Hebrew Nation That he who gave them the Law contained in these Books was the King and Law-giver of the whole World Which was like a great City governed by him Whom therefore he would have them look upon not only as the Enacter of their Laws but of those also which all Nature obeys See L. VII De Praepar Evang. c. 9 10. L. XII c. 16. The Heaven and the Earth The Hebrew Particle Eth put before both Heaven and Earth signifies as much as with if Maimonides understood it aright and makes the Sence to be this He created the Heavens with all things in the Heavens and the Earth with all things in the Earth as his Words are in More Nevochim P. II. cap. 30. Certain it is these two words Heaven and Earth comprehend the whole visible World Some would have the Angels comprehended in the word Heaven particularly Epiphanius Haeres LXV n. 45. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But others of the Fathers are of a different Opinion as Petavius there observes It is a pretty Conceit of Theophilus Antiochenus L. 2. ad Autolycum That the Heavens are mentioned before the Earth to show that God's Works are not like ours For he begins at the top we at the bottom That is he first made the fixed Stars and all beyond them fo I take the word Heaven here to signifie for they had a beginning as well as this lower World though they do not seem to be comprehended in the six days Work which relates only to this Planetary World as I may call it which hath the Sun for its Center And thus Philo understood the first word Bereschith in the beginning to respect the order wherein things were created God began his Creation with the Heaven as the most noble Body and then proceeded to the Earth an account of which follows Ver. 2. And the Earth was without form c. Some connect this Verse with the foregoing by translating the first Verse in this manner When God first created or began to create the Heaven and the Earth the Earth was without form c. That is at first he only created a rude Matter of those things which afterwards were fashioned as we now see them Without form A confused indigested heap without any order or shape And void Having no Beasts nor Trees nor Herbs nor any thing else wherewith we now behold it adorned So these two words Tohu Vabohu are used in Scripture where we meet with them which is not often for confusion and emptiness XXXIV Isaiah 11. IV Jer. 23. Being a description of that which the Ancients called the CHAOS of which the Barbarians had a Notion no less than the Greeks wherein the Seeds and Principles of all things were blended together This is called in the Pagan Language by Epicharmus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first of the Gods Because all things sprang out of this which was indeed the first of the Works of God who as Moses shows in the sequel produced this beautiful World out of this CHAOS And darkness was upon the face of the deep Nothing was to be seen for want of Light Which lay buried as all things else did in that great Abyss or vast confused heap of Matter before-mentioned So the Hebrew word Tehom signifies which we translate deep tumult and turbid confusion The first Matter being very heterogeneous as they speak i. e. of various sorts and kinds hudled together without distinction And the Spirit of God moved Men have been extreamly fansiful in the exposition of these plain Words Some understanding by the Spirit of God the Sun which gives Spirit and Life to all things upon Earth others the Air or the Wind When as yet there was no Sun in the Firmament nor any Wind that could stir without the Power of the Almighty to excite it This therefore we are to understand to be here meant The Infinite Wisdom and Power of God which made a vehement Commotion and mighty Fermentation by raising perhaps a great Wind upon the face of the Waters That is on that fluid Matter before-mentioned to separate the parts of it one from the other Waters That which Moses before called the Deep he now calls the Waters Which plainly shows that some Parts of the confused Mass were fluid and light as other Parts were solid and heavy The heavy naturally sunk which he calls the Earth and the lighter Parts got above them which he calls the Waters For it is clearly intimated the Waters were uppermost The Word we here translate moved signifies literally brooded upon the Waters as an Hen doth upon her Eggs. So the ancient and modern Interpreters have observed And Morinus who opposes it hath said nothing to make us doubt of this Sence of the Phrase From whence some have not unhappily conjectured the Ancients took their Notion of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a first laid Egg out of which all things were formed That is the CHAOS out of which all the old Philosophers before Aristotle thought the World was produced consisting of Earth and Water of thicker and thinner Parts as an Egg doth of Yolk and White Now the Spirit of God thus moved upon the Waters that by its incubation as we may call it it might not only separate as I said those Parts which were jumbled together but give a vivifick Virtue to them to produce what was contained in them The Souls and Spirits that is of all living Creatures were produced by the Spirit of God as Porphyry saith Numenius understood it For his Opinion he tells us was That all things came out of the Water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being Divinely inspired For which he quoted these Words of the Prophet as he called Moses See Porphyry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on those words of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which gives us to understand that the Spirits of all living Creatures which we call their active Forms did not arise out of Matter for that is stupid but proceeded from this other Principle the Powerful Spirit of God which moved upon the Face of the Waters by a vital Energy as St. Chrysostom speaks so that they were no longer standing Waters but moving having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a certain living Power in them From whence we may also gather that the Spirits of living Creatures are distinct things from Matter which of it self cannot move at all and much less produce a Principle of Motion And thus indeed all the Ancient Philosophers apprehended this Matter And some of them have most lively expressed it For Laertius in the Life of Anaxagoras tells us that he taught among other things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things were hudled together And then the Mind came and set them in order And Thales before him as Tully informs us L. 1. de Nat. Deor. Aquam dixit esse initium rerum Deum autem eam mentem quae ex aqua cuncta fingeret said Water was the beginning of things And God that Mind who
Angels was a later invention Ver. 18. And to rule over the day and over the Night Some have fansied that the ancient Idolatry sprung from this word Rule Men looking upon these glorious Lights as having a dominion over them Whence the Sun was called Baal that is Lord or Governor by the Eastern People and Moloch that is King by the Egyptians But one word sure was not the ground of so foul an Error when the scope of Moses was to show that these things were made by an higher Being and made not to rule over Men but over the Day and the Night which the Sun makes when it rises and sets by the order and appointment of God And God saw that it was good He was pleased with this Work as suitable to the Ends for which he intended it The first Light was good ver 4. for the purpose to which it served which was by its heat to agitate rarefie and separate the Matter of the CHAOS for the making of Air and gathering together the Waters and drying the Earth and producing Grass Herbs and Trees which made it necessary it should continue some Days near to the Earth that it might powerfully penetrate into the Matter it was to digest But if it should have continued longer so near to the Earth it would not have been good for it because it would have burnt up all the Plants that the Earth had brought forth and by its too scorching heat have hindred the Production of those living Creatures which were ready on the next Day to be made or at least made the Earth unfit for their habitation For the Air which all living things even Fishes themselves need nay the Plants also which have Vessels for conveying Air to all their Parts would have been so very hot that it would have afforded no refreshment to them Therefore it was good that it should be advanced into the Firmament of the Heaven and there embodied in those Luminaries which being removed further from us give such a moderate heat as is necessary for the preservation of us and of all things living that dwell upon the Earth Ver. 19. And the Evening c. Thus the fourth Day concluded Ver. 20. And God said Let the Waters c. Now God proceeded to form the lower sort of Animals or living Creatures viz. The Fish and the Fowl which are in many respects inferior to Beasts And the Fishes are called moving in the Hebrew creeping Creatures because their Bellies touch the Water as creeping things do the Earth Both Fishes and Fowls were made out of the Waters that is out of such Matter as was mixed with the Waters which contained in them many things besides simple Water for the Sea and Rivers are still very richly furnished with various Compounds for the nourishment of an innumerable multitude of Fishes The great congruity that there is between Fish and Fowl in many particulars will not let us doubt they had the same Original For they are both oviparous which makes them more fruitful than the Beasts of the Earth neither of them have any Teats they both direct and as I may say steer their Course by their Tail c. See Ger. Vossius de Orig. Progr Idolol L. III. c. 78. Bring forth abundantly That is various sorts of both kinds there being many hundred kinds of Fishes and Birds or Fowls many of the latter of which live in the Water which shows their Original to have been from thence and others of them live both in the Air and Water The formation of these Creatures is in every part of them very wonderful especially in those parts whereby they are fitted to swim and to fly Which demonstrate a most wise Agent by whose infinite Power they were so contrived as to be able also to propagate their Kind Ver. 21. And God created great Whales The vastness of these Creatures perhaps made Moses again use the word Create which he had not done since the beginning of the Chapter not because they were made as the CHAOS was out of Nothing but because it required a greater Power to make out of the precedent Matter moving things of so huge a Bulk and of such great Agility than to make any other thing hitherto formed The Hebrew word Tanim which we translate Whales comprehends several sorts of great Fishes as Bochartus observes in his Hierozoic P. 1. L. I. c. 7. where he shows the prodigious bigness of some of them But he should have added that this word also signifies Crocodiles which he himself shows are set forth in Job XLI as the most astonishing Work of God For Job Ludolphus I think hath demonstrated that nothing but the Crocodile can be meant by this word Tanim in Ezek. XXIX 3. and XXXII 2. and some other places Vid. L. I. Comment in Histor Aethiop Cap. XI n. 86. And God saw that it was good Was pleased with the Structure of these several Creatures Of the Birds who were furnished with Wings to fly in the Air and of the Fishes whose Fins serve them to swim in the Water and of Water-Fowl whose Feet are formed so as to serve for the same use and some of them such as dive under Water covered so thick with Feathers and those so smooth and slippery as the Learned and Pious Mr. Ray hath observed that their Bodies are thereby defended from the cold of the Water which cannot penetrate or moisten them See Wisdom of God in the Creation P. I. p. 135. Ver. 22. And God blessed them c. His blessing them was giving them a Power to Multiply and Increase till they had filled the Water with Fish and the Air with Fowl Which required a particular Care of Divine Providence as Abarbinel observes because they do not bring forth young Ones perfectly formed as the Beasts do but lay their Eggs in which they are formed when they are out of their Bodies This saith he is a wonderful thing That when the Womb as we may call it is separate from the Genitor a living Creature like it self should be produced Which is the reason he fansies that a Blessing is here pronounced upon them and not on the Beasts that were made the next Day The ancient Fathers are wont to observe That the first Blessing was given to the Waters as a Type of Baptism Theophilus ad Autolyc L. II. and Tertullian de Baptismo cap. 3. And let Fowl multiply in the Earth There for the most part they have their Habitation and their Food though some live upon the Water Ver. 23. See verse 19. Ver. 24. And God said Let the Earth bring forth Thus by a gradual process the Divine Power produced Creatures still more Noble The Matter being more digested and prepared in five Days time than it was at first I do not know whether there be any weight in the Note of Abarbinel who observes that Moses here uses a new word which we translate bring forth to show the difference between Plants
