surprize me before I was aware so that I should not escape so Achitophel contrived but the Lord was my stay and upon him I did relye and trust The Lord also freed me from the great straits I was in and set me at liberty and that not for any merit in me but of his own free grace and mercy and that he might graciously reward me according to my innocency and integrity so that I may with great thankfulness say The Lord hath rewarded me according to my righteousness †He doth not here speak of his righteousness in reference to God for in this sense he prayeth Psal 143.2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant but of his righteousness as to his enemies though the obedience of Gods servants is a due debt which they owe to God and it is God that enables them to do what they do yet God of his free grace rewards them for their works when they are performed with sincerity though they be far short of what they should be the Lord rewards men according to their works that is acding to the nature and quality of their works though not for any merit in their works If their works be good they shall have a good reward if their works be evil their reward will be accordingly according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me that is according to the righteousness of my cause and the innocence of my intentions and actions as to my enemies I being clear of those faults and crimes they slanderously charged me with I have kept the ways of the Lord that is I have desired to walk in his precepts and the ways by him prescribed and though I have had many slips and failings yet I have not wickedly and presumptuously resolved to go on in them and so to make a desperate defection from God For all his judgments and statutes were before me that is I have set the whole Law of God before me as the rule of my life and actions and do endeavour to observe them one as well as another And though I have had many failings yet what I have done in Gods service hath not been in hypocrisie or dissimulation I was upright before him and kept my self from mine iniquity I restrained my self from that sin * Cavi ne scelus admitterem quod antea admississeÌ„ unto which I was otherwise by nature prone to fall into Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness according to my innocency which he saw in me He now by an elegant Apostrophe turns his speech to God extolling his goodness and mercy towards the godly and his equal and just dealing with the wicked With the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful with the upright thou wilt shew thy self to act uprightly with the pure thou wilt shew thy self to act purely and holily but with the froward and perverse thou wilt shew thy self wayward (†) V. 27. Perverse ages i. e. retribues illi secundum perversitatem ejus and unpleasing inflicting sharp judgments upon them As they walk contrary to thee so thou wilt walk contrary to them crossing them in all that they go about according to Levit. 26.27 28. The afflicted people thou wilt save and preserve but as for the haughty thy eyes are upon them to bring them down He now comes to shew how the Lord was his lamp that enlightened his darkness that is that shined upon him and comforted him in the darkness of his afflictions and directed him what course to take He declares also that it was the Lord that enabled him to run thorough the thickest troops of his enemies and by his assistance he had scal'd their walls and taken their Cities And from his own experience he infers that the Lord is perfect in all his ways not failing in any of his promises and that his word is tried and hath been prov'd to be true by unquestionable proof and experience That he is a buckler and shield to defend all that trust in him Then in a way of thankful admiration he crys out Who is a God save the Lord And who is a rock save our God As for me I do declare that I have had all my streâ—gth and power from him He hath made my way perfect or plain removing impediments and prospering my attempts and undertakings so that I have not failed to perfect what I went about He makes my feet like hinds feet that is swift to escape danger and to stand safe upon my high places as hinds speedily run up to the top of inaccessible rocks and there are safe He teacheth my hands to war he hath given me skill in military affairs and to skill he hath given me strength of body fit for war so that I am able not only to draw a strong and stiff bow of steel but if I please I can break it in pieces Yet I ascribe nothing to my self for thou O Lord hast given me the shield of thy salvation that is thou hast been as a shield to me to defend me against mine enemies and thy gentleness (a) V. 36. Et ex exauditione tua magnum reddebas me Heb. per respondere tuum Pisc hath made me great that is by thy right hand thou hast upholden and strengthened me in the day of battel and by thy hearing of my prayers thou hast made me great and victorious Thou hast enlarged my steps under me or widened my passage given me room to walk steadily and safely in so that I was prosperous and successful in my marches so that I have pursued mine enemies and destroyed them and they are fallen under my feet Thou hast girded me with strength in battel those that rose up against me thou hast subdued under me Thou hast given me the necks of mine enemies and I have prevailed against them when they were in extremity they looked for help from man but there was none to save them and then they cried unto God but he did not answer them Thus being helpless I have beaten them to pieces as the small dust of the earth and stamped them as the mire of the streets and dispersed them as men spread dung on the ground By which Hyperbolical expressions he intimates that he had not only subdued his enemies but in a disgraceful manner trodden and trampled upon them Then he acknowledges how God had delivered him from the strivings of the people viz. in the insurrections of Absalom and Sheba and had brought many Nations of the Heathen to be in subjection to him and to acknowledg him for their Lord and head Strangers * This is true both of David and of Christ of whom David was a type viz. in respect of the conversion of the Gentiles who were aliens and strangers from the Common-wealth of Israel says he will now submit themselves unto me and neighbouring Nations will become Tributary to me as soon as they hear of my coming against them they will yield
Curiosity of men may suggest about this whole matter may easily be answered by a serious consideration and belief of the infinite power and wisdom of God Noah being thus shut up in the Ark the Flood began with the bursting of the Fountains of the great Abyss from benath and a continual showring of rain from above 40 days and 40 nights together The waters encreased and prevailed on the Earth 150 days and rose to such a height that they covered the Mountains and all things that had life on the Earth perished Gen. 7. whole Chap. SECT X. UPon the 17th day of the seventh month the Waters abated and the Ark rested on one of the Mountains of Ararat in Armenia the greater not far from the Caspian-Sea and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the Mountains were seen And 40 days after namely upon the eleventh day of the eleventh month Noah opening the Window of the Ark sent forth a Raven who flew hither and thither fluttering about the Ark and resting on the top of it the waters being not yet dried up For the Raven being accustomed to live at large was weary of the straightness of his Cage and finding as 't is like dead bodies on the Mountains he was ravenous after such prey and would be no more confined to the Ark. Seven days after Noah sends out a Dove to try if the waters were abated but the Dove finding no rest for the sole of her foot the Mountain-tops though bare being yet very muddy returned to him again After seven days more he sent her forth again and in the evening she brought in her mouth an Olive-leaf which was a sign the waters were low and thereby God comforted Noah assuring him that his deliverance out of the Ark was near at hand And herein also the especial providence of God is to be observed in preserving the Olive together with the seminal virtue of other Trees Plants and Herbs though soak'd so long under waters for the replenishing the World with these kinds of Vegetables again there not being any seed of them preserved in the Ark that we read of Noah then staying yet seven days more he sent forth the same Dove (b) Of the sending forth of the Dove and her returning to Noah called by the Heathens Deucalion there is express mention in humane Writers particularly in Plutarch's Dialog de Solertia animalium again a third time which returned not to him any more having found food as it seems now for her self upon the Earth and taking content in the free Air and liberty This Dove no doubt soon after by the providence of God found her own Mate Gen. 8. from 1. to the 13. CHAP. II. The second Age of the World from the Flood to the promise made to Abraham inVr of the Chaldees containing the space of 422 years and ending in the 2078th year of the World SECT I. ON the first day of the first month of the six hundredth and first year of Noahs life he opened the Window that was in the covering of the Ark and looked about him and found that the waters were dried from off the face of the Earth yet so as it still remained moist and dirty having been so long a time soaked with such a quantity of moisture Therefore he stayed yet 55 days more namely to the 27th day of the second month and then he and all that were with him by the Commandment of God went forth out of the Ark having continued therein 375 days or a full (c) The solar year exceeds the lunar 11 days and consists of 365 days commonly though every fourth or leap-year consists of 366 days solar year and ten days more Gen. 8. from 13. to 20. SECT II. NOah when they were come out of the Ark built an Altar * Here is the first mention of an Altar and Burnt-Offerings long before Moses or the Levitical Law See Levit. 6.9 probably of Earth or Turf and offered Sacrifices and whole Burnt-Offerings thereon to the Lord of clean Beasts and Fowls according to that form of Worship which the Lord had before prescribed in a grateful acknowledgment of Gods great Goodness and Mercy to them in their preservation from the Flood And God smelled a sweet savour therefrom that is did graciously accept this Service Noah had performed and was highly pleased and delighted with his Faith and thankfulness And the Lord said He would not again Curse the Ground for man's sake nor destroy every living Creature thereon by a general deluge For he saw That the imagination of mans heart was evil from his youth and though that among other things justly provoked him before to destroy the World yet he saw that the Children of men being so corrupt by Nature if he should proceed against them according to their deserts and not according to the riches of his own Mercy he must be continually punishing and destroying of them therefore though he would deal as he thought fit with particular sinners yet he would not at one stroak destroy all Mankind any more And to confirm this his gracious Decree He promises that while the Earth remains Seed-time and Harvest Cold and Heat Summer and Winter Day and Night should not fail or cease that is generally it should be so but yet this did not hinder but that he might execute particular Judgments upon particular Places or Persons to the contrary Further God now declares That he was resolved to restore and repair the natures of things corrupted by the Flood And then blessing Noah and his Sons he bad them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the Earth And he tells them That the fear and dread of them shall be upon all bruit Creatures even to the taming and over-awing the fiercest and strongest of them either by force or cunning Whence it is that the most savage of them do fear the face of man though sometimes by the just judgment of God they do as it were rebel and rise up against him and hurt him God also now permitteth to Noah and his Posterity to eat Flesh as freely for their food as Herbs which grew out of the ground So that now the Lord restores to Noah and his Children the lawful use of those things which were in a manner taken from them by the Flood yet there was this exception made to his general Grant that though they might freely eat of any of the Creatures that were fit for meat yet they might not eat Flesh with the blood or in the blood but the Beast must first be killed and cleansed of tâ— blood Which restraint was in all probability made to deter them from cruelty and shedding one anothers blood And to inforce the observance of this Command the more upon them he tells them that as to their own life-blood if it were at any time shed by a Beast of a Beast it should be required that is the Beast should be put to death for it See Exod.
