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
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
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
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
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
and Animals The former of which spring out of the Earth indeed but continue fix'd in it and perish if they be separated from it Whereas Animals though made out of the Earth and living upon it have a separate existence and do not still adhere to it After his kind Three sorts of living Creatures are immediately mentioned which were formed out of such Matter as the Earth afforded not simple Earth we must understand no more than before simple Water for it was impregnated with many other Principles the first of which Behemah which we translate Cattle always signifies the Flocks and Herds of tame Beasts when it is distinguished from Chaja which we translate in the end of the Verse Beasts of the Earth that is wild Beasts Between which two he mentions a third kind of living Creatures on the Earth which he calls Remesh creeping things because whatever Feet they have they are so short and small that they seem to the naked Eye to have none at all but to crawl on their Bellies upon the Ground Of all these three kinds there are various sorts wherewith God hath replenished the Earth And of every kind some vastly great and others very little as Abarbinel notes even among Reptiles there being Serpents of a prodigious length and other creeping things far smaller than Ants. Ver. 25. And God made c. The Earth did not bring them forth by Virtue of the Influence of Heaven upon prepared Matter But God framed them out of the Matter so prepared and produced them in their full perfection after their several kinds And God saw it was good Was pleased with the great variety of these Creatures and their compleat Structure fitting them for their several uses Ver. 26. Let us make Man God not only reserved Man for the last of his Works but doth as it were advise and consult about his Production Not to signifie any Deliberation within himself or any Difficulty in the Work but to represent to us the Dignity of Man and that he was made as Abarbinel glosses with admirable Wisdom and great Prudence To the same purpose S. Chrysostom here speaks And see Greg. Nyssen de Opificio Hominis cap. 3. and Orat. I. on these words With Greg. Nazianzen Orat. XLIII p. 699. who observes that God brought him into this World as into a noble Palace ready furnished with all manner of things Which is the Notion also of Methodius See Epiphanius Haeres LXIV n. 18. It is to be observed also That God doth not say Let the Earth bring forth Man as he said before verse 24. of other Animals for the same reason To represent Man as a far more noble Work than any other upon Earth For though he was made as we read in the next Chapter of the dust of the ground yet a greater Power and Skill was imployed in producing a Creature of such Beauty and Majesty Let us The ancient Christians look'd upon this as a plain intimation of a Plurality of Persons in the Godhead Insomuch that Epiphanius says This is the Language of God to his WORD and only Begotten as all the faithful believe Haeres XXIII n. 2. and see Haeres XLIV n. 4. and Haeres XLVI n. 3. where he says Adam was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 formed by the Hand of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost To which one cannot but incline who considers how poorly the Jews expound this place Who fansie a kind of Senate or Council of Angels without whom God doth nothing which they ground upon Dan. IV. 14. whereas there is not the least signification as yet of any such Beings much less that they had any hand in the making Man who was not made in their Image but in the Image of God Yet thus Saturnilus foolishly expounded these words as Epiphanius informs us in the fore-named Haeres p. 62. Edit Paris And Moses Gerundensis still more foolishly imagines God spake to the Earth that it should bring forth Man as it had done other Creatures But Maimonides who magnifies that Saying of their Masters That God doth nothing without his Council is forced to acknowledge More Nevoch P. II. cap. 6. That it is not to be understood as if he askt their Advice or was assisted by their Judgment but only that he used them as Instruments in the producing of every thing Which is directly contrary to the very words which are not in the form of a Command but of a Consultation before Execution Others therefore think God speaks after the manner of Kings who advise with their Council but do things themselves And are wont to speak in the Plural Number when they declare their Pleasure But I take this to be a Custom much later than the Days of Moses when they spake as the King of Egypt doth to Joseph Gen. XLI 41 44. I am Pharaoh and see I have set thee not we have set thee over the land of Egypt In which Stile the King of Persia writes long after this Ezra VI. 8. I Darius make a decree All these poor shifts are a plain confession that they found it very hard as the Socinians do at this day to give any account of this way of speaking without granting a Plurality of Persons in the Godhead And therefore Menasseh Ben Israel in his Conciliator mentions one of their Doctors who in Bereschith Rabba says That when Moses by God's Direction was about to write these words Let us make Man he cryed out O Lord of the World why wilt thou give Men occasion to err about thy most simple Vnity To which he received this answer Write as I bid thee and if any Man love to err let him err The same Story is told by Joseph Albo. Which shows that their Doctors have been long puzzled with this manner of Speech which unavoidably suggested to their Thoughts more than One Person in the Deity Which till they believe they are at a loss what to say about it In our Image after our likeness Two words some think to express the same thing With this difference only as Abarbinel explains it That the last words after our likeness give us to understand that Man was not created properly and perfectly in the Image of God but in a resemblance of him For he doth not say in our likeness says that Author as he had said in our Image but after our likeness where the Caph of similitude as they call it abates something of the Sence of what follows and makes it signifie only an approach to the Divine Likeness in Vnderstanding freedom of Choice Spirituality Immortality c. Thus Tertullian explains it Habens illas ubique lineas Dei quà immortalis anima quà libera sui arbitrii quà praescia plerumque quà rationalis capax intellectus scientiae L. II. contra Marcion cap. 9. And so Gregor Nyssen cap. 16. De Opific Hom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All have a Power of Considering and Designing of Consulting