another Light being the Work of the first Day Ver. 6. And God said Let there be a firmament The next thing that God commanded to come forth of the Chaos was the Air particularly that Region next to us wherein the Fowls fly as it is expounded afterwards verse 20. The Hebrew word Rachia properly signifies a Body expanded or spread forth as may be seen in Exod. XXXIX 3. Isai XL. 19. Jer. X. 9. where it can have no other meaning but is by the LXX translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and from thence by us Firmament because the Air though vastly extended and fluid yet continues firm and stable in its place In the midst of the Waters and let it divide the Waters from the Waters This Region of the Air manifestly parts the Waters above it in the Clouds from those below it here upon Earth the one of which Waters bear a good proportion and are in some measure equal unto the other for there are vast Treasures of Water in the Clouds from whence the Waters here below in Springs and Rivers are supplied This appeared afterwards in the Deluge which was partly made by continued Rains for many days The great Objection against this Exposition is That now there were no Clouds neither had it after this rained on the Earth Gen. II. 6. But it must be considered That neither were the Waters below as yet gathered into one place And therefore Moses here speaks of the Air as a Body intended to be stretched between the Waters above and beneath when they should be formed That the Clouds above are called Waters in the Scripture-Language is plain enough from Psalm CIV 3. Jer. X. 13. and other places Ver. 7. And God made the firmament and divided c. What his Divine Will ordered his Power effected by that Light which rowled about the CHAOS and that Heat which was excited within it whereby such Exhalations were raised as made the Firmament That is the thicker Parts of them made this Region of the Air which is the lower firmament verse 20 And the thinner Parts of them made the Aether or higher Firmament wherein the Sun and the Planets are seated verse 14 15. Ver. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven Made it so different from the rest of the Mass called Earth that it had the Name of Heaven to distinguish it from the other So all above the Earth is called as appears by the following part of the Chapter in the Verses now mentioned And that 's the very import of the word Schamaim which in the Arabick Language as Aben Ezra observes signifies heighth or altitude And the Evening and the Morning were the second Day This was the Work of another whole Day Concerning which it is commonly noted That it is not said of this as of all the Works of the other five Days God saw that it was good What the reason of this should be is enquired by all Interpreters and the most solid Account that I can find of it is this That the Waters mentioned upon this Day were not yet separated and distinguished from the Earth And therefore in the next Day 's Work when he did gather the Waters together verse 10. and when he commanded the Earth which was become dry to bring forth verse 1.2 these words God saw that it was good are twice repeated Which made Picherellus and Ger. Vossius think the two next Verses 9 10. belonged to the second Days Work and that the first words of the ninth Verse should be thus translated And God had said Let the Waters under the Heaven c. And so the words in the end of the tenth Verse God saw that it was good relate to the second Day L. 2. de Orig. Idolol c. 67. Ver. 9. And God said Let the Waters under the Heaven All the Waters which continued mixed with the Earth and covered the surface of it Be gathered together c. Collected into one Body by themselves And let the dry Land appear Distinct and separate from the Waters There being such large portions of Matter drawn out of the CHAOS as made the Body of Fire and Air before-mentioned there remained in a great Body only Water and Earth but they so jumbled together that they could not be distinguished It was the Work therefore of the third Day to make a separation between them by compacting together all the Particles which make the Earth which before was Mud and Dirt and then by raising it above the Waters which covered its Superficies as the Psalmist also describes this Work Psalm CIV 6. and lastly by making such Caverns in it as were sufficient to receive the Waters into them Now this we may conceive to have been done by such Particles of Fire as were left in the Bowels of the Earth Whereby such Nitro-sulphureous Vapours were kindled as made an Earthquake which both lifted up the Earth and also made Receptacles for the Waters to run into as the Psalmist otherwise I should not venture to mention this seems in the fore-mentioned place to illustrate it Psalm CIV 7. where he says At thy rebuke they i. e. the Waters fled at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away And so God himself speaks Job XXXVIII 10. I brake up for it i. e. for the Sea my decreed place and set bars and doors Histories also tell us of Mountains that have been in several Ages lifted up by Earthquakes nay Islands in the midst of the Sea Which confirms this Conjecture That possibly the Waters were at the first separated by this means and so separated that they should not return to cover the Earth For the Word in the beginning of this Verse which we translate gathered comes from Kav which signifies a Square a Rule or perpendicular Line And therefore denotes they were most exactly collected and so poised in such just Proportions that they should not again overflow the dry Land This Work of God whereby the Waters were sent down into their proper Channels and the Earth made dry and fitted for the habitation of such Creatures as were afterwards created is observed by Strabo in his Geography as an act of Divine Providence L. XVII Because says he the Water covered the Earth and Man is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Creature that can live in the Water God made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. many Cavities and Receptacles in the Earth for the Water and raised the Earth above it that it might be fit for Man's habitation Ver. 10. And called the dry Land c. This is sufficiently explained by what hath been said upon Verse 5 8. only this may be added That the word Eretz Earth in Arabick signifies any thing that is low and sunk beneath opposite to Schamaim Heavens which in that Language as I noted before signifies high and lifted up Ver. 11. And God said Let the Earth bring forth grass the Herb yielding c. Or rather it should be translated and the Herb yielding
not compleat as appears by comparing this with IX 28 29. where he is said to have lived three hundred and fifty Years after the Flood and in all nine hundred and fifty Whereas it should have been nine hundred fifty one if he had been full six hundred Years old when the Flood began V. 10. And it came to pass after seven Days c. As he had said verse 4. Ver. 11. In the second Month. Of the Year not of the six hundredth Year of Noah's life i. e. In October for anciently the Year began in September Which was changed among the Israelites in Memory of their coming out of Egypt into March Exod. XII 2. The seventeenth Day of the Month. Which was the beginning of our November All the Fountains of the great deep were broken up c. Here are two Causes assigned of the Deluge First The breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep And Secondly The opening the Windows of Heaven By the great Deep is meant those Waters that are contained in vast quantities within the Bowels of the Earth Which being pressed upward by the falling down of the Earth or some other Cause unknown to us gushed out violently at several parts of the Earth where they either found or made a vent For that 's meant by breaking up the Fountains of the great Deep The great holes or rather gaps that were made in the Earth at which those subterraneous Waters burst out This joined with the continual Rains for forty Days together might well make such a Flood as is here described For Rain came down not in ordinary Showers but in Floods Which Moses calls opening the Windows or Flood-gates of Heaven And the LXX translate Cataracts Which they can best understand who have seen those fallings of Waters in the Indies called Spouts Where Clouds do not break into Drops but fall with a terrible violence in a Torrent In short it is evident from this History that the Waters did once cover the Earth we know not how deep so that nothing of the Earth could be seen till God separated them and raised some into Clouds and made the rest fall into Channels which were made for them and commanded dry Land to appear Gen. I. 2 7 10. Therefore it is no wonder if these Waters were raised up again by some means or other to cover the Earth as before Especially when the Waters above the Firmament came down to join with those below as they did at the beginning This some wise Heathen look'd upon as a possible thing For Seneca treating of that fatal Day as he calls it L. III. Nat. Quest c. 27. when the Deluge shall come for he fansied it still Future questions how it may come to pass Whether by the force of the Ocean overflowing the Earth or by perpetual Rains without intermission or by the swelling of Rivers and the opening of new Fountains or there shall not be one Cause alone of so great a mischief but all these things concurr uno agmine ad exitium humani generis in one Troop to the Destruction of Mankind Which last Resolution he thinks is the Truth both there and in the last Chapter of that Book Where he hath these remarkable Words Where hath not Nature disposed Moisture to attack us on all sides when it pleases Immanes sunt in abdito lacus c. There are huge Lakes which we do not see much of the Sea that lies hidden many Rivers that slide in secret So that there may be Causes of a Deluge on all sides when some Waters flow in under the Earth others flow round about it which being long pent up overwhelm it and Rivers join with Rivers Pools with Pools c. And as our Bodies sometimes dissolve into Sweat so the Earth shall melt and without the help of other Causes shall find in it self what will drown it c. There being on a sudden every where openly and secretly from above and from beneath an eruption of Waters Which Words are written as if he had been directed to make a Commentary upon Moses Ver. 12. And the Rain was upon the Earth forty Days c. It continued raining so long without any intermission Ver. 13. In the self-same Day c. In that very Day when the Rain began did Noah and his Family c. finish their going into the Ark. Which could not be done in a Day or two but required a good deal of time And now he had compleated it the very last Creature being there bestowed For it is likely he put in all other things first and then went in himself with his Wife and Children and their Wives Who were no sooner entred but the Waters brake in upon the Earth from beneath and came down pouring from above Ver. 16. The LORD shut him in Or shut the Door after him Closed it so fast that the Waters could not enter though it was not pitched as the rest of the Ark. How this was done we need not enquire It is likely by an Angelical Power which I supposed before conducted the several Creatures into the Ark. Ver. 17. And the Flood was forty Days upon the Earth c. After forty Days Rain the Waters were so high that they bare up the Ark so that it did not touch the Earth Ver. 18. And the Waters prevailed By more Rain which fell after the forty Days the Inundation grew strong and mighty as the Hebrew word signifies so strong that the Waters bore down Houses and Trees as some expound it And were increased greatly He said before verse 17. they were increased but now that they were greatly increased Which must be by more Rain still falling on the Earth though not in such uninterrupted Showers as during the forty Days And the Ark went upon the Face of the Waters Moved from place to place as the Waves drove it Ver. 19. And the Waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth This is an higher Expression than before signifying their rising still to a greater pitch by continued Rains And all the high Mountains that were under the whole Heaven were covered There were those anciently and they have their Successors now who imagined the Flood was not Universal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but only there where Men then dwelt as the Author of the Questions Ad Orthodoxos tells us Q. 34. But they are confuted by these Words and by other Passages which say all Flesh died For the truth is the World was then fully peopled as it is now and not only inhabited in some Parts of it as may be easily demonstrated if Men would but consider That in the space of One thousand six hundred fifty six Years when Men lived so long as they then did their increase could not but be six times more than hath been in the space of Five thousand Years since Mens lives are shortned as we now see them Therefore it is a strange weakness to fansie that only Palaestine Syria or Mesopotamia or some such