sighs she called his Name Simeon * Simeon his second Son signifying that he was a Son whom God had given her upon his hearing (x) Simeon q. filius exaudientis Dei a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of her prayers Then she conceived again and bare a third Son and called his Name Levi (y) Levi q. adjunctus copulatus that is joyned * Levi his third Son for now she hoped her Husbands heart she having born him three Sons and Rachel none would cleave to her with more cordial love and affection After this she conceived again and bare Jacob a fourth Son and called his Name Judah †Judah his fourth Son signifying Praise for now says she I will in an open and solemn manner praise the Lord for all his great Goodness and Mercy to me And then for some time she ceased bearing any more Gen. 29. whole Chapter SECT XXVI RAchel continuing barren envied her Sister and possibly grew jealous of her Husband and therefore in a Womanish impatience said to him Give me Children or else I die that is let me have Children by thee as well as my Sister or else I shall die for grief and vexation Then Jacob's anger was kindled and he said Am I in Gods stead It is He alone can make thee fruitful and not I. See 1 Sam. 1.5 6. Psal 113.9 Psal 127.3 Then Rachel being inordinately desirous of Children after the example of Sarah Ch. 16.2 gives her Maid Bilhah to her Husbands Bed to be as it were a secondary wife or Concubine to him see Gen. 35.22 intending that the Children she should have by him should be brought up and nursed on her knees as her own And so she made account that some part of the reproach of her barrenness should be put away and some part of her Husbands good will should be turned from her Sister to her self Hereupon Bilhah conceived and bare Jacob a Son At this Rachel greatly rejoyced and said God hath heard my prayers and judged me that is judged and determined the Cause on my side and to my advantage against my Sister who upbraided me with barrenness * As Peninnah did Hannah 1 Sam. 1.6 in that he hath given me a Son and she called his Name Dan (z) Dan his fifth Son signifying a Judge Then Bilhah conceived again and bare Jacob another Son Upon this Rachel said I and my Sister have had many wrastlings and contentions about Children she twitting me for my barrenness but now by my prayers to God and by this means of giving my Maid to my Husband I have prevailed against her Therefore she called his name Naphtali * Naphtali his sixth Son signifying my wrestling (a) Unde perspicuum est Rachelis desiderium non ex libidine sed ex amore prolium fluxisse ut in iis promissa Dei quae a Marito audierat complerentur Jans in loc Leah now finding that she had not for a good while been with Child and that her Sister had by giving her Hand-Maid to Jacob raised up Children to her self she also out of emulation not being content with her former number gave her Maid Zilpah to her Husbands Bed Zilpah hereupon conceived and bearing Jacob a Son she called his name Gad * Gad his seventh Son signifying a Troop intimating that this Son added to her own four would make a Troop After this Zilpah conceived again and bare him another Son and Leah said This is an happy birth also and now women in general will call me blessed for the multitude of my Children and she called his name Asher †Asher his eighth Son that is blessed Reuben the eldest Son of Leah being now as 't is probable about eight or nine years old having seven Brethren at this time born after him viz. three of his own Mother and four by the two Hand-Maids whilst his Mother left off bearing went into the Fields in the time of Wheat-Harvest and found Mandrakes and brought them to his Mother that is some rare beautiful and sweet Flowers (b) Mandragora planta est ferens pomula crocci coloris Notant Dioscorides Aristotels lib. 2. de generatione animalium habere vim ciendi menstrua consequenter purgandi ad Conceptum praeparandi quod cum fortasse sciret Rachel prolis avida fructum illum ardenter appetiit Jansen which possibly were thought to have a vertue to procure love therefore by ancient Writers were called Circea See Canticles 7.13 But whatever these Dudaim or Mandrakes were it seems they were much esteemed among them and therefore Rachel desired her Sister to give her some of her Sons Mandrakes Leah snaps her up what says she Hast thou taken away my Husbands affection from me so that he doth in a manner estrange himself from my Bed through thy procurement and wouldst thou have my Sons Mandrakes also Rachel making an ill use of Jacobs great affection to her takes upon her as if she had the disposal of his person and therefore she tells her Sister If she would give Her some of the Mandrakes her Husband should lie with her that night Leah agreeing hereto goes out to meet Jacob returning from the Field and acquaints him with what had past between her and her Sister and how she had hired him with her Sons Mandrakes to accompany with her that night Jacob accordingly did so and God hearkening unto Leahs prayers she conceived again and bare Jacob a fifth Son and called his name Issachar * Issachar his fifth Son by Leah and in order of his age his ninth Son that is an hire for said she God hath given me my hire that is hath abundantly rewarded me for my Mandrakes (c) Pro Dudaim sive Mandragoris accepit filium In memoriam igitur hujus mercedis qua maritum conduxerat filium suum vocavit Issachar h. e. filium mercedis For when I had left off bearing and had given my Hand-Maid to my Husband to raise up Seed for me not hoping to bear any more my self he hath been pleased beyond my expectation to give me also this Son of my own body And Leah conceived again and bare Jacob a sixth Son and called his name Zebulun * Zebulun his sixth Son by Leah and in order of age His tenth Son signifying dwelling For now said she Will my Husband dwell with me and will not neglect me seeing I have born him six Sons Last of all she bare him one Daughter and called her name Dinah (d) Prophetice forsan sic dicta ab altercatione quae secuta est infra Cap. 34.24 After these things (e) Porro hinc palam est utramque sororem Jacobo nuptum datam anno primo non septimo completo Nam Leah liberos septem peperit ante annum decimum quartum exactum vide v. 25. puerperium tamen intermisit Cap. 29.35 ut annis 14 liberi 12 editi non nisi biennium vacuum reliquerint Anonym
punish them for other Provocations He would reckon with them for this Sin also which accordingly He did in after-times see vers 35. But though He spared them for the present yet He declares That He himself will not go with them as before He had promised but bids Moses go before them and lead them and He would send a Created Angel to go before them and to be their Conductor and to lead them to Canaan a Land flowing with Milk and Honey but He himself would no longer Conduct them lest speaking of Himself after the manner of men who are most provoked when they are affronted to their face He should consume them for their Rebellions and Disobedience in the way Moses descending from the Mount acquaints the people with these sad tydings further telling them That if they did not repent of their great wickedness God would come among them and Consume them in a moment therefore He commanded them to put off their Ornaments and to mourn before Him and according as their Repentance should be true or false He would either spare or punish them When the people heard these things they mourned exceedingly and stript themselves of their Ornaments and gorgeous Apparrel and put themselves into a habit more suitable to true Penitents Moses now removes his Tent or Tabernacle which He had formerly erected as it seems both for the Worship of God and for matters of Civil Judgment afar off from the Camp signifying thereby Gods departure from them as a polluted people And those that desired Counsel of the Lord by him went forth to this new erected Tent of the Congregation And when Moses went out of the Camp to the Tent the Cloudy Pillar descended from the Mount to the door of the Tent and out of it the Lord spake to Moses face to face as a man speaketh to his friend that is present to present by an articulate and audible Voice so as He never spake to any Prophet Deut. 5.4 34.10 Numb 12.8 All which the people beholding from their Tent-doors bowed themselves and worshipped And when at any time Moses returned into the Camp Joshua stayed behind in the Tabernacle or Tent possibly as his Deputy to judge the People in his absence Moses now humbly bemoans before the Lord that He had imposed that hard Province upon him to lead that people but had not let him know whom He would send with him and yet he had declared he knew him by Name that is had chosen him above many others and out of many for his Service and had taken special notice of him and had a peculiar regard to him He therefore humbly desires of the Lord that if He had found Grace in his sight He himself would please to shew him his way in which He would have him lead the people and that He himself would be their Guide as before he had been and not turn them over to a created Angel that so he may know by experience that He is good to them that seek him and be assured that he had found Grace in his sight and that He did still remember that this Nation was his people The Lord was pleased upon this prayer of Moses and the peoples Repentance to recall his former (k) Paenitentia commutat Comminationes Dei in promissiones Cajetan Sentence passed vers 3. and now promises that his Presence shall go with them and He would bring them into the Land of Promise where they should have rest from their Enemies Moses thankfully embracing Gods Promise shews that nothing else but his gracious Presence could have contented or satisfied him For says He if thy Presence go not along with us I pray thee carry us not up hence As if he should have said We had as good never stir a foot further as to go without thy gracious Presence and favour accompanying of us though we were sure to come to Canaan at the last For how else says he shall it be known that we are thy peculiar people and separated from other Nations but by thy gracious Presence accompanying of us Moses having found the Lord ready to grant his