and Fore-appointing what we intend to do Purity and Holiness likewise seem to be comprehended in this As may be gathered from the Apostle Coloss III. 10. For the new Man consists in righteousness and true holiness Ephes IV. 24. But though he was created with a Faculty to judge aright and with a Power to govern his Appetite which he could controul more easily than we can do now yet he was not made immutably good quia hoc Soli Deo cedit which belongs to God alone as Tertullian excellently discourses in that place but might without due care be induced to do evil as we see he did For an habituated confirmed estate of Goodness was even then to have been acquired by Watchfulness and Exercise Whereby in process of time he might have become so stedfast that he could not have been prevailed upon by any Temptation to do contrary to his Duty And let them have dominion c. Some have thought the Image of God consisted in this alone See Greg. Nyssen cap. 4. De Opific Hom. p. 143. Which rather follows upon Man's being made in God's Image viz. An intelligent being which gave him Dominion over other things that are not indued with such Understanding I conclude this Note with a very pertinent Observation of his in that Book cap. 16. That Moses speaks more Magnificently of Man than any Philosopher ever did For they could say nothing of him beyond this That he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little World But according to the Churches account his Greatness consists not in his Likeness to the created World but in his being made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the Image of the Nature of the Creator of all things Over all the Earth Over all four-footed Creatures in the Earth though never so wild as Bochartus observes Ver. 27. And God created Man in his own Image From these words Origen gathers there is a great deal of difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Image and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Likeness because though God said verse 26. Let us make Man in our Image and after our Likeness yet here he is said to have made him only in his own Image and not for the present after his Likeness For that saith he Lib. IV. contra Celsum is reserved to the other World when as St. John says 1 Epist III. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we shall be like him But this seems too curious No doubt God made Man just as he designed in such a compleat resemblance of himself that there is no Creature like to Man no more than God hath any equal to himself As some of the Hebrew Doctors explain this Matter And therefore Moses repeats it again In the Image of God created he him To imprint upon the Minds of Men a Sense of the great Dignity of Humane Nature which was foully debased by worshipping any Creature Male and Female created he them He made Woman the same Day he made Man as he did both Sexes of all other living Creatures and as he made Herbs and Plants with Seed in them to propagate their Species on the same Day they were produced It is plain by this also That Woman as well as Man was made in the Image of God And it seems to be pertinently observed by Abarbinel That Moses here again uses the word Create and that three times to denote the Original of Humane Souls which are not made out of pre-existent Matter as our Bodies are but by the Power of God when they had no Being at all Ver. 28. And God blessed them c. The former part of this Blessing be fruitful and multiply God had bestowed before verse 22. upon other Creatures Unto which he adds two things here replenish the Earth and subdue it He gives them the whole Earth for their Possession with a Power to subdue it That is to make it fit for their Habitation by bringing under or driving away wild Beasts For Secondly he gives them the Dominion unto which he designed them in their Creation over all other Creatures whether in the Water Air or Earth And he speaks to them in the Plural Number which is a demonstration that Man and Woman were both created and received his Blessing on the same Day Ver. 29. Behold I have given you c. Here he assigns them their Food and makes no mention at all of Beasts but only of Plants and Fruits of the Earth For Beasts being made by pairs in their several Species we may well suppose as Man and Woman were and not being yet multiplied the killing of Beasts Birds and Fishes would have been the destruction of the kind Whereas there were Plants innumerable and great variety of Fruit for their sustenance And therefore here being no grant made to them of Animals for their Food though no prohibition neither it is very probable they abstained from eating Flesh till after the Flood when God expresly gave them every living thing for Meat as much as the Herbs IX 2. unless it were upon some special occasions As perhaps when they sacrificed living Creatures which they did in process of time IV. 4 though not at the first Ver. 30. And to every Beast c. Here he gives to the Beast and Fowl and Creeping things all Herbs for their Food but saith nothing of Fruit from which we cannot well think the Birds would abstain And therefore they are included in the Phrase of every green Herb. Ver. 31. Very good From these words Epiphanius confutes the Manichees Haeres LXVI n. 18. where there is an explanation of this Phrase God saw that it was good throughout this whole Chapter Where it being said at the end of every Day 's Work God saw it was good and particularly here on the Sixth Day before he had quite ended the Work of it he saith so of the formation of the Beasts ver 25. Abarbinel will have this to relate peculiarly to the Creation of Man and Woman But the beginning of the Verse plainly shows that he speaks of every thing that he had made And therefore their Doctors in Bereschith Rabba whom he mentions say a great deal better That Man is meant in the first and principal place when Moses says God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good CHAP. II. MOSES having given a short Account of the orderly Production of all things from the meanest to the noblest explains more largely in this Chapter some things which were delivered briefly in the foregoing because he would not too much interrupt the coherence of his discourse about the Works of the Six Days Particularly he relates how Eve was made and also further illustrates the Production of Adam c. Ver. 1. Thus the Heavens and the Earth i. e. The visible World Were finished Brought to that Perfection wherein we see them And all the host of them That is all Creatures in Heaven and in Earth which are called Host or Army because of their vast
