as if we thought that Translation to be of little use On the other hand we always believed it to be extreamly Serviceable provided we help the Unaccuracy and defect of Method in the Interpreters with Grammar Rules and the assistance of correct Lexicons As their Authority ought not to over-weigh Grammar-Reasons that are deduced from the immemorial Custom of any Tongue so where Grammar does not contradict and where the Sence allows it ought to be in great Esteem with us The Opinions of that Age which arose perhaps from some ancient Tradition nay even Conjectures that are supported by the use of the Syro Chaldaïc Language then in its flourishing Condition are by no means to be dis-regarded by such as are well skill'd in the Sacred Philology But as in those things they are much superior to us so we mightily exceed them in Method for since we have most accurate Grammars and follow fixt establish'd Rules we no longer unriddle the Construction of a Sentence by guessing nor are we carried up and down by uncertain Conjectures as we may observe the Ancients were We have likewise several Lexicons compiled from all places of Scriptures compared together by most Learned Men and Concordances wherein are all the words in the Bible and the places where they are to be found most accurately set forth by which Assistances we are now able more certainly to dâ—â—cover the various Signification of words and with more Reason to defend them Nor have we only very large Glossaries of the Hebrew Tongue but likewise of the neighbouring Languages as Chaldee Syriack and Arabick and out of these can we more conveniently compare these Tongues with one another than those that lived in the days of the Seventy Interpreters Of what prodigious Advantage a certain Method made up of immutable Rules is may for instance sake be soon known from the Latin and Greek Tongues In Cicero's time the Greek Tongue flourish'd in Greece and Asia he not only learnt it at Rome but in Greece it self and both writ and spoke Greek not amiss Who would believe now that in any of his Translations out of Greek any Passages could drop from him that are liable to Censure Yet for all this some Learned Men have discovered several Mistakes in him and the reason is because he acquired the Greek Tongue rather by Custom than Rules for which consult H. Stephens's Lexicon Ciceronianum Nay what is more do not we see that Cicero and Varro the most Learned of the Romans have committed such miserable Mistakes even in the Derivations of the Latin Tongue that we are ashamed of them For though the Latin was their Mother-Tongue and they daily took pains to learn Greek yet they were altogether Ignorant of the Etymologick Art and therefore committed unaccountable Errors The case of the LXX Interpreters is the same for being wholly Strangers to our Grammatical and Critical way of Interpretation they often mistake and unexpectedly fall into those Errors which we may easily avoid VIII If what I have advanced concerning Philological Learning being little minded by the Jews under the second Temple be true as it evidently appears by what has been already said and might be made out by many more Arguments we may probably suspect that the Holy Volumes were not always transcribed with that Exactness and Care by the Copyists then as they deserved 'T is certain the LXX Interpreters whoever they were which 't is not our business now to enquire seem to have made use of a very faulty Manuscript and sometimes were not able to guess the ductus literarum as Learned Men have long ago observed I own indeed that all the various Lections which may be collected in their Translation are not owing to a vitious Manuscript and that several of them perhaps ought to be imputed to their Conjectures As (h) In the second Chapter of Genesis v. 2. the Hebrew reads it On the seventh day God ended his Work but the Septuagint On the sixth day And so Gen. 8.4 the Hebrew is The Ark rested on the seventeenth day of the month but the â—XX say The twenty seventh day of the month and below v. 7. in â—he Hebrew 't is the Raven went forth and returned but the LXX insert a Negation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be did not return Gen. 2.2 Chap. 8.4 7.