Desires proceeds further to make one Request more to Him namely That He would please to shew him his Glory Possibly this holy man conceiving that God when he spake to him had put on some Corporeal and visible shape full of great Majesty and Glory though overshadowed as it were with a Cloud so that He could not discern it He humbly desired to see the lightsome brightness of His Majesty the Cloud being removed and a glimpse of that blessed Vision of Him which is reserved for another life The Lord answers him That he will reveal his Goodness to him so far as is profitable for him to know and will Proclaim his great Name and glorious Attributes before Him declaring When He passeth by that He is the Lord Jehovah who will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy and is free in communicating his Grace and Mercy where He pleaseth without wrong to any But to see his Face that is his pure Essence and being in his Spiritual Majesty and Glory He tell him cannot be granted him but to his hurt seeing no man in that manner can see the Face of God and live Man's weakness being such that he is not able to behold the brightness of such an Apparition till this Mortal has put on Immortality Therefore the Lord tells him That He will put him in the cleft of the Rock that was near and cover him with his Hand that he may not be swallowed up when he passed by in such Brightness and Glory as was never shown to mortal Creature and He should through this Cleft have a glimpse of His Back Parts that is a transitory Vision and imperfect sight of his Glory such as he was now capable of as we are said to see or know men but imperfectly when we see only their back parts and not their faces For if He should manifest his Glory to him to the full it would be too much for defiled Infirmity and Mortality to subsist under A man that would see God face to face must put off his mortality and die before he can see Him in his Glory Exod. 31. vers 18. Exod. 32. whole Chapter Exod. 33. whole Chapter SECT XXIV THe Lord now Commands Moses to frame and prepare two new Tables of Stone like to the former wherein he would write his Law anew And it seems from Deut. 10.1 that he gave him in charge at the same time to make an Ark or Chest of Shittim-wood to keep these Tables in till that more curious and glorious Ark of the Tabernacle should be made Moses having done as God commanded him went up with the new Tables next morning into the Mount no man going up with him neither was any man to be seen in all the Mount Then the Lord descended in the Cloud and in some sensible signs of his Presence passed before
Moses and proclaimed before him now hid in the hollow Cleft of the Rock The Lord The Lord merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin upon mans hearty repentance and that will by no means clear the Guilty visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children and upon the Childrens Children unto the third and fourth Generation if they continue in their Fathers transgressions Moses hearing these things instantly bowed his head towards the Earth and worshipped Exod. 34. from 1. to 9. SECT XXV MOses now staying again 40 days and 40 nights in the Mount without Meat or Drink vers 28. He humbly and earnestly besought the Lord with many pressing arguments see Deut. 9.18 19. and from 25. to the end to pardon the people and to own them still for his Inheritance * See Ps 33.12 Zach. 2.12 and to go along with them and to manifest his gracious Presence among them for they were He ackowledges a stiff-necked people and had need both of his Mercy and Conduct The Lord being now appeased renews his Covenant with them upon certain Conditions and promises that his Presence with them should work more powerfully then ever and shew it self in more stupendious Miracles then ever it had done before and that He would do terrible things by them his Almighty Power and Providence accompanying of them and would give them possession of the Land of Canaan and would drive out the Inhabitants thereof before them The Conditions he requires of them to perform were these 1. Not to make a League or Covenant with the Inhabitants of the Land * See Chap. 23.32 whom He had determined to destroy for their sins nor to make Marriages with them lest it should ensnare them and draw them to be Partakers in their Idolatries and so in their Punishments but should destroy their Altars Images and Groves and should not eat of their Sacrifices and should especially be careful not to make to themselves any molten Gods such as the golden Calf was For the Lord was a jealous God and would not endure that any false God should share with Him in the Worship that was peculiar to himself 2 That they should observe the Feast of unleavened Bread * See Ch. 23.15 the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost and the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles At which three Feasts All their Males should appear before him with an Offering to be given to the Priest which He would account as given to Himself and He would take care that none should desire their Land in their absence 3 That the first-born Males both of Men and Beasts should be consecrated unto Him see Ch. 22.29 30. but the firstlings of an Ass should be redeemed with a Lamb see Exod. 13.13 4 That they should carefully observe the weekly Sabbath * See Ch. 23.12 and not violate it either in Seed-time or Harvest 5 That they should not offer the blood (l) Certe removebis fermentatum cum immolas Pascha Vatab. of the Paschal Lamb with Leaven and that nothing thereof should be left till the morning 6 That the first of their Frist-fruits should be brought to the House of the Lord. 7. That they should not seeth a Kid in its Mothers milk Which Laws were all enjoyned Ch. 23. and were now repeated These were the Laws that Moses was to write down in a Book and to injoyn the people to observe Then the Lord wrote the Ten Commandments on the Tables Moses had brought up and gave them unto him who brought them and the other Laws which himself had written unto the people and having seen Gods Glory in so great a measure and degree there was a dazeling brightness imprinted by God on his face while he talked with him so that the skin of his Face (m) The glory of Moses face signified the glory of the Law which he brought 2 Cor. 3.7 8. His Ministration was Death and Condemnation because the Law giveth the knowledge of Sin but no pardon for it shone which he himself was not sensible of * Sic Humilitas propriam jubet ignorare excellentiam by the reflective rays and beams (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to shine from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Horn is derived which gave occasion to the Papists to paint Mose's face with two Horns like an Ox. The Vulgar Latine says Mose's Face was horned of the divine Splendor which might assure the Israelites he had been with God who taught and instructed him and that thereupon they might the more reverence him might fear breaking this Law again Aaron and the people were not able to bear the splendor of his Face but being afraid fled from him as if he had been some Angel But Moses called them back and put a Vail on his Face (o) Ut ipsum Mosaicae facici splendorem Israelitae non viderunt ob impositum velamen sic Carnales Judaei spiritualem Mosis splendorem hoc est Scriptorum ejus summum finem atque scopum qui est Jesus Christus non intelligebant ob sponte attractam mentis Caecitatem quae instar Velaminis est inter corda eorum verum legis intellectum quasi obducti neque hoc tolli potest nisi per praedicationem Evangelij per veram conversionem ad Dominum c. Vide 2 Cor. 13.14 15 16. whilst he spake with them and then delivered to them all that the Lord had given him in Charge But Moses when he went to the Lord for the people took the Vail off And 't is like that this brightness on his Face continued not all his life after but only during the time of his going to and fro between God and the people Exod. 34. from 9. to the end SECT XXVI MOses now injoyns them again a strict Observation of the weekly Sabbath and that they should not kindle a fire (p) But 't is probable to kindle a fire to warm themselves by in the extream cold of Winter or when any other exigencies of necessity or mercy required it was allowed them thereon to dress meat or to do any work by though for the framing of the Tabernacle threatning death to them that disobey Then He injoyns the people to bring their free-will Offerings towards the framing of the Tabernacle which was now forthwith to be gone in hand with according to the Directions given him by God Ch. 25. The people very readily agree hereunto And to the end that this good Work might the more effectually be promoted all the Males were numbred from twenty years old and upwards who were found to be 603550 who every one according to the Law prescribed Exod. 30.12 13. contributing half a Shekel the total Sum of the Poll-money amounted to an hundred Talents (q) A Talent among the Jews amounted to 3000 Shekels or 50 l. sterling every pound containing 60 Shekels See Bishop Usher's