Moses could not have said there was no Man to till the Earth Ver. 6. But there went up a Mist c. Many think this will best cohere with what went before by translating it nor did there taking the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not from the foregoing Verse as is usual a Mist go up from the Earth See Drusius Levit. X. 6. and Hottinger in Hexapl. Paris p. 89. But I see no necessity of this and think it more likely there did go up a Vapour or Steam out of the Earth when it came reeking out of the Waters as was said upon Verse 9. of the 1. Chap. to moisten the superficies of it before any Clouds were raised by the Power of the Sun to give Rain Ver. 7. Out of the Dust of the Ground Not dry but moist Dust as the LXX have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From whence the Apostle calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Corinth XV. 47. which teaches us this Dust was mixt with Water For so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Limus as the vulgar Latin hath it Which agrees with the Hebrew jatzar formed which is used concerning Potters who make their Vessels of Clay not of dry Earth Diodorus Siculus seems to have had some Notion of this when he saith Man was made out of the Slime or Mud of Nile Upon which Original of Man's Body the ancient Fathers make many Pious Reflections But none better or shorter than that of Nazianzen's who says it is to teach us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that when we are apt to be lifted up because we are made after God's Image the thoughts of the Dirt out of which we were taken may humble and lay us low And God breathed into his Nostrils the breath of life This being said of no other Creature leads us to conceive not only that the Soul of Man is a distinct thing of a different Original from his Body but that a more excellent Spirit was put into him by God as appears by its Operations than into other Animals For though the simple Speech of inspiring him with the breath of Life would not prove this yet Moses speaking in the Plural Number that God breathed into him Nischmath chajim the Breath or Spirit of Lifes it plainly denotes not only that Spirit which makes Man breathe and move but think also reason and discourse And he became a living Soul This is the immediate result of the Union of the Soul with the Body Which Eusebius thus explains L. VII Praepar Evang. cap. 10. Moses having laid the Foundations of Religion before-mentioned viz. The Knowledge of God and of the Creation of the World proceeds to another Point of Doctrine most necessary to be understood which is the Knowledge of a Man's self to which he leads him by showing the difference between his Soul and his Body His Soul being an Intelligent Substance made after the Image of God his Body only an Earthly Covering of the Soul To which Moses adds a third 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A certain Vital Breath whereby the other two are united and linked together by a powerful Bond or strong Tie His Soul it is manifest did not come out of the Earth or any Power of Matter but from the Power of God who infused it into him by his Divine Inspiration And this was the Original of Eve's Soul also though it be not mentioned For if her Soul had been made out of Adam as her Body was he would have said not only She is Bone of my Bone but Soul of my Soul which would have mightily strengthned the Bond of Marriage and exceedingly heightned Conjugal Affection Ver. 8. And the LORD God planted Or had planted for it doth not seem to be a new thing A Garden A most pleasant part of the Earth Eastward Or as others translate it before in the beginning viz. On the Third Day when he made all Vegetables And it cannot be denied that mikkedem may signifie time as well as place But as the greatest part of Interpreters Ancient and Modern take it here to signifie place so Moses himself uses it in the following part of this Book III. 24. XI 2. XII 8. XIII 11. In Eden A Country as most understand it so called perhaps from its Pleasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theophilus ad Autolyc speaks L. II. Where Eden was there are two or three places of Scripture that give some direction to our search 2 Kings XIX 12. Isa XXXVII 12. Ezek. XXVII 23. which show there was a Country that for many Ages after this retained the Name of Eden And that Eastward as Moses here tells us it was situated That is Eastward of Judaea or of the Desart of the Amorites where he wrote these Books For the Scripture calls those People the Children of the East who dwelt in Arabia Mesopotamia and Persia But in what Country of the East Eden was will be best understood from ver 10. And there he put the Man whom he had formed He was formed we must suppose in some other place and conducted hither by God in Token of his singular Kindness to him Where he declared him saith a Syriac Writer mentioned by Hottinger in his Dissert de Hexaplis Paris p. 115. an Heir of Paradise and made him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a King a Priest and a Prophet Ver. 9. And out of the Ground Of that Garden before-mentioned Made the LORD God to grow every Tree c. The greatest variety of the choicest Plants Flowers and Fruit For Tree comprehends every thing that grows out of the Earth Pleasant to the sight He gratified Man's Eye as well as his Taste and his Smell The Tree of Life So called because there was a Virtue in it as several of the ancient Fathers think not only to repair the Animal Spirits as other Nourishment doth but also to preserve and maintain them and all the Organs of the Body in the same equal Temper and State wherein they were created without any decay Until Man should have been fit to be translated into another World To this purpose Irenaeus St. Chrysostom Theodoret but especially Greg. Nazianzen speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If therefore we had continued what we were and kept the Commandment we should have been what we were not by coming to the Tree of Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being made immortal and approaching nigh to God Orat. XLIII p. 699. D. And why we should think it impossible or unlikely that God should make such a Fruit I do not see Nay it seems necessary there should have been such a kind of Food unless we will suppose God would have preserved Adam had he continued Innocent from dying by a continual Miracle Which is a harder supposition than the other But this Garden being also a Type of Heaven perhaps God intended by this Tree to represent that immortal Life which he meant to bestow upon Man with himself Revel XXII 2. And so St.