just as all the People of the seven united Provinces are now commonly called Hollanders who are the most Potent of all the rest CHAP. XLIX Ver. 1. JAcob called unto his Sons When he had done speaking with Joseph perceiving his end approaching he sent one to call the rest of his Sons to come to him Gather your selves together Come all in a Body to me Let me see you all together before I die What shall be in the last Days The Condition of your Posterity in future Times Jacob is the first that we read of who particularly declared the future state of every one of his Sons when he left the World But it hath been an ancient Opinion That the Souls of all excellent Men the nearer they approached to their departure from hence the more Divine they grew and had a clearer prospect of things to come Whence Xenophon L. VIII makes his Cyrus say when he was near his end That the Souls of Men at the point of death become Prophetick Which never was universally true for Prophecy is not a natural thing nor were all excellent Men partakers of it and God communicated it in what measures he pleased to those who had any thing of it and to Jacob more than had been bestowed upon his great Ancestors For these last words of his may be called Prophecies rather than Benedictions Some of them containing no Blessing in them but all of them Predictions Ver. 2. Gather your selves together This is repeated to hasten them as the two next words hear and hearken are used to excite their attention It was the manner of good Men among the Hebrews to call all their Children before them and give them good Counsel together with their Blessing when they drew near to their end The words then spoken being likely to stick fast in their Mind Ver. 3. Reuben c. It is commonly observed that the Style wherein he speaks to his Sons is much more lofty than that hitherto used in this Book Which hath made some fansie that Jacob did not deliver these very words but Moses put the Sence of what he said into such Poetical Expressions But it seems more reasonable to me to think that the Spirit of Prophecy now coming upon him raised his Style as well as his Understanding As it did Moses's also who delivered his Benedictions in Deut. XXXIII in a strain more sublime than his other Writings Thou art my first-born So we read XXIX 32. To whom the Jews commonly observe belonged three Prerogatives a double Portion of the Father's Estate the Priesthood and the Kingdom as they speak i. e. chief Authority among his Brethren The first of these saith the Chaldee Paraphrast was given to Joseph the second to Levi the third to Judah because Reuben had forfeited all the Rights of his Primogeniture by his Incest with his Father's Wife But Mr. Selden himself who gives a full account of the Jews Opinion in this matter acknowledges the Priesthood was not confined to the First-born before the Law as appears by Abel's offering Sacrifice as well as Cain and Moses being a Priest as well as Aaron Psalm XCIX 6. unless we understand thereby the Office of Chief Priest And so Jonathan here reports the ancient Opinion of the Jews that Reuben lost the High-Priesthood L. I. de Synedr cap. 16. pag. 643 c. My might Whom I begot when I was in my full Vigour The beginning or the first fruits of my strength The same thing in more words Or it may be interpreted the prime support of my Family The First-born is called the beginning of strength in Deut. XXI 17. Psalm CV 36. The excellency of Dignity Who hadst the Preheminence among thy Brethren being the First-born if thou hadst not fall'n from it by thy Folly as it follows afterwards And the excellency of Power Who wast born to the highest Authority among them The Hebrews referr Dignity to the Priesthood and Power to the Kingdom But there being no solid ground to think the Priesthood as I said before was confined to the eldest Brother I take Dignity to signifie the double Portion of the Estate and Power Authority among them while they remained in one Family Ver. 4. Vnstable as Water The Hebrew word Pachaz signifying haste and in the Chaldee having the signification of leaping the Interpretation of St. Hierom seems most reasonable which is poured out like Water out of a Vessel upon the Ground And then it denotes Reuben's falling from his Dignity and losing his Preheminence as Water suddenly disappears when it is poured out on the Earth and suckt up into it Many referr it particularly Ca. Vitringa in his late Sacred Observations Lib. I. cap. 12. unto his unbounded Lust But that is taken notice of in the latter part of this Verse and given as a reason of his being degraded Others therefore translate the Hebrew word Pachaz by the Latin word Levis a light or vain Person as we speak at this day and then the meaning still is Water is not more prone to flow when it is poured out than thou wast to lose thy Dignity So Georg. Calixtus Thou shalt not excel There is nothing Great said to be done by this Tribe in Scripture And they were not so numerous to which the Vulgar Latin referrs this by more than a third part as the Tribe of Judah to whom God gave part of Reuben's Prerogative when Moses by God's Command took the Summ of all the Congregation Numb I. 21.27 Because thou wentest up to thy Father's bed Committedst Incest with my Wife XXXV 22. Then defiledst thou it He went up to my Couch Or rather When thou defiledst my Couch it vanished i. e. his Excellency departed For the word Halah which is here translated to go up signifies often in Scripture to vanish or perish As in Psalm CII 25. Isai V. 24. which makes the easiest Sence of this place in this manner Ex quo polluisti thorum meum ascendit ut vapor aut fumus excellentia dignitas tua i. e. dilapsa est extincta est evanuit From the time that thou defiledst my Couch thy Excellency and Dignity went up like a Vapour or Smoak i. e. it slid away it was extinct it vanished They are the words of the fore-named Calixtus Who well observes that this is explained in 1 Chron. V. 1. Ver. 5. Simeon and Levi are Brethren So were all the rest but the meaning is they are alike in their Dispositions and linkt together in the same wicked Designs for so the word Brother sometimes signifies a Companion or Associate that agrees in the same Inclinations or Undertakings with others As Prov. XVIII 9. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations The word Mecheroth which we translate Habitations is no where else found nor is there any root in the Hebrew Language from whence it may derive that signification Therefore Lud. de Dieu from the Aethiopick Language translates it Counsels For so the word signifies in that
c. though the copula be omitted which is usual in Scripture Particularly in Habak III. 11. the Sun Moon i. e. the Sun and Moon Moses having shown how the first Matter ver 2. and then the Elements of things as we call them ver 3 6 9 10. were produced he proceeds to the Production of more compounded Bodies And here an account is given of all sorts of Vegetables which are ranged under three Heads Grass which comes up every Year without sowing Herbs bearing a Seed which comprehends as Abarbinel here notes all sort of Corn and whatsoever is sown and Trees which also bear Fruit. There are several kinds of all these which some have cast into Eighteen others into Six and thirty Classes none of which could at the first spring out of the Earth of it self by the power of external and internal Heat and of the Water mixed with it no not so much as one single Pile of Grass without the Almighty Power and Wisdom of God who brought together those Parts of Matter which were fitted to produce them and then formed every one of them and determined their several Species and also provided for their continuance by bringing forth Seed to propagate their Species to the end of all things And here it is very remarkable how God hath secured the Seeds of all Plants with singular Care Some of them being defended by a double nay a treble inclosure Ver. 12. And the Earth brought forth Grass and the Herb c. These things did not grow up out of Seed by such a long process as is now required to bring them to maturity but they sprung up in their Perfection in the space of a Day with their Seeds in them compleatly formed to produce the like throughout all Generations Thus Moses gives a plain Account of the first Production of things according to the natural Method For supposing they had a Beginning the Herb and the Tree must naturally be before the Seed they bear As the Hen is before the Egg she lays And to make a Question which was first as some of the Philosophers did is very frivolous because that Power which alone could produce the Seeds of all things could as easily make the things themselves with a power to propage their kind by Seed It is therefore most judiciously noted by Abarbinel a learned Jew That the Production of Plants in the beginning differed from their Production ever since in these two things First That they have sprung ever since out of Seed either sown by us or falling from the Plants themselves but at the beginning were brought out of the Earth with their Seed in them to propage them ever after And Secondly They need now as they have done since the first Creation the influence of the Sun to make them sprout But then they came forth by the Power of God before there was any Sun which was not formed till the next Day Of this last Theophilus Antiochenus long before Abarbinel took notice L. II. ad Autolycum where he says God produced things in this order foreseeing the Vanity of Philosophers who saying nothing of him made all things to be produced by the Sun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the Elements Porphyry himself also L. II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could observe out of Theophrastus That the Earth brought forth Trees and Herbs before Beasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Which Eusebius remembers in his Praepar Evang. L. I. c. 9. p. 28. Ver. 14. Let there be Lights This is a different word from what we had verse 3. signifying as Paulus Fagius observes that which is made out of Light luminous Bodies whereby Light is communicated to us The Hebrew Particle Mem before a word being used to express the Instrument of an Action And so now we are to conceive that the Light produced at first having for three Days circulated about the Earth and that near unto it to further the Production of the things before-mentioned was on this fourth Day distributed into several Luminaries at a great distance from the Earth So it follows In the firmament of Heaven in the upper Region which we call the Aether or Sky