and Princes to hear what she had to say concerning this great Work which God had done for Israel and she addresseth her Speech the rather to them because they are wont oftentimes in their Pride to Oppress others and therefore she desires they might understand what God had done to Jabin and Sisera and so might take heed of provoking God by Oppressing his people as these had done And the better to express how terrible God had now been to their Adversaries she compares the Terrors of this day with those when the Law was given on Mount Sinai Lord when thou camest out of Seir when thou marchedst out of the Field of Edom the Earth trembled that is when the Children of Israel stood at Mount Sinai from the East where was Edom and Mount Seir a divine Splendor from the fiery Cloud began first to appear to them and seeming to come from that Region drew nigher and nigher to them till it rested on the Mountain see Deut. 33.2 Psal 86.7 8. Then the Earth trembled and the Heavens dropped that is the Clouds seem'd to be dissolved into extraordinary Showers and Storms The Mountains melted and trembled and shook even Sinai it self (s) Elegans poëtica Hyperbole Etiam Reges ferocientes comparantur montibus Psal 68.17 and seem'd to flow away at thy presence And as thou didst at that time wonderfully appear at Sinai causing those prodigious Effects of thy Presence to be felt so did thy Majesty and Power now at this battel no less appear for us against our Enemies She goes on The Case was very sad with us before For from the days of Shamger who was indeed a Deliverer of us from our Enemies unto this present time wherein Jael appeared and shewed her self a worthy Instrument of our good we lay under great Oppressions insomuch that the High-ways being kept by Souldiers all Trading was cut off people not daring to travel but in by-ways nor to live in Villages but only in walled-Cities whither they fled to secure themselves till God was pleased by me a poor woman to set on foot this glorious Work of our Deliverance who as a Prophetess teaching them God's Will and what He would have them to do and with no less care seeking their good than a loving Mother doth her dear Childrens I encouraged them to this War which hath succeeded so well If any ask a reason of the Calamities we were under Alas we must needs acknowledge the Israelites by shameful Apostacy fell away from God and his true Worship and worshipped Heathen Idols hereupon the Lord raised against them cruel Enemies on every side who made Inroads into their Land and many times came up to the very Gates of their Cities And they were so dispirited with fear and faintness of heart that not a man among the many thousands of Israel durst take up a Shield or Spear against their Enemies see Levit. 26.36 She goes on I cannot but highly honour the Heads and Rulers of the people who though having great Estates were as willing to hazard themselves in this War as the meaner sort who have scarce any thing to lose and such grave and ancient Persons are not usually so fit for War as younger men and therefore it argued an Heroick Spirit in them to put to their helping hand among the meanest in this Cause of God and their Examples no doubt had a great influence to draw on many of the meaner sort And says she let all those men of honour and eminency viz. Magistrates and Judges that sit in the Seat of Judgment and use to ride up and down on white Asses * Riding on Asses was it seems a Note of great and honourable Persons in that time see Judg. 12.14 and it seems white Asses were in principal esteem and so likewise let all the common sort of people that travel on foot from one place to another let them all in their several places speak of this great Deliverance which God hath wrought for his people For whereas before all the High-ways of the Land were pestered with Souldiers so that there was no stirring with any safety from one place to another and so all the whole course of Justice was in a manner stopped now the Judges might sit in Judgment as formerly and might ride up and down upon their white Asses according to their wonted manner which before they could not do and the common people of all sorts might now pass to and fro and travel safely about their occasions Now the Country-people that us'd to be assaulted and surprized by their Enemies when they went to the Wells and Fountains to fetch water are delivered from this danger and may freely go thither and there declare the righteous Acts of God in destroying their Enemies and may also now freely frequent the Cities on Court or Market-days Upon consideration of all these Mercies Deborah rouses up her self to praise the Lord with all her Soul and Strength Awake Deborah awake utter thy Song Arise Barak and lead thy Captivity Captive that is now after thy Victory lead those Captive that kept us formerly in Captivity Psal 68.18 And after thou hast led them in Triumph let those of the Canaanites whom thou hast taken be slain as God hath commanded and let those of other Nations that are taken with them be reserved for Slaves Thus God made the poor despised remainders of his people rescued by this Victory out of the Tyranny of the Canaanites to have Dominion over their Nobles even their great and mighty men Yea the Lord hath made me says Deborah though a weak woman to have Dominion over the Mighty and by my Counsel and Encouragement to subdue great Princes and Commanders Then Deborah relates how the several Tribes acquitted themselves in this Expedition praising or blaming them according to their Deserts First She begins with Ephraim out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek that is one rising of the Israelites against our Enemies did spring up from Ephraim and those of this Tribe that armed themselves for the War were assign'd by Barak to go against the Amalekites to Encounter them and keep them from coming and joyning their Forces with those of Jabin's whilst Barak with his Army went against Sisera Machir was the only Son of Manasseh and so by the Children of Machir are meant the Tribe of Manasseh And after thee that is after you of Ephraim were in Arms some of Benjamin came and mixt themselves among you to go against Amalek And out of Machir that is out of the half-Tribe of Manasseh seated within Jordan some of them yea even of their Governors came down to assist Barak and out of Zebulun even some of their Doctors Scribes and Lawyers and others that were better at their Pen than Sword yet came among them to assist in this Cause And both the Princes and common people also of the Tribe of Issachar did readily come in to Deborah and Barak with
bound himself by a solemn vow that he would not rest till he had set himself upon the accomplishment of it as they gather from Psal 132.2 3 4. But God delayed not to bring David quickly out of his mistake and therefore that very night he spake to Nathan to go to him and to speak to him after this manner Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name thou didst well that it was in thine heart 1 King 8.18 but it shall not be done by thee but by thy Son 2 Chron. 6.7 8 9. it is not my pleasure that thou shouldest do it and that for these reasons 1. Because thou hast been a martial man and hast shed much blood (c) Haec verba non leguntur 2 Sam. 7. Ergo pertinent ad Paralipomena i. e. ad praetermissa unde hi duo libri nomen acceperunt which though it was the blood of mine and my peoples enemies and so was a service well pleasing to me yet the Temple being to be a Type of the Body of the Messias the Prince of Peace it shall be built by a Peaceable Prince 2ly Though thou enjoyest peace now yet thou hast many wars to wage with the Nations about thee that are not yet subdued and so canst not have leisure to go through with so great a work as that is 3ly I have not made choice of any standing permanent house wherein to manifest my gracious presence to this day but have manifested my self in a Tabernacle flitting and removing from place to place yet all that while I have been present with my people ever since coming out of Egypt as their God Alsufficient therefore there is no absolute need at present of building any other house for me which shall be done when my own time is come 4ly I did never speak to any of the Tribes of Israel or to the Judges whom I appointed as faithful shepherds to govern and provide for my people that an House of Cedar should be built for me Moreover do not think that my forbidding thee to do it proceeds from want of love to thee for thou maist remember how I have taken thee from the sheep-coat from following the sheep to be ruler over my people and have prospered thee in all thine enterprizes and have destroy'd all thine enemies that rose up against thee and have made thee famous and formidable to the Nations round about thee and have given thee a name like the name of the great Princes and Potentates of the earth And as I have already multiplied many blessings upon thee so I am still ready to do it for time to come Moreover I have not only blessed thee but I will bless the whole Nation under thy Government As I have appointed a place (a) V. 10. I have appointed a place for my people So the Dutch Annotations read it In the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posui a good land for them so I will plant (b) How was this promise fulfill'd that the Lord would so plant them in a place of their own that they shouâ—d thence move no more and that the children of wickedness should not afflict them any more as in former times c. when after Solomons days both the Kingdom of Israel and Judah were often invaded and wasted by many of the neighbouring Nations and the people at last carried away captive to Assyria and Babylon Either this promise therefore must be restrain'd to the times of David and Solomon in whose days they did enjoy the land as their own without molestation from the neighbouring Nations or else it must be understood as a conditional promise viz. if they were obedient else God reserved liberty to himself to deal otherwise with them them there and so settle them in the land that they shall quietly enjoy it as their own lawful inheritance and not be dispossessed of it and tossed up and down as formerly they have been neither shall they be molested and vexed continually by their oppressing neighbours the children of wickedness as they have been ever since I appointed Judges to rule over them even unto this time that I have set thee over them and have given thee rest from all thine enemies round about And seeing thou hadst a purpose to build an house for me I will saith the Lord make thee an house that is I will establish and continue thy Kingdom in thy posterity and which is far more raise up out of thy seed the Messiah who shall be an everlasting King over his people And when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers I will set up one of thy Sons viz. Solomon on the Throne after thee and will establish his Kingdom and he shall build an house for my name for my worship and service and I will establish the Throne of his Kingdom for ever (c) This is proper and peculiar to Christs Kingdom alone and cannot be literally understood of Solomons seeing the Kingdom continued in his posterity only to Zedekiah therefore the promises here are some peculiar to Solomon and some to Christ and some to both I will be to him a Father (d) This promise belonged both to Solomon and Christ to Solomon as we read 1 Chron. 