his Son Lamech the Name of one of Cain's Grand-Children IV. 18. Ver. 12. Begat Mahalaleel This Name imports as much as a Praiser of God Which Cainan imposed upon this Son of his as Jacobus Capellus fansies because he was born after he had lived ten Weeks of Years i. e. when he was Seventy Years old in the beginning of the Sabbatick Year Which was the Eighth Jubilee from the Creation For as there were Sacrifices and a distinction of clean Beasts and unclean so he conceives there might be a distribution of Years by Sevens or Weeks as they spake in after-times from the very beginning of the World But there is no certainty of this Nor of what the fore-named Arabian Writers say of this Mahalaleel that he made his Children swear by the Blood of Abel so Patricides not to come down from the Mountainous Country where they dwelt to converse with the Children of Cain He is mentioned also by the Mahometans as Hottinger observes in his Histor Orient p. 20. Ver. 15. Begat Jared The same Arabian Writers make him also a strictly Pious Man and an excellent Governor But say That in his Days some of Seth's Posterity about an hundred in number notwithstanding all his Persuasions to the contrary would go down and converse with the Children of Cain by whom they were corrupted And thence they fansie he was called Jared which signifies descending either because they went down from the Holy Mountain as they call it where Seth's Posterity dwelt or Piety in his time began very much to decline See Hottinger's Smegma Orient L. I. cap. 8. p. 235 c. Ver. 18. Begat Enoch Whom the Arabians call Edris and represent him as a very learned Man as well as a Prophet And especially skilled in Astronomy See Hottinger Histor Orient L. I. c. 3. and Smegma Orient p. 240. The Greeks anciently had the same Notion of him as appears by a Discourse of Eupolemus which Eusebius quotes out of Alexand. Polyhistor L. IX Praepar Evang. c. 17. where he says Enoch was the first who taught the knowledge of the Stars and that he himself was taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Angels of God and was the same Person whom the Greeks call Atlas Certain it is his Story was not altogether unknown to the ancient Greeks as appears in what they say of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same with Enoch whose Name in Hebrew is Chanoch For Stephanus in his Book De Vrbibus says that this Annacus lived above Three hundred Years and the Oracle told the People that when he died they should all perish as they did in the Flood of Deucalion In which he confounds the History of Enoch and Methuselah as Bochart well observe L. II. Phaleg c. 13. Ver. 21. Begat Methuselah Enoch being a Prophet as we learn from St. Jude and foreseeing the destruction that was coming upon the Earth by a Deluge immediately after the death of this Son of his gave him this Name of Methusela which imports as much For the first part of it Methu evidently carries in it the Name of Death being as much as he dies And sela signifies the sending forth of Water in Job V. 10. And therefore Methusela is as much as when he is dead shall ensue an emission or inundation of Waters to the destruction of the whole Earth Which ingenious Conjecture of Bochartus in his Phaleg L. II. c. 13. is far more probable than any other Account of his Name Ver. 22. Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah Of all the rest Moses only says they lived after they begat those Sons here mentioned but of this Man that he walked with God i. e. Was not only sincerely Obedient to God as we suppose his Fore-fathers to have been but of an extraordinary Sanctity beyond the rate of other Holy Men and held on also in a long course of such singular Piety notwithstanding the wickedness of the Age wherein he lived And the very same Character being given of Noah VI. 9. it may incline us to believe That as Noah was a Preacher of Righteousness so Enoch being a Prophet was not only Exemplary in his Life but also severely reproved the Wickedness of that Age by his Word Ver. 24. And Enoch walked with God Persevered in that Course before-mentioned to the end of his Days And was not He doth not say that he died as he doth of the rest in this Chapter both before and after but that he was not any longer among Men in this World For God took him Translated him to another place Which plainly signifies the different manner of his leaving this World in so much that the Apostle faith he did not see death Heb. XI 5. Which confutes the Conceit of Aben Ezra and R. Solomon and others who would have this word took to signifie that he was snatcht away by an untimely death Contrary to the Opinion of their other better Authors particularly Menachem who in his Commentary on this place saith that God took from Enoch his Bodily Cloaths and gave him Spiritual Raiment But whither he was translated we are not told The Author of the Book of Ecclesiasticus Chap. XLIV according to the vulgar Translation saith into Paradise And upon this Supposition the Aethiopick Interpreter hath added these words to the Text God translated him into Paradise as Ludolphus observes L. III. Commentar in Aethiop Hist Cap. V. n. 40. And accordingly we find in the Calendar of that Church a Festival upon July XXV called The Ascension of Enoch into Heaven for they were not so foolish as to understand by Paradise a place upon Earth but a Heavenly Mansion unto which he was advanced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eusebius speaks L. VII Praepar Evang. cap. 8. because of his consummate Vertue And it is no unreasonable Conjecture That God was graciously pleased to take him unto himself at this time to support and comfort Mankind in their State of Mortality Adam the Father of them all being dead not above fifty-seven Years before with the hope of a better Life in the other World For which reason it is not improbable that he was translated in some such visible manner as Elijah afterward was by a glorious Appearance of the SCHECHINAH from whence some heavenly Ministers were sent to carry him up above Ver. 25. Begat Lamech The same Name with one of Cain's Posterity IV. 18. But as he was of another Race so he was the Grand-Child and the Father of the best Men in those Days viz. Enoch and Noah Ver. 27. All the Days of Methuselah c. What was wanting in the Days of his Father God in some sort made up in his Age Which was extended to the longest term of all other Men. He died in the very Year of the Deluge according to the import of his Name See Verse 21. Ver. 29. He called his Name Noah Which signifies Rest or Refreshment which proceeds from