where the Sun and the Planets are placed To divide the Day from the Night By a continued circular Motion finished in four and twenty Hours in one part of which by the presence of the Sun the Day is made and in the other part by the Sun's absence Night is made in a constant succession And let them be for Signs and for Seasons That is for Signs of the Times or Seasons as Ger. Vossius expounds it by the Figure of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And by Times are meant the Spring Summer Autumn and Winter And by consequence the Seasons for Ploughing Sowing Planting Pruning Reaping Vintage Sailing c. L. de Scientiis Mathemat c. 38. And for Days and Years By a speedy swift Motion round in twenty-four Hours to make Days and by a slower longer Motion to make Years and a grateful variety of Seasons in the several Parts of the Earth which by this annual Motion are all visited with the Sun's Beams Ver. 15. And let them be for Light c. i. e. Let them there continue to give constant Light and Warmth to the Earth And so they do immovably Ver. 16. And God made two great Lights It is observable that nothing is said to have been created since the first Matter out of which all things were made or formed And the two great Lights or Luminaries Inlightners as the word signifies are the Sun which inlightens us by Day and the Moon which inlightens us by Night The Moon indeed is not so great as the rest of the Planets for it is the least of all except Mercury but it affords the greatest Light to us by reflecting the Beams of the Sun to us in its absence and thereby very much abating the disconsolate darkness of the Night He made the Stars also That is the rest of the Planets and their attendants Ver. 17. And God set them in the Firmament of Heaven c. By the repetition of this so often Moses intended to fix in the Peoples Mind this Notion That though the heavenly Bodies be very Glorious yet they are but Creatures made by God and set or appointed by his Order to give us Light And therefore he alone is to be worshipped not they It is commonly taken notice of that there is no mention of the Creation of Angels in all this History nor was there any need of it For the ancient Idolatry consisting in the worship of the Sun Moon and Stars as appears from the very Names of the most ancient Idols in the Old Testament such as Moloch Ashtaroth and the like which they believed to be eternal Beings The great Design of Moses was to confute this Opinion by representing them over and over as the Work of the Eternal God which struck at the very Root of Idolatry The worship of
Austin in that famous Saying of his Erat ei in caeteris lignis alimentum in isto autem Sacramentum L. VIII de Gen. ad Lit. cap. 4. In other Trees there was Nourishment for Man but in this also a Sacrament For it was both a Symbol of that Life which God had already bestowed upon Man who was hereby put in mind that God was the Author of his Being and all his Enjoyments and of that Life he was to hope for in another World if he proved Obedient In the midst of the Garden This signifies either its Situation or its Excellence For that which is most Eminent in any place the Hebrews say is in the midst XXIII 10. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. So called as I take it because God intended by this Tree to prove Adam and Eve whether they would be good or bad Which was to be made known by their abstaining from its Fruit or eating of it It is generally thought indeed by Interpreters of which I leave the Reader to judge that it had this Name afterward either because the Tempter pretended it would make them so wise as to know all things for so good and evil may be expounded III. 5. to signifie as much as all things whatsoever or because in the event upon the eating of this Fruit they did actually know by miserable experience which they would not learn without it the great difference between obeying and disobeying God's Commands That is they who did not sufficiently attend to their Duty nor consider what it was to Sin and what the effect of it would be presently upon the eating of this Fruit reflected upon both For they saw how grievous it was to incurr God's Displeasure by believing a Creature rather than Him and by being so ungrateful as not to acknowledge his Bounty in all the Blessings they enjoyed without thinking Him envious in denying them one as a proof of their Obedience Some think it was so called as a Caveat to them not to study Craft and Subtilty but to content themselves in a simple plain way of life wherein God made them without any Curiosity to know more than was needful for them Which they think is confirmed by III. 6. She saw it was good to make one wise i. e. cunning and wily Ver. 10. And a River went out of Eden c. These words afford us such a Key to open to us the Place where this Garden was planted that one can scarce doubt whereabout it was though the precise spot of Ground be not marked out in this description of it For it lay in the Country of Eden and we are directed to find that out by this remarkable Circumstance That a River went out of it Which doth not signifie that the Spring of the River was in Eden but that the River run through that Country into the Garden to water it The Garden therefore it is probable was a part of the Province of Eden and was water'd by that River which came from it The only difficulty is to find what River this was Our Country man Mr. Canver in his learned Discourse of the Terrestrial Paradise chap. VII endeavours to prove that the two great Rivers Euphrates and Tigris having but one and the same Fountain in Armenia the greater run along for some time in one Stream called Tigris Upon which he thinks this Garden was seated before this River parted into two Streams Euphrates and Tigris This he confirms out of the two Epistles of the Nestorian Christians written to Rome 1552 and translated by Masius where they call Tigris the River of Eden And there are indeed some ancient Authors particularly Lucan and Boetius who say that these two Rivers come out of the same Spring But their mistake arose its likely from hence That they sprung as Strabo tells us out of one and the same Mountain viz. Niphates which is a part of Taurus And Euphrates sprung out of the Northern side of it and Tigris out of the Southern as Salmasius observes upon Solinus p. 621 c. Certain it is that the best Authors both Ancient and Modern make them to have different Springs from whence they hold different Courses Euphrates toward the West and Tigris toward the East And do not make one River till after they have run through many Countries they meet and joyn together about Apamia according to Ptolomy And then indeed they make for a long way but one great Stream Which I take to be the River here mentioned by Moses and run through the Country of Eden which perhaps lay on both sides of the River as the Garden it is plain by verse 8. did on the Eastern side of it extending it self to the place where these united Rivers parted again For so it follows And from thence i. e. Below the Garden It parted Or was divided again as it had been before into two other Streams By which words we seem to have found the Place where the Garden ended but being not told where it began nor how far it spread it self Eastward from the River side I will not presume to say what Country or Countries it included Certain it is there was a Country as I observed before called Eden in after times which was part of the Kingdom of Assyria 2 Kings XIX 12. And that Kingdom then comprehended not only the Country anciently called Ashur but Mesopotamia and Babylonia c. In some part of which last Province it is probable this Garden was seated And became into four Heads He doth not say was parted into four Heads but became into four Heads whose Names here follow two before they united viz. Tigris and Euphrates and two after they again parted viz. Pison and Gihon These he calls Heads or Principal Rivers as David Chytraeus I think rightly understands it quatuor illustria magna flumina efficiebant made four famous and great Rivers For all Divisions from the main Stream are called the Heads of a Water as Sir W. Raleigh observes out of Vlpianus And it is indifferent whether the Water come out of a Fountain or out of a River or a Lake For that part of the River suppose where the Branch forsakes the main Stream is called the Head of that Branch which becomes a new River In like manner may Euphrates and Tigris be called the Heads of that River which they made at their meeting As where they part again the beginnings as the LXX translate the word of the other two Rivers Pison and Gihon are properly called the Heads of them Ver. 11. The name of the first is Pison or Phison This is that Branch which runs Westerly and being nearest to the place where Moses wrote on the other side of Jordan is first mentioned by him It is a long time since both this River and Gihon have lost these Names The Greek and Roman Writers calling them still after their parting by the Names they had before they met Euphrates and Tigris But
Country was drowned by the Flood no more of the Earth being then inhabited For those Countries could not have held the fortieth part of the Inhabitants which were produced between the Creation and the Flood no all the Earth was not more than sufficient to contain them as many have clearly proved Plato says there were in his days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ancient Traditions which affirm'd there had been sundry destructions of Mankind by Floods as well as other ways In which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a small parcel of Mankind were left And particularly he saith concerning Floods That they were so great that only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some very little Sparks of Mankind were saved and those upon the tops of Mountains And the like he saith of Beasts That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very few of them were left to support the life of Mankind L. III. De Legib p. 677. Edit Seran But this appears to have been an imperfect Tradition the higher Mountains having been covered with the Waters as well as the low Countries and that all the Earth over Which need not seem strange if we consider what was said before upon Verse 11. And withal observe that the Diameter of the Earth being seven thousand Miles and consequently from the Superficies to the Center no less than Three thousand five hundred Miles it is not incredible as Sir W. Raleigh discourses L. I. c. 7. § 6. that there was Water enough in the great Deep which being forced up from thence might overflow the loftiest Mountains Especially when Water came pouring down also from above so fast that no Words can express it For there is no Mountain above thirty Miles high upright which thirty Miles being found in the Depths of the Earth One hundred and sixteen times why should we think it incredible that the Waters in the Earth Three thousand five hundred Miles deep might be well able to cover the space of thirty Miles in heighth It would help Mens unbelief if they would likewise consider the vast Inundations which are made yearly in Egypt only from the Rains that fall in Aethiopia And the like Overflowings yearly in America of the great River Orenoque whereby many Islands and Plains at other times inhabited are laid twenty Foot under Water between May and September Ver. 20. Fifteen Cubits upwards did the Waters prevail c. Moses doth not here plainly say That the Waters prevailed fifteen Cubits above the highest Mountains though I do not see but there might be Water enough heaped up by the fore-mentioned means to cover them so high And the whole Verse be thus interpreted The Waters prevailed fifteen Cubits upwards after the Mountains were covered Otherwise by the high Hills in the Verse before we must understand only such single Hills as are in several Countries and by Mountains in this Verse those long Ridges of Hills such as Caucasus and Taurus c. which stretch themselves many hundreds of Miles through a great part of the Earth See VIII 5. Ver. 24. And the Waters prevailed upon the Earth an hundred and fifty Days These words seem to me to import That whatsoever short intermissions there might be yet the Rain continued an Hundred and fifty Days Otherwise it is hard