28. to Christ as we read Heb. 1.5 To Solomon by grace and adoption to Christ by natural eternal generation and he shall be my Son and if he commit iniquity (c) This is to be understood of Solomon and not of Christ who committed no sin I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men that is I will correct him for his sin as a loving Father doth his beloved Son with Fatherly chastisements for his amendment and not in wrath for destruction but I will not quite cast him out of my favour and deprive him of his Kingdom as I did Saul And thine house and thy Kingdom shall be establisht for ever before thee that is thy Kingdom shall be establisht in thy self unto the day of thy death and shall in thy sight be setled upon Solomon thy Son 1 King 1.28 whence thou maist assure thy self of the continuance of it in thy posterity for a long time (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Hebraeos non semper significat tempus infinitum sed pro materia de qua agitur aliquando solum tempus bene longum Thus Nathan faithfully delivered unto David all that was revealed unto him in the vision he had from the Lord though it was contrary to the advice which he himself had before privately given him David having received this message went into the Tent where the Ark was and having for some time sat down and meditated on the great goodness and mercy of God to him he then addressed himself in prayer unto the Lord after this manner Who am I O Lord God and what is my Fathers house that thou hast brought me
and upon this thy people and let thine ears be attentive unto the supplications we shall make unto thee and hearken to us in all that we shall pray unto thee for according to thy will For thou didst separate us unto thy self from among all the Nations of the earth to be thy peculiar people and inheritance as thou spakest by thy servant Moses Solomon having ended this his devout prayer rose up from his knees and standing with his face toward the Temple he repeated part of the 132 Psalm saying Arise O Lord and take possession of this house which I have built for thee as a resting place and fixt habitation and not an ambulatory and moving one as the Tabernacle was And let thy Ark whereon thou dost manifest thy glory (e) Psal 78.61 He delivereth his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemies hands strength and power for the good of thy people be here setled and constantly abide Let thy Priests O Lord God be clothed and adorned with such graces as may bring salvation to themselves (f) Psal 132.9 This clause is thus expressed Let thy Priests be clothed with righteousness and may enable them to be instrumental in the saving of others and let thy Saints rejoice in thy goodness and favour manifested unto them O Lord God hear me I pray thee and turn not away the face of thine anointed with shame and confusion by denying me my request but remember the promises thy mercy moved thee to make to David my Father and to his posterity Solomon having ended his prayers the Sacrifices were brought in and laid upon the Altar and immediately fire came down from Heaven and consumed them and the glory of the Lord probably covered with a cloud filled the house and such an orient splendour shone through it that the Priests could by no means enter into the Temple The people seeing the fire came down from Heaven and the glory of the Lord upon the house they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground and worshipped and praised God and sang as 't is probable the 136 Psalm as the Singers had done before the burthen or foot whereof was For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Then Solomon turned his face and blessed all the Congregation of Israel again as he had done at the beginning and said Blessed be the Lord God who hath given rest to his people Israel as he promised of old And indeed he hath not failed of performing any of his gracious promises which he made to his people by the ministry of his servant Moses Now therefore the Lord our God be with us as he was with our Fathers and let him not leave us nor forsake us but let him incline our hearts to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments * Viz. The Moral Ceremonial and Judicial Laws statutes and judgments which he commanded our Fathers And let my words wherewith I have made supplication to the Lord this day be in his mind and memory continually that he may maintain the cause of me his servant and the cause of his people Israel at all times as the matter shall require and as it shall appear just and equal to him that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord he is the only true God from whom all blessings come and that there is no other God besides him Let your heart therefore be upright and sincere before the Lord and walk in his statutes and keep his commandments as now you do Then the King the Princes and people offered abundance of Peace-offerings (a) They were call'd Peace-offerings because God having bestowed some benefit upon them seemed to be appeased towards them and they were offered as a kind of retribution and to return thanks to God for it And in offering the same they also testified their hope that God was reconciled towards them to the Lord and kept this feast of Dedication seven days During which time they offered unto the Lord two and twenty thousand oxen and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep By a multitude of Sacrifices the pious Jews were wont to testifie their zealous and grateful affection towards God and we never read of any Sacrifice like this And thus Solomon the Princes and people by their joint prayers praises and sacrifices dedicated the house of God and set it apart for his worship and service And they rejoiced before the Lord seven days and seven that is they kept the first seven days as the Feast of Dedication and the next seven as the Feast of Tabernacles And the day after Solomon dismissed the people to their own homes and they blessed the King and prayed unto the Lord for him and went home with joyful and glad hearts rejoicing in the goodness which the Lord had manifested to the house of David and to Solomon and to all the people of Israel 1 King Ch. 8. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 5. whole Chapter 1 Chron. Ch. 6. whole Chapter 2 Chron. Ch. 7. from v. 1 to 11. SECT III. SHortly after * Some read 1 King 9.1 And it came to pass when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord and afterwards finished the Kings house and all his desire which he was pleased to do that the Lord appeared to him the second time c. Solomon had made that devout prayer before mentioned the Lord as it seems appeared to him in a dream (b) Ch. 6.11 We read that the word of the Lord came to Solomon but that was by some messenger or Prophet sent unto him but this was the second time that the Lord appeared to him in a Vision as he had done before at Gibeon 1 King 3.4 5. and the Lord said I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication which thou hast made before me and I have hallowed this house and set it apart to those holy uses which thou didst intend it for and it shall be called by my name as long as it shall last and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually I will always be ready to take notice of the prayers there made and the services there performed and will graciously accept them And if I shall shut up heaven at any time so that there be no rain or send the locusts or pestilence among my people that are called by my name if they shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then will I hear in heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land And if thou wilt walk before me in integrity and uprightness as thy Father David did and keep my statutes and judgments then I will establish the Throne of thy Kingdom for ever that is thou and thy posterity shall continue time after time to be Kings over Israel so as no other stock but thine shall sit on that Throne so long as the Kingdom of Judah shall remain as I
bondage but hath extended mercy to us and given us favour in the sight of the Kings of Persia viz. Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes and leave and encouragement from them to set up the house of our God and to repair the desolations thereof that is to renew the joyful assemblies of Gods people and his worship and service in the Temple which before was desolate and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem that is his own defence and protection against our enemies And now O our God what shall we say that after all this thy goodness and mercy shewn us we should again forsake thy commandments as we have done which thou hast not only enjoyned us in thy law to observe but hast often pressed them upon us by thy servants the Prophets and particularly that we should not make marriages with Heathens and Idolaters nor by league or affinity joyn our selves to them and thereby endeavour to promote their prosperity and welfare seeing any such near union with them was like to be dangerous to us Thou didst shew us that if we shunned their society we should be strong and able to defend our selves against our enemies provided we firmly depended on thee our God And that we should eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to our children from generation to generation yet after all the dreadful punishments that have been inflicted on us for our sins and after all the mercy that hath been shewn us by thee in returning us from our captivity and giving us such a deliverance as this and punishing us far less than our sins deserved that we should again break thy commandments and joyn in affinity with people that are guilty of so great abominations we may wonder and admire that thy wrath is not so kindled against us as to consume us utterly that none should remain or escape But O Lord God of Israel thou art gracious and merciful and we that are escaped are as so many monuments of thy great goodness and mercy though we are laden with a great guilt in respect of which if thou shouldst enter into judgment with us we were not able to abide the trial Ezra Ch. 9. whole Chapter Ezra having thus before the Temple that is in the outward Court of it manifested such wonderful affliction of mind and sorrow of heart and that no doubt to discover to the people the heinousness of their sin and the danger they were in because of it the noise hereof was soon carried throughout the City and there came in unto him only some few at first viz. those that were afraid of those judgments see Ch. 9. 