are of later standing and can shew us no Charter but are led by some reasonings of their own not by the Scripture Unless we will admit such a Criticism upon Gen. I. 30. as seems to me very forced And they would have this also understood only of clean Creatures But I do not find any Ground for the distinction of Clean and Unclean Creatures with respect to Food but only to Sacrifice as was said before The reason why God now granted the liberty to eat Flesh Abarbinel thinks was because otherwise there would not have been Food enough for Noah and his Sons The Fruits of the Earth which before were abundant being all destroyed so that for the present there was not sufficient for their sustenance Others think the reason of it was because the Fruits of the Earth were not now so nutritive as they had been before the salt water of the Sea very much spoiled the Soil Ver. 4. But flesh with the life thereof c. Here is one exception to the foregoing large Grant that the Blood of Beasts should not be eaten Just as at the first one Fruit in the midst of the Garden was excepted when all the rest were allowed The Hebrew Doctors generally understand this to be a prohibition to cut off any Limb of a living Creature and to eat it while the Life that is the Blood was in it Dum adhuc vivit palpitat seu tremit as a modern Interpreter truly represents their sence Which is followed by many Christians See Mercer Musculus especially Mr. Selden L. VII c. 1. de Jure N. G. Who think as Maimonides doth that there were some People in the old World so fierce and barbarous that they eat raw Flesh while it was yet warm from the Beast out of whose Body it was cut And he makes this to have been a part of their Idolatrous Worship See More Nevochim Par. III. c. 48. But supposing this to be true there were so few of these People we may well think for he himself saith it was the Custom of the Gentile Kings to do thus that there needed not to have been a Precept given to all Mankind to avoid that unto which Humane Nature is of it self averse St. Chrysostom therefore expounds this of not eating things Strangled And L. de Dieu of not eating that which died of it self For Nephesh in Scripture signifies sometime a dead Carkase But it is manifest it was not unlawful for all People to eat such things for God himself orders the Israelites to give that which died of it self to a Stranger or to sell it to an Alien Deut. XIV 21. And therefore the simplest sence seems to be that they should not eat the Blood of any Creature Which was a positive Precept like that of not eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And the reason of it perhaps was that God intending in after-times to reserve the Blood for the expiation of Sin required this early abstinence from it that they might be the better prepared to submit to that Law and understand the reason of it Which was that it was the Life of the Beast which God accepted instead of their Life when they had forfeited it by their Sins And there is another plain reason given of this Prohibition immediately after it that they might be the more fearful of sheding the Blood one of another when it was not lawful so much as to taste the Blood of a Beast Ver. 5. And surely Or rather for surely as the LXX the vulgar Latin and a great number of learned Men expound the particle Van as a Causal not as a Copulative in this place So that the sence is this Therefore I command you to abstain from the Blood of living Creatures that you may he the farther off from sheding the Blood of Men. For that is so precious in my account that I will take care he be severely punished by whom it is shed yea the very Beast shall die that kills a Man So it follows At the hand of every Beast will I require it Not as if Beasts were to blame if they killed a Man for they are capable neither of Vice nor Vertue but this was ordained with respect to Men for whose use Beasts were created For First such owners as were not careful to prevent such mischiefs were hereby punished And Secondly others were admonished by their example to be cautious And Thirdly God hereby instructed them that Murder was a most grievous Crime whose punishment extended even to Beasts And Lastly the Lives of Men were hereby much secured by the killing such Beasts as might otherways have done the like mischief hereafter See Bochart in his Hierozoic P. I. L. I. c. 40. At the hand of every Man's Brother c. And therefore much more will I require it at the Hand of every Man Whom he calls Brother to show that Murder is the more heinous upon this account because we are all Brethren Or the meaning may be as some will have it that though he be as nearly related as a Brother he shall not go unpunished Ver. 6. Whoso sheds Man's Blood He repeats it over again to enact this Law more strongly Or as the Hebrews understand it he spake before of the punishment he would inflict himself upon the Murderer and now of the care we should take to punish it By Man shall his Blood be shed That is by the Magistrate or Judges For God had kept the punishment of Murder in his own Hand 'till now as we may gather from the story of Cain whom he banished but suffered no Body to kill him But here gives authority to Judges to call every body to an account for it and put them to death They that would see more of the Sense of the Jews about these and the foregoing words may read Mr. Selden de Jure N. G. L. I. cap. 5. and L. IV. cap. 1. and de Synedriis L. I. cap. 5. I will only add that they rightly conclude that as Courts of Judicature were hereby authorized so what was thus ordained against Murder by a parity of reason was to be executed upon other great Offenders there being some things which are no less dear to us than Life as Virginal Chastity and Matrimonial Fidelity c. For in the Image of God made he Man Notwithstanding the Sin of Man there remained so much of the Image of God in him as intitled him to his peculiar protection Ver. 7. And ye be ye fruitful c. You need not doubt therefore of the blessing I now bestowed upon you Verse 1. for you see what care I take of the preservation as well as the propagation of Mankind Ver. 9. I will establish my Covenant with you Because Beasts cannot Covenant most understand by that Word simply a Promise as Jer. XXXIII 25. But there is no need of this explication the Covenant being made directly with Noah including all other Creatures who were
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