to explain how the Waters increased more and more as it is said verse 17 18 19. Besides had the Rain ended as we commonly suppose at forty Days end the Waters could not have prevailed an Hundred and fifty Days but would have sunk much before that time by reason of the declivity of the Earth And yet they were so far from falling that as Mr. Ray hath observed in his pious and learned Discourse of the Dissolution of the World the tops of Mountains were not seen till the beginning of the tenth Month that is till Two hundred and seventy Days were passed CHAP. VIII Ver. 1. AND God remembred Noah c. Took Compassion upon him and heard his Prayers which we may well suppose he made for himself and for all Creatures that were with him Thus the word remember is used XIX 29. XXX 22. The Hebrew Doctors here again take notice of the word Elohim See VI. 12. which is the Name for Judges and observe that even God's Justice was turned to Mercy Justice it self was satisfied as Sol. Jarchi expresses it And God made a Wind to pass over the Earth c. Some gather from hence that during the fall of the Rain there was no Storm or violent Wind at all but the Rain fell down-right And consequently the Ark was not driven far from the place where it was built It having no Masts or Sails but moving as a Hulk or Body of a Ship without a Rudder upon a calm Sea Philo indeed in his Book De Abrahamo gives a quite different Description of the Deluge representing the incessant Showers to have been accompanied with dreadful Thunder and Lightning Storms and Tempests But there is not a word in this Story to countenance it This Wind it is very probable was the North-Wind which is very drying and drives away Rain Prov. XXV 23. which came perhaps out of the South as I said upon VI. 14. Thus Ovid represents it in the Flood of Deucalion where he saith Jupiter Nubila disjecit nimbisque Aquilone remotis c. And the Waters asswaged This drying Wind and the Sun which now began to shine with great power made the Waters fall For if the Second Month when the Flood began was part of our October and November then the Flood abated after an Hundred and fifty Days in the beginning of May when the Summer came on apace Ver. 2. The Fountains also of the Deep There was no further irruption or boiling up of the Water out of the Bowels of the Earth And the Rain from Heaven was restrained So that the Rains ceased at the end of an Hundred and fifty Days Ver. 3. And the Waters returned from off the Earth continually c. The Waters rolling to and fro by the Wind fell by little and little And after the end of the Hundred and fifty Days began to decrease So the vulgar Latin well translates the latter end of this Verse were abated i. e. began sensibly to decrease Ver. 4. And the Ark rested in the seventh Month c. Of the Year not of the Flood Vpon the Mountains of Ararat i. e. Upon one of the Mountains as XIX 29. God overthrew the Cities in which Lot dwelt i. e. In one of which he dwelt Judg. XII 7. Jephtah was buried in the Cities of Gilead i. e. In one of the Cities For there was no one Mountain called by this Name of Ararat But it belonged to a long Ridge of Mountains like the Alps or Pyrenaean which are Names appertaining not to one but to all And Sir W. Raleigh I think truly judges that all the long Ridge of Mountains which run through Armenia Mesopotamia Assyria Media Susiana c. i. e. From Cilian to Paraponisus are called by
Moses Ararat as by Pliny they are called Taurus And that Author thinks the Ark setled in some of the Eastern Parts of Taurus because Noah planted himself in the East after the Flood and it is likely did not travel far from the place where the Ark rested as appears he thinks from Gen. XI 2. where we read his Posterity when they began to spread went Westward and built Babel The common Opinion is That the Ark rested in some of the Mountains of Armenia as the vulgar Latin translates the word Ararat i. e. saith St. Hierom upon the highest part of Taurus But Epiphanius who was before him saith upon the Gordiaean Mountains and so Jonathan and Onkelos and the Nubiensian Geographer and many others mentioned by Bochartus Who is of this Opinion as having the most Authority Many of which say That some Relicks of the Ark were remaining upon those Mountains Which as Theodoret observes upon Isa XIV 13. were accounted the highest in the whole World V. Phaleg L. II. c. 3. and L. IV. c. 38. There were such Remainders of this History among the ancient Scythians that in their dispute with the Egyptians about their Antiquity they argue it partly from hence that if the Earth had ever been drown'd their Country must needs be first inhabited again because it was first clear'd from the Water being the highest of all other Countries in the World Thus their Argument runs in Justin L. II. c. 1. where he hath given us a brief relation of it if we had Trogus whom he Epitomizes it 's likely we should have understood their Tradition more perfectly in this manner If all Countries were anciently drown'd in the Deep profectò editissimam quamque partem we must needs grant the highest parts of the Earth were first uncovered of the Waters that ran down from them And the sooner any part was dry the sooner were Animals there generated Now Scythia is so much raised above all other Countries that all the Rivers which rise there run down into the Moeotis and so into the Pontick and Egyptian Sea c. Ver. 5. And the Waters decreased continually until the tenth Month. For the Summer's heat must needs very much dry them up when there was no Rain In the tenth Month were the tops of the Mountains seen This shows the Mountain on which the Ark rested was the highest at least in those Parts Because it setled there above two Months before the tops of other Mountains were seen And perhaps the Ark by its weight might settle there while the top of that Mountain was covered with Water Which it 's possible might not appear much before the rest Ver. 6. At the end of forty Days Forty Days after the tops of the Mountains appeared i. e. on the eleventh Day of the eleventh Month which was about the end of our July Ver. 7. He sent forth a Raven For the same End no doubt that the Dove was sent forth To make discovery whether the Earth were dry For if it were the smell of the dead Carcases he knew would allure it to fly far from the Ark Which it did not but only hover'd about it as it follows in the next Words Went forth to and fro In the Hebrew more plainly going forth and returning That is it often went from the Ark and as often returned to it For after many flights finding nothing but Water it still betook it self unto the Ark either entring into it or sitting upon it 'till at last the Waters being dried up it returned no more That is Fifty Days after its first going forth Verse 13. All which time it spent in going out and coming back Bochart indeed approves of the Greek Version which makes the Raven not to have returned For which he gives some specious Reasons L. II. c. 12. P. 2. Hierozoic and hath such of the Hebrews to countenance him as R. Elieser who saith Pirke c. 23. That the Raven found a Carcase of a Man upon a Mountain and so would return no more But the next words which in the Greek and Hebrew are both alike confute this Translation Vntil the Waters were dried up from the Earth Which make this plain and easie Sence in connexion with the foregoing as they run in the Hebrew that while the Earth continued covered with Water the Raven often flew from the Ark but finding no convenient place to rest in returned thither again Till the Ground was dry Whereas according to the Greek we must suppose the Raven to have returned to the Ark when the Waters were dried up from the Ground Which is very absurd For if it had some time sat upon a Carcase floating in the Waters before they were dried up or upon the top of some Mountain which already appeared what should make it return when all the Waters were gone every where and not rather while they remained upon the Ground Ver. 8. Also he sent forth a Dove As a proper Creature to make further Discoveries Being of a strong flight loving to seed upon the Ground and pick up Seeds and constantly returning to its rest from the remotest places These two Birds the Raven and the Dove some imagine were sent forth upon one and the same Day or but a Day between as Bochartus conjectures But this doth not agree with Verse 10. where it is said Noah stayed yet other seven Days and then sent out the Dove again Which relates to seven Days preceding which seem to have passed between the sending out of the Raven and of the Dove Ver. 9. The Dove found no rest c. For though the tops of the Mountains appeared yet they continued muddy as some conceive or they were so far off that the Dove could not easily reach them Ver. 10. And he staid yet other seven Days It appears by this that on the seventh Day Noah expected a Blessing rather than on another Day It being the Day devoted from the beginning to Religious Services Which he having it is likely performed thereupon sent out the Dove upon this Day as he had done before with hope of good Tidings Ver. 11. And lo in her Mouth was an Olive-Leaf or Branch the word signifies pluckt off Bochart thinks the Dove brought this out of Assyria which abounds with Olive-Trees and lay South of Ararat the Wind then blowing towards that Country from the North. See Hierozoic L. I. c. 6. p. 2. where he shows out of many Authors that not only Olive-Trees but some other also will live and be green under Water All the difficulty is how the Dove could break off a Branch as the Vulgar translates it from the Tree But it is easily solved if we allow as I have said before that now it was Summer-time which brought new Shoots out of the Trees that were easily cropt So he knew the Waters were abated The tops of Mountains were seen before verse 5. but now he understood the Waters had left the lower Grounds Yet not so left them that
Sin which is of the very same signification with Pelusium Ver. 18. And the Arvadite These People are the same with the Aradii who possessed the Island called Aradus upon the Coast of Phoenicia and part of the neighbouring Continent Where a place called Antaradus opposite to the Island was seated Strabo and others speak of this Island and mention another of the same Name in the Persian Gulph as Salmasius observes upon Solinus p. 1023. whose Inhabitants said they were a Colony from this Island I now speak of and had the same Religious Rites with these Aradians Who were very skilful in Navigation and therefore joyned by Ezekiel with Zidon XXVII 8. where he makes them also a Warlike People verse 11. Zemarite They who make these the same with the Samaritans do not observe that these Names are written quite differently in the Hebrew And that the Samaritans so much spoken of in Scripture had their Name from Somron And therefore Bochart thinks these are the Samarites mentioned by St. Hierom who says they inhabited the Noble City of Edessa in Coelosyria it should be the City of Emesa or Emisa which was in that Country but Edessa in Mesopotamia beyond Euphrates and so both the Chaldee Paraphrases have here for Zemarite Emisaei But I do not see why we should not rather think this Son of Canaan Zemarus from whom the Zemarites came was the Founder of the City of Zemaraim Josh XVIII 22. which fell to the Lot of the Tribe of Benjamin Hamathite These were the posterity of the last Son of Canaan From whom the City and Country of Hamath took its Name Of which Name there were Two one called by the Greeks Antiochia the other Epiphania The former called the Great Amos VI. 2. to distinguish it from this which St. Hierom says in his time was called Epiphania and by the Arabians in the Nubian Geographer Hama This is the City which is meant when we so often read that the bounds of Judaea were to the Entrance of Hamath Northward Numb XIII 21. XXXIV 8. and other places For it is certain they did not reach to Antiochia but came near to Epiphania Afterwards were the Families of the Canaanites spread abroad In process of time they enlarged their bounds For they possessed all the Country which lies from Idumaea and Palestine to the mouth of Orontes Which they held for Seven hundred Years or thereabout Moses indeed confines the Land of Canaan in narrower bounds toward the North as hath been said