4. but now at last a great number being much affected with Ezra's grievous lamentation did also weep with him And possibly the men that had sinned in taking strange wives brought those women and their children with them to expect what directions should be given them in this matter Thereupon Shechaniah a Priest a pious and prudent man looking upon himself as one of that body and people that had committed that sin he cried out We have trespassed highly against God in taking strange wives However there is hope in Israel concerning this thing that is there is hope that God may be reconciled to us if we truly repent and forsake our sins and put away the strange wives that are among us and there is hope the people will be perswaded to do this when they shall consider the danger they are in if they do it not therefore this is the course that I think requisite for us to take for the pacifying of Gods wrath Let us make a Covenant with our God to put away all the strange wives and the children that are born of them viz. all such of them as retain their heathenish principles For of those among them that are converted to our Religion neither mother nor children are to be put away Witness the case of Rahab and her son Boaz also Ruth and her son Obed. And let this be commended to the people by thy advice my Lord Ezra and by the advice of those other godly Israelites that are now assembled unto thee and let this great business be managed according to the warrant and directions of Gods Law Arise therefore for the matter belongeth unto thee in an especial manner we will also be with thee to assist thee Be of good courage and set about it Ezra hereupon caused the chief of the Priests and the Levites and of all Israel to swear that they would do according to this word and they did swear to it acccordingly Ezra 10. from 1 to 6. Ezra now rose up and went into the Chamber of Johanan the Son of Eliaship who was doubtless of chief account among the Priests at this time and 't is like he went into his Chamber that he might there with the Princes consult how to effect that Reformation to which the forementioned assembly had sworn to yield But when he came thither though they offered him bread and water to refresh him yet he refused to eat till some order were taken for redressing that great evil which they had been lamenting and which they that had been carried away captive had been so guilty of Proclamation therefore was now made that all that were returned out of the captivity should appear at Jerusalem within three days and whoever did not come within that time according to the order of the Princes and Elders all his substance should be forfeited and he separated from the Congregation that is excommunicated from the number of Gods people Hereupon all that inhabited in the land of Judah and Benjamin and with them such also of the Ten Tribes as were come from Babylon on the 20th day of the ninth month came to Jerusalem which was about the beginning of our December a time usually of much cold and rain and all the people sat in the streets of the house of God that is in the place of the outer Court which possibly was not yet walled in trembling because of this matter and for the great rain that poured down upon them So Ezra stood up and said unto them Ye have indeed sinned heinously in taking strange wives and thereby have increased the trespass of Israel Now therefore with a penitent heart make confession of your sins to the Lord and do that which is agreeable to his will declared in his word and have no familiar converse with the people of the land and separate your selves from your strange wives And they cried out with a loud voice As thou hast said so must we do even justice and common equity require it of us * And yet within a few years they returned to it again But say they the people are many and it is a time of much rain and we are not able to continue abroad sub dio under the sky in this rainy time neither is this a work to be done in one day or two days let therefore
it And because they could not all conveniently hear Ezra they divided themselves into several companies and in each of them there were Pulpits or Scaffolds erected as may be gathered from Ch. 9.4 from whence they expounded the Law unto them there being several teachers in each place that successively discharged that work And in these holy exercises and duties they continued from morning till noon viz. about five or six hours The people were exceedingly affected at the hearing of the Law expounded to them being thereby convinced of their sins and their liableness to the dreadful judgments of God for them and fell a weeping and wept very sore but Nehemiah the Tirshatha or Governour and Ezra the Priest and those Levites that instructed the people comforted and encouraged them telling them that God was merciful to the penitent and that that was a day holy to the Lord their God and therefore on that day they should rejoyce and not mourn and weep So Nehemiah dismissed them and bad them go their way and eat the fat and drink the sweet that is feast together with their peace-offerings and send portions to them for whom nothing is provided see Deut. 16.14 for this day says he is holy unto the Lord our God neither be ye sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength that is the Lord would have you rejoyce in his goodness and manifold mercies which he has conferred on you and does still continue to you and thereby to comfort your hearts So the people were quieted understanding Gods readiness to forgive them upon their repentance and went and did as Nehemiah directed them Nehem. 8. from 1 to 13. Upon the second day of the same month Ezra was consulted by the Elders of the Families and by the Priests and Levites concerning certain doubts arising upon the reading of the Law the day before and particularly concerning the Feast of Tabernacles whereof as it seems Ezra had purposely spoken to instruct the people about it because that Feast was now at hand Whereupon Ezra shewed them that they were bound to keep that Feast on the 15th day of the seventh month abroad and in booths made of boughs of trees according to the Law Levit. 23.34 v. 40. The people yielded a ready obedience hereunto and accordingly went forth and fetcht in Olive-branches and Pine-branches and Mirtle-branches and Palm-branches and branches of thick trees and made themselves booths upon the roof of their houses and in their Courts and in the Courts of the house of God and in the streets all over the City from one end of it to another and sat under their booths to eat their meat and take their rest and there was great joy and gladness among them so that from the days of Joshua until this time the children of Israel had not kept this Feast * They kept this Feast Ezr. 3.4 1 King 8.65 and at sundry other times with so much devotion and solemnity as now they did for the Law required that only the first and last day of the Feast should be more solemn convocations Levit. 23.35 36. and great holy days whereon they might do no work and their manner it seems had been to assemble the people and on those days only to read the word and though on other days they were to offer sacrifices yet they might therein do the works of their particular callings but such was Ezra's zeal that he did now on every day of the Feast read the Book of the Law and expound it to them and as he was willing to preach so they were willing to hear every day And they kept the eighth day also as a solemn assembly according to the manner which God had enjoyned and his people from time to time had practised On that day they used to beg the pardon of all their sins and failings and to crave a blessing also from the Lord upon themselves and their families for the future Nehem. 8. from 13 to the end The Jews having been so careful according to the Law to keep the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the month and the Feast of Tabernacles on the 15th 't is likely they omitted not to keep the tenth day which was the day of atonement whereon they were to afflict their souls very solemnly But yet having heard the Law day by day all the Feast of Tabernacles expounded to them Ch. 8.18 and finding thereby how grievously they had sinned and how far short they still were of what God required of them they resolved now to keep a solemn Fast before this great Assembly now gathered together departed to their own houses And accordingly on the 24th of this month they again assembled to keep a solemn fast and to renew their Covenant with God It seems they had not performed what they so solemnly covenanted Ezra 10.3 But by hearing the Law so plainly expounded to them they came to understand how great a sin their taking and living with strange wives was and what great judgments they were liable unto by reason thereof And being deeply priced in their hearts for the same they humbled themselves before the Lord and testified their humiliation by fasting and putting on sackcloth and earth upon their heads thereby acknowledging that they were more worthy to be under the earth than above it And they separated themselves from their strange wives and the children they had by them as also from such strangers as had mixed themselves with them and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers who had given them such an ill example The people stood up in their several places of meeting and being divided as it seems into eight several congregations accordingly eight Levites stood up each of them upon a Scaffold or Pulpit erected for them and the day among the Jews consisting of twelve hours or four Trihoria the first three hours were allotted for the morning sacrifice and the three last for the evening-sacrifice and the other two fourth parts were thus imploy'd one fourth-part the Priests and Levites read in the Law of God and another fourth-part prayed and praised God Thus they continued in these holy exercises from morning to evening The Priests standing upon their several Scaffolds cried unto the Lord with fervency of spirit and extention of voice And they stirred up the people to bless the Lord who liveth for ever and ever going before them in such words as these Blessed be thy glorious name O Lord which is exalted above all blessing and praise and is so high and glorious that we cannot sufficiently praise the same The eight Levites before mentioned had their several companies before whom they prayed and read and expounded the Law But 't is like Ezra did all this before the heads and Governours and other chief men of Judah and that he made the prayer following before them for all that congregation could not hear one man together at one time In this