descend from Isaac and not they that descend from Ishmael shall be owned by me for the Children of Abraham particularly the Messiah shall be one of his Seed Ver. 13. Also of the Son of thy hand-maid c. He renews the Promise he had made him before XVII 20. that Ishmael should have a numerous Posterity Because he was descended from Abraham Ver. 14. Rose up early in the morning Delayed not to fulfill the Divine Will Took Bread and a bottle of Water Which includes all sort of Provision for their present necessity Till they came to the place unto which in all probability he directed them to bend their Course For it is not reasonable to think that he sent them to seek their Fortune as we speak without any care what became of them It may seem strange rather that he did not send a Servant to attend them but let Hagar carry the Provision her self Which I suppose was done to humble her and to show that her Son was to have no Portion of Abraham's Inheritance nor of his Goods of which Servants were a part Doctor Jackson Book I. on the Creed chap. 25. thinks that Abraham would scarce have suffered them to go into a Wilderness so poorly provided when he had store of all things unless he had been directed by some secret instinct presaging the rude and sharking kind of life unto which his Progeny was ordained Yet it is probable he was as kind to him as he was to the Sons he had by Keturah and sent him some Tokens of his Love afterwards See XXV 6. Ver. 15. She cast the Child under one of the Shrubs He being faint and ready to die with thirst A Presage saith the great Man before-named that his Posterity should be pinched with the like Penury Scantness of Water which was their best Drink streightning their Territories in Arabia as Strabo observes L. XVI And after they had inlarged their Bounds even in Mesopotamia it self they were still confined to the dry and barren Places of it Ver. 16. And she went and sat her down c. Her Strength carried her further than he could go But her Affection still kept her within sight of the place where he was Ver. 17. And God heard the Voice of the Lad. Who cried it seems as well as his Mother And it moved the Divine Pity to send an Angel to their Relief Fear not Do not think I come to terrifie thee Or do not fear the death of thy Child Ver. 18. Lift up the Lad c. It seems he was so faint that he was not able to stand without support Ver. 19. Opened her Eyes Made her see what she did not observe before by reason of her Tears or the great disturbance of her Mind Ver. 20. And God was with the Lad. Preserved and prospered him So that he grew to be a Man Became an Archer A skilful Hunter and Warriour also with Bow and Arrows Am. Marcellinus L. XIV tells us that the Saracens who were of the Posterity of Ishmael never set their Hands to the Plough but got their living for the most part by their Bow For such as they were themselves such was their Food Victus universis caro ferina c. they all lived upon wild Flesh or Venison and such wild Fowl as the Wilderness afforded with Herbs and Milk Dr. Jackson observes that he compares them to Kites ready to spy a Prey but so wild withal that they would not stay by it as Crows or other ravenous Birds do by Carrion but presently fled with what they caught into their Nests Ver. 21. He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran Which was near to Arabia In which Country all the Oriental Writers say the Posterity of Ishmael lived Particularly Patricides who says he went into the Land of Jathreb which is that part of Arabia in which is the City of Medina A Wife out of Egypt Out of her own Country where she was best acquainted The Jewish Doctors say he had two Wives whose Names they tell us were Aischah and Phatimah The first of which received Abraham churlishly when he went to visit his Son and therefore he put her away and took the other who proved more civil when he made a second Journey thither Which though it look like a Fable yet I think it not improbable that Abraham might go to see how his Son lived and that Ishmael might sometimes wait upon him as the Author of Schalscall Hakab and Pirke Elieser affirm for we cannot think they were so unnatural as never to have any correspondence Especially since we read that Ishmael as well as Isaac took care of Abraham's Funeral XXV 9. After which it is not improbable Hagar might have another Husband Which is the account Aben Ezra upon Psalm LXXXIII 6. gives of the People called Hagarenes who are there mentioned as distinct from the Ishmaelites They were saith he descended from Hagar by another Husband not by Abraham Ver. 22. Abimelech and Pichol c. It is plain by this that Abraham still lived if not in the Country of Gerar yet very near it God is with thee in all that thou dost They saw him so thriving and prosperous that they were afraid he might grow too strong for them if he should have a mind to disturb them Ver. 23. Swear that thou wilt not deal falsly c. That as there hath been a long Friendship between me and thee so thou wilt not violate it but alway preserve it even when I am dead According to thy frequent Professions and perhaps Promises According to the kindness c. Abimelech thought he might claim this Oath from Abraham by Virtue of the Obligations he had laid upon him Ver. 24. I will swear He was as forward to confirm his Promises as to make them Ver. 25. And Abraham reproved Abimelech But before he sware he thought it necessary to settle a right Understanding between them And therefore argued with Abimelech as it may be rendred about a Well of Water digged by Abraham's Servants which Abimelech's had injuriously taken from him This was Wisdom to complain of Wrongs now before they entred into a Covenant that they being redressed there might remain no occasion of Quarrels afterward Ver. 26. Abimelech said I wot not c. This is the first time I heard of it If thou hadst complained before I would have done thee right Ver. 27. And Abraham took Sheep c. Some think they were a Present he made to Abimelech in gratitude for what he had bestowed on him XX. 14. or in token of Friendship with him But others think they were designed for Sacrifice by which they made a Covenant one with another At least some of them served for that use Ver. 28. And he set seven Ewe-lambs by themselves The meaning of this is afterwards explained verse 30. That though they were part of the Present he made him yet they should be understood also being set apart from the rest to be a purchase