but we must consider that he describes only that part of Canaan which God gave to the Israelites for their Portion Now there being Eleven Nations who had their Original as appears from this and the foregoing Verses from so many Sons of Canaan we do not find that the First and the Five last were devoted by God to destruction as the rest were For we read nothing of the Zidonians Arkites Sinites Aradites Zemarites and Hamathites among those Nations upon whom the Sentence of Excision was pronounced by God and their Country bestowed upon the Israelites But read of Two others not here mentioned who made up the Seven Nations whom God ordered to be cut off viz. the Perizzites and those who were peculiarly called Canaanites who sprang from some of the fore-named XI Families but we do not know from which We shall meet with it in the XV. Chapter of this Book Ver. 19. And the border of the Canaanites c. Here Moses describes the Bounds of that Country which was given by God to the Jews From Sidon i. e. The Country of Sidon which extended it self from the City so called towards the East as far as Jordan or near it This therefore may be lookt upon as the Northern bounds of the promised Land As thou comest to Gerar unto Gaza c. These and all the rest belong to the Southern bounds For these two were Cities near to the Philistims We often read of Gaza and Gerar was famous for Abraham's and Isaac's sojourning there Gen. XX. 1. XXVI 1. and for the overthrow of the Cushites 2 Chron. XIV 13. Sodom and Gomorrha c. These Four Cities are famous for their destruction by Fire and Brimstone from Heaven Even unto Lashah Or Lasa which St. Hierom takes for Callirrhoe as doth Jonathan also A place famous for hot Waters which run into the dead Sea But Bochartus L. IV. Phaleg c. 37. doubts of this because Callirrhoe was not in the Southern part of Judaea as Lashah was He propounds it therefore to consideration whether it may not be a City of the Arabs called Lusa Which Ptolomy places in the middle way between the Dead Sea and the Red. Ver. 20. These are the Sons of Ham after their Families c. This is sufficiently explained by what was said upon verse 5. where Moses concludes his account of the Sons of Japhet Only it may be observed in general that these Four Sons of Ham and their Children had all Africa for their Portion Mizraim having Egypt and Phut the rest and no small part of Asia which fell to the share of Cush and Canaan Ver. 21. Vnto Shem also the Father of all the Children of Eber. That is of the Hebrew Nation whom Moses would have to know from what an illustrious Original they sprung and therefore breaks off the Thread of his Genealogy to give a short touch of it I can give no reason so likely as this why he calls Shem the Father of Eber's Children rather than of any other descended from him He having told them before that Ham was the Father of Canaan IX 22. whom God Cursed and at the same time Blessed Shem He now tells them that this blessed Man was the Father from whom their Nation was descended that they might comfort themselves in their noble Stock and believe Canaan should be subdued by them The Brother of Japhet the Elder Scaliger translates these Words Sem the Elder Brother of Japhet But the he which is prefixt to Gadol i. e. Greater plainly directs us to referr the Word Greater or Elder to him who was last spoken of viz. Japhet Who may be plainly proved to have been the Eldest Son of Noah from this observation That Noah was Five hundred years old before any of his Three Sons Sem Ham and Japhet were born V. 32. When he was Six hundred Years old he entred into the Ark with them VII 11. And when he came out two Years after the Flood Shem begat Arphaxad being then an Hundred Years old XI 10. and consequently Noah was Six hundred and two From whence it follows that Shem was born when Noah was Five hundred and two Years old And therefore Japhet must be two Years older than he for Noah began to have Children when he was Five hundred But God preferred Shem before him giving hereby an early demonstration of which there were many instances afterward that he would not be confined to the order of Nature in the disposal
of the LORD For wheresoever mention is made of the LORD it is to be understood of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and his house of judgment as the Jewish Doctors speak i. e. of the Angels which attend his Divine Majesty And thus I find Arethas or Andreas Caesariensis in his Commentaries upon the Revelation p. 729. understand these words For he there compares that Captain who was over the Locusts Revel IX 11. to the Angel that was sent to cut off the Army of Senacherib and to this Angel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who had the Charge of executing the fiery destruction upon Sodom committed to him For all Angels saith he are not ministring Spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Mens Preservation but some serve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Punishment And that they can bring Fire from Heaven and raise Storms and Tempests appears by the Story of Job Out of Heaven From the Lord whose Seat is in Heaven The like expression we have Revel XX. 9. Vpon Sodom and upon Gomorrha And the neighbouring Cities Admah and Zeboim as appears from Deut. XXIX 23. Brimstone and fire A most hideous Shower or rather Storm of Nitre Sulphur or Bitumen mingled with Fire fell upon this Country from above and as the Tradition was among the Heathen accompanied with a dreadful Earthquake Which made an irruption of those bituminous Waters whereby this Country was turned into the Lake called Asphaltites or the salt or dead Sea So Strabo L. XVI in his description of that Lake And indeed it doth not seem improbable that the Earth quaked while the Heavens did so terribly frown and the Almighty's Voice thundred from the Clouds as Doctor Jackson speaks Book I. on the Creed c. 15. For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which St. Peter uses 2 Pet. II. 6. may be thought to import some such subversion But it was his Ignorance of the Sacred Tradition in the Scriptures which made Strabo wholly ascribe the desolation of that Country to the Earth and not at all to the Heavens Whereas Tacitus was better informed Who says these Judaical Cities as he calls them fulminum jactu or ictu arsisse were burnt by the stroke of Thunder-bolts from Heaven And a little after igne coelesti flagrasse were set on fire and consumed by Lightning L. V. Histor With which fell such abundance of bituminous Stuff that the Valley which had only some Pits of Bitumen in it before XIV 3 10. became a Lake of it Ver. 25. And he overthrew those Cities c. Super impium populum gehennam misit è coelo as Salvian glosses L. I. L. IV. de Gubern Dei He sent Hell from Heaven upon an impious People Of whose destruction there remains an everlasting Monument in the Salt-Sea Into which that plain Country is turned The quality of which and of the Soil about it is so contrary to the Nature of all other Seas or Inland Lakes that no Philosopher can give an account of it like that which Moses hath given us As the same Doctor Jackson truly observes He that will read Tacitus in the place fore-mentioned or Pliny or Diodorus may be satisfied of this The Country where these Cities stood being become a Pan or Receptacle as the fore-named Doctor well calls it of such a strange moisture that it may be called Liquid Pitch rather than Water For it is so stiff that no Wind will move it nor will a Camel sink if thrown into it nor any Fish or Bird that uses the Water live in it And therefore called the Dead-Sea and Salt-Sea as Salmasius thinks Exerc. Plinian Pag. 577 614. because no Creature can live there and because the noisom Steams that come from it blast all that grows of it self or is sown in the Earth about it Nor do the Rivers that run into it at all alter it but it infects all their Waters with the loathsom Qualities of those Dregs of God's Wrath to use Doctor Jackson's words once more which first setled in it at this overthrow Just like bad Humours when they settle in any part of our Bodies plant as it were a new Nature in it and turn all Nourishment into their substance Ver. 26. His Wife looked back from behind him She not only lagg'd behind as we speak but turned about and stood still a while bewailing perhaps the loss of all there Or as some of the Jews fansie to see what would become of her Kindred and whether they would follow her or no. Became a pillar of Salt Or as some understand it an everlasting Monument Whence perhaps the Jews have given her the Name of Adith as they call her in Pirke Elieser cap. 25. because she remained a perpetual Testimony of God's just Displeasure For she standing still too long some of that dreadful Shower before-mentioned overtook her and falling upon her wrapt her Body in a Sheet of Nitro-Sulphureous Matter Which congealed into a Crust as hard as Stone And made her appear like a Pillar of Salt her Body being as it were candied in it Kimchi calls it an heap of Salt which the Hebrews say continued for many Ages Their Conjecture is not improbable who think the Fable of Niobe was hence derived Who the Poets feign was turned into a Stone upon her excessive Grief for the death of her Children Ver. 27. Get to the place where he stood before the LORD Where he prayed say the Jews or communed with God XVIII 22 33. Ver. 28. The smoke of the Country c. Some think the Hebrew word signifies like the smoke of a Lime-Kiln or of a boiling Cauldron After the Showre was over the Reek or Steam of it remained And made that Country look dismally which before was like the Garden of God XIII 10. but now become a stinking Puddle of filthy Water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Diodorus speaks noisom beyond expression Ver. 29. Overthrew the Cities wherein Lot dwelt In one of which he dwelt Which is an usual manner of speaking in Scripture Gen. VIII 4. the Ark rested on the Mountains i. e. on one of the Mountains of Ararat Judg. XII 7. Jepthah was buried in the Cities i. e. one of the Cities of Gilead Which explains that of St. Matthew XXVI 8. when his Disciples i. e. one of his Disciples Judas saw it he had indignation c. Ver. 30. And Lot went up out of Zoar c. It appears from hence that this good Man was very timorous not having so strong a Faith as his Uncle Abraham For he that had lately obtain'd a Pardon for this Place because he was afraid he should not have time enough to get to the Mountain now forsakes it For fear I suppose a new Showre should come from Heaven and destroy it after the rest because the Inhabitants perhaps continued unreformed though they had seen such a terrible Example of the Divine Vengeance upon their wicked Neighbours If his fear to dwell in Zoar proceeded from this Cause it was