Hand O Lord is become Glorious in Power Thy right Hand hath broken and destroyed the Enemy and by thy glorious and excellent Power thou hast overthrown the Egyptians who in rising up against thy people did rise up against thee Thou didst send forth thy Wrath which consumed them utterly and speedily even as stubble is consumed by the fire With the blast of thy Nostrils the Waters were gathered together that is by a mighty Wind raised by thine Almighty Power accompanied with a great Noise (p) To this the Prophet seems to have reference Hab. 3. 10. the Sea was divided and the Waters were heaped up on either side and stood like congealed or compacted Walls in the heart of the Sea The Enemy said I will pursue overtake and divide the Spoil my lust shall be satisfied upon them I will draw my Sword my Hand shall destroy them But thou O Lord didst soon confound their vain Imaginations For thou didst blow with a mighty Wind and immediately the Waters came together again and the Sea covered them they sank as lead in the deep Waters Who is like unto thee O Lord among the Gods who among all the false Gods of the Heathen or the mightiest men on the Earth is in any degree worthy to be compared to Thee who art glorious in holiness fearful in praises that is to be praised with a great measure of filial fear and awfulness doing Wonders Thou stretchedst out thy Hand and the Earth swallowed them that is those of them whose bodies were cast up by the Waves upon the shore were thrown into Pits by us and there buried Thou in thy great Mercy hast brought forth thy people whom thou hast redeemed out of the Land of Egypt and hast thus far led them by thine Almighty Power and Strength towards the Land of Canaan where thou hast determined to set up thy holy Temple thy resting Place Psal 132.14 The Place which thou hast chosen where thy holy Worship shall be set up and established and where thou hast promised to dwell that is to afford thy special Presence See 1 Kings 9. vers 3. The Second Part of this Song is Prophetical beginning at v. 14. The people shall hear and be afraid sorrow shall take hold on the Inhabitants of Palestina That is the report of this dreadful overthrow of Pharaoh shall so amaze and astonish the Inhabitants of Palestina the Dukes of Edom and the mighty men of Moab (q) See this Prophesie fulfilled Numb 22.3 Josh 2.9 5.1 and the Inhabitants of Canaan that their very hearts shall faint and melt with fear as wax does before the fire insomuch that they shall be as still as a stone and Israel shall pass over Jordan into Canaan without opposition Thou wilt bring them in and plant them in the Mountain of thine Inheritance that is in Canaan a mountanous Country Deut. 11.11 and particularly thou wilt bring them to Mount Moriah which thou hast chosen as thine Inheritance and where by thy own Hands and Power thou intendest to establish thy Sanctuary and where thou hast promised to dwell and to afford thy gracious Presence The Lord will Reign for ever and ever in spight of all his Enemies Miriam (r) She was the Sister of Moses also but her reference to Aaron was best known by reason of Moses's absence She is said to be the wife of Hur by the Hebrews the Sister of Aaron who had the Spirit of Prophesie Numb 12.2 and was one of the three Principal Guides which God gave his people Mich. 6.4 took a Timbrel in her hand and the Women followed her playing on their Timbrels also according to the Custom in publick Rejoycings Judg. 11.34 and they expressed their exultation and rapture of Mind by lively motions and tripudiations of their Bodies and when the Men had sang a Verse of this Song then She with the Women sung it over again at least they repeated the first Verse of it Sing to the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the Horse and his Rider hath he thrown into the Sea And possibly they added For his Mercy endureth for ever as 't is Psal 136. 2 Chron. 5.13 With this Song of Moses for Victory over the Egyptian-Pharaoh the Holy Ghost compares the Song of them that shall be Victorious over the Spiritual Pharaoh viz. the Beast and Antichrist Rev. 15. from 1. to 5. Exod. 15. from 1. to 22. SECT VI. THe Israelites being now come on the other side of the Red-Sea they marched three whole days thorow the Wilderness of Shur (s) Called also the Wilderness of Etham Numb 33.8 one might be the general name of the whole Wilderness and the other of some part of it It seems the Wilderness on both sides of the Red-Sea was called the Wilderness of Etham but found no water all the way As for Food 't is probable they were sustained with that unleavened Bread and other provisions they had brought with them out of Egypt At last they came to Marah their fifth Encamping where they found water indeed but it was so bitter they could not drink it hereupon they murmur against Moses asking him in a discontented mood What they should drink Moses upon this Cries unto the Lord who shewed him a Tree which when he had cast into the waters the waters were made sweet But the changing of the nature and tast of the waters was to be attributed to the Power of God and not to any vertue in that Tree After God had thus tried them and proved them not only by their want of water but by his present favourable dealing with them in not punishing them for their murmuring as he might justly have done He then admonishes them by Moses to take heed of this sin of murmuring against Him or distrusting of Him and to carry themselves more obediently towards Him for the future And so he made this a Statute and an Ordinance That if they would do that which was right in his sight and would obey his Commandments and keep all his Statutes he would bring none of those Diseases and Plagues upon them which he had brought on the Egyptians For He was their Healer (t) V. 26. Medicus quia ex omnibus periculis malis tam animarum quam corporum quae morbis morti saepe comparantur homines sibi confisos liberat Psal 103. v. 3. Glasius and could heal not only their Bodies but their Souls also by forgiving their sins and sanctifying their natures Exod. 15. from 22. to 27. SECT VII FRom Marah they removed to Elim their sixth Station famous for twelve Wells of water and 70 Palm-Trees And here it seems they stayed many days because the Place was so pleasant and convenient by reason of the waters and the shade Exod. 15. vers 27. SECT VIII FRom Elim they turned back again to the Red-Sea which was their seventh Station as appears from Numb 33.10 the Lord so ordering it as 't is probable that
of Idolatrous Worship For God foresaw that men would be very prone to be pleased with and to dote upon sensible Representations and averse from raising up their minds to Him as endued with pure intellectual and spiritual Perfections So that He expresly forbids making any Images or Similitudes in order to worship Him thereby * Neque tantum imagines faciebant multorum Deorum Cultores sed magico ritu existimabant spiritum quendam aetherium in eas deduci imagines Tertullianus libro de spectaculis Daemones ait operari in simulacris Minutius Foelix isti impuri spiritus sub statuis imaginibus consecratis delitescunt Et huc pertinet ni failor locus Zach. 10.2 Grotius in explicatione Decalogi And in this Prohibition we may conceive this positive Precept to be also implied and intended viz. that in our Devotions and Religious Services which we perform to God we should raise our minds above gross sense and phantasie and should labour for high and worthy Conceptions of God and should apprehend Him incomparably superiour to all things which we do see and know and we should direct our minds to him as to a Being transcendently perfect in Wisdom Holiness Goodness Justice and Power and should as our Saviour Commands Worship him in spirit and truth Joh. 4.24 and perform such Worship to him as is agreeable to his spiritual Nature and is commanded by Himself And the Lord was pleased to add this reason to this Prohibition For I the Lord thy God am a jealous (u) There is great danger in Idolatrous Worship lest the heart of the Creature be thereby drawn away from God Therefore the breach of this Commandment is called Scortatio Persidia Violatio foederis conjugalis God is angry for the breach of any Commandment but he is jealous lest his Worship be corrupted and his Glory given to Creatures God that is a God very tender of my Honour and of my Right impatient of any Competitor or Sharer with Me in the Duties and Services which properly and incommunicably are due unto Me. I am the Lord saith God by the Prophet Isaiah that is my Name and my Glory I will not give to another nor my Praise to graven Images Isa 42.8 This jealousie doth imply not only a great dislike but a fierce displeasure against the Infringers of this Law Visiting the Iniquity of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hate (x) Populus Dei sponsa vocatur foedus conjugium Idololatria scortatio Quemadmodum amoris signum est fidelitas conjugalis sic fidei violatio odii testimonium est Riv. Deum odisse in sacris literis peculiariter imo unicè ait Maimonides illi dicuntur qui falsos deos colunt me God hereby intimates that he shall look upon those that transgress this Law and commit this kind of Idolatry here forbidden as Enemies and haters (x) Populus Dei