Years to make up the Sence Which some think rather to be this That he was satisfied and had enough of this World desiring to live no longer Like that Expression in Seneca Epist LXI Vixi Lucili charissime quantum satis est mortem plenus expecto Gathered to his People It doth not relate to his Body which was not buried with them and therefore must relate to his Soul which is supposed by this still to live in that place where his pious Fore-fathers were gone Or else it is an Hebrew Idiotism signifying no more but that he left this World as all his Fathers had done before him Ver. 9. His Sons Isaac and Ishmael c. By this it appears that Isaac and Ishmael were not strangers one to another Nay some of the Orientals tell us that Abraham went to see Ishmael at his House and that Ishmael came to see him after he was sent away Which is not at all improbable For no doubt Abraham provided for him suitable to the Condition of his Birth And Ishmael could not but be convinced that the Inheritance of his Father belonged of right to Isaac who was the Son of a Free-Woman and he only of a Bond-Woman Nor could he well be ignorant that Isaac was to be Heir of Abraham's Estate by God's Designation In the Field of Ephron c. See XXIII 17. Ver. 11. Isaac dwelt by the Well Lahai-roi He continued after Abraham's death his former Habitation which he had when he married XXIV 62. Ver. 12. Now these are the Generations of Ishmael c. Having mentioned the Blessing of God which went along with Isaac after his Father's death in the foregoing Verse he takes this occasion to show that God was not unmindful of his Promise made to Abraham concerning Ishmael also XVII 20. Ver. 13. Nebaioth As he was the first-born of Ishmael so his Posterity gave the denomination to the whole Country of Arabia Petraea in the best part of which see verse 3. they inhabited which Pliny Strabo and Ptolomy call Nabataea and sometimes other Authors call Nabathis As the Inhabitants were called Nabataei who are mentioned also by Dionysius Periegetes in his Description of the World and by Plutarch in the Life of Demetrius who he saith was sent to subdue the Arabs called Nabataei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he was in great danger to perish by falling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into places where there was no Water These are commonly called in Scripture Ishmaelites as if they had been the sole Heirs of their Progenitor And they dwelt near to the Midianites their half Brethren for in the Story of Joseph he is said in one place to be sold unto the Ishmaelites in another to the Midianites Gen. XXXVII 27 28 36. they being Neighbours and Co-partners in Traffick The Country of Moab also was near to these Nabataei as appears from Epiphanius Haeres LIII where speaking of the Countries that lay beyond the Dead-Sea he mentions this which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Region of Nebaioth Ituraea and Moabitis See Salmasius Plin. Exercit. p. 615. Kedar His Posterity called Kedareni were also seated in Arabia Petraea together with their elder Brother And their Name also was so famous that some Authors call the whole Country Kedar For the Language of Kedar is the Arabian Language And when David complains that he had dwelt long in the Tents of Kedar the Chaldee expounds it in the dwelling of the Arabians But those Arabians called Scenitae were properly the People of Kedar And yet not all the Scenitae i. e. all the Arabs who dwelt in Tents but those only who dwelt in Arabia Petraea For there were divers kinds of them all called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some near Euphrates others in Arabia Foelix c. as Salmasius shows in his Plin. Exercit. p. 484. Some take them to be the same with those whom Ptolomy calls Pharanitae For what the Psalmist calls dwelling among the Tents of Kedar is called 1 Sam. XXVI 1. dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran Pliny only says Pharanitis bordered upon the Arabs in or a contermina gentis Arabiae and so later Writers make Pharan and Arabia Petraea to be near Neighbours as the same Salmasius shows p. 485. Ver. 14. Dumah He seems by Isaiah XXI 11. to have been seated near Idumaea Ver. 15. Hadar Some think the Athritae in Arabia Foelix came from him In which likewise there was a City called Tema from the next Son of Ishmael And Jetur the next Son to him may well be thought to have been the Father of the Ituraei in Coelo-Syria And Kedemah the last of his Sons to have dwelt near his Brother Kedar For so Jacobus Capellus expounds those words Jer. XLIX 28. Go up to Kedar and spoil the Men of Kedem which we translate the Men of the East And there are some other People in those Countries whose Names sound something like the rest of the Sons of Ishmael but not so like as these I have mentioned Which makes me omit all further search after them enough having been said to show the truth of this Account which Moses gives us of Ishmael's Posterity Ver. 16. These are their Names by their Towns Though some of them dwelt in Tents and thence were called Scenitae Arabes yet they did not live so scatteringly but pitched them together and made a Town And their Castles They had even then Places of Defence Which may make it probable that they had also walled Towns to which they resorted from their Tents in the Fields when they were in any danger Isai XLII 11. For it must be here noted That as there were divers People of this Name of Scenitae Arabes so there was this difference among them as Salmasius observes in the fore-named place that some of them were Nomades who wandred from place to place others of them were not Particularly the Sabaean Scenitae and most of the rest dwelt in Tents but were fixed in their Habitations and did not remove from one place to another As those that dwelt in Mesopotamia did who were both Scenitae and also Nomades They therefore who were setled in Tents as the Sons of Ishmael were had reason to build Fortresses for the security of their slender Habitations Twelve Princes according to their Nations Or rather as Dr. Jackson well glosses Book I. on the Creed c. 25. twelve Heads of so many several Houses Tribes or Clans Which kind of Government they continued till four hundred Years after Christ and is better expressed by Heathen Writers than by many Christian Interpreters when they call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers of their Tribes as Strabo speaks L. XVI in his Description of Syria And so the later Writers speak of the Saracens who were the same People formerly called Scenitae Arabes whose Governors they called Phylarchi Saracenorum as may be seen in Sextus Rufus and Jornandes See Salmas as before p. 484 485. Ver. 17. Gathered unto his People The same