the other and seemed to import a great Change in their Condition Which made such a deep Impression upon them that they were solicitous to know the meaning Ver. 8. We have dreamed a Dream and there is no Interpreter of it i. e. Here in Prison we have not the opportunity of getting them interpreted If they had been at liberty there were Men in those Countries who pretended to the Skill of Interpreting Dreams Which for the most part were not to be regarded but some Dreams carried such lively representations in them and so suitable to their present Condition and made likewise so great a Commotion in their Spirits that they could not but attend to them Nay think God had sent them and therefore desire to know the meaning of them Thus we find Achilles advising Agamemnon in Homer's Iliad I. to consult with the Interpreters of their Gods for what Offence they had sent the Plague among them saying To what Priest or to what Prophet shall we go 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or to what vender of Dreams For even Dreams come from Jupiter Do not Interpretations belong to God Who can show the meaning of Dreams but he that sent them viz God This shows that God did sometime admonish other Nations as we saw XX. 6. XXXI 24. as well as the Jews by Dreams Until they forgot as Dr. Jackson judiciously speaks that Interpretations were from God and laboured to find out an art of Interpreting Then they either ceased or were so mixed with delusions that they could not be discerned Or if their Events were in some sort foreseen yet Men being ignorant of God's Providence commonly made choice of such means for their avoidance as brought upon them the Events which they feared Book I. on the Creed chap. 9. Ver. 12. The three Branches are three Days i. e. Signifie three Days So he understood their meaning to be rather than Months or Years because of their sudden budding blossoming knitting and ripening of the Grapes verse 10. Ver. 13. Shall lift up thy Head i. e. Advance thee or as it is in the Margin reckon thee number thee among his Servants as the Phrase is used Exod. XXXI 12. For there being a Roll or Catalogue of all the Officers of the Court with their several Salaries they were all called over on some certain Day it should seem by verse 20. before the King's Birth-Day and summoned to give their Attendance And then such as the King was offended withal were struck out and punished according to their deserts or pardoned and graciously restored to their Places This Exposition best agrees with the Event verse 20. where the Heads of both these Officers are said to be lifted up Though one of them only was advanced to his former Station Ver. 14. But think on me when it shall be well with thee c. When my Prediction is come to pass I ask no other Reward of thee but that thou wilt be an Instrument of delivering me from my imprisonment Joseph was not only grown expert in interpreting Dreams which he was not before he came into Egypt XXXVII 6 c. but fully assured he knew the right meaning of them as appears by this Passage And such kind of Predictions by Dreams were frequent in ancient Times among the Heathen as well as among the Hebrews Though in after Ages they grew rare in both For as Dr. Jackson admirably speaks in the Place before-named the increase of Wickedness in the World multiplicity of Business solicitude of Mind about worldly Affairs and Mens too much depending on Politick Devices to accomplish their Ends caused the defect of true Dreams and of other Divine Admonitions for the welfare of Mankind Ver. 15. I was stolen Carried away by Violence without the knowledge of my Father and sold for a Slave His Brethren in selling him committed that Crime which the Latins call Plagium For Qui hominem liberum vendit plagiarius est Out of the Land of the Hebrews Some Men would have it thought that these words were added by Joshua or some other after Moses his time Because Canaan was not called the Land of the Hebrews in his days much less in Joseph's But they should have considered that Joseph doth not call all the Land of Canaan by this Name but only that part of it where Abraham Isaac and Jacob had very long lived viz. about Hebron There Abraham who was the first that is called an Hebrew setled with his Family when he came out of Chaldaea XIII 17 18. There Isaac dwelt also XXXV 27. and Jacob XXXVII 1 14. where it is said indeed they were strangers or sojourners in this Country But they were Strangers of great Note and Name as Jacobus Altingius hath well observed who were treated as Princes XXIII 6. lived by their own Laws made Leagues not only with private Men but with Cities and with Kings XXI 22 23. XXVI 28. XXXIV 6. and the Fame of them could not but be spread abroad both by the Victory which Abraham got in a Battle over several Kings and by the sacking of Shechem which the Neighbours durst not revenge All which might well make that part of the Country wherein they had resided for three Generations be called the Land of the Hebrews Where they were at first planted by the Consent of the Natives who were confederate with Abraham XIV 13. That they should put me into the Dungeon Into which he was thrown at the first as a great Malefactor For this was the lowest and darkest place in the Prison being under Ground So the Hebrew word commonly signifies a Pit either with or without Water in it And thence this part of a Prison Which Bochartus well translates cryptam subterraneam and sometimes signifies a Grave Psalm XXVIII 1. Hierozoic P. I. Lib. III. cap. 4. Ver. 16. The chief Baker saw the Interpretation was good It was well the chief Butler propounded his Dream first which had a good signification For if this Man had spoken first the other it is likely would not have proposed his Dream Three white Baskets Or as we now speak three Wicker Baskets and as the Margin hath it the Twigs so twisted that they were full of holes as ours many times are wrought Ver. 17. In the uppermost Basket They were set one upon another In the lowermost of which we may suppose was Bread in the middlemost Pies and in the highest the finer sort of Pastes of all sorts Bisket Tarts c. Ver. 19. Lift up thy Head The same Phrase which was used of the other verse 13. but with this addition from off thee To signifie that his Name should be called for another purpose that he might not only have his Name struck out of the Roll but his Head struck off from his Body Though there is no necessity so to understand it but only simply that he should lose his life And shall hang thee on a tree They that fansie his Head was first cut off will have
the Body only hanged on a Gibbet But it is more likely he was hanged by the Neck as Malefactors are now among us upon a Gallows And the Birds shall eat thy Flesh He was left there to be devoured by Birds of prey Ver. 20. Pharaoh's birth-day Either the Day on which he was Born or the Day on which he came to the Crown Which was Natalis Imperii the Birth-Day of his Empire Both of them were wont to be celebrated with Rejoycing and great Feasts in ancient time as well as now See the Commentators upon Matth. XIV 6. Ver. 21. And he gave the Cup. His Fault we may suppose was of a smaller Nature or there was not evident proof against him or he had better Friends who interceeded for him So that he was not only pardon'd but restored to his Office Ver. 22. But he hanged the chief Baker Ordered him to be hanged being found guilty of what he was accused c. Ver. 23. Yet did not the chief Butler remember Joseph but forgat him He repeats it to show how very unmindful he was of him After the manner of those vain Courtiers who have no value for Wisdom or Vertue but are wholly given up to their Pleasures It would have cost him nothing to mention Joseph to Pharaoh But he seems to have been one of those who will spend their Interest as we now speak for no Body but themselves Or as it may be interpreted he did not as soon as he came to his Place call him to mind who foretold his good Fortune And so in process of time he quite forgot him CHAP. XLI Ver. 1. AT the end of two full Years It is uncertain whether two Years after Joseph was first put in Prison or after the chief Butler was taken out of Prison It seems to relate to the latter being connected immediately with that History Pharaoh dreamed Had an extraordinary Dream sent from God He stood by the River Where they were wont to recreate themselves especially in hot Weather and when they expected its rise to such a degree as to give hopes of a plentiful Year Ver. 2. Behold there came up out of the River This is a most apt and lively Figure representing things exactly conformable to the state of that Country Which was inriched by the yearly over-flowing of the River Nilus Without which the Beasts would have had no Grass to feed them much less to fatten them But Bochart thinks the Hebrew word Jeor which we translate River properly signifies a Cut as we speak or a Canal out of Nile Of which there were many for the drawing its Water into several Parts of the Country Hierozoic P. I. Lib. II. cap. 42. Well-favoured Kine c. Or Oxen. By which the Fields being ploughed and all the business of Husbandry managed their fatness was a proper Token of Fertility as their leanness was of Famine So Bochart observes and see Vossius de Idolol Lib. I. cap. 29. And they fed in a Meadow This represented Nile as having over-flowed a great way to the inriching of a Pasture at a distance from the River Ver. 3. Stood by the other Kine This signified the Events denoted hereby to be near one to the other Vpon the Brink of the River Not feeding in a Meadow as the former did but picking up Grass here and there near the River For this was a sign it had not over-flow'd at all or very little There being no Food for the Cattle but on the River's Bank Where perhaps he saw them eating the Flags Ver. 5. Came up upon one Stalk A Token of great Plenty Ver. 6. Blasted with the East-wind To this Wind which the Hebrews call Kadim is ascribed in Scripture all the Mischief that was done to Corn or Fruit by Blasting Smutting Mildews Locusts c. and was more pernicious in Egypt than other Places because it came through the vast Desarts of Arabia Ver. 7. And behold it was a Dream Or behold the Dream continued to run in his Mind When he was awake he could not put it out of his Thoughts but it perpetually presented it self to him as it had done when he was asleep This shew'd it to be one of those Dreams which the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sent from God As the Interpretation and the Event shewed afterward more evidently Bochart notes out of Josephus L. XVII a Dream of Archelaus mentioned Matth. II. 22. composed of both these Figures For he saw ten Ears of Corn very plump and ripe devoured by Oxen. Which Simon Essaeus interpreted to signifie that he should live ten Years and then there should be a great turn of Affairs because Oxen turn up the Ground by the Plough and accordingly it came to pass Hierozoic P. I. L. II. cap. 41. Ver. 8. His Spirit was troubled He could not rest satisfied till he understood the meaning of these Dreams Which he thought imported some great Alteration in the State of his Country Called for all the Magicians of Egypt The word in Hebrew or rather Chaldee for Magicians had a bad signification in after-times But what kind of Men they were now we do not know Whether they professed to interpret Dreams and expound Things secret by natural Observations or such Rules as are now found in the Books of Oneirocriticks or by consulting Daemons or only by the foolish Art of Astrology to which they were much addicted in future Ages Our learned Nic. Fuller Lib. V. Miscell Sacr. cap. 11. thinks the Hebrew word Chartummim imports such as divined by certain Superstitious Characters Pictures Images and Figures which they engraved with Magical Rites and Ceremonies All the wise Men thereof These were the same I suppose with those who were called Philosophers in Greece From whence several great Men went to learn of the Egyptian Priests Who were famous for Wisdom before it came into Greece Told them his Dream He told them both his Dreams as appears from what follows But Moses speaks in the Singular Number because they were in effect but one and the same Dream But there was none that could interpret them Either they were amazed and did not attempt an Exposition as beyond their Skill or what they said gave no satisfaction to the king The seven Kine and the seven Ears it is likely they thought had a great Mystery in them if the worship of the Planets were then among them Which they invoked with secret or inutterable Invocations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Oracle mentioned by Porphyry speaks which were invented by that most excellent of all Magicians saith the same Oracle the King of the seven Sounds whom all Men know i. e. Ostanes or Hostanes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By which seven Sounds of which he was the Inventor and Governor Mr. Selden thinks is meant the Harmony which the Ancients supposed the Seven Planets to make Whom these Magicians called upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with seven Invocations to each Planet