History Matters being thus no one will doubt that the Laws which are contain'd in Exodus Leviticus Numbers and Deuteronomy are the very same that were written by Moses ' T is certain that the Laws which were written in Moses's time were still extant in the Reign of Josiah as it appears from 2 Kings 22. nor can any tolerable Reason be assign'd why they were not incorporated at least into the Books of the Pentateuch Therefore whatever Laws we find in the Pentateuch we ought to look upon them as written by Moses himself and consequently the greatest part by much of the Pentateuch came from the same hand Nay 't is evident that several other things were writ by him Secondly Moses is said Deut. 31.22 to have written the Song which we find in the following Chapter and since that is set down word for word as he made it we cannot deny that the rest which belong to the Law are the very words of Moses without opposing the plainest Truths imaginable Thirdly He is in express Terms said to have written some part of the History of the Hebrews for he transmitted in Writing the War against the Amalekites and God's Sentence pronounced against them Exod. 17.14 After the like manner he writ the several Mansions of the Israelites in the Wilderness Numb 33.2 Moses wrote their goings out according to their Journeys by the Commandment of the Lord. And yet that part of their History which we find in that Chapter of Numbers was not of so great a Consequence as to be writ before the rest from whence it naturally follows that the four last Books of the Pentateuch at least were written by Moses for if he writ all the Laws and the whole History of Israel he is certainly the Author of these Books wherein nothing else is contain'd for who after Moses had once written would attempt to write and model them anew Indeed if we consider the frequent Repetitions which we met with in these Books and the great disorder in the delivery of the Law we shall soon be inclin'd to think that these Books are come to our hands just as they were at several times first written by Moses in that long uncomfortable Pilgrimage in Arabia Deserta For if they had been compil'd out of Moses's Memoirs they had certainly been digested into better order and all the Repetitions had been cut off as is usually done in Works of that nature but if we except a few Passages they have descended to Posterity just as they were publish'd at first when a full Collection was made of all that Moses writ and at several times repeated to the Israelites who after all these Repetitions did scarce understand their own Law sufficiently But about the middle of this Age a certain Author that shall be nameless started up whose Opinion afterwards found some Disciples and these have been so hardy as to deny that Moses was the Writer of the Pentateuch and pretend to shew several Passages in him which were manifestly writ since his time Aben-ezra indeed had formerly deliver'd himself much to the same purpose but worded it so warily and obscurely that he is hardly to be understood Now we will here consider their Reasons III. Their Arguments are partly drawn from the Stile of the whole Book and partly from particular places As for the former they pretend that the difference of Stile which is easily observ'd in the Pentateuch plainly shews that it was not written by one hand for some places are writ in a short compendious Stile full of Ellipses and others in a loose redundant one But this Objection soon vanishes if we consider that the variety we find in these Volumes is rather to be ascribed to the unrefin'd Condition of the Hebrew Tongue than any diversity of Writers Others object That Moses never speaks of himself in the Pentateuch in the first Person but that all his Actions and Speeches are related in the third but these People are easily confuted by the Example of Xenophon Coesar and Josephus and other Historians of the first Class who whenever they have occasion to speak of themselves alway do it in the third Person But 't is not so easie to solve some Arguments that are drawn from several places of the Pentateuch although some of them I must own are trivial enough as will appear by examining them In the first place they object that passage in Gen. 2.11 12. The name of the first is Pison that is it which compasseth the whole Land of Havilah where there is Gold and the Gold of that Land is good there is Bdellium and the Onyx-stone Now this they say was written by one that lived in Chaldea because Pison as they imagine is a branch of the Euphrates which after it has washed Chaldea falls into the Persian Gulf and then the Geography of these Countries according to them does not seem to be so well known in Moses's time that so particular an account could be given of them especially if we consider at what a great distance they lay But we have shown that the Country of (b) Bochart l. 5. c. 5. Hieroz Part 2. supposes the Land of Havilan to be that part of Arabia near Catipha and Bahare where precious Stones are dug up and the Pison to be that Branch of the Euphrates which Petrus Texeira an Eye-witness affirms to fall into the Persian Guâ—ph at Catipha near Bahare But our Author places Havilah nearer to Judea not far from Coelesyria In 1 Sam. 15.7 Saul is said to have destroy'd the Amalekites with Fire and Sword from Havilah until thou comest to Sur that is over against Egypt Now who can believe that Saul marched with his Forces an hundred and fifty German Miles for so much 't is at least from the Frontier of Israel to Havilah in Bochart's own Tables especially if he considers how destitute of all Provisions Arabia Deserta was and that Saul's Army consisted of 200000 fighting Men. Besides if Havilah had been more remote than Sur the Sacred Historian would not have said that Saul wasted the Country of the Amalekites from Havilah to Sur but from Sur to Havilah Therefore Sur and Havilah he concludes to be the Borders of those People the former to the South and the latter to the North. As for the Pison he is of opinion that some Footsteps of it are to be found in Chrysorrhous which rises near the City of Damascus plentifully supplies it with Water and is in a manner wholly lost in several little Streams as Strabo l. 16. and Pliny l. 5. c. 18. tell us Petrus Belonius Observat l. 2. c. 91. says That Damascus is so abundantly furnish'd with Water from this River that not only every private House but every Garden has a Fountain out of it Now this Description admirably agrees with the Hebrew word Phison which is derived from the Hebrew Root Phasha diffusus fuit The Greeks called it Chrysorrhoas because of the Gold Sands found