as true Gods animated by some heavenly Power Of which worship see Photius in his Bibliotheca CCXLII. But especially Bochartus L. II. Canaan cap. 1. where he shows the Phoenicians at least as the Jews think first worshipped this very Stone which Jacob anointed And afterward consecrated others which they called Baetylia and Baetyli in memory of this Stone anointed at Bethel See p. 785 786. Certain it is this Idolatrous Practice came very early into the World Which made Moses forbid the erecting of such Pillars they being in his time converted to a prophane use Lev. XXVI 1. Deut. XII 3. XVI 22. But the Name of that City Which was near to the place where this Pillar was set up Was Luz at the first So called perhaps from the many Almond-trees which grew there for Luz signifies an Almond see XXX 37. among which it is probable Jacob took up his lodging because they were a kind of Covering to him Both this Luz in the Tribe of Benjamin and the other among the Hittites in the Tribe of Ephraim Judg. I. 26. Bochart doubts not had there Name from this Original L. I. Canaan cap. 35. Ver. 20. Jacob vowed a Vow This is the first Vow that we read of in Scripture Which all Men allow is a part of Religion and so was acknowledged by the Law of Moses Deut. XXIII 21. Psalm L. 12. Psalm LXV 2 c. Perhaps Jacob was the first that in this manner expressed his devout Affection towards God If God will be with me c. Perform his Promise to me verse 15. Give me Bread to eat c. Support and maintain me which is the explication of the Promise Ver. 21. Then shall the LORD be my God I will most Religiously worship and serve him Which doth not imply that he would not worship him if he did not bring him home in Peace But that if he did he would perform some special Service to him and worship him with extraordinary Devotion Consecrating as it follows this Place to his Honour offering him Sacrifice and giving him the Tenths of all he had to maintain his worship Ver. 22. And this Stone which I have set for a Pillar All Pillars were not unlawful but such only as were for Idolatrous uses As Maimonides resolves L. de Idol cap. VI. § 8. And therefore the Jews so expound those words before-mentioned Thou shalt not set thee up any Statue or Pillar which the LORD thy God hateth Deut. XVI 22. concerning Pillars set up for worship not of those for memorial Shall be God's House Here will I set apart a Place for God's Solemn Worship and Service Build an Altar and offer Sacrifice c. See XXXV 3. Give the tenth unto thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Josephus the Tithe of all his In-come for the maintenance of Burnt-Sacrifices and such like pious Uses and perhaps for the relief of the Poor As for the Priests we do not yet read of any Tithe given to them Though Mr. Selden in his History of Tithes p. 4 c. and Review p. 451. thinks they were paid to Isaac who was then Priest of the Family And so Bishop Montacute in his Book against him p. 199. who observes that we read only of Abraham and Jacob paying Tithe not of Isaac Because Isaac was a more special Type of Christ than either of these And Abraham and Jacob were Types of those two People who were to have part in the true Isaac for Abraham was Father of all the Faithful and Jacob was the Type of the Synagogue as St. Ambrose handles these Matters in the Life of Abraham Yet the same Bishop confesses That many doubt whether Jacob paid the Tenth of all to Isaac or immediately to God Because Jacob also was a Priest himself See p. 205 c. This I think we may certainly conclude from this place That Jacob the Grand-Child of Abraham vowing the Tenth of all as Abraham had given the Tenth of the Spoil he was induced to it by the Custom which was then among Religious People How they came to pitch upon this Portion rather than a Fifth Sixth or any other is not so easie to be resolved But they seem to speak with much Reason who observe that in this Number Ten all Nations in a manner end their Account Aristotle in his Problems § XV. L. 3. and then begin again with compound Numbers Or as others phrase it This is the end of less Numbers and the beginning of greater So that it was lookt upon as the most perfect of all other and accordingly had in great regard But after all it seems most likely to me that they had some Divine Direction for it as they had for Sacrificing And it may be further noted That what they gave to their Kings was the Tenth Part as well as what they gave to God And nothing more common among the Gentiles than Tenths paid to their Kings and that very anciently for it appears from 1 Sam. VIII 14 15 17. that it was part of the Jus Regium among the Eastern People Aristotle himself mentions it under the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ancient Law in Babylon And it was also used in Athens which was a Commonwealth as Dr. Spencer shows in his Learned Work de Leg. Hebr. Ritual L. III. cap. X. § 1. And Bishop Mountague shows they were paid among the Romans p. 248 c. CHAP. XXIX Ver. 1. AND Jacob went on his journey Because the Hebrew Phrase for went on is lift up his Feet some will have it that he proceeded most cheerfully in his Journey after this Glorious Vision Which we may believe to be true though not signified by this manner of speaking To the People of the East To Mesopotamia which lay Eastward from Canaan Ver. 2. A great Stone upon the Well's mouth To keep the Water clean and cool Ver. 5. Laban the Son of Nahor Grand-Son of Nahor Who is mentioned rather than Bethuel because he was the Head of the Family Ver. 6. Rachel his Daughter Her Name in Hebrew signifies a Sheep For it was anciently the manner to give Names even unto Families from Cattle both great and small So Varro tells us Lib. II. de Re Rustica c. 1. Multa nomina habemus ab utroque pecore c. a minore PORCIVS OVILIVS CAPRILIVS a majore EQVITIVS TAVRVS c. See Bochart P. I. Hierozoic Lib. II. cap. 43. Ver. 7. It is yet high day c. A great deal of the Afternoon yet remains It was the Custom of those Eastern Countries where the Sun had great Power in Summer time to bring their Flocks towards Noon into shady places where there was Water to refresh them Otherwise the extream Heat would have killed them There they rested it appears by many places of Scripture particularly Cantic I. 7. till the Heat of the Day was over and then having watered them again they carried them out to feed till Sun set Ver. 9. For she kept them It