blessed In this is contained the Promise of the Messiah the highest Blessing God could bestow Which he assured Abraham should spring out of his Family XXII 18. and now assures the same to Isaac Ver. 5. Because that Abraham obeyed my Voice In going out of his own Country when God called him in circumcising himself and his Family but especially XXII 18. in offering his Son Isaac And kept my charge i. e. Observed the Sabbath-Day says Menasseh Ben-Israel out of the Hebrew Doctors L. de Creat Problem VIII But it seems more rational to understand by this word which we translate charge all that he commanded him to observe The Particulars of which follow My Commandments my Statutes and my Laws These are nicely distinguished by some of the Jews especially Abarbinel Who by Commandments understands not only that of Circumcision but of expelling Ishmael And by Statutes Hebr. Chukkothai which always relates to Ceremonial things not only binding his Son Isaac to offer him in Sacrifice but his offering a Ram afterwards in his stead And by Laws which include the Judicial part of Moses his Writings his taking a Wife for Isaac out of another Country and bestowing Gifts upon the Children of his Concubines reserving the Land for Isaac But this may seem too curious And so many words may be thought rather to be used only to express his exact Obedience to God in every thing whether belonging to Religion or to Justice Mercy or any other Duty According to what he required of him XVII 1. Walk before me and be thou perfect Ver. 6. And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. This is a fresh Instance of his constant Obedience in trusting to God's Providence here and not going down into Egypt as he was inclined Ver. 7. She is my Sister Or Cousin for so she was He told part of the Truth but not all For he feared to say c. He imitated his Father as Children are apt to do Ver. 8. Sporting with Rebekah his Wife Using such familiarity with her and blandishments as were not allowable between Brethren and Sisters but common between Man and Wife even openly As embracing her in his Arms and kissing her perhaps very often He having an exceeding great love to her XXIV 67. Ver. 9. Of a surety she is thy Wife It seems he took Isaac to be so good a Man that he lookt upon the Liberties he took with Rebekah as tokens of conjugal Love not of incestuous Desires Ver. 10. Brought guiltiness upon us It is likely the Punishment inflicted upon his Father and Family XX. 17. only for taking Sarah into his House with an intention to make her his Wife was yet in memory among them Ver. 11. He that toucheth this Man or his Wife c. This looks like a modest word as it is used XX. 6. and 1 Cor. VII 1. But the Chaldee Paraphrast and the Hebrew Doctors interpret it of not doing them any injury Because he speaks of the Man as well as his Wife and so it is explained verse 29. Ver. 12. Then Isaac sowed in that Land Most take this to have been in the time of Famine Which makes it the greater wonder that the Ground should then bring forth so plentifully But it seems more likely to me that the Dearth was at an end For it is said Verse 8. that he had been in that Country a long time when Abimelech saw him sporting with his Wife An hundred fold This in it self is not wonderful though at this time it was a singular Blessing of God after there had been some time ago a dearth and perhaps the Soil not rich which afforded so large a crop Otherwise Varro says L. I. de Re Rustica c. 44. that in Syria about Gadera and in Africa about Byzacium they reap'd an hundred Bushels for one ex modio nasci centum Pliny and Solinus say the same of that Country Byzacium In so much that Bochartus fansies the Metropolis of that rich Country viz. Adrumetum had its Name from hence signifying in the Phoenician Language as much as the Region of an hundred fold Lib. I. Canaan cap. 24. Nay some places in Africa were so rich that they produced two hundred yea three hundred fold as he shows out of several good Authors in the 25th Chapter of that Book Whence he thinks Africa had its Name being as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Terra Spicarum a Land of Ears of Corn. All which I have noted that this Passage may not seem incredible to any Reader And the LORD blessed him Or for the LORD blessed him This is the reason of the fruitfulness of that Soil which naturally would not have yielded so much Ver. 13. And the Man waxed great c. I suppose he had many such friutful Years so that his Riches increased till he grew very great and bought more Cattle than he had before For in them consisted the ancient Riches as Servius tells us on the first of Virgil's Eclogues Omne Patrimonium apud majores peculium dicebatur a pecoribus in quibus universa eorum substantia constabat Vnde etiam PECVNIA dicta fuit à PECVLIO The same also we find said by Columella Ver. 14. Great store of Servants The Margin hath store of Husbandry Which is very likely because he was incouraged in it by his great Crops Which could not likewise but increase the Number of his Servants The Arabick set forth by Erpenius hath only a great revenue or vast increase Which among the Eastern People as I said was principally from their Cattle But God blessed him with abundance of Corn also Ver. 16. Thou art much mightier than we As the People envied him verse 14. so the King himself it seems began to fear him And therefore desired him in a friendly manner to leave his Country For they were not yet grown so wicked as to attempt to destroy those who lived quietly among them when they apprehended they would become richer and stronger than themselves Ver. 17. The Valley of Gerar. Where that was is uncertain but at some distance from the City where Abimelech dwelt and near to which Isaac had inhabited before Ver. 18. Which they had digged in the days of Abraham He chose to open the old ones rather than dig new both because he was certain there to find a Spring of Water and because it was most easie and less obnoxious to Censure or Envy And because he would preserve his Father's Memory for which reason he did not give them new Names but those they had in his Father's Days Ver. 19. They digged in the Valley c. In process of time they found a necessity of more Water and so digged till they met with a new Spring in the Valley Ver. 20. The Water is ours Because it was found in their Soil as Menochius observes But they having let the Ground to Isaac the Water was truly his as long as the Contract lasted Ver. 21. And they digged another Well I suppose in
the same Valley For rather than contend he receded from his right in the other Well Ver. 22. He removed from thence To avoid strife he quitted that part of the Country and went to another Where he was not disturbed in his Pasturage For now the LORD hath made room for us He was streightned before for want of sufficient Water for his Flock Which now he enjoyed in abundance And we shall be fruitful in the Land Increase more than formerly Now that they could water their Flocks quietly and plentifully Ver. 23. Went up from thence to Beer-sheba Where he and his Father had anciently lived XXI 33. XXV 11. Ver. 24. And the LORD appeared unto him the same Night As he had done before he came to Gerar verse 2. I am the God of Abraham Who was so kind to him and made a Covenant with him I am with thee My special Providence is over thee as was explained before verse 3. Ver. 25. Built an Altar there To offer Sacrifice unto the LORD Called upon the Name of the LORD As Abraham had done before him in this very place XXI 33. And pitched his Tent there Resolved to settle in this place Ver. 26. Phicol c. The same Name and the same Office that he had who is mentioned XXI 22. but he was not the same Man no more than Abimelech the same King It is probable this was a Name of some Dignity among them like that of Tribunus or Dictator among the Romans Which passed from one to another Ver. 28. We saw certainly the LORD was with thee c. We have observed such a special Providence over thee that we come to establish a perpetual Friendship with thee by a solemn Oath if thou wilt consent to our desire They were afraid it seems lest being disobliged by their sending him out of their Country he should fall upon them one time or other being mightier than they as they acknowledged verse 18. Ver. 29. Have sent thee away in peace They remember him how they dismissed him peaceably and did not go about to seize upon his Estate while he lived among them Which they make an Argument why he should contract a nearer Friendship with such civil People Thou art now the blessed of the LORD This looks like an high Complement or flattering Expression Ver. 30. He made them a Feast c. So Covenants were made by eating and drinking together Ver. 32. Told him concerning the Well they had digged c. They had begun to dig before Abimelech and Phicol came verse 25. and now they came at a Spring of Water Ver. 33. He called it Sheba From the Oath which was lately made between him and Abimelech It had been called so before by Abraham XXI 31. but that Name perhaps was forgotten and so he revived it as he had done others verse 18. Ver. 34. The Daughter of Beeri the Hittite c. Josephus saith these two Men Beeri and Elon whose Daughters Esau married were Dynastae powerful Men among the Hittites Which is not improbable But his Father sure had given the same charge to him that Abraham had done concerning his own Marriage XXIV 3. and then it was a very undutiful nay an impious action to marry with those People who were under the Curse of God The Scripture might well call him prophane Who seems not to have regarded either the Curse or the Blessing of the Almighty Ver. 35. A grief of mind His very marrying with them sorely afflicted his Father and Mother Or as others interpret it their Idolatry and bad Manners extreamly grieved them CHAP. XXVII Ver. 1. VVHen Isaac was old An hundred thirty and seven Years old as many have demonstrated He said unto him My Son c. It appears by this and what follows that though Esau had displeased him by his Marriage yet he retained his natural Affection to him which he had from the beginning Ver. 3. Thy Quiver Some take the Hebrew word to signifie a Sword Which was as necessary for a Huntsman as a Bow and Arrows Ver. 4. Make me savoury Meat c. To raise his feeble Spirits and enable him to deliver his last and solemn Benediction with the more Vigour My Soul may bless thee before I die It seems Isaac did not understand the Divine Oracle XXV 25. as Rebekah did Or she had not acquainted him with it For he intended to bestow upon Esau the promised Land which was that God told Abraham he would bless his Posterity withall For the last Benediction of these great Men was the setling of their Inheritance and making those their Heirs upon whom they bestowed their Blessing Now the Birth-right which Esau had sold Jacob gave him right only to the greatest part of Isaac's Estate But not to the Land of Canaan which was to be disposed of by Isaac according to Divine Direction Ver. 7. And bless thee before the LORD These words show it was not a common Blessing but a solemn Benediction and by Divine Authority or Approbation which Isaac meant to give his Son Esau Ver. 8. Obey my Voice c. Rebekah having just reason to conclude that Esau had forfeited the Blessing which she was desirous to preserve in her Family by marrying with the People of Canaan who were cursed by God thought of this Device to get Jacob preferred before him And indeed it cannot be denied that it was a prophane thing as I noted before to marry with a Daughter of Heth. And he seems afterwards to have had no good Design in marrying with a Daughter of Ishmael XXVIII 9. for it looks as if he went about to set up the Pretensions of that Family against Isaac's Ver. 9. Two good Kids of the Goats Two fat sucking Kids as Aben Ezra expounds this Phrase Kid of the Goats upon Exod. XXIII 19. which in old time were accounted very delicious Meat A Present fit for a King 1 Sam. XVI 20. and which Manoah prepared for the Angel whom he took for a Noble Guest Judg. XIII 15 And which is most proper to be here considered allowed to decayed and weak People as an excellent Nourishment Both these Kids were not prepared for Isaac But she took the most tender and delicate parts of both and dressed them for him And I will make them savoury Meat Dress it so as to please his Palate and not to be distinguished by him from Venison For we know the natural taste of things may be quite altered by various sorts of Seasonings as we call them And ordered in such manner that Bochartus says he knew skilful Huntsmen take a Pasty made of Beef for Venison Ver. 11. An hairy Man In the Hebrew isch Sair a rough Man hairy like a Goat For the same word Sair signifies a Goat Gen. XXXVII 31. Lev. IX 15. and other places Ver. 12. A deceiver One that cheats his Father imposing on his Age and on his Blindness Which he wisely considers would have been an high Provocation if it had been discovered