their Destiny in this place to each Tribe one after another nor can they produce one single instance out of the Scriptures where the whole People of Israel are call'd Judah before the Babylonian Captivity Neither can it be replied that Jacob might very well give his Posterity this name because the Holy Ghost who spoke out of his Mouth knew that the time when this Prophecy was to be fulfilled the common name of all the Tribes should be that of the * After the Babylonian Captivity the whole body of Israelites that were in Palestine were called jhudim or Jews because the first that returned home were chiefly of the Tribe of Israelites Afterwards this name was given to all the rest in whatsoever part of the World they resided Jews because as we observ'd just before Jacob only says such things as belonged to every Tribe in particular and does not mingle their common lot together and besides if the last words of this Prophecy are to be understood of the People of Israel in general why should not the former be so too and that being once granted how cou'd the Interpreters say that Shilo ought to be descended from Judah Therefore it necessarily follows that something peculiar is foretold to the Tribe of Judah in this place The Ancients were of opinion that the Administration of all Affairs in the Jewish Republick was in the Tribe of Judah ever since the time when Jacob pronounced these words to the coming of our Saviour Now 't is certain that neither before King David nor after Zedekiah any one of the Tribe of Judah had the Regal Authority as all that are never so little conversant with sacred History will own Therefore others acknowledge that there was indeed no King of the Tribe of Judah before David and after Zedekiah but for all that maintain it may truly be said that the Jewish Republick should not be utterly dissolved before the coming of the Messias because out of that Tribe the Common-wealth recovered their strength by degrees and preserv'd some sort of Government in their hands even till the days of Christ But Jacob does not promise that the Scepter should continue with Judah and not be wholly taken from him till the Messias should come but that it should not depart from him which Expression plainly denotes the perpetual Continuation of a Kingdom interrupted by no Calamities III. Some Jews are of opinion that 't is here prophecy'd of Judah that the Rod wherewith he is to be beaten shall not depart from him but that still one or other shall command and impose Laws upon him till the coming of the Messias But besides that the particular words which compose this Prediction will by no means admit of this Interpretation it is apparently false whither we understand the Tribe of Judah or the whole People of Israel as it may easily be proved by the History of the Old Testament and particularly the Reigns of David and Solomon We will not pursue this Argument any farther which wou'd furnish matter enough for a large Volume if it were to be examined with all that Nicety it deserves But the Reader may consult for his farther Satisfaction Huetius's Demonstratio Evangelica Prop. 9. Cap. 4. where he has set down all the different Opinions with incredible Pains and Acuracy To him may be added the Pugio Fidei p. 2. cap. 4. with the Learned Observations of Jos de Voisin where the several Testimonies of the Rabbines chiefly are collected We shall only subjoin another Interpretation of this Prophecy which they have not taken notice of and some People perhaps upon a due examination will find it to be more agreeable not only to the Grammatical Sense of the words but also to the Events here predicted IV. Some Persons therefore believe that Jacob promised nothing more to Judah in this place but that when the Regal Dignity had once honour'd his Tribe it should be translated to no other but continue there till it was wholly extinguished The Maintainers of this Opinion interpret Shiloh to be the End or Cessation of it to wit of the Scepter and Royal Power Now if this were the true Interpretation of the word there is nothing in Jacob's Prediction which wou'd occasion the least difficulty for it appears by the sacred History that from the time that David sate upon the Throne of Israel the Kings descended from him govern'd the Tribe of Judah without the Intervention of any other Family till the Kingdom of Judah was wholly dissolv'd Whereas in the Kingdom of the ten Tribes even before it was utterly destroy'd by Salmanassar the Regal Dignity did not stand in one but several Tribes according to the different Descent of their Kings The chief Objection that can be rais'd against this Interpretation will be that it disarms the Christians of an Oracle own'd by the Jews themselves whereby they have successfully prov'd against the latter that the Messias was already come But an Interpreter must not always consider what the Jews will give him leave to say or what wou'd be serviceable to his Cause if it were true but what is really consonant to the Truth it self no less than if there were no such People as the Jews now in the World or if we had never had the least Dispute with them about the coming of the Messias Though the Jews were not mistaken in their Expectation of the Messias yet all those places in the Old Testament which out of their former immoderate and now their preposterous Desire of his coming they have expounded concerning him must not therefore be affirmed to relate to him merely because the Jews think so That the Rabbins have forced several Passages in the Bible to favour the Messias without any reason on their side is sufficiently known to those that have either read them or what the Christians have collected out of their Writings Therefore as it was a true Tradition of the ancient Jews that there should come at last a Deliverer to Israel so any unprejudiced Person will own that they might sometimes commit Mistakes in expounding some Text of the O. Testament which they supposed to relate to him V. This we don't say with that prospect as if we had the Vanity to imagine that this last Interpretation of Jacob's Prophecy ought to take place of all other whether already found out or hereafter to be discover'd as being the unquestionable meaning of this Passage but that after the Merits of all the other Opinions have been impartially considered it will more plainly appear either on which side the Truth stands or where and by what Methods it is to be acquir'd or lastly why it cannot be found out Dissertation XII In which several Obscure Texts in Genesis are explained and illustrated AND God said let there ch 1.3 The Hebrews commonly describe God working all things by his Word to denote his transcendent Power over the whole Creation and with what ease he does whatever he pleases Thus