sponsa vocatur foedus conjugium Idololatria scortatio Quemadmodum amoris signum est fidelitas conjugalis sic fidei violatio odii testimonium est Riv. Deum odisse in sacris literis peculiariter imo unicè ait Maimonides illi dicuntur qui falsos deos colunt of him because their actions signifie a disposition of mind in them repugnant to his Mind and Will When a man loveth God less than his Idol that may well be esteemed hatred of God 2ly He declares That He will not only punish these persons themselves who commit this Idolatry whereby He is so much wronged and dishonoured but to deter men the more from it He declares That it shall go ill with their Posterity for their sakes Their Children to the third and fourth Generation shall be more strictly and severely dealt with and upon this score shall receive less of Favour and Mercy from him than otherwise they might have received Not that God will arbitrarily inflict undeserved Punishments upon the Children of bad men for the Faults of their Ancestors He disclaims such kind of dealing Ezek. 18.20 Deut. 24.16 Jer. 31.30 The Son shall not bear the Iniquity of the Father the Soul that sinneth it shall die Every one shall die for his own Iniquity Every man that eateth sowre Grapes his own teeth shall be set on edge c. But notwithstanding God may justly for the Sin of the Parents withhold his free Favours from their Children which else according to the general course of his goodness they might have been capable of As particularly He may withhold that measure of Grace from them that might have effectually retained them from Sin and consequently have prevented their Guilt and so their Punishment But if such Children do fall into personal sins God may without Impeachment of his Justice and Goodness severely visit them and sharply punish them for them and that not only upon their own but their Fathers account also And therefore the Lord is pleased to add this Commination the more to deter and restrain men from committing this sin of Idolatry it being like to bring damage to their Children and Posterity (y) Examples of which proceeding do in the Divine History often occur As in Solomon in Rehoboham in Baasha in Ahab in Jehu of whom Parents of all things use to have the tenderest regard and are afraid to be the causes of their Ruine and Calamity Shewing mercy unto Thousands of them love me and keep my Commandments And as God deters from violation of this Precept by threatening a long train of Punishments to the Transgressors of it so he encourageth to yield Obedience to it by a Declaration of his intention not only graciously to Reward the obedient Persons themselves but their Posterity also unto a thousand Descents God will shew mercy and deal more favourably with the Children of good Parents for a long tract of time for their Father's sake And though God will punish the offending Children of good Parents yet their Misdeeds shall not interrupt his kindness towards the rest of their Posterity or quite abolish the remembrance of their Fathers (z) So we may see that God dealt with Abraham and the Patriarchs passing by in memory of their faithful Obedience to him the manifold Provocations of their Cildren goodness And here we may take notice how the expressions of God's Mercy do exceed those of his Justice He will visit the Iniquities of disobedient Fathers unto the third or fourth Generation but He will shew Mercy to a thousand Generations of them that love and obey Him And further we may observe That loving God and keeping his Commandments are conjoyned as terms equivalent They are indeed inseparably connected Love being a certain cause of Obedience and Obedience an infallible sign of Love See Joh. 14.21 III. Commandment Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his Name in vain HEre is first a Precept 2. A Reason deterring
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
thou shalt be so perfectly recovered that thou shalt go up to the Temple to render praises and thanksgivings unto me for thy sudden and wonderful recovery and moreover I will deliver thee and this City out of the hands of the King of Assyria and I will defend it for my own glories sake and for the sake of David my servant The Prophet having delivered this comfortable message to the King he then directed him to lay a mass made of dry figs as a plaister upon his boil or plague-sore for so it is conceived to be and though the medicine prescribed was proper for the cure in a natural way yet if we consider the speediness of the cure we may well conclude there was a supernatural and miraculous virtue added by God to hasten the operation of it Hezekiah though he made use of the means prescribed by the Prophet yet for the strengthning of his faith he humbly desired a sign from the Lord that he should recover because this new promise was so contrary to the former threatning Isaiah tells him he shall have this sign from the Lord the shadow on the Sun-dial of Ahaz should suddenly either go backward or forward ten degrees or ten half-hour lines which he should choose The going backward or forward of the shadow which always follows the motion of the Sun ten degrees on a sudden would have been a wonderful miracle yet because it is natural for the Sun and consequently the shadow to go forward and not backward and though it had moved faster away forward now then at other times it had not been so great a miracle as to remove backward which was a course directly against nature therefore Hezekiah chose the going backward of the shadow to be his sign Isaiah thereupon prayed unto the Lord and the Sun went back ten degrees see Isa 38.8 and so caused the shadow on Ahaz's Dial to go back ten degrees also and 't is like the shadow went back in the same manner in all their Dials as we may gather from 2 Chron. 32.31 though here in the Dial of Ahaz it was most observed And thus was Hezekiah's faith confirmed and accordingly he was healed on the third day as was promised 2 King 20. from v. 1 to 12. 2 Chron. 32.24 Isa 38. fr. 1 to 9. v. 21 22. Hezekiah sometime after his recovery composed and set forth an excellent song of praise and thanksgiving wherein he magnifies the mercies and loving kindnesses of the Lord towards him in preserving him from that dangerous sickness which Song he begins thus I said in my extream sickness when the Lord was about to cut off my days and to take away my life I shall go down to the gates of the grave and shall be laid in my sepulchre I said my life is cut short I am deprived of the residue of my years which in the ordinary course of nature I might have hoped to live I said I shall not visit the Temple of the Lord any more among those that will there worship I shall no longer converse with men on the earth I said mine age that is the residue of my years which I might have hoped to live is departed from me and is removed out of my sight as a shepherds tent which we see pitched here to day is to morrow remov'd we know not whither I said I have caused * Est Metonym effecti the Lord by my sin to cut off my life as if a weaver should cut off his web from the thrumb before it be finished I said the Lord will cut me off with a grievous sickness which makes my flesh to consume and pine away I said every day and all the day long that the Lord would make an end of me before the night came and when the night came I thought every hour that as a lion he would break my bones and destroy me before morning and so again after the morning came I thought every hour I should die by reason of the extremity of my pain Like a crane or a swallow so did I chatter that is I made a doleful noise through the greatness of my pain and anguish I did mourn as a dove and so long did I lift up mine eyes towards heaven in prayer that they were weary and dim with looking up I said often O I am oppressed by my disease Lord undertake for me and rescue me from this oppressing pain When he had thus set forth his sad and deplorable condition he then declares Gods unexpected mercy and goodness to him in revoking his former sentence against him stirs up himself to all possible thankfulness What shall I say says he in what words shall I express the loving kindness of the Lord who hath not only graciously removed my disease but hath promised to add to my life fifteen years The Lord hath promised it unto me by his Prophet and I doubt not but he will * Isa 38.15 Himself hath done it a preterperfect tense is put for a future perform it I shall go softly all my years that is I shall pass the rest of my life chearfully and quietly after (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic valet post i. e. postquanâ—â— expertus sum hanc amaritudinem morbi Pisc this bitterness of my soul after this sharp brunt is past and gone O Lord by these things men live that is by thy promises and performances is the life of man prolonged and mine among the rest whom thou hast graciously restored to health again And thus thou hast * Enallage temporis recovered me and made me to live Behold for health I had bitter sickness but thou hast in great love to me (b) To my soul that is to me a part being put for the whole man by Synecdoche delivered me from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back and freely forgiven them and thereupon hast taken away the punishment which they had brought upon me And thou hast done all this for me that I might praise thee in the land of the living For the dead (c) He puts death for the dead per metonymiam adjuncti that lye in the grave cannot praise thee nor celebrate thy name The dead that go down into the pit cannot hope nor expect thy truth and faithfulness in performing thy gracious promises as the living may The living the living he will praise thee for thy mercy shewed unto him as I do this day The living Fathers will declare to their children thy goodness and mercy which thou hast shewed unto them and I hope I shall transmit to my posterity how ready thou wert to save me when I was brought so very low And accordingly I and my people will sing this and other songs of praise to thee in the Temple with stringed instruments all the days of my life Isa Ch. 38. from v. 9 to 21. Sennacherib hearing of Tirraka King of Ethiopia's coming against him went